6.0 Silverado HD Health Check

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Phishin

Joined
May 1, 2012
Messages
2,925
Location
Indiana
My 2018 Silverado 3500 with 6.0L gas and 6L90 got a workout this weekend. 2000 miles pulling a square front 24' enclosed trailer....1000 miles of it through the Poconos and Appalachia.

150k miles on the truck. Fresh oil change before the trip with my 4th time running 5 qts HPL No VII 5w30 and 1 qt HPL Engine Cleaner 5w30 with a RP filter.

Truck was between 3-4.5k RPMS most for long periods of time. She is missing maybe 100mL of oil. All is well.
 
At what speed do you tow? That sounds like running in 3rd and 4th. I tow a 6k travel trailer with the 6.6/6L90 gas at 65 and after almost 20k of towing gas mileage is exactly 10 mpg. Last trip was 1630 miles and 163.1 gallons.
 
Just a hair below full. Some tanks were at 8 MPG's..... Some were at 10 MPG. The terrain and wind made a difference. So I'll guess I was around 9 MPG's for the entire trip, but I'll calculate that later.

I'm guessing fuel and 2 nights at a Holiday Inn was about $1000. I collected $2450 in hauling fees. It was a worthwhile trip to run from IN to CT to pickup a mint old Kubota..... and along the way I stopped at 4 places and made pick up and deliveries. It covered the trip costs easily AND put over $1000 in my pocket.

I tow between 65 and 85 MPH

PXL_20240324_155825295~2.jpg
 
What other oils did you try before HPL? $17 a quart is pretty spicy. I just picked up a 2014 2500HD 6.0l with 225k and going QS High Mileage full synthetic. Under $4/qt. But I can't really tell you why I just really wound up liking QS products. I'm pretty sure oil is one of those things none of us can really go wrong in lol.
 
Phishin said:
My 2018 Silverado 3500 with 6.0L gas and 6L90 got a workout this weekend. 2000 miles pulling a square front 24' enclosed trailer....1000 miles of it through the Poconos and Appalachia.

150k miles on the truck. Fresh oil change before the trip with my 4th time running 5 qts HPL No VII 5w30 and 1 qt HPL Engine Cleaner 5w30 with a RP filter.

Truck was between 3-4.5k RPMS most for long periods of time. She is missing maybe 100mL of oil. All is well.
Click to expand...
Honest question- why would you run the Engine Cleaner when all the rest of the oil is HPL as well? Their regular oils are actually MORE powerful cleaners (ANs + esters in the oil, esters only in the EC from what I understand) and I’m just wondering what your reasoning is. Was this your idea or recommended by someone? 👍🏻
 
FlyingTexan said:
What other oils did you try before HPL? $17 a quart is pretty spicy. I just picked up a 2014 2500HD 6.0l with 225k and going QS High Mileage full synthetic. Under $4/qt. But I can't really tell you why I just really wound up liking QS products. I'm pretty sure oil is one of those things none of us can really go wrong in lol.
Click to expand...

Before this 4th run of "No VII" HPL, I ran two OCI's with HPL Super Car 5w40. Before that I ran 6 OCI's with RedLine 0w30. Before that....I can't remember. I'll have to go look in my Maintenance Book....

I know the HPL probably isn't needed, but I enjoy running this oil and knowing that when I'm pulling 20k pounds and I accidently leave my cruise control on at 80MPH and I downshift twice and I'm running at 5,500 RPM's for a second, I got that added protection.....at least that's what I tell myself.
 
SubieRubyRoo said:
Honest question- why would you run the Engine Cleaner when all the rest of the oil is HPL as well? Their regular oils are actually MORE powerful cleaners (ANs + esters in the oil, esters only in the EC from what I understand) and I’m just wondering what your reasoning is. Was this your idea or recommended by someone? 👍🏻
Click to expand...
i’ll echo this, if you already have a sump of HPL, there is no need for EC to be in it aswell.
 
SubieRubyRoo said:
Honest question- why would you run the Engine Cleaner when all the rest of the oil is HPL as well? Their regular oils are actually MORE powerful cleaners (ANs + esters in the oil, esters only in the EC from what I understand) and I’m just wondering what your reasoning is. Was this your idea or recommended by someone? 👍🏻
Click to expand...

I had several OCI's with Walmart synthetics early on and I just figured I'd run an OCI or two with their Cleaner Oil to make sure any varnish is cleared and I'm starting off extra clean. Basically, my logic was "it can't hurt anything". I had already ran several OCI's with their Super Car and now No VII, so if everything is already very clean, I guess I didn't do anything. But look how dark the oil is already after 2k miles on my dipstick. I'm guessing the EC did something.....
 
Phishin said:
I had several OCI's with Walmart synthetics early on and I just figured I'd run an OCI or two with their Cleaner Oil to make sure any varnish is cleared and I'm starting off extra clean. Basically, my logic was "it can't hurt anything". I had already ran several OCI's with their Super Car and now No VII, so if everything is already very clean, I guess I didn't do anything. But look how dark the oil is already after 2k miles on my dipstick. I'm guessing the EC did something.....
Click to expand...
their oil regardless of tier is a stronger cleaner than their engine cleaner in terms of cleaning.
 
Phishin said:
I had several OCI's with Walmart synthetics early on and I just figured I'd run an OCI or two with their Cleaner Oil to make sure any varnish is cleared and I'm starting off extra clean. Basically, my logic was "it can't hurt anything". I had already ran several OCI's with their Super Car and now No VII, so if everything is already very clean, I guess I didn't do anything. But look how dark the oil is already after 2k miles on my dipstick. I'm guessing the EC did something.....
Click to expand...
While the correct esters can definitely do some cleaning via their high polarity, it seems (from discussions with HPL and reading some Mobil whitepapers on AN) that AN is definitely the more powerful cleaner of the two.

I’d say if you’re using a full sump of HPL, use the EC in your other vehicles that are using shelf oils. 👍🏻
 
My dad used to pull an enclosed box trailer like that with our dune buggy and 3-wheelers to the dunes when I was a kid. Except he had a lowered ‘93 GMC C1500 with a 305!

He said it got like 4-5 mpg.
 
Phishin said:
Just a hair below full. Some tanks were at 8 MPG's..... Some were at 10 MPG. The terrain and wind made a difference. So I'll guess I was around 9 MPG's for the entire trip, but I'll calculate that later.

I'm guessing fuel and 2 nights at a Holiday Inn was about $1000. I collected $2450 in hauling fees. It was a worthwhile trip to run from IN to CT to pickup a mint old Kubota..... and along the way I stopped at 4 places and made pick up and deliveries. It covered the trip costs easily AND put over $1000 in my pocket.

I tow between 65 and 85 MPH

View attachment 210175
Click to expand...
I have a feeling the newer ones are slightly easier on fuel-the company ‘19 G-2500 has gotten 17 with tools/parts, the ‘11 G-3500 in my sig struggles to break 13 empty, towing even light is 10-11.
 
Nick1994 said:
My dad used to pull an enclosed box trailer like that with our dune buggy and 3-wheelers to the dunes when I was a kid. Except he had a lowered ‘93 GMC C1500 with a 305!

He said it got like 4-5 mpg.
Click to expand...
Those 305s were PIGS! My old ‘85 305 G2500 Chevy passenger van couldn’t run 75 EMPTY unless it was drafting off another truck!
 
What data or proof do you all have that the HPL oil is better at cleaning than the HPL Engine Cleaner?
 
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