2.7 Turbo 4 Fan Club

customboss · December 6, 2022

46 minutes ago, Black02Silverado said:

Interesting that the water went up so high. Is this due to the colder months? At least the FD stayed down.

Yes and it sat for 4 days without being run. I purposely pulled it cold for that reason. At least 300 ppm is a fuel additive I am testing from RLI.

The Amsoil did exceptionally well. NO AL wear is amazing for this design. The RLI 5w20 HD LA is 1% ash content. It will also clean for the time it was in use. Maybe 600 miles or so? I forget.

the wanderer · December 6, 2022

On 12/5/2022 at 2:48 PM, KARNUT said:

I don’t know where the advantage is with the 2.7. The latest car and driver for 2023 models has the 5.3 doing better fuel mileage on HWY. Maybe low end grunt for light pulling?

Fuely is a better spot to compare:

https://www.fuelly.com/car/chevrolet/silverado_1500?engineconfig_id=95&bodytype_id=&submodel_id=

https://www.fuelly.com/car/chevrolet/silverado_1500?engineconfig_id=63&bodytype_id=&submodel_id=

On top of that, the 2.7 has a lot more torque, and it comes on faster/lower. It feels much stronger around town than the 5.3 much like diesels do.

In a 0 to 60 WOT haul, my money would be on the 5.3 as it still has more HP, but for actual driving and towing the 2.7 is better.

Reliability/durability - yet to be seen, but so far so good.

Edited December 6, 2022 by the wanderer

Grumpy Bear · December 7, 2022

I do not understand what people are doing to their trucks to get such awful milage. Just crossed 163K miles on my 2015 4.3 and all but 8.5K of those miles was on gas which netted a lifetime average over 7 plus years of 28+ mpg. The last 8.5K on E-85 a bit under 23 mpg. The adjusted EPA sticker on this motor says 24 mpg as the highway number. ON GAS! :dunno:

customboss · December 7, 2022

32 minutes ago, Grumpy Bear said:

I do not understand what people are doing to their trucks to get such awful milage. Just crossed 163K miles on my 2015 4.3 and all but 8.5K of those miles was on gas which netted a lifetime average over 7 plus years of 28+ mpg. The last 8.5K on E-85 a bit under 23 mpg. The adjusted EPA sticker on this motor says 24 mpg as the highway number. ON GAS!

They drive them like electric golf carts? Pack animals in a city cycle.

the wanderer · December 7, 2022

10 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

I do not understand what people are doing to their trucks to get such awful milage. Just crossed 163K miles on my 2015 4.3 and all but 8.5K of those miles was on gas which netted a lifetime average over 7 plus years of 28+ mpg. The last 8.5K on E-85 a bit under 23 mpg. The adjusted EPA sticker on this motor says 24 mpg as the highway number. ON GAS!

Well they're averages so it's easy to get dragged down by guys who tow a lot or do a lot of city driving or run lifts or offroad tires etc. I beat both those averages in my truck but I know for sure I'm an outlier.

I also beat the highway EPA for my truck, I have in all my cars. But if I'm doing all city it can take a pretty bad nose dive, and that's where the 2.7 probably shines best if you can keep the boost down.

customboss · December 7, 2022

1 minute ago, the wanderer said:

Well they're averages so it's easy to get dragged down by guys who tow a lot or do a lot of city driving or run lifts or offroad tires etc. I beat both those averages in my truck but I know for sure I'm an outlier.

I also beat the highway EPA for my truck, I have in all my cars. But if I'm doing all city it can take a pretty bad nose dive, and that's where the 2.7 probably shines best if you can keep the boost down.

Good points. The L3B non HO was designed to be a Ecoboost style product, in other words it uses copius amounts of boost for a given throttle input to optimize fuel burn to the limit of being able to run 87 avg pump octane fuels. It also OVERCOOLS the head and turbo and overheats the lower end to optimize IC engine design for economy and emissions. If driven at relatively low RPM it will boost to get that idealized balance. If full throttled it will needlessly overfuel. Folks here that are older school feather foots and short shifters will see idealized economy. This from a little over a year of driving it in high altitude ops with lots of weather and wind with one long run to Michigan at high speeds last summer for funeral.

Grumpy Bear · December 7, 2022

1 hour ago, the wanderer said:

Well they're averages so it's easy to get dragged down by guys who tow a lot or do a lot of city driving or run lifts or offroad tires etc. I beat both those averages in my truck but I know for sure I'm an outlier.

I also beat the highway EPA for my truck, I have in all my cars. But if I'm doing all city it can take a pretty bad nose dive, and that's where the 2.7 probably shines best if you can keep the boost down.

The thing that puzzles me is that Fuelly.com is a very large sample.

Chevrolet Silverado 1500 MPG - Actual MPG from 2,086 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 owners (fuelly.com)

Take the offered link in example and limit the view to just the 2014 and newer Gen 5 motor. I count:

1073 trucks. 94,428 fills. 27,870,165 miles Almost 28 MILLION miles!

And the result? Mid 16 mpg range across all years.

This isn't 'drag down' by a few guys towing with lifts. This is what it is, and it looks like the 2.7 is following the pattern about 1.5 mpg higher.

I can and have run 70 mph into a 20-mph headwind running E-85 and can't force it down to 16 mpg. The shop has let it idle in the parking lot of hours and hasn't run a tank down to 16 mpg. Fact is, it's never had a tank below 20 mpg. Not even in Rockford, Ill city traffic, the home of the 3-minute untimed stop lights. LOL. Fuelly shows it at 18mpg.

I know @customboss gets better than the EPA average and it seems you do too, but really, what are people doing to these poor trucks to have so large a number do so poorly?

Edited December 7, 2022 by Grumpy Bear

KARNUT · December 7, 2022

Most of my vehicles I hit the advertised average on the interstate at 70 mph over the years. Usually a tic better going west on the return trip. The most sensitive is the CRV. I rarely hit the the stickers HWY mileage. It’s is the smallest engine. I’m usually around 27 Hwy Mpgs. My wife’s Geneses a full sized car with 100 more HP does that. The Camry did 27 MPGs too. My 14 GMC was 22-24 Mpg with the 345 gear. The higher mileage was going 60 on HWY 17 going around an accident on interstate 95. I was such a nice drive I just stayed on it. I did get 30 Mpg with the CRV. I had a tail wind. The CRV does its best in town I have hit the same as the HWY mileage. I never hardly mash the throttle on the CRV. There’s no point.

the wanderer · December 7, 2022

2 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

The thing that puzzles me is that Fuelly.com is a very large sample.

Chevrolet Silverado 1500 MPG - Actual MPG from 2,086 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 owners (fuelly.com)

Take the offered link in example and limit the view to just the 2014 and newer Gen 5 motor. I count:

1073 trucks. 94,428 fills. 27,870,165 miles Almost 28 MILLION miles!

And the result? Mid 16 mpg range across all years.

This isn't 'drag down' by a few guys towing with lifts. This is what it is, and it looks like the 2.7 is following the pattern about 1.5 mpg higher.

I can and have run 70 mph into a 20-mph headwind running E-85 and can't force it down to 16 mpg. The shop has let it idle in the parking lot of hours and hasn't run a tank down to 16 mpg. Fact is, it's never had a tank below 20 mpg. Not even in Rockford, Ill city traffic, the home of the 3-minute untimed stop lights. LOL. Fuelly shows it at 18mpg.

I know @customboss gets better than the EPA average and it seems you do too, but really, what are people doing to these poor trucks to have so large a number do so poorly?

Your 4.3 has the same avg MPG on fuelly as the 5.3, so the 2.7 should get you (personally) better MPG than your 4.3 does.

Edited December 7, 2022 by the wanderer

newdude · December 7, 2022

On 12/6/2022 at 10:43 AM, customboss said:

For all the L3B fans.....latest oil sample taken with great results but it had to be topped up with Renewable Lubricants 5w20 HD low ash because I was out of RLI. Look mom we stopped the aluminum wear. Still in SAE grade too. The RLI products are tough and made in America by Mom and Pop in Griggy OH.

Currently has a fresh load of Havoline ProRs 5w30 which is working quite well in cold here.

Thanks to Nick, site sponsor known as Black02Silverado for the ISO certified oil analysis service.

Nick Mikitka

Independent AMSOIL Dealer

Synthetic Advantage LLC

email: [email protected]

Phone: 910-290-2371

Your fuel dilution went down on the two most recent samples you pulled which is nice.

What's with the bump in sulfation and oxidation?

newdude · December 7, 2022

14 hours ago, Grumpy Bear said:

I do not understand what people are doing to their trucks to get such awful milage. Just crossed 163K miles on my 2015 4.3 and all but 8.5K of those miles was on gas which netted a lifetime average over 7 plus years of 28+ mpg. The last 8.5K on E-85 a bit under 23 mpg. The adjusted EPA sticker on this motor says 24 mpg as the highway number. ON GAS!

You don't drive like most people LOL..jk.

My 2019 LD 5.3 I turned in averaged 14.5mpg for 48,412.7mi. That included lots of WOT and E85 in the spring/summer/fall (was dyno tuned for 93 and E85 as well). Best rolling 400mi average was 18.0 and that was set on 93 octane which I'd run in the winter.

Even in my 2012 5.3 I'd get 14mpg winter/17mpg summer per tank.

So far in my 22 2.7 HO the worst tank I've seen was 17.9mpg. Best was 22mpg. 9900mi my average is 19mpg. I ran a 100mi mpg loop, no faster than 60mph, pulled 26.5mpg on that loop. I drive the same style as before, aside from the copious amounts of WOT in the last truck. I've seen WOT with my 2.7 but not like before.

Edited December 7, 2022 by newdude

customboss · December 7, 2022

36 minutes ago, newdude said:

Your fuel dilution went down on the two most recent samples you pulled which is nice.

What's with the bump in sulfation and oxidation?

RLI baselines vs Amsoil.

Grumpy Bear · December 7, 2022

3 hours ago, the wanderer said:

Your 4.3 has the same avg MPG on fuelly as the 5.3, so the 2.7 should get you (personally) better MPG than your 4.3 does.

If the 2.7 is still around when I put Pepper in the ground, it's likely up next.

Could be awhile though. We may be driving around with Warp engines running on Dilithium by then. Heck, I'm still working on the Titrillium D hull plating. Stuff keeps blowing up.

Edited December 7, 2022 by Grumpy Bear

4banger · December 9, 2022

At sea level the 5.3 can do 11% less work 13% faster than the 2.7 H.O. At 4000’ elevation(where I live) the 5.3 can do 21% less work 1.5% faster. The long stroke 2.7 is a truck engine, the short stroke 5.3 is sports car engine.

To add insult to injury the long stroke 2.7 is 160 lbs lighter and it’s peak work is 1100 rpm less than the 5.3. The 2.7 also has no lifters (big warranty item on 5.3/6.2).

The Duramax does 6.5% more work 11% slower than the 2.7 and it’s does it 1500 rpm less than the 2.7. Weighs similar to 5.3 and has the emissions headaches.

The Duramax does 17% more work 22% slower than the 5.3 at sea level. It’s peak work comes 2600 rpm less than 5.3 also. At 4000’ elevation it does 26% more work 12% slower.

You can see the 2.7 blends performance of 5.3/Duramax while being way lighter and no emissions/warranty/power loss headaches.

The 6.2 does 6.5% more work 26% faster than 2.7 at sea level. At 4000’ elevation the 6.2 does 5% less work 16.7% faster and weighs a lot more, with lifters. Peak work for 2.7 comes 1100 less rpm than 6.2. 6.2 is also a short stroke motor.

People really want to think of the 2.7 as a little 4 banger and fuel economy wizard. It’s not. It’s a giant workhorse 4 banger.

Yes empty on summer gas I can achieve rated hwy mileage behaved with a 4” lift, chin spoiler removed and 985 lbs of fuel/tools/gear/mods but it’s not hard to suck fuel like the 6.2 if you ask for those power levels. It’s no slouch anywhere, it can scoot, it can work, it can go economy also, just more flexibility than the v8’s imo. It sort of blends all three other options into one motor really, especially when elevation is involved and 60% of continent doesn’t live around the ocean from recollection.

Right now in winter kids school grocery commutes on winter gas I’m getting pretty sad v8 mileage lol. Like closing in on my towing mileage.

Edited December 9, 2022 by 4banger

Mike Borowski · December 9, 2022

4 minutes ago, 4banger said:

At sea level the 5.3 can do 11% less work 13% faster than the 2.7 H.O. At 4000’ elevation(where I live) the 5.3 can do 21% less work 1.5% faster. The long stroke 2.7 is a truck engine, the short stroke 5.3 is sports car engine.

To add insult to injury the long stroke 2.7 is 160 lbs lighter and it’s peak work is 1100 rpm less than the 5.3. The 2.7 also has no lifters (big warranty item on 5.3/6.2).

The Duramax does 6.5% more work 11% slower than the 2.7 and it’s does it 1500 rpm less than the 2.7. Weighs similar to 5.3 and has the emissions headaches.

The Duramax does 17% more work 22% slower than the 5.3 at sea level. It’s peak work comes 2600 rpm less than 5.3 also. At 4000’ elevation it does 26% more work 12% slower.

You can see the 2.7 blends performance of 5.3/Duramax while being way lighter and no emissions/warranty/power loss headaches.

The 6.2 does 6.5% more work 26% faster than 2.7 at sea level. At 4000’ elevation the 6.2 does 5% less work 16.7% faster and weighs a lot more, with lifters. Peak work for 2.7 comes 1100 less rpm than 6.2. 6.2 is also a short stroke motor.

People really want to think of the 2.7 as a little 4 banger and fuel economy wizard. It’s not. It’s a giant workhorse 4 banger.

Yes empty on summer gas I can achieve rated hwy mileage behaved with a 4” lift, chin spoiler removed and 985 lbs of fuel/tools/gear/mods but it’s not hard to suck fuel like the 6.2 if you ask for those power levels. It’s no slouch anywhere, it can scoot, it can work, it can go economy also, just more flexibility than the v8’s imo. It sort of blends all three other options into one motor really, especially when elevation is involved and 60% of continent doesn’t live around the ocean from recollection.

Right now in winter kids school grocery commutes on winter gas I’m getting pretty sad v8 mileage lol. Like closing in on my towing mileage.

Well said. Yeah the 2.7 doesn’t like Midwest winter blend gas but otherwise it’s a nice engine. It’s not stated enough how much better it handles than the other 3 engines as well.