2008 Silverado...tick with PP5w30?

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All, I have used pennzoil platinum 5w30 religiously since the 3,000 mile mark in my 2008 Silverado (Vortec 6000) I have 19,000 miles on her and have never noticed any lifter tick (at startup) until the cold temps recently in michigan. I have usually stuck with shorter OCI's due to break in metals...but my OLM is only showing 38% with 4500 miles on the current batch, and was planning to push it out to the spring. I usually change right before winter, and then right before summer.....but I am starting to wonder if this oil is thickening slightly due to oxidation etc,.. and this is what is causing this tick that I never heard before. Please anyone chime in? Maybe it's still not a bad idea to change right before winter still? Do most UOA"S give the viscosity at cold?
 
Nice SUV. The oil could be thickening as you said, I'm not really sure if a UOA is going to give cold viscosity or not. With 4500 miles on the oil going into the winter I would ignore the Oil Life Monitor and change it. I would also consider changing over to a 0W-30, which will behave like the 5w30 at operating temps, and flow better at a cold start.

Although apples and oranges here, my son had a Vortec Blazer that had an injector tick in cold weather, it went away when the engine warmed up.

Frank D
 
Yeah, you'd be better off running a 0W-30 in the winter, especially in Michigan. I hear it gets cold there, is that right? lol Just kidding, we all know you get cold weather there
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Something else you might try is keeping your oil warm overnight with some kind of pan heater. Others have posted good luck with different kinds of oil heaters. I know they're popular in ND, I remember asking about the pigtails coming out from the front of every car when I was traveling through there many years ago.
 
It has not been cold enough in MI yet (and I doubt it ever does) to worry about the difference between a 5w or 0w oil. You may be hearing a injector (they are loud in the Vortec motors) or filter problem.

How long is the tick? Is it everytime when cold? Hot? Only here and there?

A 5w30 oil will protect well into the sub zero temps.

Bill
 
Ponch,

I have 5900 miles on my 08 Silverado and I am also hearing a tick.... I have not tried to pin point. I am on my 3rd drain and fill of Havoline 5w30 dino before I pour in a full syn.

FWISW, the present oil run is nearing 3k miles. I never had heard the tick before until this week as the weather got colder.

I'll pay more attention and report back.
 
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When my favourite beer starts freezing in the Garage I switch over to Amsoil SSO 0w30. Hope this helps you save your beer and your engine.


hehehehehe
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I would change it over now as well. It looks to be a chilly start to December for many in the Upper Midwest.
 
It's getting to -10C (14F) here and I'm still running ASL 5w30 with no ticking, and my engine is a [censored] when it gets cold. She is so fussy.

Every engine is different... Switch and see. But the SSO is good stuff IMO.
 
Change over to Eao filter and see if it goes away.. Do you have a wix filter? I do notice that PP is a bit loud than amsoil I had before.. my first time using PP and it is not quiet. However, I had Eao before too so not sure if it is the darn wix.
 
I wouldn't think it would be the WIX. I have a fussy engine that Hyundai even has a TSB about that says certain "After-market" filters may cause engine noise because of a lack of oil flow due to pressure restriction in the filter.

So I checked the incoming PSI versus the outgoing PSI with a factory filter, WIX filter and an EAO filter, and found the EAO filter to have the lowest PSI restriction. (My dads a mechanic and he has those tools).

The WIX & EAO were almost identical, with the EAO being slightly better. The Factory Filter was worse by almost 2 PSI

FWIW...
 
I'm using Amsoil with great results... No ticking... My car's techie manual calls for a 10w30/10w40 in the summer, and as the temperature drops, for a 5w30/5w20 or a 0w30/0w20...

So I put the ASL 10w30 in the summer, then in the fall, 5w30, then a 0w30 when it gets Canadian cold here..
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I was just commenting on the filter post...
 
Ponch,
I have an 06' Impala SS with the 5.3L and got the lifter tick you spoke of when very cold. It did it on Amsoil 5W30, fresh or with several thousand miles on it. This past summer I started to use the Amsoil XL 5W30, and it has not done it this winter yet. It has sat at the airport in well below freezing temps for several days, and when I started it I was expecting the tick, but it wasn't there. I don't know whether to attribute this to the oil or just the motor breaking in. It is on it's third winter now and has 22,000 miles on the clock. I also use the Amsoil EAO 32 oil filter.
Hope this helps. I have only used Amsoil in it.
 
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I just put PP 5W30 in my 2000 Jeep GC 4.0, and I noticed it ticks at start up now, it didn't before. It stops after about 30 seconds... On the other hand, I looked into the filler hole, and the PP has cleaned up the visible area dramatically - a significantly cleaner appearance now. It also did not turn dark brown as fast as the Mobil 1 I was using.

Next time I plan to try either Valvoline or QS Synthetic.

VW
 
I would not worry about it to much. It seems like more than a few GM V8s end up with this lifter tick after the miles start collecting. My Brother's 07 Silverado does it.

After reading other forums, it seems many people experience the same thing on later GM V8 engines. One guy on the Internet went to the trouble and expense to replace all of the lifters to stop it. It worked for about 30K miles than it came back!

A coworker Silverado also does the same thing. Neither one uses PP.
 
Somewhat common on the Silverados. A lot of guys on the GM truck forums complain about the tick. I have a 07 with the 6.0 and only get a few ticks on start up if the truck sits for a couple of days, which it does quite often. If it just sits overnight I never get the tick. I am running Amsoil SSO 0-30
 
Thanks for the help all! I just might end up throwing in some fresh stuff here shortly for the "colder" weather coming up...I will post on here if the tick goes away.
 
This is a possible oil filter problem. Internal anti drain back valving is getting sophisticated and specialized nowadays.
The oil is surely thicker and not pumping to every internal passage immediately, like on a hot day.
Also, when it's really cold out, parts are shrunken a bit more, and need to expand more until they are up to size and sealing.
Since it is only one lifter ticking, it is simply bad luck , weak design, or manufacturing tolerances that stacked up the wrong way.
 
Originally Posted By: mechtech2
This is a possible oil filter problem. Internal anti drain back valving is getting sophisticated and specialized nowadays.


These filters mount upside-down. A lot of the GM's just plain make noise. My '03 Z71 5.3L did, as does my wife's '04 Maxx 3.5L. Piston slap...lifter tick. These vehicles are made from the cheapest made parts as possible to maximize profit. If this weren't the case, we wouldn't be bailing any of 'em out.

My '03 F150 5.4L sounds like it has a slight knock at idle. It's actually sound waves in the front cats that reverb or something like that. I used a scope and you can actually hear it. My engine is perfectly fine. Ford's TSB was to cover the cat(s) with insulation to stop the sound.
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It's not that bad, so I just live with it because I don't feel like having anything touching my exhaust.
 
Originally Posted By: Seth
Change over to Eao filter and see if it goes away.. Do you have a wix filter? I do notice that PP is a bit loud than amsoil I had before.. my first time using PP and it is not quiet. However, I had Eao before too so not sure if it is the darn wix.


I'm running ASL 5w30 w/ EAO47 filter and absolutely no ticking on our 6.0 08 savanna. Cold, warm, or hot doesn't matter....ticking is gone.

When i drained the FF at 2000 miles and switched to amsoil is when the ticking stopped completely. Truck now has 7700 total miles & 5600 on the oil.
 
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