Which oil would you use in an 04 Chevy Suburban with the 5.3 L engine? I will not be pulling any trailers. I use amsoil in my corvette and mobile 1 in my S10. Any advantage to either in my suburban?
Which oil for Suburban?
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MolaKule
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I would use a 10 W30 in either Mobil 1 or Amsoil.
Used both and two Suburbans have > 300,000 miles on them, no engine work.
Used both and two Suburbans have > 300,000 miles on them, no engine work.
MolaKule
Staff member
They are the older 5.7L engines, all cast iron boat anchors with the electronic 700R4 AT's.
Chalk up another 300K plus Suburban, '87 with no engine work. Those old 350's really last.
Used to own a 5.7L Tahoe and when using the recommended 5w-30 it would burn 1qt ever 2-3k synth or reg, but moving to 10w-30 didnt seem to burn any.
My take is regardless of what oil you use, "there is no solution like dilution". So, while I use synthetic oils, I do not adhere to the notion that one can go b'zillions of miles between OCI. IMHO, new vehicles are just too expensive to worry about extending the life of an oil change.
Your vehicle has the aluminum block engine. I do not know how, if at all, this will change reliability over the older cast iron block 350's.
I have an Avalanche with the same engine. Since it's warm here in Northern Calif., I intend to run Kendall GT-1 full synthetic 10w-30, with OCI of 3K miles, and Baldwin oil filters.
Best of luck.
Bob W.
I have a friend with a older suberban with the 350 5.7 with 375,000 miles never touched. Well he has always used a good 15W-40 in it and he will only use a quart about every 2,000 miles. The previous owner used wolf's head 15W-40 in it and he didn't have any problems ether.
Yeah, twice. Once at around 150K and again at 320K. Not sure about the ball joints, original I believe but we put more springs in the rear. Oh, and the diff blew at 180K. This vehicle pulled more loads then the law should allow.quote:
Originally posted by Chris B.:
300,000 miles on a American vehicle!!!! Don't tell the foregin lovers that!
Have you guys had to replace the transmission at all? Also how are your Ball joints and tire rod ends/suspention doing at this kind of mileage?
MolaKule
Staff member
Yes, about the same scenario as EmbarkChief.
I have had 2 tranny rebuilds/replacements on each. I replaced U-Joints once on each Burb with zerk fittings. Had a diffy ring gear tooth failure on the '92 at 245,000+ miles.
As with the Chief, I have hauled loads of wood across country with both, which really puts a strain on the 700R4's. But I pull 2 tons of fire-wood with them at 75+ mph for up to 400 miles at a time, however, the trannys lasted up to 185,000 miles before rebuild/replacement. I find the GoodWrench factory replacements to be better than the rebuilds.
No tie rod ends or spring replacements on either. Same original PS pumps. Replaced shocks every 25,000 miles because some of the roads are gravel.
My Vote goes to Amsoil ATM 10w30, unless you want to cough up a few more bucks and go with the Series 3000 5w30 HDD.
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