Interesting GM 1.5T failure video

I'm sure that combination of oil and fuel will make most engines happy for a long time, but I doubt anyone is buying a 1.5T GM wants to run premium fuel in it, if they are doing much driving? The price difference for my area is 20-30-40% more for 93/94 octane

I run mine on 98 RON during summer, because I can hear knock sometimes on 95 RON when it goes above 80°F. Nothing to hear on 98, nothing when it's cooler. The price difference is about 10%.
 
......I doubt anyone is buying a 1.5T GM wants to run premium fuel in it, if they are doing much driving? The price difference for my area is 20-30-40% more for 93/94 octane

In my area, that would amount to $5 to $10 more dollars per fillup for 89 or 91 octane.

I'm sure it's there, but I have never heard even the slightest ping out of the 1.5T in my 2021 Equinox. 31mpg tank to tank average on 87oct. I do a 4000-4500mi oil change interval on it. The OLM will be at about 38-40% oil life remaining at that point. OTOH, The 3.6L in our 2021 Traverse pings and chatters like a mofo at times. Going to mid or high test on it with my wife's usage would be more expensive given the ~20mpg and larger tank.

I'm still contemplating running Valvoline Restore & Protect full time on the Equinox to hopefully keep those ring lands clean. Same with the Traverse. Fellers on GM boards freak out over that prospect since VRP isn't dexos rated.
 
What is with GM and their 4 bangers that they just can't get right?

The 1st gen Equinox & Terrain 2.4 was something that always had me scratching my head. That thing sounded like it was self imploding when it was brand new.

Zero out all CAFE fines and bring back the Iron Duke! I learned to drive in an Olds Cutlas Ciera. (it probably drives a lot better in my memory than real life). lol
 
Zero out all CAFE fines and bring back the Iron Duke! I learned to drive in an Olds Cutlas Ciera. (it probably drives a lot better in my memory than real life). lol
Even those sounded like a coffee can full of marbles. In my memory bank going back to the 90's the only 4 cylinders from GM that didn't sound like like were rattling themselves to death were the pre-DI Ecotec's and the 1.4/1.5T's, then of course as we see in this post the 1.4/1.5T versions had their own problems de-constructing themselves from the inside out.

I don't follow GM too closely so I may be missing some other decent 4 cylinders that happened along the way but yeah the GM 4 cylinder rattle is something my born in 1984 year behind will never forget. Yes a boatload of my family drove first gen J-bodies so I have a lot of experience, my parents were fancy because they were able to get the 3.1 V6 in my mom's Corsica.
 
We talked abut this video previously, but it seems to be an exact match to this threads topic. GM 1.5T engine with busted piston ring lands. Mfg date several years after the first video, so GM apparently hadn't fixed the problem up to this point.

 
Fast forward to the ~10min point to see the actual failure, which is a cracked ring land area on the #1 piston. What do you guys think of Ray's theory that carbon build up in the ring area is the cause of this vs the usual LSPI or manufacturing defect claims. I'm not a fan of all the snake oils he peddles, but he does make an entertaining video.

This is the LFV version of the 1.5T, only found in ~2017+ Malibus.
I follow a lot in regards to the 2018+ LYX and LSD 1.5T that the Equinox uses. I don't know that I've seen any of this on either, but we may as the years go on.


What’s the compression height of the piston, and the distance from crown to top ring land? That will give you more insight into the root cause.
 
Well, I'm a fan of BG EPR 109. My K24 Honda was just blowing blue smoke out the tail @ 300k. The more gas I gave it, the more smoke. Ran 2 - OCI's of 109..The garbage that came out was unbelievable. Who knows, the filter could have been clogged too, and running in bypass. Stopped the oil burning dead in it''s tracks. Just did what the directions on the can said. Was afraid of plugging up the CATS, so I tried it,and it worked. Got 614,878 out of those 2 CATS, before they finally went. I still use 109 as preventative maintainence. The car is pretty much out to pasture now. Just local stuff. Few romps on the highway. Don't trust it with those miles anymore. It's a keeper though. Runs like a S.O.B. ! Great back up car. 13' CRV AWD EXL
 
Subie, if you don't mind, I'd like to add my 2 cents here for whats it's worth. I saw 0% piston bore lip on that 1.5. I've rebuilt a lot of engines back in the day, and my main concentration was removing the " piston ridge", so I could put the pistons back in. That tells me that little 1.5 piston head been thru some incredible heat, especially being a GDI turbo no less. I believe that top compression ring stopped at the top of the piston bore. Too hot, and then the GDI/turbo add ons. The diameter of those pistons were not much bigger than a can of BG. Too small to take the heat. Just my 2 cents from what I seen from the video. I'm still a noob, so please be nice. I'll earn my badges eventually.
 
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We talked abut this video previously, but it seems to be an exact match to this threads topic. GM 1.5T engine with busted piston ring lands. Mfg date several years after the first video, so GM apparently hadn't fixed the problem up to this point.

Good call on that one. I had forgotten that LFV 1.5T was as new as a 2020.

I don't know that GM made any piston or ring changes to the 2018-2022 LYX version, but per their specs, they did to the 2023+ LSD 1.5T.
 
I run mine on 98 RON during summer, because I can hear knock sometimes on 95 RON when it goes above 80°F. Nothing to hear on 98, nothing when it's cooler. The price difference is about 10%.
95 RON is about 91 Octane/AKI here, or "premium" fuel, which is 20-30% more than 87 AKI. Is that your lowest fuel grade? Some stations here have 98 RON, but that's priced for luxury car owners, and high performance motorized toys. My silly dirt bike needs 98 RON plus some octane boost, and it can make $40 in fuel disappear in a day...
We do too many km a year averaging ~7.7l/100km between our cars to happily add that much to fuel bill for nothing, other than keep a not well designed(for 87 AKI) engine alive...
The dirt bike will stand up on the rear tire in top gear with the expensive gas, but I don't think a GM 1.5T has enough excitement to warrant paying so much more for fuel, in IMO.
 
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Oh please, GM hasn't gotten a 4 banger right in decades, and they never will. Bean Counters will get in the way of R&D, as usual.. STOP !!!!! You've met your budget cap !!!!!! Now slap it together and mass produce it !
 
Oh please, GM hasn't gotten a 4 banger right in decades, and they never will. Bean Counters will get in the way of R&D, as usual.. STOP !!!!! You've met your budget cap !!!!!! Now slap it together and mass produce it !
We now have 4cyl 2.7Ltr Turbo engines in big and mid size pickups from GM. Do they have the problems of these 1.5 engines?
 
95 RON is about 91 Octane/AKI here, or "premium" fuel, which is 20-30% more than 87 AKI. Is that your lowest fuel grade? Some stations here have 98 RON, but that's priced for luxury car owners, and high performance motorized toys. My silly dirt bike needs 98 RON plus some octane boost, and it can make $40 in fuel disappear in a day...
We do too many km a year averaging ~7.7l/100km between our cars to happily add that much to fuel bill for nothing, other than keep a not well designed(for 87 AKI) engine alive...
The dirt bike will stand up on the rear tire in top gear with the expensive gas, but I don't think a GM 1.5T has enough excitement to warrant paying so much more for fuel, in IMO.

Yes, 95 or 98 RON is it. In Germany I can get 100 or 102 is some stations. 95 RON is also what the manual requires as a minimum.
 
Yes, 95 or 98 RON is it. In Germany I can get 100 or 102 is some stations. 95 RON is also what the manual requires as a minimum.
Interesting that the minimum octane required is so high? I wonder if anything is physically different in the engine, compared to the ones sold in N.A.?

I still don't get why we even bother with the small displacement turbo GDI engines in N.A. with 87 octane gas still available? The last years of the port FI NA engines, often gave better mileage, with much fewer issues, and much cheaper to make.
My comparatively huge '18 awd NA port FI Outback gets better highway mileage than new fwd 3cyl GM sub compact SUVs? Maybe the GM engine just has to dump more fuel in to keep from pinging on 87 octane? It might get 10% better mileage on 91 but the price at the pump is still higher?
 
Interesting that the minimum octane required is so high? I wonder if anything is physically different in the engine, compared to the ones sold in N.A.?

I still don't get why we even bother with the small displacement turbo GDI engines in N.A. with 87 octane gas still available? The last years of the port FI NA engines, often gave better mileage, with much fewer issues, and much cheaper to make.
My comparatively huge '18 awd NA port FI Outback gets better highway mileage than new fwd 3cyl GM sub compact SUVs? Maybe the GM engine just has to dump more fuel in to keep from pinging on 87 octane? It might get 10% better mileage on 91 but the price at the pump is still higher?

The compression ratio seems to be 11.0:1 while it's 10:1 for US vehicles? Not at all sure that is correct though
 
Interesting that the minimum octane required is so high? I wonder if anything is physically different in the engine, compared to the ones sold in N.A.?

I still don't get why we even bother with the small displacement turbo GDI engines in N.A. with 87 octane gas still available? The last years of the port FI NA engines, often gave better mileage, with much fewer issues, and much cheaper to make.
My comparatively huge '18 awd NA port FI Outback gets better highway mileage than new fwd 3cyl GM sub compact SUVs? Maybe the GM engine just has to dump more fuel in to keep from pinging on 87 octane? It might get 10% better mileage on 91 but the price at the pump is still higher?
My Honda 1.5T Civic has excellent low-end torque, contrary to what the small displacement might suggest, and on the highway, I can get an easy 40mpg. 0 to 60 mph in the low 7 second range. Honestly, the car has an amazing balance of power and fuel economy. Some bash the engine for fuel dilution, but that's an easy workaround for a true BITOG that doesn't mind 5k oil changes.
 
I've only seen maybe 4 tear down videos on the GM 1.5T and all have been LFY series 1.5's. This above video was on a 2017 model year Malibu per Rainman Ray.

My question is, is the LSPI induced destruction of the piston a factor of poor maintenance or is it going to happen regardless of maintenance, oil and fuels used? I do know these engines get oil/moisture carry-over into the charge air cooler due to the design of the PCV system. The CAC kind of works like a catch can you can't drain, so oil can/will eventually make it straight into the throttle body.

I can point you to some threads over on some Equinox boards I'm on, with reports of 2018+ Equinox LYX 1.5s with 200-300K miles on them, having nothing but basic maintenance done to them (some are dealer loaners).

I posted this video on one of them and out of the gate, some of the members theorize this was due to not using Dexos rated oil. My thought is, you have to work pretty hard to find a non-Dexos oil these days and the ones that are, are more expensive than the Dexos variety.
that would be very interesting information if you could somehow get it , you mention the dexos oils and oci, an example here would be take the average person from the older generation ,like my mother , who has a 2021 malibu , changes the oil when car tells them , which would / could be a 9000 mile oci, takes it to jiffy lube , and counter person askes what oil change would you like , conventional or the full synthetic which is xxx $ more , we can kind off fill in the rest of the story from there , i sold my 2016 malibu at 60k miles because of concerns of the lspi issues that i had heard of , that car ran like a swiss watch with m1 5w30 at 5k oci , same with my 2021, i now have an 2024 equinox with the same 1.5t,

the last part of your comment about a person would have to work pretty hard to find a non dexos oil these days , if you are diy mechanic or mainainence minded person , yes ,very true, but we probly only account for maybe 8-10 % or less of the general population out there , maybe around 92% out there , do you think the correct speced oil is in those vehicles ,and of a respectable oci
i very highly doubt it
 
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