New Chevrolet Silverado And GMC Sierra V8 Pickup Truck Owners Will No Longer Be Able To Physically Check Their Own Oil

Oil is the lifeblood of your car or truck’s engine; too little of it, and your engine will not be long for this world. For longer than a century, drivers have been able to physically check their own oil levels, but times are changing. An increasing number of models are trading dipsticks for digital gauges, and the V8s in the new 2027 Chevrolet Silverado and the GMC Sierra are joining the trend.

The Chevrolet Silverado and its GMC Sierra twin are getting a whole new generation for 2027, and General Motors says that truck buyers are going to get the most advanced and powerful pickups it has ever produced. Along with a new, more aggressive look, GM’s bread-and-butter trucks are getting a whole host of technology upgrades, new off-road kit, and luxury accoutrements across seven trim levels.

Some of it might not hit with some buyers. General Motors is introducing a front passenger screen to its trucks after its competition has already learned that most people might not actually care about such a feature. Some folks also might not enjoy the fact that, as GM introduces new engines to its half-ton trucks, those engines will come without an easy way to manually check oil levels. Instead, they will have to trust a digital gauge.

More Power, Baby

There’s a lot of good news about the heart of the new Silverados and Sierras.

The LZ0 3.0-liter Duramax straight-six diesel, an engine that I thoroughly enjoyed and that allows GM’s twins to be the only half-ton diesels in America, will be returning. Output in the 2027 version will remain the same as the 2026 model at 305 horsepower and 495 pound-feet of torque. That’s excellent! Currently, the only way to get a GM half-ton to reach the highest advertised tow rating of 13,300 pounds would be to equip it with the diesel.

Another engine that will carry over to the new generation is the 2.7-liter TurboMax turbocharged four-cylinder gasoline engine. As GM Authority reports, this engine is expected to see a power upgrade in addition to trading its eight-speed automatic for a 10-speed transmission. The Silverado HD and Sierra HD trucks are also getting new firepower in the form of the new 6.6-liter L8S V8 and a new big Duramax called the L6P. Details about the L6P have not been released yet, but it will be succeeding the 6.6-liter L5P Duramax V8 diesel.

Not returning for 2027 are the two V8s from the 2026 model year half-ton trucks. The GM small-block V8-based 5.3-liter L84 and the 6.2-liter L87 will be retired. This could be a sign of relief for many, considering that L87 engine failures are the subject of an ongoing NHTSA investigation and class action lawsuit.

In their place will be the 5.7-liter L76 and the 6.6-liter L78, mills built around GM’s new Generation Six small-block V8 engine technology. As GM Authority writes, the Gen 6 range includes the Gemini family of dual overhead cam V8s that live in the Chevrolet Corvette Z06, ZR1, and ZR1X. The rest of the engines are overhead valve pushrod engines. The Geminis are hand-built in the Performance Build Center at the Bowling Green Assembly Plant, while the pushrod models will be assembled at GM’s Flint Engine Operations and Tonawanda Powertrain engine plants.

GM Joins The List Of Carmakers Getting Rid Of Dipsticks

GM hasn’t said much about the spec sheets of the new engines. The 5.7-liter L76 is expected to make more than the 355 horsepower and 383 pound-feet of torque found in the L84. Meanwhile, GM is saying that the 6.6-liter L78 will be the most powerful naturally aspirated engine in the half-ton segment, which means that it has to pump out more than 475 horsepower.

Something we do know is that, in a departure from the past, these new V8s will not come with an oil dipstick. The Verge reported this:

The oil dipstick, for example, is now a virtual measurement that exists on the truck’s status screen.

GM has since confirmed this detail to our friends over at The Drive.

Now, owners will have to rely on a digital gauge in the instrument cluster or the infotainment screen. If oil levels become too low, the system will tell the driver to add oil.

This isn’t anything new. Back in 2024, David Tracy wrote about how the Ram 1500’s 3.0-liter “Hurricane” inline-six also doesn’t have a dipstick, and instead relies on a sensor to measure oil levels. Here’s what the Ram 1500’s owner’s manual says:

The 3.0L engine does not have a traditional “dipstick” and there is no need to manually check the oil level. If it is desired to check engine oil level, it can be seen on the instrument cluster display by navigating to the appropriate screen under “Vehicle Info”. Use the up or down arrow buttons within the steering wheel controls to find the “Vehicle Info” menu. Then use the right or left arrow buttons until you reach the “Oil Level” submenu.

There is a bar on the gauge that shows the oil level. As long as the oil level is between the minimum and the maximum, it is safe to operate the vehicle. If the oil level is either too high or too low, a red bar will be illuminated.

When the engine is in need of more oil, the Oil Level Warning Light will illuminate. This warning will appear for five seconds. Within the next 300 miles (500 km) you should add 1 quart of manufacturer specified motor oil to the engine.

BMW owners have been used to not having a dipstick since 2005. Seriously, even my 2007 BMW E61 doesn’t have a dipstick. While they are not without occasional faults, the BMW sensors generally work fine. The car tells you when you need to add oil and how much oil you should add, then you do it. It’s pretty simple. The oil sensor still works in my BMW, too, even though it’s about two decades old and has close to 200,000 miles. If BMW can figure this out, General Motors can. The Hurricane also seems to be surviving fine enough without a dipstick.

For most people, who aren’t car enthusiasts and probably don’t even open the hood unless something is wrong, I suspect that not having a dipstick is mostly a non-issue. It might even be a benefit for the people who don’t know anything about their cars and think GM’s oil life percentage meter actually counts how much oil is left. I could see this system preventing someone from running their V8 low on oil. The fact that there’s been more than two decades of development into these sensors is also pretty comforting.

However, as someone who is also deeply into the aviation world, not having a physical backup at all does concern me at least a little. Planes are full of brilliant, reliable computers and digital parts, but have multiple layers of redundancy, including mechanical backups. Granted, a car is lower stakes than flying, but I still like the idea of being able to check my oil level and condition with my own eyes. Not being able to check my oil is the biggest thing I don’t like about my BMW, really.

But maybe, like David Tracy, I’m just stuck in my old ways. Maybe it’s not that big of a deal as some might think it is. Time will tell. I have reached out to General Motors for an explanation of this move. Until then, how do you feel about this?

Update: Here’s GM’s statement on the matter:

For the new light-duty 5.7L and 6.6L V8 engines, GM’s decision to move to electronic oil-level monitoring was intended to simplify the ownership experience. The system allows customers to check their engine-oil level from the vehicle cabin through an on-screen readout, without opening the hood or using a traditional dipstick.

Top graphic images: GM