BREAKING: GM is officially recalling the L87

[viven44]

Bottom line if you want your 6.2l to live a long life, I recommend these things.

1. Run only Premium fuel, preferable Top Tier fuel or BP/Amoco with Invigorate
2. Regularly run something like Techron Total Fuel System Cleaner in the fuel tank, I run it at 50% strength full time at the moment.
3. If you have a 2024 or older model, get a Range DFM disabler
4. Run in L9 around town up to 55 MPH
5. Install a catch can and empty is every 2000-2500 miles
6. DO NOT run 0W20 engine oil, seems GM want 0W40, I run Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 0W40, it is NOT Dexos Approved, but it likely would pass Dexos testing with flying colors. Pennzoil does not want to give GM the oil formulation which is a REQUIREMENT for Dexos approval. There are other vendors that do not want to give GM their oil formulation for their higher end oils. Low Sodium is one of the major requirements of Dexos approval and Pennzoil Ultra Platinum meets this requirement.
7. Change your oil every 3000-4500 miles depending on driving conditions. Consider watching the OLM and see what 50% is in mileage and maybe you can use 50% of the OLM as the reference.
8. DO NOT drive the vehicle less than 30 minutes when the temps are below 45F. You really need to drive these vehicles a minimum of 20 minutes almost every trip. Even at 80F it take 20 minute of driving to get the engine oil up to 200F.
9. DO NOT start and allow the engine to idle for warm ups, start the engine, allow the RPM to drop to 700-800 RPM, then drive the vehicle. The oil warms up far faster when driving vs idle.
10. Check your oil every at least other fill up, which is about 1000 miles depending on how the vehicle is driven. DO NOT wait until the low oil light comes on.
11. Keep your oil level at the TOP of the dipstick hash marks. I run 9 quarts at oil change, these engines take more than 8 quarts of oil with filter, check your oil when you put 8 quarts in, you will see the oil level will be about 2/3 down the hash marks on the dipstick.
12. Get a magnetic oil drain plug and install it. It can be a good reference for iron in the crankcase, it may not solve many problems, but GM cheaped out and did away with these. My 2005 6.0l has one and it has been useful to track what is going on in the engine. my 2005 6.0l has 275,000 miles, I hope I can get at least 1/2 of this with the 6.2l??

@jfoj , what if a soccer mom decides she doesn't want to follow your 12 commandments, except #6, can she get away by simply going to 0W-40, maybe changing oil every 5000 miles .... asking for a friend ? If your answer is no, then it might be worth just trading the 6.2L for a 5.3L or a diesel and move on with life as normal.

Speaking of other engines, I was just checking the 2500HD pickups.... 6.6L rated for ~15/20 MPG.... same as the 1500 pickups with the 6.2L @~15/20 MPG. Just a quick search.. one of the links I found

6.6L has no DFM and a bit more low end torque.... the HD truck's Tare weight is also probably a good 1000 lbs more.... what am I missing ??? It would seem the same 6.6L engine would actually do better on a 1500 or family hauler platform.

 

[Marky Dissod]

6.6L has no DFM and a bit more low end torque ... the HD truck's Tare weight is also probably a good 1000 lbs more ... what am I missing ???
I'd take a wild guess and say it is because of the torque curve.

You're missing the fact that vehicles equipped with the L8T are not subject to any CAFE MpG restrictions.
GM is under no compunction or coercion to upshift as early as possible, or to hesitate with downshifts.
Further, vehicles with L8Ts (2500 & up pickups ONLY) are typically not sold for soccer moms,
rather for those who are either towing or hauling much more than kids'n'stuff.

But yeah, if L8T vehicles WERE sold in vehicles typically sold to soccer moms,
and if L8T vehicles WERE under the CAFE MpG thumb,
wouldn't surprise me if the L8T upshifted even earlier than an L87 to keep RpMs even lower.

 

[viven44]

You're missing the fact that vehicles equipped with the L8T are not subject to any CAFE MpG restrictions.

No... I am well aware of that, thats just one of the reasons I prefer 3/4 or 1 ton trucks is historically they have been exempt from a lot of emissions bottlenecks (my 84 1-ton pickup has no cats from factory for example when the 1/2 tons of the same year had cats... this trend has continued over the years... no VVT c**p on the HD trucks in the 2000s across different manufacturers.... and now all the way to DFM).

My point is that the 6.6L's advertised MPG on the 2500HD is the same as the 6.2L on the 1500s (higher tare weight on the 2500 as well)... it would seem GM would meet CAFE MPG requirements a lot better focusing on the 6.6L platform....

Per google AI
2500HD curb/tare weight - 6,267 to 7,804 pounds
1500 curb/tare weight - 4,410 to 5,710 pounds

 

[AliBaba]

This whole topic is making me feel unhappy with my vehicle knowing it’s a ticking time bomb every time I start it.