oil usage normal??
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Teching In
Joined: May 2004
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oil usage normal?? i have a 2001 SS and i run valvoline 5w30 synthetic and after 1900 miles i changed the oil and it was about 1.5 quarts low. the car only has 55000 miles and it is conserning me. is this normal or should i sell sell sell thanks for the help matt 
That's way too much oil in a short time. I would try switching to a heavier oil (10W30 or the German Mobil1 0W40) and see if your consumption is reduced. Also, when was the last time you checked your PCV valve?
-Mike
-Mike
11 Second Club
Joined: Feb 2004
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From: Fort Greely, Alaska
like he said change to a heavier weight oil, but fear not my car went through 1 quart after 3k miles, it could just be ur vehicle getting used to having a full synthetic oil in it. but accodring to GM its not abnormal for a vehicle to go through a quart of oil every 3k miles.
Banned
Joined: Nov 2003
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From: Pocono Pa
my 99 uses oil and slaps with 40 thous miles on it.......runs great though......uses about 1qt every 1000 miles .......i never see any smoke out the tail pipes....maybe someone is stealing my oil???? seriously i think yer fine..unfortuneatly oil usage is the LS1's sore spot.....i find with mine the harder you drive it the more it uses.....something else you might want to consider is,does your car run on the rich(fuel) side......this can wash the oil down very quickly causing higher oil consumption.Lots of short trips can do this also.
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I hate to tell you this but a high performance engine will use oil. Infact they are built "loose" so that they perform better with less resistance which has a side effect of using oil. My buds ZL-1 burns a quart about every 900 miles and shoots black smoke out the tail pipe at WOT. Also the LS based engines are notorius for having poor oil control rings that cause a large deal of oil consumption. Either way you are going to figth oil consumption whether it is bad rings, or just a high performance motor. There is alway a trade off to having highperfomance vehicles. Don't worry about it though, just keep tabs, and do what I do keep an extra quart with you at all times. By the way, try running 20W50 thin oils like a 5 w 30 is almost useless under high heat and stress conditons. I find that in these engines and in almost any performance engine that sythetic is not really necessary. In many cases if you have been running regular, swithc to syn, and then back to regular....then consumption is eneveitable. Better off running a regular oil and just changing every 2000 miles.
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Teching In
Joined: May 2004
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thanks guys keep the posts coming. it was the first oil change seince i have had the car so i was having lots of fun with it. 10-12 passes in the 1/8 plus 15-20 times at WOT showing it off to the friends and countless number of times for the fun of it 
so everyone thinks i should be okay? in the last 1000 miles no oil loss lots of freeway driving no track time or not near as much WOT time. guess i should stay out of the gas LOL thanks for the help
Matt
so everyone thinks i should be okay? in the last 1000 miles no oil loss lots of freeway driving no track time or not near as much WOT time. guess i should stay out of the gas LOL thanks for the help Matt
Launching!
Joined: Mar 2004
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From: Ontario Canada
I have 2 vehicles with GEN 3 engines. Neither seem to use abnormal quntities of oil and I beat on both relentlesly. No piston slap issues either perhaps I got lucky?
2002 GMC has the 5.3 and 55000 km (35000 mi). Runs on 5w30 Dino
2002 SS I bought 3 months ago with 1900 km and have put about 4000 km so far. This car sees WOT everytime I take it out. I'm talking redline shifts several dozen times everytime I take it out if I have open road
My last oil change was about 2000 km ago, 5w30 Mobil Syn. I have been checking it regularly and it only seems to be down a tiny bit from where it was filled on the dipstick at the change. Only thing I noticed is the oil has gotten a bit darker. For the next change I have 0w30 German Castrol Syn ready to go.
Don't worry about staying off the throttle, I think these cars enjoy getting beat on as much as we enjoy beating them
2002 GMC has the 5.3 and 55000 km (35000 mi). Runs on 5w30 Dino
2002 SS I bought 3 months ago with 1900 km and have put about 4000 km so far. This car sees WOT everytime I take it out. I'm talking redline shifts several dozen times everytime I take it out if I have open road
My last oil change was about 2000 km ago, 5w30 Mobil Syn. I have been checking it regularly and it only seems to be down a tiny bit from where it was filled on the dipstick at the change. Only thing I noticed is the oil has gotten a bit darker. For the next change I have 0w30 German Castrol Syn ready to go.Don't worry about staying off the throttle, I think these cars enjoy getting beat on as much as we enjoy beating them
