What to do to eliminate burning oil/piston slap in an 02 LS1

[HottestZ28]

I remember when i was working at Bergey's Chevrolet and a TSB came out about oil consumption for the LS1 and it was found that in 50% of the caces it was putting 7 quarts of oil. The dipstick would read full but we were told only 6.5 no matter what the stick said

[Rhode Island Red]

?? you got me confused on that last one...

you were saying the delaer would add extra oil to prevent it showing it burning oil?

[Rhode Island Red]

here is a list of all 2002 Pontiac Firebird TSB's

http://home.att.net/~smokie87/Firebi..._Bulletins.htm

[Wht87RS]

wow it seems that the 3rd generation small blocks have their problems. I remember my 97 7.4L had piston slap/lifter noise till I put mobil 1 10w/30 and prolong before it went away. My 2000 7.4L didnt make any noise. (I know those are not F-body engines) I used to work at a Saturn dealer and we had the same problems with the S-series 1.9L twin cam engines consumming oil where we had to change the oil and start the oil consumption test and have the customer come back every 1,000 miles so we could verify the usage.
Then we would tear the engine down and find worn out cylinder walls, stuck oil rings, and bad valve stem seals.

You are definitely gonna have to raise hell for the GM dealers to fix your cars. You guys have lemon laws in your states right? out here in CA if you go back to the dealer 3 consecutive times for the same problem and no resolve...its a lemon. You can get a new car.

[N20LT4Bird]

You could just leave it in their front lot with a note on the windshield "IM NOT PAYING FOR THIS ANYMORE".......

[Joe 1320]

Not sure if this has been addressed, I haven't read evey link posted.

The reason you are getting this condition is the piston/ring design is a twisted step design. The idea was that the piston rings could be designed to create less friction on the cylinder walls and still provide good oil control by changing the angle of contact against the cylinder wall. What happens is that the ring literally twists slightly as the piston goes up and down creating a smaller contact area against the cylinder wall. While this does creat less friction, high rpm and light load can cause poor oil control as you've seen in many instances. Many have been able to successfully have the rings replaced with a non twisted design under warranty. All you have to do is to accelerate your oil burning a little by removing the drain plug for a second to drop an extra quart out before they check the level again. This condition will not go away on an engine that is already broken in, it is not normal per se, it is not designed to burn that much oil. The emissions of the car will be excessive if burning oil as well.

Got enough ammo yet?

[Rhode Island Red]

Joe,

Funny you say emissions testing I have to get the car tested. I did in fact have a tune of the engine done and when noting the wide-band a/f on the dyno.... I was running 11.0-1 for a/f

do you think i could pass emissions given we tuned it back to 13.0-1 for this LS1 ?

I plan to get it tested after april 30th ..hopefully it will fail and it force the dealer to fix the true problem the oil burning

[Mirroredshades]

"All you have to do is to accelerate your oil burning a little by removing the drain plug for a second to drop an extra quart out before they check the level again."


That's pretty funny Joe.

[Joe 1320]

Originally posted by Rhode Island Red
Joe,

Funny you say emissions testing I have to get the car tested. I did in fact have a tune of the engine done and when noting the wide-band a/f on the dyno.... I was running 11.0-1 for a/f

do you think i could pass emissions given we tuned it back to 13.0-1 for this LS1 ?

I plan to get it tested after april 30th ..hopefully it will fail and it force the dealer to fix the true problem the oil burning

Not sure. Usually the leaner you go, the better the sniff test goes.