8.1L - what to watch for?

[Mike E.]

Hey folks, newbie here.

We picked up an '01 Suburban with the 8.1L back in July and have been very happy with it. Just wondering if there are any maintenance tips etc or things to watch for with the monster. When we bought it there was 106,000 Km on it.....roughly 70K miles if my conversion is correct.

I've read that it will "use" some oil in between changes (and mine did, to the tune of about 1 quart), and that when starting cold it can sound a bit like a diesel until warm.

I'm hoping it'll last us a long time, so any tips you can pass my way would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Mike

[bry2500]

I have had my 8.1L Avalanche for 1 year in April and all I have had to do is have 2 exhaust studs replaced. I did some research and found that this is common. Have someone take a look at the studs and make sure they are still good. If they look like they are bad it will be cheaper to replace them while you can still get them out than to have them drilled out like I had to. Other than that I have had no issues with my engine.