How much oil should my truck use?

   / How much oil should my truck use? #1  

ch1ch2

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Apr 15, 2013
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Location
DFW, TX
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IH 584, NH TC33DA, NH TN95A
I bought a new '16 Silverado with the Duramax engine. My first truck with a diesel, and I love it!

First oil change, I was out of state an used a Chevy dealer whom was supposed to change the oil rotate the tires and fill the def fluid. He changed the oil and put a little def fluid in to go 300 mile before the low def message came on.

Second oil change I did myself.
Easy enough, they put the plug and filter were I could get to them with no problem. I read the manual said 10 quarts. After I was done it was clean up time and I put the used oil back in the one gallon bottles. I ran out of used oil at 6 quarts.

So where did the other 4 quarts go? OH, dang*, I over filled the engine. I check the dip stick. NO, thank goodness. The dip stick was right on the money.

So again where did the other 1 gallon of oil go?
Did the engine burn it?
Did the dealer not fill it up?
Why did I not get a low oil message?
 
   / How much oil should my truck use? #2  
I suppose your first oil change at the dealership could have been done by an inexperienced mechanic who only put in 6 quarts instead of 10. I'm not sure if newer vehicles work like they did years ago but I think oil level has to be much lower for the low oil indicator to come on. Most low oil warning lights rely on a pressure switch. As long as the oil pump has oil in the sump it can maintain a set pressure. Once the oil gets low enough where the pump can suck air the pressure switch senses a loss in pressure sending a signal to the low oil warning light.
 
   / How much oil should my truck use? #3  
May be lower than this before the oil message comes on (is there one?? even until recent vehicles don't have this my 12 Colorado doesn't)

If short it was either not put in at dealer or yes it burned it...or leaked but the later is easy to deny or confirm.

How big is the filter?, I bet you can allow a quart for the filter and residue in the engine.
 
   / How much oil should my truck use?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
If short it was either not put in at dealer or yes it burned it...or leaked but the later is easy to deny or confirm.

How big is the filter?, I bet you can allow a quart for the filter and residue in the engine.

There is no leakage, and the filter is about the size of a quart, but I would think with all the "stuff" in side of the filter it would not hold much more than 1/2 a quart. It is worth mentioning that next to nothing came out of the filter when I took it off, and I believe most filters have an anti-drain feature so it would hold 1/2 a quart.

As far as residue, if the system holds 10 qts, the residue should equal the amount that did not come out in the drain. Or the residue would be 4 qts. So I should not have been able to put 10 qts in and have it on the full mark. It would have been higher than the full mark if there was much residue left in the engine.
 
   / How much oil should my truck use?
  • Thread Starter
#5  
I suppose your first oil change at the dealership could have been done by an inexperienced mechanic who only put in 6 quarts instead of 10. I'm not sure if newer vehicles work like they did years ago but I think oil level has to be much lower for the low oil indicator to come on. Most low oil warning lights rely on a pressure switch. As long as the oil pump has oil in the sump it can maintain a set pressure. Once the oil gets low enough where the pump can suck air the pressure switch senses a loss in pressure sending a signal to the low oil warning light.

I never thought about how the oil level switch works. With oil pressure gauges and idiot lights, I never thought that the oil level indicator would be the same.
 
   / How much oil should my truck use? #6  
That's why I do all oil changes I don't trust lube shops and beside that the oil is good to start fires when I clean.
 
   / How much oil should my truck use? #7  
I bought a new '16 Silverado with the Duramax engine. My first truck with a diesel, and I love it!

First oil change, I was out of state an used a Chevy dealer whom was supposed to change the oil rotate the tires and fill the def fluid. He changed the oil and put a little def fluid in to go 300 mile before the low def message came on.

Second oil change I did myself.
Easy enough, they put the plug and filter were I could get to them with no problem. I read the manual said 10 quarts. After I was done it was clean up time and I put the used oil back in the one gallon bottles. I ran out of used oil at 6 quarts.

So where did the other 4 quarts go? OH, dang*, I over filled the engine. I check the dip stick. NO, thank goodness. The dip stick was right on the money.

So again where did the other 1 gallon of oil go?
Did the engine burn it?
Did the dealer not fill it up?
Why did I not get a low oil message?

Our DMax will randomly burn a quart of oil between fill ups.... Dealer could never find a problem.

It will go for months with no issue and then boom, down a quart.

Keep an eye on it.
 
   / How much oil should my truck use? #8  
Turbos and diesels use oil, it's just how it is. It's not uncommon for my 7.3 to use 4 - 6 quarts between oil changes, which I do every 7500 miles with an oil analysis, but my truck holds 16 quarts and won't even register low on the dipstick until I'm almost 4 quarts low. 4 quarts in a 10 quart system sounds a little high but, it could be within the norm. My BMW is also a turbo and it's within spec for it to use as much as 1 quart every 500 miles. This is generally the result of running high boost and pushing the engine but, it's still considered normal.

I'd ask the dealer or look in the manual to see what GM says is acceptable use and just get in the habit of checking it every time you fill up to see if a pattern emerges.
 
   / How much oil should my truck use? #9  
From the sounds of things, the dealership never got it full. I think you'd notice the blue smoke if it was burning enough to use 4 quarts between oil changes.
 
   / How much oil should my truck use? #10  
Turbos and diesels use oil, it's just how it is.

Interesting comment: I don't recall any of our 2, 4, or 6 cylinder diesel tractors using enough oil between changes to require adding any. This is on both naturally aspirated and turbo models. We changed oil approx every 100 hrs.

This on diesels made in the 50's through the 80's. Are new vehicles worse?
 
 
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