Engine rebuild oil 2.4 ecotec

[Achilles210]

I just got back my 2013 GMC Terrain with the dreaded 2.4 ecotec. It did have Oil consumption issues. About 1qt every 1k miles. They just did the special coverage where they replaced the pistons and rings and a few other things. The timing chain too I believe and I had a cracked exhaust manifold so paid for that.
I've read after this it should be broken In and synthetic oil is not best option. I know they put about 26 miles test driving it before giving it back to me. I've driven it about 30 miles since I got it back about 3 days ago.
Should I drain the oil and put conventional oil? If so what conventional oil will work with my engine since I know it needs Dexos approved oil which I believe is at minimum synthetic blend. It's been a little over 50 miles so I'm guessing If I were to do this it would be a good time and let it run for another 1k miles and then switch back to synthetic. Would I also need to change filter now since it only has 50 miles since I would be going from synthetic to conventional. The car runs great and it even ran great before I took it to them. I actually love the car even though I have this dreaded engine. I just want to make sure since I got a second chance at minimizing oil consumption that I do it right. I've read so much in these forums and internet these past couple of days I'm just honestly confused. Thanks In advance.

 

[Matt1980]

Hello, I have a 2011 GMC Terrain with the exact same problem. I had my warranty fix done about a year and and half ago. They do replace the timing chain as part of this warranty work as you mentioned. And just like you I also had a cracked exhausted manifold that I had to pay to be replaced, but I told them I wouldn't pay for the labor since the engine was already out of the car as part of the warranty work. You do not need to change out the oil and do not use a conventional oil in this engine. I am sure they just put in ACDelco 5w-30 Full Synthetic which is a fine oil, AcDelco Dexos used to be semi-synthetic but I believe they've gone full synthetic now. Just run it for 5,000 miles and then change it and you'll be fine. After I had my work the Terrain does not burn any oil at all anymore.

 

[addyguy]

Use a Dexos 1, Gen 2 full synthetic 5W-30 in it, do not use conventional oil!

Some would say it is excessive, but with how bad these engines are for wear and consumption, I'd do 3-4K mike changes.

Good luck with the new engine.

 

[Donald]

Did they bore oversize or just slap in new pistons and rings of the original size? If bored there will be more breakin than if just piston rings.

 

[Trav]

Use a dex 2 oil in these, this is the standard for these in Europe and they don't have as many issues with them.

 

[SteveG4]

Any D1G2 oil should suffice. I like both QSUD and Kirkland 5W30. Both are inexpensive and have stout add packs that keep the 2.4L DI engine quiet.

Now that you have the vehicle back, change the oil at 1500 miles, or about half the rated OCI period.

Recommend an OCI period of 3K to 3.5K miles, and no more. These DI engines are hard on oil.

Good luck.

 

[Matt1980]

All good answers here, and yes the Ectotech DI engine is hard on oil, but if you check out https://www.terrainforum.net/index.php many of us, myself included have done UOA on these engines and have found 5,000 miles to be the sweet spot. Yes you can change it earlier than that, but you honestly don't need to.

 

[Achilles210]

Yeah luckily they didn't charge for labor on exhaust manifold. I hear these are notorious for cracking due to heat shield. Thanks guys for making me feel better about just leaving the synthetic in there. Fingers crossed it doesn't burn oil anymore. If It does I hope it's very minimal. 1 quart every 1k was a little excessive. My vehicle has 96k on it right now. Hoping to get this engine to 200k and then buy a brand new Sierra Denali. 🤞

 

[Matt1980]

Originally Posted by Achilles210
Yeah luckily they didn't charge for labor on exhaust manifold. I hear these are notorious for cracking due to heat shield. Thanks guys for making me feel better about just leaving the synthetic in there. Fingers crossed it doesn't burn oil anymore. If It does I hope it's very minimal. 1 quart every 1k was a little excessive. My vehicle has 96k on it right now. Hoping to get this engine to 200k and then buy a brand new Sierra Denali. 🤞


The vast majority of people over at the terrain forum that had the warranty work done had zero oil consumption problems after the fix. Only a few had the problem come back and it seemed that is was probably due to poor work by the dealership. And I feel the same way you do, I got the work done at 89,000 miles and I am currently on 125,000 hoping to get at least 200,000 out of this vehicle before I upgrade. Another tip, if you haven't changed your transmission fluid yet, do it. The transmission on the ectotech 2.4 are on the weak side. Just find some youtube videos, its very easy to do on these vehicles.

 

[BigCahuna]

I don't understand why our local dealer didn't want to do anything to our '11 Equinox. With the same motor. We got the recall paper , but they said no go. It had 55k miles on it when we brought it in. It was using 1/2 a qt every 750 miles. Being it's long out of warranty, I now use whatever oil I want in it. I've found that if I substitute 3/4 of a qt of 20/50 wt added to the 5/30 wt that's called for, the consumption is up to 1200 miles for a 1/2 qt. Still not perfect, but alot cheaper then paying big bucks to fix Chevy's problem. I'll never buy another chevy because of this lousy motor and service from chevy.,,

 

[GaryPoe]

Im in the same boat. Ive been using castrol gtx high milage which seems to be doing just fine. Still burns oil but im not spending a penny on this pos.

 

[Achilles210]

Yeah I'm not sinking big money into it. I do need to change transmission fluid so thanks for reminding me. ...‚. I was sunrises they actually did the special coverage without a fight at all. I did my own oil change, took it down for them to see it was fill. Went back at 850 miles and it was almost down a quart so they took it in. They gave me a 2020 encore as loaner. They had my vehicle 31 days because parts were back ordered. I was worried the whole time hoping my mechanic new what he was doing. He did great job. It's peppy, not as noisy, drives smooth, and now I don't have to see rpm surge from vacuum leak through exhaust manifold. I hated that. It would do it at idle. Go from 800-1000 rpm.