High Mileage class of Motor Oils

[Gale Hawkins]

Does any one have a link that compares the motor oil options for 75K+ mile gas engines? Most all major brands at WM have a high mileage line it seems. I am thinking a 10W-40. There are some high zinc options in the 15W-50 weights but that could be a bit much for colder climates but we are seldom below 20F and typically are 30F+ at time of start up.

I have a GM 5.3L with 125K miles that sounds like may have a little rod bearing noise on cold start until oil pressure comes up. The 4.3L with 199K miles does not seem to have the same noise. Never sure when these sounds are mental or metal caused.

 

[kevin37b]

It is mental , those are the lifters rattling . It is a common trait of the newer GM motors . They tend to leak down and rattle upon start up .

 

[Gale Hawkins]

kevin37b the lifters make more sense to me. Someone mentioned piston slap but I though that when cold lasted past oil pressure coming up. It does not use oil and runs quite. I do not hear well but my friend is good so I know he heard something. Lifters and piston slap are non issues in my book but not rod bearing noise. May move to Mobil 1 High Mileage anyway. Replacing the oil sending unit tomorrow evening since it is unstable (reading as low a none (chiming with message on dash at idle) to 80+ like when passing a car. I was under the hood when the daughter reported the low pressure message and the engine never rattled. I was putting an amp meter on a battery cable to check how fast the amp draw dropped after shut down. After a couple restarts the needle stayed around 40 hot. I drove it today 15 miles and got 40-80 PSI.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

OK with the temp at 33F and it parked all day I had someone else start the SUV while I had my head under the hood. The sound for about 1-2 seconds was more like a 'threshing' sound to me and the person on the inside.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I would check that pressure with a hand held unit. I think you have bigger issues. In all my wrenching I have only seen one bad sending unit. Some times the fix was as simple as a new oil filter.

Chris

 

[timswi]

I few seconds of ticking is normal in cold weather with the newer GM V8's...You didn't state what year your vehicle is, but there was a dash cluster replacement that GM was doing even after the warranty expired but I don't believe it was a recall. My '04 GMC's was replaced to to a whacked out speedo that acted up on occasion. May or may not explain the OP guage...

I have yet to hear of anyone who even remotely maintained a 5.3 being able to blow out any internals even well into the 6 figures mileage wise unless they were really trying. I know a ton of people with that drivetrain and I've owned quite a few myself.

As DP said, could be a bad oil filter or something like that if the noise doesn't go away in a reasonable amount of time. I did have that happen once.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

It is a 2003 5.3L with 126K miles in an Escalade
We are going to put on a new sending unit tonight AFTER we check PSI with a physical readout gauge.
Since I was not driving the vehicle before the filter and oil change I just really do not know what it was doing. I think with the Low Oil Pressure message and chiming the wife would have noticed that.

I started it and drove it about 1/2 mile to church which was the first time I had driven in about a year. All was well. The mechanic then drove it to his shop which is about 15 miles away and reports no Oil Pressure issues.

The oil filter (would be the first in my case) may be the issue and if it was just me doing an oil change at home I would just grab a new one. By the way this guy is a NAPA shop all the way and he will not screw on a cheap oil filter. We will pull a real readout with this filter in place and move forward from that point. We have something the wife can make do with so I want to take the time to get it fixed for sure.

I wanted to go to Mobil 1 High Mileage now but he is concerned about it cleaning up the engine too fast. He had one case where a guy used it in a used car he just bought with 40K and it lost oil pressure but the guy shut it off and had it towed to shop. When the pan was pulled by my friend the pick up screen was covered in sludge. For now I am ok going another short change dino or something less aggressive than HM Mobil 1. This guy is good so there is no need to stress him out. Mobil 1 states it is fine to use HM version in older dino using engines but NOT to run it over 3000 the first change or two regardless.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I did not think they put the 5.3 in a Escalade? All I have seen had the 6.0

Chris

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I did not think they put the 5.3 in a Escalade? All I have seen had the 6.0

Chris

I think that may have been the case for the 4WD's in 2003 but ours 2WD since I do not do 4WD's due to poverty.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Sudden Loss Of Oil Pressure - 2007 Chevy Silverado Vortec 6.0L - YouTube

Sadly I think it may be my pressure relief valve in the oil pump since multiply restarts when it is hot so far has brought the PSI back up. So far when cold the OP comes up and works fine but reading tends to go high with high RPM which would be expected if relief valve is sticking.

Per web the most common fix is changing out the sending unit. After we pull PSI with a manual oil pressure gauge the guessing can stop I guess. May do that this evening.