BREAKING: GM is officially recalling the L87

[jfoj]

Lucky the nerds petrochemical engineers and tribologists that work for the oil companies have figured out that moly can replace zinc and restore most of the lost lubricity from an additive standpoint, but so far there is just no replacement for viscosity (but man do they keep trying).

There is nothing new, nothing cutting edge, nothing unique about the lower end/ rotating assembly of the 6.2, its good old proven technology. The only difference is the thin oil (see there is no replacement for viscosity yet statement above).

But now, a problem that just didn't really exist before (main and rod bearing failures) has suddenly re-appeared. It must be just a strange coincidence that it happened at the same time that thin oils started getting spec'd by your logic.
...

Moly for the WIN. Probably the thing that needs Moly the most are the needle bearings in the roller lifters. But it can also help with the bearing surfaces as well. Back in the motor building days, that is all we used was Moly for engine assembly. \

The only engine failure happened when a buddy was helping someone I know build a motor. He told the guy to grab the can of Moly in the tool box and lather up the camshaft. WELL it turned out the guy grabbed the same size can of VALVE GRINDING COMPOUND! Probably a few beers involved? Opppps, was rather sad because this was the guys biggest investment into a big block to date.

While 0W20 by itself it not so bad, borderline IMHO, the problems start when fuel contaminates the 0W20 engine oil, then there is NO safety margin. 0w20 turns quickly to 0W10 or just 0 weight engine oil. Not ideal for a torquey V8 or even something like a high strung turbo 4 cylinder. The problem is there is not a fuel sensor in the crankcase to turn a light on or to trigger the Oil Change Reminder. Even then, most people, your typical owner, will get around to changing the oil when they get around to it.

5W30 or 0W40 will give a much greater safety margin when it comes to contaminated fuel and the severe bearing loading on higher torque engines that are lugging around at 1500 RPM.

 

[DontTaseMeBro]

Moly for the WIN. Probably the thing that needs Moly the most are the needle bearings in the roller lifters. But it can also help with the bearing surfaces as well. Back in the motor building days, that is all we used was Moly for engine assembly. \

The only engine failure happened when a buddy was helping someone I know build a motor. He told the guy to grab the can of Moly in the tool box and lather up the camshaft. WELL it turned out the guy grabbed the same size can of VALVE GRINDING COMPOUND! Probably a few beers involved? Opppps, was rather sad because this was the guys biggest investment into a big block to date.

While 0W20 by itself it not so bad, borderline IMHO, the problems start when fuel contaminates the 0W20 engine oil, then there is NO safety margin. 0w20 turns quickly to 0W10 or just 0 weight engine oil. Not ideal for a torquey V8 or even something like a high strung turbo 4 cylinder. The problem is there is not a fuel sensor in the crankcase to turn a light on or to trigger the Oil Change Reminder. Even then, most people, your typical owner, will get around to changing the oil when they get around to it.

5W30 or 0W40 will give a much greater safety margin when it comes to contaminated fuel and the severe bearing loading on higher torque engines that are lugging around at 1500 RPM.

Someone posted here last year that at 3k miles, 0W-20 is barely at its rated viscosity. So imagine driving around for another 2-7k more miles before an oil change. Like you said, zero safety margins thanks to fuel dilution.

 

[0x_2a]

Getting your hopes up for a replacement motor? Here's what it sounds like after 10K miles. Been living in replacement warranty hell for 2 years now.

 

[jfoj]

@DontTaseMeBro

So interesting about my 3 oil analysis that I had done on the factory fill and the 2 oil changes since. And my truck only has 6000 miles and the oil has been changed 3 times! 80% of my driving is highway, if I start the truck, it will run 2-6 hours at a time, with the exception of a few town trips and I typically try to have the engine run for 30+ minutes.

Most of my oil analysis reports had about 1% fuel with around 2,500 miles. 500 mile oil change was more in like 0.5% which is also SCARY, but figure all the cold starts and short drives from the plant to the storage lot, on to the truck, off the truck at the dealer, to New Car Prep, to the gas station to fill the tank up. This is all by 5 or 6 miles!! Then you sell the vehicle and the oil is not changed until 7,500 miles??? SCARY!!!!

So figure a 7500 mile oil change based on the OLM with the same driving habits, I am looking at 3% fuel dilution!! This would really kill the viscosity. This also assumes the oil level had not dropped to the point the Add Oil Light would have come on, low by 2+ quarts and this also assumes I would not have checked the engine oil. These engines will consume oil and will consume oil faster the more fuel diluted it becomes. 2 quarts low at 7500 miles, the fuel dilution would probably be round 4%!!

This is the craziness of all of this.

4% fuel in 0W20 is not going to end well.

 

[jfoj]

Getting your hopes up for a replacement motor? Here's what it sounds like after 10K miles. Been living in replacement warranty hell for 2 years now.

If this is really your ride, it sounds like there may be exhaust manifold leaks, but there may be some other things going on as well.

 

[KMeloney]

@DontTaseMeBro

So interesting about my 3 oil analysis that I had done on the factory fill and the 2 oil changes since. And my truck only has 6000 miles and the oil has been changed 3 times! 80% of my driving is highway, if I start the truck, it will run 2-6 hours at a time, with the exception of a few town trips and I typically try to have the engine run for 30+ minutes.

Most of my oil analysis reports had about 1% fuel with around 2,500 miles. 500 mile oil change was more in like 0.5% which is also SCARY, but figure all the cold starts and short drives from the plant to the storage lot, on to the truck, off the truck at the dealer, to New Car Prep, to the gas station to fill the tank up. This is all by 5 or 6 miles!! Then you sell the vehicle and the oil is not changed until 7,500 miles??? SCARY!!!!

So figure a 7500 mile oil change based on the OLM with the same driving habits, I am looking at 3% fuel dilution!! This would really kill the viscosity. This also assumes the oil level had not dropped to the point the Add Oil Light would have come on, low by 2+ quarts and this also assumes I would not have checked the engine oil. These engines will consume oil and will consume oil faster the more fuel diluted it becomes. 2 quarts low at 7500 miles, the fuel dilution would probably be round 4%!!

This is the craziness of all of this.

4% fuel in 0W20 is not going to end well.

You don't have many miles on your truck. I was hoping that you had 60,000 miles on it and that it was holding steady. At only 6000K, it's tough to say whether everything you're doing/not doing is "working," or if it's just a matter of time (miles) before things go south.

I'm crossing my fingers.

 

[StephenPT]

Here's the official response from GM on why the '25 6.2L is not included in the recall.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2025/04/heres-why-gm-6-2l-v8-recall-doesnt-apply-to-2025-model-year-vehicles/

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

[blanchard7684]

So the 2025’s are still spec’d with 0w20 because “crankshaft and connecting rod manufacturing improvements “.

That means it took 4 years to figure out this “manufacturing defect”?

 

[KMeloney]

So the 2025’s are still spec’d with 0w20 because “crankshaft and connecting rod manufacturing improvements “.

That means it took 4 years to figure out this “manufacturing defect”?

No -- It just means that it took them 4 years to decide what to do about it.

 

[Scarey]

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. I have a build date June 22, 2024. Meets the manufacturing improvement process by 21 days. That explains why I haven’t been notified. Not sure if this is a good thing or not. In any event I will know definitively about the oil weight one week from today, that’s when I have an oil change scheduled at the dealership.