How often do you need to add oil to your 1LE - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums

rgrmoreira13 · 01-24-2016, 09:02 PM

I was wondering of this because today I had to add 2 quarts of oil to my car. (5W30) and I DD the car. I don't take it to the track just my daily commute and the usual pulls on the highway when it is clear. So I keep getting notices that the oil is super low and I check the dipstick and sure enough it is. So if it is not the sensor what else can burn oil so much ?
If it is any relevance the average temp (based off the sensor on the car) of the oil is around 230 to 238 (Once I reach 240 I try to slow down cause I know it is getting too hot)

LT1Zob · 01-24-2016, 09:15 PM

Something odd happening there. I might go thru a quarter quart to half at most, with mixed heavy/little track/easy weekend driving per season (six-seven months). No leaks? Find a good dealer nearby and get it checked out

rgrmoreira13 · 01-24-2016, 09:28 PM

no leaks when I have checked. No burning smell. No smoke coming from the exhaust so I don't know what is going on. That was my next plan of attack actually to take it to the dealer and see what is going on.

LT1Zob · 01-24-2016, 09:29 PM

Can you give some more detail? How long have you owned it? Did you change the oil yourself? Someone else do it for you? Have you checked it periodically? I ordered a 12 RS before I traded it for my 13 1le. I took delivery of my RS and the steering felt weird ( 12 RS had hydraulic steering, unlike our electric ones on the 13 and up). Dealer said it felt fine to them. I took the engine cover off and the factory worker in charge of fluids must have had a bad day. Most of the power steering fluid was poured around the filler, not in the reservoir. Took it back, dealer cleaned it all up, refilled it, all was fine. My point is if you didn't fill it yourself, don't worry yet. Maybe the jackass who worked on it set the pump to 6 quarts not 8 and over a few weeks/months time, it went low enough to trigger a light.

jwcassidy1969 · 01-24-2016, 09:41 PM

Mine doesn't use a drop and I have 10k miles on it.

rgrmoreira13 · 01-24-2016, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gzobian

Can you give some more detail? How long have you owned it? Did you change the oil yourself? Someone else do it for you? Have you checked it periodically? I ordered a 12 RS before I traded it for my 13 1le. I took delivery of my RS and the steering felt weird ( 12 RS had hydraulic steering, unlike our electric ones on the 13 and up). Dealer said it felt fine to them. I took the engine cover off and the factory worker in charge of fluids must have had a bad day. Most of the power steering fluid was poured around the filler, not in the reservoir. Took it back, dealer cleaned it all up, refilled it, all was fine. My point is if you didn't fill it yourself, don't worry yet. Maybe the jackass who worked on it set the pump to 6 quarts not 8 and over a few weeks/months time, it went low enough to trigger a light.

I have owned the car since August 14, 2015. I have a V6 before (1LS) I upgraded to a 1LE. I did my first oil change and I added 8 quarts of oil. ( I had to look up a youtube video on where to drain the oil etc.) and I hadn't had a problem until today. I had to add 2 quarts of oil so that there can be adequate amount of oil. (Up to the 3rd hole on the dipstick I believe ?)

Joseph1LE · 01-24-2016, 10:33 PM

11k miles on mine and have never needed to add oil between oil changes.

Adrian09 · 01-24-2016, 10:42 PM

Mine was leaking because the seal on the oil filter was bad. took it to the dealer and they did an oil change and replaced my oil filter.

LT1Zob · 01-24-2016, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgrmoreira13

I have owned the car since August 14, 2015. I have a V6 before (1LS) I upgraded to a 1LE. I did my first oil change and I added 8 quarts of oil. ( I had to look up a youtube video on where to drain the oil etc.) and I hadn't had a problem until today. I had to add 2 quarts of oil so that there can be adequate amount of oil. (Up to the 3rd hole on the dipstick I believe ?)

In that case, take it in to a reputable dealer and explain the sudden drop. Like I said, a quarter of a quart, maybe, maybe half after 6/7 months of fun driving is my experience and I'm the type that will check the dipstick a lot throughout the season and finally find a reason to add oil. Others are saying none. So your experience is definitely not the norm. Please keep us updated. Very interested in what's happening to that oil.

CamaroDreams76 · 01-24-2016, 11:50 PM

OP if your car is still in break in ( less than 1500 miles)I wouldn't worry. 2 quarts is a bit much either way. But if its break in I wouldn't worry that much.

Camarotobeornottobe · 01-25-2016, 10:12 AM

GM has put on a technical bulletin saying 1 qt every 2000 miles is "normal" under "normal driving" conditions for the LS motors.

It further states that more oil loss is considered normal if the car is in break-in (defined as under 4000 miles) or is driven hard. It goes on to say that the hard driving (for the sake of oil usage consideration) is when you regularly go over 3000 RPM before shifting.

Point here, there will be many folks who scream that their car doesn't use a drop. That's great and all, but oil consumption will vary, and GM will not take action unless they do an oil usage analysis and come up with something more extreme than I described here.

If you do a search on this forum, you will find many opinions on what folks THINK is normal to them. There are also threads about "excessive" oil in catch cans -- when the actual amounts caught, while alarming at first sight, are actually far less than the allowable usage amounts described here.

So, if you lost that 2 quarts during break-in, under hard driving, and over a period of 4000+ miles -- or some combination thereof -- than you really still fall within "normal." For those that do use some oil, you can also expect oil usage to drop after break-in.

vinman · 01-25-2016, 10:24 AM

Mine has just over 5k on it and I did my first oil change at around 1500 miles, I do drive it hard sometimes just because race car, lol, but did notice before I put it up for winter a few months ago I was down about a quart so I added some.

Camaro Dude · 01-25-2016, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Camarotobeornottobe

GM has put on a technical bulletin saying 1 qt every 2000 miles is "normal" under "normal driving" conditions for the LS motors.

Indeed, here it is, I posted the multi page GM tutorial beginning from post#85, http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...=324052&page=5

sherob · 01-25-2016, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jwcassidy1969

Mine doesn't use a drop and I have 10k miles on it.

+1... a little over 11K on mine.

01-24-2016, 09:02 PM	#1
rgrmoreira13 Drives: 2015 2SS 1LE Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Miami WADE County Posts: 1,127 View My Garage	How often do you need to add oil to your 1LE I was wondering of this because today I had to add 2 quarts of oil to my car. (5W30) and I DD the car. I don't take it to the track just my daily commute and the usual pulls on the highway when it is clear. So I keep getting notices that the oil is super low and I check the dipstick and sure enough it is. So if it is not the sensor what else can burn oil so much ? If it is any relevance the average temp (based off the sensor on the car) of the oil is around 230 to 238 (Once I reach 240 I try to slow down cause I know it is getting too hot) __________________ Specs TSP Stage 2 Boosted Cam 227/235 at 114 LSA Fore Innovation Triple pump staged (Walbro 342 primary and 2x Walbro 450 secondaries) Procharger D1x with a 3.85 pulley ID1050x Injectors Flex Fuel Sensor Monster LT1 Twin Disk Clutch Holley Sniper Efi Intake Manifold NW 103mm Boosted TB 747rwhp at 12psi on E85

01-24-2016, 09:15 PM	#2
LT1Zob Drives: 23 LT1 / 19 Z06 / after 6 5th gens Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: MI Posts: 1,984 View My Garage	Something odd happening there. I might go thru a quarter quart to half at most, with mixed heavy/little track/easy weekend driving per season (six-seven months). No leaks? Find a good dealer nearby and get it checked out __________________ "Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you"

01-24-2016, 09:28 PM	#3
rgrmoreira13 Drives: 2015 2SS 1LE Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Miami WADE County Posts: 1,127 View My Garage	no leaks when I have checked. No burning smell. No smoke coming from the exhaust so I don't know what is going on. That was my next plan of attack actually to take it to the dealer and see what is going on. __________________ Specs TSP Stage 2 Boosted Cam 227/235 at 114 LSA Fore Innovation Triple pump staged (Walbro 342 primary and 2x Walbro 450 secondaries) Procharger D1x with a 3.85 pulley ID1050x Injectors Flex Fuel Sensor Monster LT1 Twin Disk Clutch Holley Sniper Efi Intake Manifold NW 103mm Boosted TB 747rwhp at 12psi on E85

01-24-2016, 09:29 PM	#4
LT1Zob Drives: 23 LT1 / 19 Z06 / after 6 5th gens Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: MI Posts: 1,984 View My Garage	Can you give some more detail? How long have you owned it? Did you change the oil yourself? Someone else do it for you? Have you checked it periodically? I ordered a 12 RS before I traded it for my 13 1le. I took delivery of my RS and the steering felt weird ( 12 RS had hydraulic steering, unlike our electric ones on the 13 and up). Dealer said it felt fine to them. I took the engine cover off and the factory worker in charge of fluids must have had a bad day. Most of the power steering fluid was poured around the filler, not in the reservoir. Took it back, dealer cleaned it all up, refilled it, all was fine. My point is if you didn't fill it yourself, don't worry yet. Maybe the jackass who worked on it set the pump to 6 quarts not 8 and over a few weeks/months time, it went low enough to trigger a light. __________________ "Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you"

01-24-2016, 10:33 PM	#7
Joseph1LE Drives: 2015 Camaro SS 1LE, 2001 Camaro SS Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Miami Posts: 836	11k miles on mine and have never needed to add oil between oil changes. __________________ 2017 GMC Canyon All Terrain- daily driver/dirt bike hauler 2015 Camaro SS 1LE- sold 2001 Camaro SS SOM M6- sold 1999 Firebird Formula A4- sold

01-24-2016, 09:41 PM	#5
jwcassidy1969 Drives: 2018 red hot 1le Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Porter tx Posts: 76	Mine doesn't use a drop and I have 10k miles on it.

01-24-2016, 10:42 PM	#8
Adrian09 Drives: 2013 Camaro 2SS/1LE Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Irving Tx Posts: 49	Mine was leaking because the seal on the oil filter was bad. took it to the dealer and they did an oil change and replaced my oil filter.

01-24-2016, 11:50 PM	#10
CamaroDreams76 Tri-County Camaro SWFL Drives: 2013 IOM 2SS/RS/1LE Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: South West FL Posts: 3,076 View My Garage	OP if your car is still in break in ( less than 1500 miles)I wouldn't worry. 2 quarts is a bit much either way. But if its break in I wouldn't worry that much. __________________ Just bolt ons........ https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=343023

01-25-2016, 10:12 AM	#11
Camarotobeornottobe Drives: 1LE Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: East Coast Man Posts: 550	GM has put on a technical bulletin saying 1 qt every 2000 miles is "normal" under "normal driving" conditions for the LS motors. It further states that more oil loss is considered normal if the car is in break-in (defined as under 4000 miles) or is driven hard. It goes on to say that the hard driving (for the sake of oil usage consideration) is when you regularly go over 3000 RPM before shifting. Point here, there will be many folks who scream that their car doesn't use a drop. That's great and all, but oil consumption will vary, and GM will not take action unless they do an oil usage analysis and come up with something more extreme than I described here. If you do a search on this forum, you will find many opinions on what folks THINK is normal to them. There are also threads about "excessive" oil in catch cans -- when the actual amounts caught, while alarming at first sight, are actually far less than the allowable usage amounts described here. So, if you lost that 2 quarts during break-in, under hard driving, and over a period of 4000+ miles -- or some combination thereof -- than you really still fall within "normal." For those that do use some oil, you can also expect oil usage to drop after break-in.

01-25-2016, 10:24 AM	#12
vinman The BBOMG fill-in husband Drives: 2015 2SS/RS 1LE AKA V1LE Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Elmira, NY Posts: 4,458 View My Garage	Mine has just over 5k on it and I did my first oil change at around 1500 miles, I do drive it hard sometimes just because race car, lol, but did notice before I put it up for winter a few months ago I was down about a quart so I added some. __________________ UPSTATE C5 MEMBER