I have to add a note here regarding my towing experience, especially when extended hills are involved.
My Tahoe is 16 years old, and I got it used last year. I suspect there was a fair bit of sludge in the valve train. I switched to synthetic oil this spring which cleaned a lot of the stuff out, and consequently plugged my oil filter. I knew because my oil pressure was dropping. I did an oil change half way through July and put a new filter in. The old filter was totally gummed up with sludge. The oil pressure returned to normal.
Fast forward to our trip to Kamloops. The oil pressure had been normal until our trip to Kamloops. The climb up from Hope, descent to Merritt, another climb out of Merritt and descent into Kamloops, I saw my oil pressure begin to drop a little. It didn't drop nearly as badly as it did before, but it was lower. Upon my return to Vancouver, I changed my oil filter only, and the oil pressure is back to normal. This may have been because there was still some residual sludge that got cleaned out from the harder engine workout, or this could be a normal effect on the oil from towing.
Has anyone else, who has oil pressure gauges, noticed a drop in oil pressure after extended towing? It's probably a good idea to change the oil after such a trip anyway, but at the very least, change the oil filter.
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