Gm 8.1 liter (496) engine

[hosspuller]

I have a 2001 8.1L & Allison. Needed a driverside exhaust manifold gasket. Studs got loose and leaked when cold. Great power and will pass anything except a gas station. Used oil the first 20,000 miles. Then settled down at a qt every 3000.

 

[Kioti guy]

Thank's to all that responded to the thread. I picked up my new to me 2003 gmc 3500 dually yesterday. It was located 4 1/2 hours away from me so I drove my Suburban down to pick it up and towed the 'Burb back. First impression of the truck is "wow", the towing power is excellent and I think I am really going to like the Allison transmission, it is way smoother then the trans in my other trucks.
In the spirit of "without pics it didn't happen" I will attach a couple of pics............Craig

 

[crashz]

Beautiful truck!

That generation is one of my favorites, especially the GMC version. A couple things to watchout for:

- Keep an eye on oil usage. Its usually steady, but the early LS engines did generally use some.
- The gauge cluster in these years had poor quality stepper motors, leading to false readings and dead gauges.
- Keep the trailer hitch clear of corrosion, grounds clean (especially the one beneath the driver's seat) and replace (do not double) the small charge wire from the alternator to the battery.

Other than a few electrical glitches, these trucks were soem of the best GMs ever built. Have fun and enjoy that beast!

 

[Diamondpilot]

Nice find. I think in the long run you will be money ahead of a pre 06 dmax lbz motor if you are stuck on GM products.
Chris

 

[94BULLITT]

I have a couple of customers that have them. They both like them. I like that they have the Allison behind them. A BBC always burns oil. My one customer said he only gets 10mpg with his. A diesel would save some money on fuel.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Nice truck!

Congrats!

 

[RollingsFarms]

my mechanic has a 2002 dually with the 8.1 and swears they're going to have to put it in the grave with him when he dies. I always rib him about "when is he going to get a new truck?" and before I can even get the question out he comes back with "never! or if I do, I'm still keeping this one!" it even sits under the car port, while his wifes car and his other truck sit out in the weather.haha he puts STP oil treatment in his every oil change and says that cuts down on the oil consumption some. he doesn't seem too concerned about it using oil though. he knows a thing or two about engines, and I take everything he says about them to be gold since he worked in NASCAR back in the 80's and 90's building engines for one of the racing teams (wanna say Jack Rousch but could be wrong). he has TONS of pics in his office though. I always have to look at them everytime I take my truck over there for him to work on.