Originally Posted By: mokeman
Actually, and to the stethoscope comment, I "may" have been to quick to dismiss this idea, and assuming that the hot tick is actually lifter related.
To that point, I did the "pipe to ear" thing yesterday to see if I could isolate the ticking noise. It was fruitless, at least looking for the noise in the engine compartment.
Later on I decided to climb under the truck while t was running. Interestingly enough, it "seems" to me that it is coming from the transmission area, - specifically the front half near the torque converter. Maybe my imagination, but it seems louder just behind the torque converter, - near the transmission front pump area.
But I'll do some more investigation. I seem to be second guessing the whole idea that this is a lifter issue. But with the lifters being deep inside the engine (under the heads), it might be tad difficult to conclude that it is lifter related.
Originally Posted By: 09silverado
New to the forums, but i joined to discuss this issue also.
2009 5.3L Aluminum block 4spd silverado
46,000 miles and I had about 300mi on it since last oil change prior to the trip
M1 5w30 PF48 filter
I'm not sure what is going on, but on long trips it burns a lot of oil (300+ miles) 1/2 quart maybe more.
I normally drive 60 miles a day 10mi at 20-30mph and 50mi at 65+, no oil burn, about 1qt every 5,000 mi but sometimes i get the bad lifter noise, especially if it's cold....
long drive circumstance:
CT to PA - hills, traffic, etc took 7hrs
Used engine braking on hills and slow traffic
stopped twice (for the dog)
truck sat for 2 days after trip, started it up and it smoked like 200,000+ mile small block in a boat.
fwiw, i have had the best luck calming lifter collapse/oil drain down by using M1 and the ac delco filter. I would like to try a K&N oil filter but nobody has them in stock for the PF48 equivalent... had good luck with K&N preventing drain down.
Update...I now have 1k miles on the European M1 0w-40, with a 700 mile interstate trip coming in 2 days - this should prove interesting.
Weather in Ohio has been from 70 down to 20F. I am now very happy with my truck. Oil pressure is very stable cold and hot, still have no noises when cold, and hot I can go thru McD's drive thru without dreading hearing my engine against the brick wall. MPG is exactly the same as the factory fill (probably PP) 5w30, and the oil pressure is MUCH more stable.
Yes, sometimes it's dead quiet, and other times I hear a single, faint tick...but I can live with that. And it's getting better every day. I'm sticking with this oil for the life of the truck.
mokeman,
Yes, those lifters are DEEP in the engine - I'm not surprised yours is noisiest below. Mine is too. I've used the 'pipe' thing for years and mine made noise where yours does. Driver's side, correct?
09silverado,
I believe (99% sure) there's a TSB on your lifters. GM had them redesigned in late '10, which is what I have.
The oil burning is what concerns me....You're at that 'magical' mileage when they do this. So far, I'm good. But, there's a ton of them out there that burn it like gasoline, and GM doesn't know why. Even if the dealer changes the pistons and rings, it doesn't last for many people. I guess we don't hear from those that it does. Google brings up a bunch that it didn't.
One buddy of mine has a '08 or '09 with iron block and 65k and it's dead silent and uses no oil, but he changes it every 5k and uses AC filter and Valvoline 5w30 Synpower. I'd love to see the internals of this AFM 5.3L to get an idea of what's going on.
