DOD delete Yay or Nay

[gregsmy]

I have a 2010 Suburban LT 5.3. I got the burb when it had 225k miles on it with a bad 6l80. Wasnt sure what I was going to do with it at first but the owner gave me a folder about an inch thick with all the repairs and maintenance done since it was new. They did take good care of it and had full synthetic oil changes done every 5k miles. I repaired the transmission and did some other work and updates to it. One of the things I did while working on it was to send the ecu off and had the dod/afm diasbled. I have put 50k miles on it since then and it runs great. I have invested a fair amount of time in the truck and want to keep it going for awhile.

So that leads me to my question. Should I do a dod delete at this point in its life? Truck runs good, no ticking noises, good oil pressure, etc. I continue to do oil changes at the 5k mark and it might use less than a 1/2 qt of oil. I have been running 10w30 oil in it. I was daily driving it for a couple of years but have switched to a smaller vehicle. I would like to keep the burb as a vacation or long distance driving vehicle. Seems like the LS engine can go a lot of miles, but I also wouldnt want to have a major issue if I was 1000 miles from home if I could prevent it. Just not sure what the expected life would be on the afm lifters? It seems that some of the issues can come from poor maintenance which this vehicle didnt have. Also is there a way to plug the oiling system for the lifters to also aid in preventing a failure?

 

[Marky Dissod]

Good that you have disabled Engine Half@$$. TL,DR: Switch to Valvoline Restore & Protect 5W30 at your first opportunity, you're welcome.

Delete the Engine Half@$$ when you can afford the time & money to do so, begin preparing to do so now, but don't rush.
Parallel to that, look for a used 5.3L (or a used 6.0L!) with Engine Half@$$ disabled.
Idea is to compare a swap vs a rebuild. Whichever you decide you prefer, do that.
If you do a swap, use your old engine to defray the cost of the swap as you see fit.

Don't know about how to mod the oiling system, but a swap is a great opportunity to build the engine as you see fit.

 

[gregsmy]

Good that you have disabled Engine Half@$$. TL,DR: Switch to Valvoline Restore & Protect 5W30 at your first opportunity, you're welcome.

Delete the Engine Half@$$ when you can afford the time & money to do so, begin preparing to do so now, but don't rush.
Parallel to that, look for a used 5.3L (or a used 6.0L!) with Engine Half@$$ disabled.
Idea is to compare a swap vs a rebuild. Whichever you decide you prefer, do that.
If you do a swap, use your old engine to defray the cost of the swap as you see fit.

Don't know about how to mod the oiling system, but a swap is a great opportunity to build the engine as you see fit.

I habe been thinking about switching over to the Restore and Protect. Im in Florida and dont know that the 5w30 vs 10w30 would make much of a difference.

 

[Marky Dissod]

I have been thinking about switching over to the Restore and Protect. Im in Florida and dont know that the 5w30 vs 10w30 would make much of a difference.

5w30 synthetic vs 10w30 (synthetic or what?) may not make much of a difference ...
but I can tell you, after two oil changes, Restore and Protect has made a noticeable difference.
*My dipstick, which has 180,000 miles on it, now looks brand spankin' new.
*After getting a good look at my PCV Valve, it no longer looks like it needs changing, it's that clean.

NO ONE who has tried Restore & Protect has had any complaints.

 

[rdezs]

Yep, 100% concur. Better than sliced bread

 

[tooleyondeck]

At 275K, if it was going to fail you'd think it would have by now. I would only open the engine up if you absolutely have to (collapsed lifter). You may as well rebuild the engine if you're going to remove the heads, then you'll be good for another 275K.

 

[swathdiver]

I would just drive it until the motor tires out. Which is what I'm doing with mine. Still has AFM after 214K miles and it's been turned off for about 100K miles.

 

[B-train]

Just run it. Why put extra worry, and money, into an issue that isn't the problem. Sure it COULD be a problem, but it's not, so just use it and maintain like you have.

We have good friends with a 2014 Denali and it has 240k on the OG 6.2L, no repairs, just maintenance. She wants 300k out of it before considering a new one.......I'm sure she'll get it. Some are just built good, you have one of those as well.

 

[gregsmy]

For everybody that is running the Restore and Protect, do you use it for all 6 qts? It comes in the typical 5 quart jug, so do you buy another quart or just use a less expensive conventional oil for the 6th quart?

 

[Charlie207]

For everybody that is running the Restore and Protect, do you use it for all 6 qts? It comes in the typical 5 quart jug, so do you buy another quart or just use a less expensive conventional oil for the 6th quart?

All 6qts. There's no reason to mix oils.

 

[Charlie207]

NO ONE who has tried Restore & Protect has had any complaints.

Well, I wish it was cheaper. I'm just using it every-other oil change. Otherwise, I'm dumping in the cheapest full-syn. 5w-30 that's on sale.

 

[Marky Dissod]

For everybody that is running Valvoline Restore and Protect, do you use it for all 6 qts?
It comes in the typical 5 quart jug, so do you buy another quart or just use a less expensive conventional oil for the 6th quart?

All 6qt for me, without question.
Been changing every 3500 miles. When I'd change @ 4000 miles I noticed oil consumption, a great reason to use shorter oil change intervals.

All 6qts. There's no reason to mix oils.

IFF mixed with another Group4 synthetic oil, not really an issue, other than not getting the full slow-acting detergent properties of ValRePro.

I wish it was cheaper. I'm just using it every other oil change. Otherwise, I'm dumping in the cheapest full-syn. 5W30 that's on sale.

This is roughly the same as using 3qt of V-R&P with 3qt of the cheapest Group4 synthetic on sale.
(Group3 synthetics can be marketed in the US as full synthetics, but are inferior to Group4 synthetics, if only slightly so.)
I wish it was cheaper too, but it's still cheaper than engine repairs.