A new class-action is accusing General Motors of knowingly selling vehicles that consume abnormally high quantities of oil. It's not the first time GM has been sued for oil issues in the Vortec engine. Specifically (and stick with me here) the Generation IV 5.3L V8 Vortec 5300 LC9 engine.
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f you crank the heat in certain GM vans, you might get more than you bargained for due to an electrical short.* If the temperature is set to maximum heat or the mode knob is set to maximum floor vent and an electrical short occurs, components inside the modules may overheat and catch fire.There’s a problem with the power window switches in more than 200,000 Express and GMC Savana vans.
GM says liquid can enter the switch and corrode it, leading to high electrical resistance. The resistance can cause the switch to overheat, smoke, melt and cause a fire, although the automaker isn't exactly sure what is causing the corrosion.
GM owners are still trying to convince a judge that Vortec 5300 engines have oil consumption problems and don’t give owners adequate warnings when oil levels are dangerously low.
According to the lawsuit, the Vortec 5300 engines in the vehicles consume extreme levels of oil because of defects in the oil rings that allow oil to invade the combustion chambers … The plaintiffs claim the oil pressure warnings can fail to activate in time to prevent engine damage, something GM has allegedly known is a problem with the Vortec engines.
Well, that didn't work. Last year a very reasinable argument was made that the Vortec 5300 engine is designed in a way that creates excessive oil consumption. It's also designed in a way that doesn't warn you when an excessive amount of oil has been used.
There's something funky going on inside GM's 5.3L Vortec 5300 engine causing it to use a higher-than-normal amount of oil. Some might even say it's excessive. A lawsuit filed in Minnesota says the problem is multi-faceted.
1st Generation Express News and Notes
Bite-sized content about all the recalls, lawsuits, and investigations surrounding the 1996-2020 Express.