I just bought a 2001 Chevy Silverado LS 2500HD (that's a mouthful). I really like the truck. The dealer told me it was a 6.0 liter, and I didn't think much of it looking at the 'Vortec 8100' on the intake cover. I took the truck home and went to my local dealer and asked him to run the VIN in his computer and he said something like, "oh, you got the 8.1 liter." I was like.. :eek: So needless to say, it was a surprise to me.

Anyway, a friend of mine was saying it's a 496 cid 502 block with a stroker kit in it. I don't know what the heck it is with all those hoses and tubes and wires. Anyone know what the story is behind this 8.1 liter motor?

Thanks...

http://webpages.charter.net/seanthomas/01silverado01-1.jpg

http://webpages.charter.net/seanthomas/01silverado02-1.jpg

Hope you own stock in Exxon! That is one thirsty truck.

big 'ole 496..torque king :D
Probably get better mileage then your old 454 p/u

It probably will by a little having a fuel injected BBC instead of a carburated one. I towed the flatbed trailer down to pick up the old 78 3/4 ton. I loaded the 78 up on the trailer for a grand total of about 7,000 pounds. I towed the truck home up I5 at 70-72 miles per hour and it was like I didn't have a load behind me. I pulled a couple pretty good hills on the way home, too, and it would kick down a gear and hold it at 70, no problem, without really getting into the throttle too much. I was thinking, "wow, these 6.0 liter's rock." What an idiot. :clonk:

The good news is the blue book value went up a $1000 because of the larger motor, so I got a smokin deal on the truck. The bad news is my gas mileage went in the toilet. One of the main reasons I went to get a newer truck was to get better mileage. Oh, well.

Sean, I sure hope you have better luck with that 8.1 than I did. I just got rid of my 01, 2500hd with the 8.1. It used 3 quarts of oil between oil changes from new along with piston slap that I found very annoying. I spent 8k on repairs after warranty ran out and got rid of it at 65,000 miles. Once again, I really hope yours works out better. My uncle has the same truck and has relatively better luck than I did.
On a good note, the 8.1 had power. I pulled my 22' 5th wheel with my 18' lund in tow behind that. I was 65' long total, and of course to make that power took lots of fuel, lots.

I pulled my 22' 5th wheel with my 18' lund in tow behind that. I was 65' long total, and of course to make that power took lots of fuel, lots.And we wonder why it used 3 qts over 3K miles (which by the way is completely within the oil consumption guidelines of 1qt/per 1K miles). :clonk: Yeah, pulling 30K pounds will definitely cause some oil consumption.

Sean, great truck, great engine. Congratulations on a smart purchase and a great deal to boot.

And we wonder why it used 3 qts over 3K miles (which by the way is completely within the oil consumption guidelines of 1qt/per 1K miles). :clonk: Yeah, pulling 30K pounds will definitely cause some oil consumption.

Sean, great truck, great engine. Congratulations on a smart purchase and a great deal to boot.

Thanks...got it for $3500 under blue book.

Anyone have any info on what exactly the 8.1 liter engine is made up of? Stroked 502 block down to 496?

When towing, torque is king. Nice truck, I have an 02 1500HD with the 6.0 and 373 rear, it tows my 86 Monte Carlo SS at speed just fine, about 12.5 mpg towing.

Thanks.

Anyone have any info on the 8.1 liter engine?

[quote=dennis68]And we wonder why it used 3 qts over 3K miles (which by the way is completely within the oil consumption guidelines of 1qt/per 1K miles). :clonk: Yeah, pulling 30K pounds will definitely cause some oil consumption.

Not sure where you got that weight from. I was just over 16000 lb total. It pulled that weight a few weekends a summer. As far as 1 qt per 1k miles being within guidlines, whose guidlines besides GM.If you feel the need to ridicule my post Dennis, please get the fact correct. I have never had a vehicle use that much oil. I have had a few 454,s in 3/4 pick ups in the past that never used a qt in 2000 miles ( thats how far I go between oil changes Dennis, not 3000)

I suppose my post may have come off saying you bought a bad truck Sean, I apologize, I didn't intend to do that. I guess I am still p oed about the 1 I had.
Hope yours works out great

It's all good, brother. I didn't take it as that. I had an 02 Camaro SS that had 'piston slap' and wasn't too happy about it. I pulled the dealership info on what the truck had been into the dealership for, and other than an issue with the tailgate strap it looked clean. Some vehicle's are just lemons, and doesn't make the whole batch bad, however. GM worked with me on the problem and extended my warranty on the engine to 6 years for the Camaro. They treated me good.

I have a 05 Silverado 2500HD 8.1. You are correct, it is a 496 CI motor. I have not had any problems at all with my truck. It is powerful, and still nice as a cadillac when it has to be. I like mine. I pulled my Chevelle about 150 miles to the body shop, with no problems. Yeah, it sucks gas, but if we were in this to conserve gas, none of us would own big block Chevelles. So, basically, I don't care about the gas. As long as I have the power when I need it.

Amen! :)

*Edit*...oops, guess my info was wrong as well, heh heh, thanks for posting the right stuff:D.....


A de-stroked 502 would be a bad choice for a tow motor...

I love that bodystyle! Awesome truck.

THe 8.1 is a completely different motor than all of the other big block motors. It has a 4.25 bore x 4.375 stroke. The cylinder heads have equal lenght runners, completely different than any other Chevy. It is the next iteration of big block - and in this case, almost nothing interchanges with a traditional big block.

Thanks and thanks.

1 qt per 1K is the standard guidelines used by GM, Ford and Chrysler.

I don't know about total weight being 16K (but for the sake of argument; OK), I assume that doesn't include the towing rig. I'm pretty sure GM never designed the 2500 to pull 16K around all day.

The 8.1 is of the family as the 4.8, 5.3, 5.7, 6.0. Brand new design.

Towing capacity is 10,200 to 12,200#. That seems like a lot of oil comsumption...odd. :confused:

the 8100 is not in the same engine family as all the newer small block engines.
it is essentially a tall deck big block with funky heads that have ports that look like the "Gen 3' small blocks- just a lot bigger.
but once you get all the crap off the top of the engine, it still has the good old fashioned big block valve covers. hell, i think you can put the accessory brackets off one onto an old school big block. but maybe not.

1 qt per 1K is the standard guidelines used by GM, Ford and Chrysler.

I don't know about total weight being 16K (but for the sake of argument; OK), I assume that doesn't include the towing rig. I'm pretty sure GM never designed the 2500 to pull 16K around all day.

The 8.1 is of the family as the 4.8, 5.3, 5.7, 6.0. Brand new design.

Total weight was about 16k including the truck. I weighed all axles including the truck at a highway scale. Like I said earlier, it pulled great.
I know what the big 3 say about 1 qt / 1k miles as a standard guidline, but I still couldn't accept that for a new vehicle. This truck used that much oil from day I drove it off the lot. I can maybe see using more oil if I was pulling that weight steady every day, but 99% of the time the truck was run empty, no load. I used it to pull my crap on the few weekends I could get away fishing, about a 200 mile round trip. The fuel usage was no worse than what I expected, it takes fuel to make power, and make power it did.
As I said earlier, I know of others, my uncle included that has the 8.1 and he has no problems. I was unfortunate I think I got a lemon

Does everyone else think that 1qt per 1000 miles is acceptable??
Interested to know what you guys think. The only vehicles I remember using that much oil were the old oil burners running down the road with a million miles on them. Maybe its just me, but for the price you pay, oil usage should not be that bad

Our CAT's in the over the road tractors lose ~2 qts/per 1K miles. My very loosely built small block (ring gaps at .026/.020) goes through ~1qt in 500 miles.

THe 8.1 is a completely different motor than all of the other big block motors. It has a 4.25 bore x 4.375 stroke. The cylinder heads have equal lenght runners, completely different than any other Chevy. It is the next iteration of big block - and in this case, almost nothing interchanges with a traditional big block.

wow..thats the first time Chevy has made an oversquare big block?

I know, talk about torque. These are real big in the Marine applications where the motor spends most of its time in the 3000 - 4000 RPM range. Looked into this somewhat last year. Someone in Salem. NJ had about a dozen of these (fleet replacements). All had been pulled due to rod knocks. The big hold ups in A-body transplant were - intake manifold , oil pan and cooling system routing. From what I can gather, the very early ones had some piston issues. Seems you either got one that crapped out early or they run a long time. My guess would be failure due to detonation, especially in the fleet usage where drivers have a tendency to run the motors hard from initial startup to shut down, and often with a lot of idling time in between. FYI, the cranks in these are nodular iron, internal balanced. Haven't heard of any crank failure issues. From what I have been told the failures were the pistons (hypereutectic) - sure sign of detonation and lean mixtures.

yeah, the pistons have a coating (grafal) that is supposed to help quiet it, but nope. even the malibu 3.1s had them. The 6.0 had them too. Lots of pset people, but the knocking shold go away w/in about 5 seconds.

The 1qt/1K has been around for quite a while, and seems to be an industry standard, you just don't hear much about it in the 4cyl engines because they don't do much torque work, just RPMs, they also have better oil flow systems, and leave less oil available to burn, combne that with a lighter weight vehicle (3K or less), and it is easier on the engine.

I don't think thats acceptable to burn 1qt/1000 miles. But I think 1qt/3000 miles would be a lot to unless you are towing a lot or hot roddin it.

My cousin has a 01 with the 8.1 496 and it used oil when he first got it.He switched to strait 30 oil year round and adds 20% hyperlube and his oil use is next to nothing now.he has been running this combo for three years now.