GM V8 Engine Oil Consumption Case In Missouri No Longer A Class Action Lawsuit
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A lawsuit against GM over alleged excessive consumption of oil by Generation IV 5.3L Vortec 5300 V8 engines used in a range of Chevy and GMC vehicles has been decertified as a class action suit by the judge, Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr.
Now, the litigation against GM continues only as a claim that the automaker violated a local consumer protection law in the state of Missouri, the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act, CarComplaints reports.
GM has seen a succession of lawsuits over an alleged piston ring defect in the Vortec 5300 engine dismissed despite the claims of numerous plaintiffs that the company knew about the excess oil consumption caused by the piston rings. All of the suits claim that the loss of oil causes excessive wear and damage to the affected engines and that The General failed to take adequate measures to correct the issue.
The Missouri case brought by lawyers representing 2012 Chevy Silverado owner Robert Riddell was previously dismissed but reinstated on appeal. Judge Limbaugh has now declared Riddell cannot claim to represent a class of plaintiffs since he bought his pickup in September 2012, while GM could not have known about the piston ring issue until October 2012.
Decertification means that the suit now represents only Riddell’s claim based on the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act. This act bans deceptive business practices such as misleading advertising, provided that the plaintiff can prove they suffered a monetary loss from the deception. It also offers legal remedies for people affected by such business practices.
The suit was originally wide-ranging litigation that included a significant list of vehicles from the Bow Tie and Big Red equipped with the Vortec 5300 V8 engine, namely:
- 2010 through 2014 Chevrolet Avalanche
- 2010 through 2014 Chevrolet Silverado
- 2010 through 2014 Chevrolet Suburban
- 2010 through 2014 Chevrolet Tahoe
- 2010 through 2014 GMC Sierra
- 2010 through 2014 GMC Yukon
- 2010 through 2014 GMC Yukon XL
The suit is being heard by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Robert Riddell, the suit’s primary named plaintiff, is being represented by DiCello Levitt Gutzler LLC, and Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis and Miles, P.C.
The General continues to call for the dismissal of the case.
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I have had 2 Vortec 5.3 Trucks a 2002 and my 2005 I still drive. I have yet ever added oil between oil changes with no oil consumption seen
You’re lucky because there are plenty of 5.3s 8.1s and 6.2s with oil consumption.
Wouldn’t be so bad if GM would make things right for the customer. But they’ll stonewall every way possible.
As I recall, over 20 years ago they were saying that a quart every 1,000 was acceptable.
Had a Chevy Suburban with an 8.1. It started consuming excessive at about 25k miles.
Must have cracked a ring or something. Completely failed at 34k miles when it final burnt an exhaust valve on the consuming cylinder.
They put a new motor in it, but only after I wrote and submitted a stockholder proposal they the scrap the product.
Interesting that the replacement ran to greater than 200k miles.
Well the article states Gen IV engines from 2010 to 2014. So the earlier ones like yours seem to not have that issue. My 2000 GMC 2500 with the 6.0 didn’t use oil either, but had that annoying slap noise.
it said between 2010 and 2014.
The problems started later with the fuel management engines, I believe that’s correct. I have a 2006 Suburban with the 5.3 V8. The best vehicle I have ever owned. 235,000 miles and still going strong. It’s my daily driver. I love it. I really hope it outlasts me. I can’t imagine driving anything else. It’s still tight. I never dreamed of owning a vehicle this long. It’s been pampered since it was new and still looks great inside and out.
Dennis, your truck doesn’t have AFM (displacement on demand) that’s why it doesn’t burn oil. The engines in the lawsuit and article have the afm/dod which causes the oil consumption.
Yes the older 5.3 without afm have no problem at all. our is going 230k. Its the ones that came after are causing the problem. Which can all stem to cylinder deactivation
Piston rings. Cue the fast food workers to blame the UAW.
I have a 2009 5.3, have to add a qt every 1,500 miles. In the 60’s this was OK. In this day and age, it’s BS
Soak the motor, use the original blended 5w/30 and run sea foam through your tank once a month and your oil consumption will stop. We have independent shops and dealerships that don’t know how to correct this problem and tell customers they need new engines when they don’t. Just had a 2010 Avalanche last month that we corrected for $450.
Would this work for a 2013 malibu? Cause I’ve been reading up they had the same issue with oil consumption and it was due to pistin rings
No, that is a different solution. Typically, is timing chains and overhaul on the 4 cyl Malibu/Equinox
What do you mean by soak the motor. I have a 2010 Silverado that I purchased last fall. I don’t drive it everyday. It has a tick at start up but goes away after 5 minutes. I’m currently running 10W 30 oil full synthetic as I noticed that the oil pressure was around 20psi at idle with the 5W20. That brought it up to 30psi. I will keep a watch on oil consumption but haven’t driven over 1,500 miles since last fall.
Kruen, exactly how did your process collect this issue, Seafoam treatment free up the rings?
It’s fixable, did it on my 2012 5.3. Turned off the AFM and then took the drivers side valve cover off and drilled tiny drain holes in the PCV oil baffle, went from 1 quart every 2500 miles to 1 quart every 5000 miles. But yeah GM needs to own up to a crappy design to start with, and build trucks for consumers not the EPA.
Yes , you have fixed what ails those engines , extreme crankcase pressure caused by inadequate relief at the pcv because the holes are so small .
Had a Chevy Suburban with an 8.1. It started consuming excessive at about 25k miles.
Must have cracked a ring or something. Completely failed at 34k miles when it final burnt an exhaust valve on the consuming cylinder.
They put a new motor in it, but only after I wrote and submitted a stockholder proposal they the scrap the product.
Interesting that the replacement ran to greater than 200k miles.
If it was a ring issue, cylinder compression would be lower then normal. You would also be fauling plugs or at least see evidence of burning oil. Do ya think?
not if its just the oil ring
To get to the combustion chamber it would, wouldn’t it?
Only other way I know would be valve seals.
I have a 2010 Chevy Avalanche I’ve done replaced the motor in mine.Due to bad oil pump I replaced it with a new one and 1 month and day it dropped oil pressure took it back they said it had metal shavings in oil so I went and bought a new motor
I’ve owned Chevrolet engines from 6 bangers to 454s and never owned one that used a quart of oil between oil changes (every 3k miles). If it did it had a leak, needed rings or needed valve seals.
I’ve got a 2009 Avalanche 5.3L with 350k miles that’s spent much of it’s life pulling a 7000lb trailer. Definitely leaks oil like crazy at this point but ZERO oil consumption. The key is disabling the AFM system on the 5.3 as early as possible in the engine’s life (definitely before 60k and even earlier if the vehicle has been babied and spent a lot of time operating in 4 cylinder fuel saving mode).
The 4.8L, the 5.3’s predecessor, was a known 350k mile workhorse but when GM decided to increase the displacement to 5.3L in order to be more competitive with Ford/Chevy in the booming truck/SUV market they decided to take the AFM shortcut to continue meeting emissions and fuel economy requirements with the larger engine. Variable displacement needs to be designed into an engine from it’s inception, not tacked on as a bandaid years into the production. The deactivated cylinders run cooler then the engine was designed for causing oil to thicken in the ring landings and the deposits building up decrease the spring tension of the oil rings eventually leading to excessive oil consumption and piston and cylinder scarring on the deactivated cylinders because they can’t maintain a seal or properly lubricate the cylinder bore. After vehicles fail their stupid oil consumption test, GM covers the repair but requires service departments to ship the oil scarred pistons and rings back to them to help hide an obvious design failure – if pictures of scarred pistons and blacked oil rings on AFM deactivated 5.3 cylinders started popping up on the internet the problem would be undeniable and they’d be losing these costly class action suits.
It’s not a coincidence that the scarring and oil consumption issues show up on the exact same cylinders deactivated by AFM.
I have a 2011 Silverado and she definitely has oil consumption issue. I installed a DOD disabler and no more burnt spark plugs (lean) mostly cylinder 7. Smoother idle and although is still uses a little oil, it’s an acceptable level.
Nah, you folks didn’t check your oil. Adult better. Zero issues.
Have a 2010 silverado with 5.3 always had that ticking when first started it in the morning,and had to replace motor with only 93000 miles because of DOD. Replacement motor, no ticking and put computer chip to turn off DOD….worse design ever!
I purchased a 2011 Silverado new still driving it with about 160k no oil issues oil change interval between 10k to 11k mobile 1. I was told a lifetime ago you break a new engine in the way you are going to drive it I broke mine in on the floor lmao. Works for me