oil level low on message indicator?

[Coolade07]

i have about a little over 51k on the truck. i have my oil changes 3-4k religiously.

after my last change....the message "oil level low" came up 1500 miles or so. im still at 78%.

anyone encounter this? is it a minor prob? take it to the dealer?

and i only use full synth.

 

[zach2011]

Check under the hood and make sure the level isn't actually low. I mean I know you got it changed ~1500 miles or so, but I'd check anyways to help narrow down the problem.

 

[mikeyboy]

deffently check the levels and check for leaks

 

[LILC509]

After you check for leaks and all that good stuff, you will come to find out that there arent any. From what I get from you ID is that you have an 07. I have an 07 also and GM is looking into it for all the oil consumption. It is within GM specs to add a quart every 1K miles. But if its more than that then they will put you on list and once GM sends out a bulletin then they will contact you. Dont wait for the bulletin anytime because this has been ongoing for about 2-3 years now. New engine is the only way to get rid of the issue.

 

[Coolade07]

After you check for leaks and all that good stuff, you will come to find out that there arent any. From what I get from you ID is that you have an 07. I have an 07 also and GM is looking into it for all the oil consumption. It is within GM specs to add a quart every 1K miles. But if its more than that then they will put you on list and once GM sends out a bulletin then they will contact you. Dont wait for the bulletin anytime because this has been ongoing for about 2-3 years now. New engine is the only way to get rid of the issue.

werdup....i checked the levels. its good. checked for leaks. none at all. and yes it is a 07tahoe. did you head up to the dealers service dept. about this?
thanks for the input everyone!!!

 

[David4Jesus]

Yep same here. Had GM change my oil, add oil came on, I checked level and for leaks and nothing. Took it to jiffy lube just to have changed again to be safe the oil they drained was full and perfect and after their change the light came on again. Who do we see about this awesome list? So its not a sensor?

 

[fixxxer88]

It most likey is an oil sensor. I had the same problem about 10k ago. Had 75000 at the time i kept getting that oil level low on the DIC. I checked the oil level all the time and it was ok, and defiantly found no leaks. I went to autozone and picked up a new sensor (30 bucks) and swapped it out. Worked like a champ.

To locate the sensor, Look under your truck on the engine oil pan near the oil plug. The sensor is forward of the oil plug, on the same side of the pan. Its a white/off white colored plastic thing that has 2 wires sticking out of it. Use a small flat bladed screwdrive to pop out the connector on the sensor. Use a wrench or socket to unscrew it a few turns, then it should be unscrewed the rest of the way by hand. (make sure your oil is drained). Slap on the new oring Install the new sensor in the reverse of the install, but do not over tighten. And make sure you put on the NEW o-ring. Reinstall the connector, (only goes on one way) and add your oil. Make take a few minutes of running for the PCM to register the new oil sensor correctly, but it should work the first time.

 

[llllljrlllll]

i have about a little over 51k on the truck. i have my oil changes 3-4k religiously.

after my last change....the message "oil level low" came up 1500 miles or so. im still at 78%.

anyone encounter this? is it a minor prob? take it to the dealer?

and i only use full synth.

I went through the same thing. Dealer said it was the type of filter being used. They recommended using delco filters because it has a plug that other filters don't have. Change your oil with a delco filter. That's what I have now, and problem went away

 

[OklabyGodhoma]

BULL FRIGGING SH*T......dealers and their Delco filters. There are many threads on filters and oil and I have also added to them. There are cheap and expensive filters but bottom line is no one specific brand is the magic bullet. Personally I only use WIX because of construction and filter media and Delco is a decent filter as well as Purolater and others. Fram not so much, and stay away from the "managers specials" or the cheap crap out there. Bottom line is if you are using ANY quality filter the problem doesn't lie there....it's in the sensor, plug, wiring, etc. Tell them to get off their dead and dying and act like real mechanics and diagnose and fix the real problem. Most problems of this type come from electrical malfunctions. Have you been off roading, had excessive wet weather, snow, or possibly a road hazard hit.

Now all of this applies IF you have made sure that some road hazard hasn't damaged the oil pan and the filter and drain plugs are both properly tightened. Most trouble shooting properly done takes the problem and cuts it in half. Examine every component til the point that you are sure it isn't the problem or part of the problem and then move to the next. Over the years I was a Quality Assurance Manager I can't tell you the number of times that my mechanics missed a wire that had become chaffed and was intermittently rubbing someplace and sending bad information to the gauges. Remember even if you aren't mechanically inclined you are paying someone who is.....you have the right to ask pointed questions and expect honest informed answers. One last thing to consider....if your pressure was always high and suddenly dropped and you have changed everything discussed here then it is time to consider the oil sump pump....the dealer won't go there by himself but as the customer don't be shorted.

 

[LILC509]

I just went back to the dealer for them to put a "shield" because its still burning oil more than GM standards. Also if you surf the net on Google and hit oil consumption for 07 tahoe or yukon you will find a lot of people with this problem. I even was told by one of the service tech's he highly doubts the shield will remedy the problem because its the AFM in those particular engines.

I know GM is on this forum. GM do you have anything to say about what is going on with our SUV's. My vehicle has been in the dealership service department in and out since I bought it 12/2009 checked for leaks none at all and through oil consumption test multiple times, its not only me having the problem but a lot of GM consumers having this problem that own 07 Tahoe, Suburban, Yukon, Yukon XL with the 5.3L engine that I know of maybe even Sierra and Silverado. Two of my friends here in town had the same problem as me, they got tired of taking their Yukon's to the dealership and nothing being solved so they traded their vehicles for Lincoln Navigator and Toyota SUV. So far you have lost many customers because of not dealing directly with this issue. You are about to loose another and many more. The problem is from the AFM system. Replace the engines with current model engines and there wont be a problem I gurantee it. I dont know what happened to your 2007 production but it really was crap.

Sorry for the rambling but just had to get it off my chest for the second time, the first went to the dealer but they cant do nothing if they dont get "authorized" to replace the engine.

 

[SBCT]

I am also curious to hear what GM has to say about this problem as I am concerned about my '07 Yukon.

 

[GatorWPB]

I was having an oil level low message issue on my 07 Denali. Brought it in twice to dealer. On second time, they said there was a bulletin for the oil level sensor. They replaced the sensor and no problems since. Not sure if the same issue/resolution applies to the Tahoe.

 

[LILC509]

It's not the sensor because the oil level is really low when the light comes on and of course there aren't any leaks check many times by the dealer. I am burning more oil than what is put in at an oil change so basically I am paying for a $40 oil filter. The dealer is having me go every 1k miles. which I dont mind because its only about ten blocks from my house and get my oil topped off everytime but it is a PITA to having to worry about your oil level. Like when I went on a trip to LA, CA it was a round trip of about 4k miles and I used up about 6 quarts. California dealer added 3 quarts and when I came back they had to add 3 quarts.

So GM get to it on this mayor issue. GM we are waiting for your response!

 

[David4Jesus]

On my Escalade it started coming on and I had it checked and double checked and the level was fine on mine and when I have gone in for my oil changes there has been no loss in the oil/ excessive oil consumption. So maybe for some people it is a sensor and for others sensor & consumption? Either way its an issue that is serious and should be addressed better than it has been.

 

[LILC509]

The only engines that I am aware of are the 5.3L in tahoe, yukon, suburban, yukon xl. I dont believe it is happening with denali engine or Escalades. GM needs to get on this but I know they arent going to because the fix is a new engine for all of us that are having the problem easy and simple as that.

 

[alengineer]

hi;
i has tahoe z71 2007 , i have the same alert (low oil level) and i checked the oil level and i found it over the level around 0.5 inch.
the alert upper after driving the second or 3rd drive every day.
on the morning there is no alert.

please tell me whats happend with ur tahoe , did u fix it and what i should do for this bad car

i love dodge durango , i am sure i will replace it asap

 

[hhrpdr]

I am also on the schedule of checking oil level every thousand miles. If it checks outs and is a problem they said they will rebuild the engine. Tisk Tisk GM this is one of many problems with this vehicle. And your service departments representing you are far below satisfactory.

 

[LILC509]

You better get that in writing. Because they will put a baffle on and tell you that its fixed. I don't drive my Yukon how I use to maybe sometimes on the weekend because I bought a 03 Eclipse GT for work. Are you within <36K mi. warranty? I have seen GM rep. on other threads but how come they don't get on this one. My oil change is almost due now. I just took a 8 hr trip last weekend so will see how much oil has burned and what the dealer has to say about it. Let us know if you get a letter or something from the dealer stating the engine will be rebuilt because of excessive oil consumption.

 

[gsxrkid]

I know I'm just preaching to the choir here but I too have an 07 Tahoe 5.3L with this same issue. It first happened to me when I took a road trip from San Diego to Monterey. We stopped in Pismo Beach for the first night to camp on the beach and that next morning I experienced this issue for the first time. Being that I JUST changed the oil the day before we left, I was scared to death I blew a seal or something was majorly wrong, however, after a thorough inspection all I could see was that I was simply down about a quart. I stopped at a local auto parts store and threw one in. About a week after returning to SD, I was down yet another quart and a half. I've batted around all sorts of ideas that could be causing this issue. My truck shows no signs of burning this quantity of oil in that little amount of time for sure, and there certainly isn't any visible leaking. Mine is not burning near the quantity that LILC quoted earlier:

Like when I went on a trip to LA, CA it was a round trip of about 4k miles and I used up about 6 quarts. California dealer added 3 quarts and when I came back they had to add 3 quarts.

In which case I can't believe that truck isn't puking oil out the exhaust.

Anyway, I certainly know that it isn't the sensor because when the warning light comes on, the vehicle is indeed low on oil and needs a top off of at least a quart. I know for sure that it isn't leaking. So what could it be?..

I have found an interesting correlation between when I first noticed this problem and when I started using cheap "off-brand" oil. Since the rising oil prices (and lord knows all of us with our beloved gas guzzling SUV's have felt them) we have all made changes from what we normally would do. For me, I compromised the brand of oil that I would normally have never deviated from. I switched from Castrol Syntec (which I always have used in the past) to the generic O'reilly Auto Parts fully synthetic oil brand.

Is it crazy to think that maybe cheap generic brand oils break down and lose volume faster than name brand oils? It sounds like a crazy theory but since I switched back to Castrol, I haven't had the problem anymore.

If anyone has more knowledge on oils I would love to read your input. I have no idea if I'm on the right track at all with this but for me, my switch back to a better oil has made a noticeable improvement. I do know that all oils have to meet the same SAE standards so it seems that all oils would be relatively in the same ballpark but I would love to hear more from someone with a greater knowledge of oil....

Gsxr out

 

[pervitizm]

I went through the oil consumption test on my 07 suburban for about 6 months with the dealer showing them that I was loosing about 1 to 1.5 quarts of oil per 1500 miles. So the long story short was that my piston rings were bad on the truck and new piston, piston rings were ordered and replaced at the cost of the dealer due to the 100k warranty.