UPDATE: 2026/09/30 11:22 EST BY SEAN MCMANUS
GM Isn’t The First To Remove Its Oil Dipsticks
We added a section with context behind German automakers moving on to electronic oil level gauges decades aggo.
Old-school gearheads rejoice: the GM 350 (5.7L) and 400 CID (6.6L) V8s have returned. Well, not exactly; the new engines just happen to utilize the same displacement measurements. Both new engines debut in time for the refreshed 2027 Chevy Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500, and both are capable of producing over 400 horsepower. Towing capacities increased by quite a lot, too.
Strangely, GM decided to remove the oil dipsticks. The decision is made even more perplexing when you learn the new Corvette engine, the LS6, still has a dipstick. You’d think the good old pickups would retain one, and the sports car would lose it. What’s more, a couple of existing engines still have their dipsticks. With all the claims of GM’s “traditional” approach to engine building circulating these days, doesn’t removing something as simple and old-school as a dipstick fly directly in the face of said claims?
GM’s New V8s Are More Modern Than Their Iconic Displacements Make Them Look
2027 Chevrolet Silverado L78 6.6-liter V8Chevrolet
As of this writing, the new L76 and L78 engines are the first to make up GM’s new sixth-gen Small-Block V8 family. The 5.7-liter iteration produces 402 hp and 428 lb-ft of torque, whereas its bigger brother L78 makes 481 hp and 501 lb-ft of torque. General Motors claims the latter currently stands as the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 in the light-duty pickup truck segment.
Both of the new mills make use of dual fuel injection, which combines both port and direct injection. This marks a shift away from older GM eight-pots that solely relied on direct injection. Having two types of fueling allows the new motors to operate more efficiently and increase combustion efficacy, while also offering a wider scope of operational flexibility across circumstances such as heavy towing up steep grades and highway cruising.
There’s more newness, too. The sixth-gen family uses a revised intake, increasing overall airflow. The cylinder heads themselves also sport a higher compression ratio of 12.0:1 and 12.5:1 in the L76 and L78s, respectively. For comparison, the outgoing 5.3-liter and 6.0-liter mills carried 11.0:1 and 11.5:1 ratios, respectively. Lubrication hardware also received a refresh, allowing the sixth-gen engines to better utilize their engine oil for better protection and component wear mitigation.
All these improvements go to show that GM didn’t just drag some old designs through a haphazard refresh. In reality, the sixth-gen Small-Block V8 architecture combines both some of the old-school that we’ve seen from naturally aspirated pickup truck V8s for decades with a healthy dose of modernity, exemplified by things like dual injection and a high-compression cylinder head design.
However, that very modernity also brings about some apparent downsides.
GM Didn’t Simply Forget About The Dipstick, New Hardware Took Its Place
Mechanic checking oil level on dipstickNenad Stojkovic – Wikimedia Commons
With the new engines’ use of dual injection, the sheer amount of hardware mounted to the powerplants has increased by quite a lot. Cramming it all underneath the hood of a pickup truck can pose some unique packaging issues, which need to be dealt with in an unconventional way.
GM’s choice in handling the matter led to its ultimate decision to remove the dipstick from the L76 and L78 entirely, as the port injection hardware got in the way. With General Motors having changed the truck world when it introduced the lightweight Chevrolet small-block V8 in 1955, this then marks the first time in 70 years there will be no dipstick.
This doesn’t mean you won’t be able to monitor your oil level, though. GM replaced the physical dipstick with an electronic one. A sensor is hooked up to the engine that measures the physical oil level, and then displays it on the truck’s electronic display. Those who don’t like the idea of getting their hands dirty may rejoice in this change, but for many truck owners who prefer hands-on DIY projects, this electronic oil monitoring system can be a depressing prospect.
2027 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Work Truck CloseupChevrolet
General Motors itself has done some apparent, pre-emptive damage control, because they likely know some folks won’t take kindly to the new methods. It says the new approach is a way to simplify the ownership experience and reduce the risk of user error. However, the packaging explanation seems more convincing to us than GM’s cleaner-ownership justification, rather than the company simply trying to appeal to hands-off owners. The change is not universal across the entire Silverado/Sierra lineup, either. The 2.7-liter TurboMax inline-four-cylinder and 3.0-liter Duramax straight-six both still have physical dipsticks as of now, along with the new Corvette engine, the LS6.
Reading the tea leaves, one can posit that GM isn’t universally opposed to the dipstick; it just couldn’t figure out a good way to incorporate one into the new truck V8s.
The L87 Investigation Makes An Oil-Level Sensor A Much Bigger Potential Trust Issue
Chevrolet Silverado L87 V8 front hood badgeChevrolet
With the arrival of the L76 and L78, the L87 mill is now on the outs. As it stands currently, the engine is under Engineering Analysis investigation by the NHTSA. The specific investigation code is EA26005, and it covers approximately 997,743 GM vehicles produced between 2021 and 2026. The problem is engine failure following completed recall work that attempted to address potential engine failure and rapid loss of oil/lubrication.
EA26005 is a response to an earlier recall campaign, 25V-274, in which certain L87 engines were suffering from loss of lubrication, failing bottom-end components like crankshafts and connecting rods, and knocking issues. Apparently, many owners found that their engines were still having issues after 25V-274 recall remedies had been successfully completed. In total, 499 complaints have been filed to the NHTSA, 473 of which were related to owners who received the oil-viscosity fix. GM ended up reporting a massive backlog of subsequent, post-recall complaints — 6,953, to be exact. There were also 191 reported total engine failures that joined GM’s own list of post-recall issues.
It is important to note that the L87 is an unrelated, older engine. The sixth-gen L76 and L78 engines have not been reported to have any issues such as the ones suffered by the L87. At least, not yet. However, the widespread failings of the previous engine do give prospective sixth-gen-engine buyers cause for concern. Trusting an electronic device to monitor something as critical as your oil level can be worrisome, especially if the L87 has a major issue affecting its oil.
Dipsticks give owners a physical, tangible readout of engine oil levels. Because actual oil is on it, there’s little room for error if you know how to read a dipstick. An electronic readout can provide a more accurate measurement, so long as it’s functional. At the same time, electronics can misread, or even fail completely without warning. With no way to check your oil level, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the engine’s fill level can become dangerously low without you being able to know.
GM’s New V8 Shows Us How Far A Traditional Truck Engine Has Moved Away From Traditional Maintenance
2027 GMC Sierra 1500 Denali Ultimate hero shotGMC
The irony is not lost on me, nor is it likely lost on you: GM has touted bringing back some old-fashioned performance to its pickup truck V8 lineup, but did so while removing one of the simplest pieces of tried-and-true maintenance technology there is. The new engines do sport impressive numbers, with the L76 reportedly being able to tow up to 13,700 pounds, so long as the rest of the truck it’s installed within is properly equipped.
We can hypothesize, then, that GM has its own definition of “old-school” that does not align with what one might normally expect. Sure, the new engines come with a pushrod-actuated valvetrain and omit the use of forced induction, but losing a dipstick is hardly a nostalgia play. In other words, the displacement of the new engines, along with their combustion architectures, remained traditional. But at the same time, modern digital interfaces have crept even further into the mix.
2027 Chevrolet Silverado 1500Chevrolet
We know GM isn’t anti-dipstick as a whole, because existing truck engines – and even the Corvette – still have one. Whether the loss of the tool in the new pickup truck engines is a fluke or a harbinger will be left to time to determine. If you’re a hands-off kind of owner, an electronic monitoring system is probably fine, if not even preferred, to a dipstick. Those with an affinity for down-and-dirty truck ownership will be disappointed, though.
GM Isn’t The First To Remove Its Oil Dipsticks
2008-2010 BMW 6 Series E63 NA N62 V8 EngineBMW
While truck buyers, car enthusiasts, and shade tree mechanics are all rightfully disappointed by GM’s decision to go without an oil dipstick in its new small blocks, this isn’t the first time an automaker has walked that path. For example, BMW left oil dipsticks in their dust in most models in the early 2000s. No modern BMW has an oil dipstick — instead, the models work just like GM’s new system with an electronic gauge. In fact, you can count on almost every modern Audi and Mercedes-Benz to rely on electronic oil level sensors as well.
On that note, the now-discontinued BMW Z4 Roadster lacks an oil dipstick as well. That led us to remember the Toyota GR Supra also lacks an oil dipstick, since the two models share a platform and powertrain. All this is to say that General Motors’ decision to remove its classic oil dipstick from the new small blocks is shocking and concerning, but it’s nothing new, and probably nothing to worry about.
Sources: GM, GM Canada, GM Authority, Road Ethos.
