02 Suburban with piston slap

Is there a certain type of oil that will help reduce the noise of piston slap? I have an 02 Suburban with around 98,000 miles on it. I bought it a little over a year ago from a local used car dealership. Right after I bought it I noticed a loud clanking noise on cold startup. It would go away within a couple of minutes. I took it back to the dealership and they ended up replacing the rods and rod bearings as well as put in a new set of lifters. They did all of this no charge. When they finished it still had the clanking noise with a cold startup and per further research found there is a problem of piston slap on these engines. (5.3 liter vortec). From reading some different message boards I have heard some good things about Royal Purple oil helping. Has anyone with this problem tried this or anything else that helped.

Piston slap is one of those things that are inherrent to the 5.3 motor. There is nothing that will make it go away on start up. It is not a wear issue. I would consider myself lucky they redid the rods and bearings for you at no charge.

I can't believe the dealership did that work ...did you see with your own eyes the engine torn apart ?

it is well known that the pistons don't fit correctly in some of these engines...this is because of a poor manufacturing spec...

what does happen is carbon on the compression rings will increase the piston slap when cold until the piston heats/expands to properly fit into the cylinder bore...

I use marvel mystery oil in the fuel ,,,at 1 oz. per 10 gallons..also 5 oz. in the oil..this aids in slowly removing the carbon, and increasing the upper compression rings to rotate and reduce fricton,...try this and after 500mi report how it works..

I own the 2000 5.3L and since 2000 this has kept my slap at bay...

I can't believe the dealership did that work ...did you see with your own eyes the engine torn apart ?

it is well known that the pistons don't fit correctly in some of these engines...this is because of a poor manufacturing spec...

what does happen is carbon on the compression rings will increase the piston slap when cold until the piston heats/expands to properly fit into the cylinder bore...

I use marvel mystery oil in the fuel ,,,at 1 oz. per 10 gallons..also 5 oz. in the oil..this aids in slowly removing the carbon, and increasing the upper compression rings to rotate and reduce fricton,...try this and after 500mi report how it works..

I own the 2000 5.3L and since 2000 this has kept my slap at bay...
Yes, I did actually see the engine out and torn apart. I've bought my past few vehicles from this dealership and they want to keep repeat customers. I will definitely continue to use them.

Thanks for the tips. The engine in mine is a 5.3 liter vortec flex fuel and I have been using E85. Can you add additives like marvel mystery oil to E85 or just regular gasoline? What kind of oil do you use? I've been using valvoline max life 10w30. After using marvel mystery oil in your gas and oil did it make a noticable difference after awhile? Thanks again for the suggestions.

Yes, I did actually see the engine out and torn apart. I've bought my past few vehicles from this dealership and they want to keep repeat customers. I will definitely continue to use them.

Thanks for the tips. The engine in mine is a 5.3 liter vortec flex fuel and I have been using E85. Can you add additives like marvel mystery oil to E85 or just regular gasoline? What kind of oil do you use? I've been using valvoline max life 10w30. After using marvel mystery oil in your gas and oil did it make a noticable difference after awhile? Thanks again for the suggestions.

I use 5-30wt mobil 1, I use regular 87 octane fuel 10% ethanol.

this piston slap is well known , very well known,,,so why the dealership did work it knew was useless is suprising...

at 30,ooomi the slap began when cold..so I did some research and found carbon was causing the poorly controlled spec's to reveal the defect...

since I have used marvel in the past for carbon ring issues I gave it a go now 7 years later I sometimes I need to do this proceedure..at 120,ooomi the engine is in prefect running condition...the oil useage is 1/4 qt /8,ooomiles.....

since you have e85 engine ,,I don't have any info on that , since there is only one e85 fuel depot, in the state. so vehicles that use this blend are rare here...

as the carbon increases the engine slap lasts longer...if I let the engine warm for 2 minutes no slap...before it would slap for a good 5 min...

I've read alot of people talking about the piston slap in their 5.3 and I have 180,000 miles on my 01' now and it only does it for about 15 seconds when cold. I've never used any additives and run the cheapest gas I can find. I run the 87 Superchip Programming on the truck which makes it run a little rich, which I would think would cause more carbon build up! Strange.... I also run Mobil 1 5w30 and change it every 7-8k... I'll try some Mystery Oil and see if it makes it any better or worse.

I've read alot of people talking about the piston slap in their 5.3 and I have 180,000 miles on my 01' now and it only does it for about 15 seconds when cold. I've never used any additives and run the cheapest gas I can find. I run the 87 Superchip Programming on the truck which makes it run a little rich, which I would think would cause more carbon build up! Strange.... I also run Mobil 1 5w30 and change it every 7-8k... I'll try some Mystery Oil and see if it makes it any better or worse.

remember this piston noise problem is the result of sloppy spec's....

on some vehicles the engines had to be replaced...so this is from no problem to total replacement....

with longer warm up conditions from cold weather this noise does act up usually now for me ...but so far its still quiet..

Ah... I swear I got a good one! Knock on metal haha

The only major thing I have had done on my Tahoe was the fuel leak because of the small wires used on the fuel pump harness, and I got that fixed under warranty after I dropped the gas tank and went to buy a fuel pump, thanks to Autozone tech that told me that there was a recall! Funny the recall didn't include any of the regular sized Tahoes, but my wire harness was FRIED.

I don't complain about the small stuff like the intermediate steering shaft being a little sloppy. I've had it "greased" and it wasn't worth the time because it only lasted maybe 20,000 miles.

I'll probably try a little mystery oil anyways, I got a gallon of the stuff we run in my old Mitsubishi to cure the sticky lifters. I guess if I ran her a little harder there wouldn't be so much carbon, but i leave the full throttle for times i really need it nowadays. I'm just glad to know some get 250-300k out of these motors now with no problems compared to the last generation, much better than my 98.

I've noticed this problem with my 2000 Suburban for a little while now (101K miles). Marvel Mystery Oil is the answer/possible answer? I've never used this stuff in any vehicle before so I'm a little hesitant to put it in my truck.

I've noticed this problem with my 2000 Suburban for a little while now (101K miles). Marvel Mystery Oil is the answer/possible answer? I've never used this stuff in any vehicle before so I'm a little hesitant to put it in my truck.


I've used this marvel oil for decades in all my engines,,,,auto ,boat,and property maintanence engines etc....

with the correct amount used it will cause the engines to live a very long life....

the use of 1oz. /10gallons of fuel, and in the oil the use of 1oz./quart of oil will keep the engine running smooth along with proper preventitive maintanence...

I was just out cutting some trees down with my 1978 chain saw still runs great...

I know marvel mystery oil is a great additive when used as directed the lucas oil products are also great product line, I have always drove and owned older vehicles both personally and as a construction buisness owner and these products do what they say! and more.
I heard a 50/50 mix of marvel mystery oil and transmission fluid will free up rusted parts and it did on the back door hinges of a 90's suburban as they were notorious for rusting up and the doors got stiff.

I also had a 2002 3/4 ton 4x4 with the 6 litre that had an exhaust lea when i bought it, i returned to the dealer to address the issue and they did fix it, it turned out the driver side head against the firewall had sheared the manifold stud off clean, the head had to be remoed and sent out to be remachined and reinstalled the leak was fexed for about 40,000 miles when i noticed it had done it again same head and stud, i never have figured out what would have been causing that short of expansion differences with the manifold and head as it heated up.
never the less fact remains there are some dealers willing to treat people rite and i know on my job GM did split the bill with the dealer on the fix i don't know what split but the dealer dd not eat it all at the time my truck had 50,000 miles on it.

the newer vehicles have much larger manifold studs..the reason it broke is because it was designed wrong..no problems with the newer studs now..

Piston slap is the result of excessive clearance between the cylinder bore and the piston. I would like to hear a reasonable explanation of how any of the "magic" oils have any effect on this. I suppose you could say the piston and/or cylinder is coated with the "magic" oil, but adding a thinner oil or would make this worse not better. Either way the piston ring wipes the cylinder wall clean on the first stroke (and last).

Piston slap is the result of excessive clearance between the cylinder bore and the piston. I would like to hear a reasonable explanation of how any of the "magic" oils have any effect on this. I suppose you could say the piston and/or cylinder is coated with the "magic" oil, but adding a thinner oil or would make this worse not better. Either way the piston ring wipes the cylinder wall clean on the first stroke (and last).

the piston slap was due to GM not holding to tight tolerances..some have it some don't some real bad some slight...its a variable issue with these vortec engines.

GM states if the carbon is built up on the compression rings this then causes more slap...as when the piston is cold it has shrunk...the carbon on the compression rings causes the piston to rock more then more noise.

I have used marvel in the fuel and the oil. this has almost totally elimininated MY noises of slap which began around 25,ooomi.2000 5.3L engine...

now the noise is almost totally gone much less noise than, when new...almost 10yrs/125,ooo mi...no engine work no oil comsumption..

there is no magic involved. carbon is the problem...as well as GM's failure to provide a correct fit..

marvel mystrey oil used will over time gradually remove the carbon...the rings can rotate and then you will have a quieter smoother running engine..1 oz/10gallons of fuel 1oz/qt of engine oil...

synthetic engine oil is recommended with these engines as well...the use of this oil with a high quality [no frams] oil filter is recommended..