Ive got an 05 burban 2500 with the 8.1L in it and I seem to be going through an abundance of oil inbetween oil changes. I take it in when the oil life gage gets down low but during that time Im adding about 4 quarts of oil sometimes 5 to keep the oil at full is this normal (the dealer tells me that this motor was desighnd to use oil) and dose not have a consumption problem yet!!!! it has about 64,000 miles on it but has been this way from day one. I have a Blazer with 330,000 miles on it and it burns less oil than the burban. I keep telling myself that that is how chevy is going longer then 3000 miles between changes I am always putting in fresh oil so maybe its by design? thanks for any help given

 

I have a 2002 Suburban 2500 with the 8.1L engine. It never used that much oil. From when it was new until it had about 20K miles, it used about a quart between oil changes. After 20K miles, it uses no oil between changes, unless I'm towing the travel trailer (8K lbs). When I'm towing the trailer a lot, then it uses a quart between oil changes. It has about 80K miles on it now.

Steve

 

That to me, is unacceptable oil consumption. However, in a GM bulletin to the dealer tech's, GM states that ONE QUART OF OIL EVERY 2000 MILES IS ACCEPTABLE. Yeah right. So if you believe the GM liturature regarding the OLI, you should have a complete oil change by the time you need an oil change .

But you could look at it in another possitive way. You always should have clean oil with plenty of available additives.

 

After consulting with my wife last night (who now works on the line that produces that engine), she had this to say about it:

NO, that engine should not be consuming that much oil. Take it to the dealership and insist that they check it out. If they refuse, let me know and I'll get the "bad dealership" hotline number from my wife. Oh, and also if they refuse and you need to know, have an independent shop check the engine out. (HINT - either way, have them check the cylinder heads.)