oil change with filter - 6 quarts

 

Try switching Oil's.

I used Valvoline High Milage10-30W oil. It comes in a red container. The noise will only quite down with additives. At 80,000 miles I was burning 2 quarts every 2000 miles. I switched to high milage and by the second oil change it stoped buring the oil off. Im almost to 140,000 miles

As for the cold start ticking you can try Sea foaming the engine. It does tend to help. the more carbon build up the louder the engine seems to be.

I have also added marvel mystery oil to the Oil change 5 quarts Valvoline High Milage and 1 quart marvel. The only thing I did not like about that was that it started to use a little bit of oil again. It did take the lifter noise away and minimized piston slap on cold start up.

Valve stem seals are also a possible cause of oil consumption but its usually a 50/50 shot, it also depends on the piston rings and the bore too...

The only way to get rid of the noise is to rebuild it. One of the bigest problems I see is core shift. They machine these things brand new and they tend to change a little bit after a few heat cycles. If the bore is out of round its only going to get worse once it heats up...

 

I haven't tried the high mileage oils. I have tried everything from Mobil, Castrol, Peak, Quaker State and a few others. I do not like Pennzoil, Havoline, or Valvoline. Have had problems with them in the past. Not luck...
I have used Chrysler Top End Engine Cleaner. Works very well but no noticeable improvement. I do not find sludge anywhere I look in the engine, but I do notice when I take my oil cap off to add oil, every couple weeks, there is water droplets in the bottom of the cap. Even a white oil from the moisture. This seemed like a PCV problem to me. That water should be evaporating off when the engine is hot and pulled through the PCV. My coolant is clean and full and I have never been low or lost any also. No leaks there.

 

So I just started up the truck to go to lunch and she blow out a ton of white smoke when she started. Ran fine, but I never saw her do this before. Just turned 148k and she is getting tired.
Question is; If I just wanted to get a set of heads, have them rebuilt, and do a quick head swap; is this a reasonable assumption that this is quick and easy? Maybe a weekend project? And if so, without getting crazy on the wallet, what should I look for as far as heads? I have a 5.3 H.O. aluminum block in my truck. Should I look for 5.3 heads, 6.0 heads, or something different? I will be pulling this motor and rebuilding her this summer. I just don't have the time now and do not want to take my 4x4 off the road in winter in Buffalo....

 

Since you have the extended cab 4X4 and refered to it as the H.O. motor i am guessing you have the L33 motor. It has very good heads on it! Get them cleaned up mild P&P and some good valve springs and you'll be fine bolting them up to a new Short Block.

Any ideas on what cam your going after?

 

I drive the truck daily. I am not looking for a race car. I have a couple chevelle's already. Just figured while I was in there I would go a step or two up for some extra torque. The 6.0L option is tempting, but I remember when buying this truck new, the 6.0L trucks were getting around 9 mpg when new and that is a bit low for me. I am going to stick with my L33.
Does anyone know how they raised the compression in the L33? Was it the heads or the pistons? I am thinkig the pistons as they are Grafal coated ones from the factory.

 

Head swap is cake on these, only issue is all the electrical stuff in the way. I did head/cam/exhaust swap over a weekend. If you're pulling the heads I would go ahead and change lifters, and lifter trays too, just for added insurance. If you're looking at camming it, now or in the near future, we generally all agree to go with hardened pushrods and LS7 lifters. The LS7 lifters are a bit taller than the stockers though... keep that in mind if/when ordering pushrods.

If you're going to get them rebuilt anyway, I'd look into a set of 243/799 casting heads and get them milled .030.

They used flat top pistons instead of the dished pistons to bump the compression.

 

I was still assuming you were going to swap shortblocks with the crate327.

That's why I was saying to clean up the heads and add a nice low end cam for your DD.

 

So if I am already at 9.95:1 compression and I mill the heads .030; how high do you figure I am now? Is this going to get me into a higher octane fuel requirement?

 

Actually... I just did some reading on the L33, it think it comes with 243/799 casting heads already, could you check which heads you have and let me know?

Reason I said to mill the heads. On the LM7, the heads have a 61cc chamber, 243/799 heads have 64cc chambers, so .030 milling will put you back at about 61cc. Thus, no compression change. If the L33 comes with 243/799, then I'd just do a little P&P, maybe some bowl blending if you've got money budgeted towards it, and swap the springs. Since it doesn't look like you're looking at an aggressive cam if you do cam it. The LS6 "yellow" springs should do ya just fine.

EDIT: I just thought about it. the NNBS trucks have 799 heads flat top pistons, and a CR of 9.9:1. I know the L33 has flat tops, so in order for you to have a 9.9:1 CR, you would have to have 243 or 799 casting heads.