A class action lawsuit against GM for an alleged defect in its naturally aspirated 5.3L LC9 V8 gasoline engine – leading to excessive oil consumption and possible engine damage – has been dismissed by a judge in the Western Division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama.
The case, Dominguez Hurry, et al., v. General Motors LLC, had several of its claims against GM dismissed earlier, but three claims continued to be heard until today’s dismissal, Car Complaints reports.
The case, brought against GM by two individuals, alleged that defective piston rings in the LC9 V8 engine wear out sooner than they should, forcing owners to constantly top up the engine oil. Failure to keep up with the continuous oil loss, the suit asserts, leads to extremely low engine oil levels, poor lubrication, and possible damage to the powerplant during operation.
The plaintiffs also claimed that GM launched an investigation dubbed “Red X” in 2008, demonstrating knowledge of the problem, as did several service bulletins to dealerships. Measures taken by The General to correct the problem, including development of a new positive crankcase ventilation cover and installation of shields on the active fuel management valve failed to stop excessive oil consumption.
The affected Chevrolet and GMC vehicles included 2011 to 2014 model-year units of the Chevy Avalanche, Chevy Silverado, Chevy Suburban, Chevy Tahoe, GMC Sierra, GMC Yukon, and GMC Yukon XL, per the lawsuit.
Judge Emily Marks dismissed the Alabama class action suit based on the statute of limitations rather than GM counterclaims. In her written remarks on the case, she said “the time elapsed between these purchase dates and the date the Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit exceeds the limitations period for all of their claims.”
An identical lawsuit based on the LC9’s alleged tendency to leak oil out of the crankcase was dismissed in Wisconsin back in 2021. In that instance, the judge dismissed based on the plaintiffs failing to complain about the issue during the warranty period, as well as a successful argument by GM that only defects in materials and workmanship are covered by its express warranty, while the oil consumption issue is a design defect.
Several other lawsuits have been filed in relation to the allegedly defective piston rings, including two in the state of Ohio.
The 5.3L V8 LC9 engine is now discontinued from GM production, replaced by the naturally aspirated 5.3L V8 L83 gasoline engine, part of the EcoTec3 engine family. The Vortec engine family itself has been completely replaced by the EcoTec3 lineup after nine years of use in GM vehicles.
According to GM Small Block chief engineer Jordan Lee, EcoTec3 engines “have all the power and torque needed to confidently handle the tough jobs, and they seamlessly switch to four-cylinder mode to increase efficiency during light-load driving.”
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Comments
GM is a shadow of its former self on the world stage. So sad. This direct injection issue was solved by Toyota and they didn’t charge $60k per vehicle to do it.
My 2022 Silverado 5.3 had to be overhauled at 1900 miles because the low oil warning light came on and I didn’t here any engine noise, so I drove to the dealership a short ways from where I was. Checked the oil level and it didn’t show on the dipstick. Was without the truck for 2 weeks. They gave me a loaner truck, which was fine.
so where did the oil go? clearly not a consumption issue…
Probably out of the tailpipe in a blue cloud.
there is no way a brand new engine (or even any engine thats in remotely running condition) can burn 6+ quarts of oil in 1900 miles. but once more we get a sensational story without any context or logic.
You have never heard of Newton’s law. Catalytic converters especially brand new ones do a good job of masking oil burning.
Didn’t say it was completely out of oil, only that it wasn’t visible on the stick.
sorry to gravedig but i forgot to look back in here.
to not have oil on the dipstick you are 80-90% out of oil. your pickup tube is sucking vapors at this point. usually there is around a qt the dipstick wont pick up a reading on.
GM can keep their keep their ecotec3 power plants. Seems the heavy duty 6.6 is having same problem as per the forums
so i’ve read. ironically its an amazingly well built engine on paper. and no AFM on it either. apparently its a piston issue (rings, bores, pistons whichever). we cant blame lifters and cams on the 6.6 but i wonder if those engines just dont like the higher pressures of the DI and that makes it behave like so. DI really increases cyl pressure making for oil and everything else more likely to slip by the rings. and back to my point this being a cylinder issue.
Very very sad that GM is willing to use the courts to screw their very customers. Had trans issues with my 18 6.2 Denali 8 speed…..however I am a lifelong GM truck fan so I am giving them one more chance on this new 23 Silverado 6.2. I will say news like this and does not bode well, particularly since I discovered that they are not even supplying a decent hard copy owners manual anymore.
was it the torque converter that went out? just asking for a friend :))
” design faults are not covered by warranty” -GM 2021
slow clap. quick raise msrp again, that will fix that too!
We need some of these judges to preside over the Trump law suits.
I had a vega years ago, when I pulled into the gas station I asked the attendant to fill the oil, and check the gas…
Had a monza, a corvair, aztec, saturn, chevette, and a cimmaron I did the same thing with.
FOR MANY DECADES THE GM MANUAL HAS STATED TO USE A HEAVEIER GRADE OF OIL IF YOU ARE PULLING A TRAILER OVER A CERTAIN WEIGHT. THIS HAS BEEN THE HUGE RED FLAG, TO READ BETWEEN THE LINES FOR ANY OWNER.
SWITCHING TO A FULL SYNTHETIC LUBRICANT ALSO WILL SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE OIL CONSUMPTION AS WELL AS SWITCHING TO A THICKER GRADE WETHER YOU USE NORMAL PETROLEUM OIL OR A SYNTHETIC. REMEMBER THAT THE FIRST NUMBER IN AN OIL RATED AT 5W20 OE 5W30, IS THE RELATIVE THICKNESS OF THE OIL AT START UP TEMPERATURES. THIS MEANS THAT BOTH A 5W20 AND A 5W3O, HAVE THE SAME THICKNESS WHEN THE ENGINE FIRST STARTS OR AT A COLD TEMPERATURE. ONLY WHEN THE ENGINE GETS UP TO A NOT, NORMAL OPERATING TEMPERATURE AFTER ABOUT 12 MILES OF DRIVING, WILL THE HIGHER RATED 5W30 HAVE A BETTER VISCOSITY OR THICKNESS TO BETTER ABLE TO COOL THE ENGINE AND PROTECT AGAINST WEAR. BY SWITCHING FROM A NORMAL PETROEUM 5W20 OIL TO A FULL SYNTHETIC OIL WILL NOT USE MORE FUEL BUT IN FACT THE EXTRA SLIPPERY SYNTHETIC WILL SAVE ON FUEL CONSUMPTION, FOR BOTH GASOLINE OR DIESEL ENGINES. A SYNTHETIC LUBRICANT HAS MOLECULES THAT ARE ABOUT 4 TIMES SMALLER THAN A NORMAL PETROLEUM OF THE SAME 5W30 GRADE AND THAT IS ONE OF THE MAIN REASON THAT A SYNTHETIC WILL PROTECT YOUR ENGINE PARTS BETTER. A SYNTHETIC IS A CHEMICAL LUBE AND BECAUSE OF THAT, IT BREAKS DOWN ANY CARBON OR VARNISH THAT NORMALLY FORMS IN AN ENGINE THAT USE A PETROLEUM OIL. IF YOUR ENHINE HAS EXCESSIVE OIL CONSUMPTION, GET YOUR LOCAL HIGH SCHOOL OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO INSTALL NEW TOTAL SEAL RINGS, BUT ONLY AFTER YOU SWITCH TO A FULL SYNTHETIC AND RUN IT FOR 2,500 MILES TO REMOVE MOST OF THE CARBON BUILDUP AROUND THE PISTON RING LANDS. IF YOU HAVE HAD EXCESSIVE OIL CONSUMPTION, YOU PROABLY ALSO HAVE A HUGE CARBON BUILDUP ON YOUR EXHAUST VALVES. IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO THE RINGS, IT’S BEST TO REMOVE THE CARBON BUILDUP ON THE VALVES AND COMBUSTION CHAMBER AT THE SAME TIME. NEW VEHCILES ARE TOO EXPENSIVE, JUST SPEND $1,000 TO REPLACE YOUR RINGS AND YOU WILL ALSO SAVE ON FUEL WITH A REFRESHED ENGINE.
Your cap lock is on. There’s a button for that.
Some people need to type in all caps to make themselves feel important and more intelligent than others. Reality is, doing so makes one look like a “all about me me me idiot”
Did you happen to stay at a Holiday Inn recently?
My 01 chev 2500 hd had oil consumption issues from day 1. Gm did nothing for it. 8.1 liter. I added oil every 1000 miles. I owned it for 23 years. Gm knows about issues but fail to take care of customers after a sale
I own a 17 Tahoe. 56k on it. I check the oil every week. It was due for its oil change. I was traveling and my wife was using the truck. She called me from the road saying the low oil pressure light came on while she was on the highway. Told her to pull over. She pulled of and went into a autozone. She let the engine cool off and checked the oil. Bone dry. She called onstar and had the car brought to our gm dealer who had changed the oil. They changed the oil for free and said to keep a eye on it. Wtf. She only had driven it for a week before I checked it.
what is the oil change interval? another story of oil missing that im sure will be traced to user error. you guys dont have oil burn issues.. you literally have a didnt put the drain plug back in issues……………..
and your tahoe has an oil pressure gauge in the dash that will tell you long before the light comes on you are losing oil pressure. once the light comes on you have 30 seconds or less to shut the engine down before major damage begins to occur.
Wife was driving it. I was in Denver. She’s as observant as I am.
until a design defect kills somebody, consumers have no recourse.
There defense is “our engineers have big guy moments and these moments are not covered by any warranty”
I’ve used AMSOIL in all my vehicles since early 2000. No engine oil issues. Only one leaked and that was a 2011cruze which leak at oil line for turbo. Never had PCV valve issue on the Cruze that was also a known issue. I will say don’t trust oil that dealers or quick lube places use
I have a 2013 Sierra 1500 with the 5.3 It’s awesome. Never uses a drop of oil.
I also have a ’13 silverado and it never uses a drop of oil and it just turned over to 251,000 miles.
it most certainly uses some oil. if we are to get banal here oil burn off is unavoidable in engines. they are designed to do that since you have to lubricate the piston rings in the combustion chamber a bit. that oil goes brrr each stroke. so any engine will burn oil.
at 250k i guarantee you, that you are burning easily 1qt every 5k which is actually impressively good. but in reality its probably more than that
I owned two GMs neveragain, i would never purchase this vehicle of failure!
but somehow we still hang out on GM forums. Hmmm.
I’ve bought the 2011, 5.3 vortec when it had around 65,000 miles. Probably around 77,000 miles the oil pressure sensor started going on it and check the oil everytime since it was still reading good on the dipstick I left it like that because it had the AFM V-4 mode. With the sensor going it made the engine light always come on and would stay in V-8 mode the whole time. Fixed it at 195,000 with a new oil sensor and wish I didn’t, because now I have to put it in M- mode and set it on 5th gear everytime I drive. AFM and oil pressure sensor needs recalled on all of them. AFM go bad around 200,000 miles.
Too many idiots driving today just drive until the oil change light comes on instead of checking the oil periodically and topping off as needed. My 12 Silverado used a quart in about 4000 miles. I change it at 5000 miles so at 2500 or so I top off with a half quart. My engines don’t die. If you keep them full of fresh oil and cool, they will last a very long time. Oil is cheap, so change it! Dirty oil and excessive heat are an engine’s two biggest enemies. If you heavy tow frequently you should change more often, DUH.
2013 Suburban 130000 mi. doesn’t use any oil and runs perfect.A friend of mine has a 2011 same thing. Several other friends have 5.3s and 6.2s with high mileage and tell me they have never had any issues. Some maintenance and common sense goes a long way.
They rebuilt the whole top end of my motor at 35,000 miles due to excessive oil consumption. I was using 2 quarts of oil every 1500 miles. They told me the pistons were fried. Now my truck is back in the shop for the same thing and now they are replacing my motor for the exact same thing @ 60,0000 miles. This time I was going through 2 quarts of oil every 1000 miles. By the way, I have a 2020 Silverado Trail Boss 6.2.
Shut that cylinder deactivation crap off and you will have a 90%+ chance of never having a problem again. They call it DOD or death on demand for a reason.
In order to shut it off, you have to replace the lifters and the camshaft, which is called a DOD Delete Kit and sells for between 499.00-1299.00 plus labor which can be as much as 2000.00. May as well wait until the engine blows and do it then. That’s what I did.
There are companies that sell things you can plug in to your OBD to port to disable it. I would recommend taking it to a tuner shop where they can go into the computer and shut it down.
You can thank the lazy and entitled UAW workers as well as corporate for trying to save a dollar which screws the consumer.
Educate yourselft on the equipment you are operating. There is regular maintenance to be adhered to. It is rediculous and unsafe for people to buzz around in these things willy nilly and complain about the way they maintain said macinery expecting it to last forever all the while demanding bells and whistles and coffe makers and video game systems be included instead of state of the art low emmission efficient and reliable powertrains. You will soon be forced to drive or be driven in an electric vehicle with a whole new set of problems but i can assure you they will not consume oil. #rant over
How often do you change your oil? Per manufacturers recommendation? There’s your problem.
2012 Escalade Hybrid 6.0 doesn’t burn a drop.
A lot of you guys problems are not ring related,gm sells a revised valve cover for the left side but it’s not any better I bought one for my 08 Yukon after looking at it I decided to modify my own take 1/4 drill bit dill a couple of hole in the baffle plate near the bottom/back so the oil will drain better and not sit there and be pulled out by the so call pcv valve also put in a real pcv valve.
I feel the oil that gm wants us to use is to thin. Mine is 0/20 good for 80 below lol. Can’t be no good for above 0 use. No wonder they use oil. But I’m not the engineer behind this.
I just did a AFM/DOD delete on a 2011 Silverado. The Eco engines are crap. I changed all the lifters to same size, new valley cover, new cam shaft and the computer needs to be reprogrammed for it to work properly. It turns off the 4 cylindar option and has more torque and horsepower. The gas savings with the AFM doesn’t get much better mileage. GM has known about the problem since 2007. Even current models have had trouble. I drove half way from Minnesota to South Carolina and back missing one cylindar as the lifter collapsed and was stuck. Look up chevy AFM/ DOD, many forums on the subject. Also many lawsuits and litigation that have lost in court. I guess you cant count on a chevy engine to go 300,000 miles anymore. If you change and keep oul topped off and super clean you might make it. But that oil consumption really floors me that they can keep a straight face and call it normal wear and tear. If you do one of these deletes make sure you change the computer and disable it or it can get worse. Can either order a tuner and do yourself or mail the computer in for $50 but takes a week or two and have to Pay shipping or bring it to a high performance or racing shop and they want $250 minimum. I bought a cheap tuner called super chips. Can also use Diablo? Or HP Tuners. Kind of fun and easy to use. It just asks you questions and it programs for you, can also do many other functions like eliminating the high speed limiter and gear ratio and etc…
Good moves Jon. Now start looking for a good 4L80E because those 6L80Es weak torque convertors will take out the whole trans and the permeant fix for that is trans rebuild with a torque convertor with a billet cover and updated piston, pricey. Shame you have to back in time if you want to have a long lasting, reliable gm truck.
Good comments, Jon. It’s nice to see the forum discuss the vehicles and not so much politics (plenty of other places for that). I’ve owned two 6.2L and two 5.3L GMCs. The first 6.2L did not have any variable displacement feature, two had AFM and the last (5.3L) had DFM. I always keep the engines pristine and am fussy about lubricant quality and service intervals. I never had an issue with any of them except the annoying piston slap in the 5.3Ls. I drive consistently and my mileage was actually better by one or so MPG with the first one without any management system. The 5.3L engines did deliver better mileage by only a couple of MPGs. But the 6.2Ls would burn the fuel at a much higher rate (-5 to -7 MPG) driving above 75 MPH. I drove them all over 120,000 miles driving the non-AFM/DFM engine 196,000 before I had a head-on collision (the Yukon Denali XL won that encounter). None of my engines burned/used any oil whatsoever. Obviously many others are experiencing unusual oil consumption and I couldn’t account for the difference other than high attention to service/maintenance and no hard driving.
My heart is really with the 6.2L engine – it’s a great engine. I won’t buy many more vehicles and really wanted the 6.2L with 3-inch CAT back system. The big-head won that argument and I bought the 3.0L LZ0 and couldn’t be more pleased with it. I don’t have the rumble of the opened 6.2L but the engine is great.
I have a 2018 Chevy Silverado 1500 5.3 with 47,000 miles on it and I have yet to have an oil consumption issue.. however, one issue I’m having is when on a super highway with the cruise set at 75 mph, if I am on an uphill grade the transmission seems to shutter a little bit trying to figure out if it wants to downshift or not.. I don’t care for that but I don’t think there’s an issue with the transmission I think it’s just a poor design issue
Your torque convertor is on its way out. Replace it now or you will also be rebuilding your transmission. A better fix is a torque convertor rebuilt with a Sonnax billet cover and updated piston, not a inexpensive update and not available at the dealer.
My day is 500 miles a day in my 2018 Tahoe. I used to check the oil and fluids on Sunday. Now I’m checking every morning. It’s like I have my 1971 Impala that burned oil like gas. Oh well. Better check it than kill it.
Ah, the good old days. We checked oil levels daily when I was a yute. My younger employees have no idea where to look for the dipstick or why they should check. My worst was a quart every 1,000 miles which wasn’t too bad at around 50 cents for a quart.