[montanasuby]

I recently went on a long road trip from missoula montana to detroit michigan, 2000 miles each way. 1000 of which on the way to detroit were snow covered, thank god for the forester. Anyhow, my car seemed to go through quite a bit of oil, quite a bit being 1/2-3/4 quart of oil in those 4000 miles. The wierd thing is I check my oil every time I get gas and as luck would have it of course the one time I don't check my oil and go a tankfull and then check it I find oil at or below the L mark, which makes me wonder if I checked it on a level surface or not, it seemed kinda wierd. Anyone else having this type of problem, does this motor go through that much oil? Thanks

 

[Eclipse]

1)It does use some oil.

2)It is inconsistant to read when warm. I only check the oil with a cold engine on a flat surface.

Scott

 

[N10S]

Make sure that you aren't experiencing any oil leakage from the filter. The problems that have been identified with certain serial number Subaru filters could certainly impact oil usage depending on the amount of leakage. Because of the plastic pan under the engine compartment, any oil leaks may not be readily evident.

Just a thought.... .

 

[Rx]

I have no oil consumption probs 8)



are you sure the Forester was on level grounds when the oil was checked?

 

[brett s]

Mine used to consistently use somewhere between 1/2 & 1 qt every 5,000 miles (my change interval), from day one until I just got rid of it at almost 70k. Seems pretty normal on the turbo 2.5's, as long as the pattern doesn't change all of a sudden I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Gwaihir]

The same thing happens to me. Sometimes, with the same distance and conditions, the oil will drop all of a sudden and sometimes not. And I'm sure the engine is cold and the car is horizontal (I check it allways in the same place) :? .

Though I think as Eclipse said it does use some oil (more than my previous car, at least).

 

[Shredmo]

What I have experienced with oil levels:

Always use a new oil plug gasket. Oil can leak from there.

Using synthetic oil such as Mobil 1 can cause leakage in some Subaru vehicles, but not all.

The manual claims 4.2 qts of oil is the capacity, yet many people claim it is actually 5 qts.

You should always use a subaru oil filter rather than an aftermarket filter only because the oil flow levels are different. Over time this difference can cause seals to leak in different parts of your motor.

This info is not fact, but as I know it so far. Do your research before actually using this info.

-Shred

 

[subarhue]

you'll lose some oil though the turbo and crank case pressure build up....normal and sometimes excessive...more so if you drive hard like myself....and soa did recall the 09a oil filters and switched back to the jdm 100 filters...do to filter seepage.... :wink:

 

[Hondaslayer]

1/2 to 3/4 over 4k??? Something is wrong.

Should have been more like 1 1/2 qts :lol:


Don't worry, it's normal.

 

[Nuvolari]

Yup. I burn about 1 quart every 4000 miles. I checked the oil level the other day after not having checked it in about 4k miles and I had it less than E.

Then, I changed the oil, and found only 3.5 out of 4.5 quarts. This has been normal.

I used to use synthetic all the time with n/a cars, often going 10k or more. without an oil change (they did experiments that showed new york taxicabs were plenty OK with changing it about as often and I don't drive as hard as that)

Now, I don't even think I should use synthetic if I have to add/change oil so often. If I am going to change the oil every 3-5k and maybe add a quart every few thousand k, there is no reason to use synthetic.

 

[Galager]

When I had my Eclipse GSX, that thing used to use a quart between changes. When I switched to synthetic, it never drank another drop or leaked and I drove the snot out of that car.

I had my first change in the suby at 3,000 and the car now has 7100 on it and is due for another. This morning I checked the oil level and was sitting right at the L mark, so I'm pretty sure it used some up. I'm thinking about switching to synthetic on this oil change as the engine should be all broken in by now.

Mobil 1? I used to use Castrol Syntec in my Maxima which is supposedly a synthetic blend. If full synthetic causes leaks in the boxer engine, maybe a blend would be better suited?

 

[FXTIam]

If you have a newer car, and switch to synthetics early, you will not have any more leaks than with dino. Newer seals don't shrink as much, and are designed to work with synthetics. Personally I use Mobile 1 probably because I have been using it for 20 years and haven't tried anything else. But, I also have no reason to change - I buy the five(?) quart jugs from Wall Mart.

 

[Northwest Tan]

+1 for Mobil1 at Wal-Mart. It's the cheapest here in the SF Bay area.

No oil consumption if I drive conservatively.

I did a canyon run the other day and drove pretty hard. Had to add 1/2 quart the next morning.

 

[Galager]

If you have a newer car, and switch to synthetics early, you will not have any more leaks than with dino. Newer seals don't shrink as much, and are designed to work with synthetics. Personally I use Mobile 1 probably because I have been using it for 20 years and haven't tried anything else. But, I also have no reason to change - I buy the five(?) quart jugs from Wall Mart.

Do you experience any oil consumption? Is it just a characteristic of the boxer engine?