HELP Can someone diagnose this? White Smoke and ticking

Gulfwaternick · February 8, 2017

im new to the site, im nick

i drive a 2002 silverado 4.8L 2wd step side

mileage 240k

dont tell me to sell or junk my truck

the truck has been kept up with pretty well.

In the mornings or after the tuck has been sitting a while i will get a pretty noticable ticking for about 30 seconds at startup until the engine warms up, i also get kind of a cough up of white smoke out the pipe at the same time, both of these symptoms go away after about 30 seconds. the truck will drive normal and strong until the first time i have to gas it into traffic or an incline/boat ramp, pretty much anytime i get into the gas pretty hard i get the loud ticking and smoke with a big sluggesh power loss at the same time.

things to note-

about once every 2 weeks i get a low oil light, i check the stick and its bone dry...heres where it gets funky, if i add only about a quart and a half the stick reads alost an entire half inch PAST full on the stick, so from bone dry to over full with a quart and a half?????

No, there is no oil stains on my driveway

no coolant in my oil or vice versa

it is the oem factory dip stick

i did a compression check, all the chambers on the drivers side are even at 140 in all cylinders,

all chambers in passenger side are at 170 exept one was 180, im not worried about the pressure changes from that 10psi on the passenger side of the motor but what i do find strange is how one entire side is lower by about 30psi than the other head, warped head? head gasket?

the plugs did look a little white corrosive and a few inparticular had a bit of carbon build up on them

i took my valve covers off and inspected the lifters checked all the oil passages that i could see from there, no sludge or anything to note, brand new valve cover gaskets, no visible leaks from the exterior of the engine

were could all this oil be going, it doesnt seem to be enough smoke in the orning or while im hitting the gas hard to be burning that much oil?

could a cracked or bad valve seat be the culpret? im starting to get frustrated and how the heck can it go from empty to full with 1 1/2 quart??? ive tried this while hot and cooled down, always on level ground...

im sure whatever is going on with the oil loss is the culprit for the ticking and smoke, I just cant seem to figure it out

any help would be appreciated

Texas Red · March 12, 2017

Hey Nick,

I've had this problem since about that same mileage and now I am at 382k. My mechanic told me early on this is a very common problem stemming from the oil pump itself. Most commonly misdiagnosed as piston slap or lifter noise. Mine smokes at start up most of the time now and I have been advised to start using 20w50 oil to minimize the smoke and ticking.

My mechanic building a new motor for mine and he remains amazed that I have been driving mine so long with the problem. I commute about 45 minutes to an hour to work in Dallas. Sometimes mine will tick for the entire commute, then the next time I start it up to run to the lumberyard, it will not make a sound. There's no telling if it will tick or not and sometimes it will do it at the end of the drive home.

I just got my first oil leak the other day from the timing cover. His has been leaking from the same place for the last 6 months. His truck is the same year as mine [2005 GMC Sierra] and the same 5.3 motor but his mileage is around 150k.

The fix is a new oil pump assembly. In the meantime, he told me to add Lucas to the oil at oil change time to help keep the seals lubricated, but I still get the smoke.