2008 Chevrolet 1500 - Oil not draining

My oil is not draining from top of the motor to the pan. Dipstick always shows low even though there is oil. What would cause the oil not to drain down? Has done this since I refurbished the top side of motor. Motor is a 5.3.

Might be useful to explain how you determined this is the problem. I’ll assume this is correct and suggest that the wrong head gasket was used or installed backwards. Or rtv or some other gunk made its way into the drainback passages.

Pull the valve covers and probe the drainback holes with a long skinny screwdriver. Poke, drill or scrape them out. If you don’t you might starve the bottom end.

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