losing oil 1qt/1000 miles

Sir Punk · 11-02-2009, 02:47 AM

I lose about 1qt/1k miles, that it's too much. I just changed that valve cover gasket/spark plug pipes gaskets which were leaking, I know my head gasket it's leaking a bit but there's no trace of oil on my skid plate, or the ground. Also there is no trace of oil in my exhaust. A quart is a lot of fluid not to see where it goes in such a short period of time. I drove 2k miles in 3 days, all highway at speeds between 70-80 and had to add 2qt.

- I changed the PCV valve
- compression test is good 170:170:170:165
- car has 85k, and it's been doing it since I got it at 65k
- I tried Castrol dino 5w30,10w30,10w40 and M1 5w30. same results.

what would be the cause, is there any test I can do to troubleshoot the problem? I am getting a bit desperate. next thing I am gonna try valvoline 10w30, but I doubt that it's Castrol.

formula91 · 11-02-2009, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sir Punk

I lose about 1qt/1k miles, that it's too much. I just changed that valve cover gasket/spark plug pipes gaskets which were leaking, I know my head gasket it's leaking a bit but there's no trace of oil on my skid plate, or the ground. Also there is no trace of oil in my exhaust. A quart is a lot of fluid not to see where it goes in such a short period of time. I drove 2k miles in 3 days, all highway at speeds between 70-80 and had to add 2qt.

- I changed the PCV valve
- compression test is good 170:170:170:165
- car has 85k, and it's been doing it since I got it at 65k
- I tried Castrol dino 5w30,10w30,10w40 and M1 5w30. same results.

what would be the cause, is there any test I can do to troubleshoot the problem? I am getting a bit desperate. next thing I am gonna try valvoline 10w30, but I doubt that it's Castrol.

Are you sure it's not the Castrol?

Subarus normally consume a fair bit of oil, and it seems the problem is compounded by the types of oil. I'm not a fan of dino oil, M1 is no longer fully synthetic. M1 is also notorious for having bad shear in Subarus and to be fair are very particular with which engine it works well on.

Oils people recommend on these engines seem to be Amsoil, Shell Rotella, and some other stuff if you search in the maintenance forum.

I personally use Castrol Syntec 0w-30. This is also known as German Castrol, and has consistently had very good UOA on BITOG. Don't let the 0w turn you off, German Castrol is one of the thickest 30 weights out there.

Another problem could be excessive blowby into the crankcase? I personally had little problem with blowby when I switched to German Castrol. All I have in the oil catchcan is a clear liquid that kinda smells like fuel.

IAmTheSleepySubie · 11-02-2009, 11:39 AM

rear main seal maybe

is there any sign of oil at the bottom of the clutch/flywheel plate?

bobko · 11-02-2009, 12:33 PM

If it's not dripping anywhere, and ruling out oil in your coolant, it's gotta be going out the tailpipe. Check the spark plugs to see if one or more shows evidence of oil or fouling. It might be oil seals in the cylinder heads, such as those on the valve stems.

I have a 1995 Legacy (2.2 engine) with 200k+ miles, and it uses no oil. I use Walmart 5W-30 synthetic and the car seems to love it.

--Bob

Sir Punk · 11-02-2009, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by formula91

Are you sure it's not the Castrol?

Another problem could be excessive blowby into the crankcase? I personally had little problem with blowby when I switched to German Castrol. All I have in the oil catchcan is a clear liquid that kinda smells like fuel.

could the blowby be caused party by the headgasket leak? too bad I just bought Valvoline 10w30. next time I'll try either german castrol or rotella T. should I get the dino or synth rotella? I am just a bit skeptical that the oil brand would make such huge difference. worth a shot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IAmTheSleepySubie

rear main seal maybe

is there any sign of oil at the bottom of the clutch/flywheel plate?

no sign of oil there. the only sign of oil is on the headgasket driver side and if i look from above on the driver side just below the starter where the block sits on the frame, I see a bit of oil residue there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobko

If it's not dripping anywhere, and ruling out oil in your coolant, it's gotta be going out the tailpipe. Check the spark plugs to see if one or more shows evidence of oil or fouling. It might be oil seals in the cylinder heads, such as those on the valve stems.

--Bob

should I post a video/picture of the tailpipe. I don't see any white smoke though. I also just changed the spark plugs and there was oil but that was due to the valve cover gasket, I could check again and see what state they are in right now though. how would I know if there's a sign of fouling?

watchunglava · 11-02-2009, 01:46 PM

i was loosing oil like you and switched to 5w 40 and it has gotten better. obviously **** seals / cheap rings in the heads. i mean the fact that my spark plug gaskets had a visable leak at 25k wow.

bobko · 11-02-2009, 02:27 PM

A fouled spark plug will have black tarry stuff on the electrodes (the metal tip and the curved bit of metal that goes under the tip). Plugs that are not fouled have a thin, hard, gray/white (or maybe a little yellow) on the electrodes. If you see anything black and it's thick enough to scrape off, that's evidence of oil burning in that cylinder. The more oil getting into that cylinder, the thicker the black gunk will be. If it gets too thick, it will foul the plug and cause that cylinder to miss.

I had a car that used a lot of oil (a quart every 500 miles) and the exhaust looked clear. But that had to be where the oil was going.

One other point: If a car is driven aggressively with lots of high-revving and heavy power demands, that will burn more oil. I'm not saying you do that, just that hard driving increases oil consumption. I knew one idiot who got a new high-performance Audi and thrashed the crap out of it for 3,000 miles, until it ran out of oil and engine seized. He couldn't believe a new car could need oil so soon, but three racing events and several trips north of 120 mph will do that to any car. Idiot...

Good luck!

--Bob

jay25RS · 11-02-2009, 02:29 PM

Try some Shell Rotella Synthetic 5w-40. I've gotten great results from my UOA.

Matt Monson · 11-02-2009, 03:53 PM

What kind of gas mileage did you get on the road trip?

Sir Punk · 11-02-2009, 05:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

What kind of gas mileage did you get on the road trip?

my car was loaded, because I was moving. MPG kept going up at every refill. I think the latest two I was around 30/32 and the very last one around 40 but just because I drove from Reno to San Francisco and there was a lot of downhill from Lake Tahoe, but usually I get around 30-32. why?

chazly413 · 11-02-2009, 06:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sir Punk

my car was loaded, because I was moving. MPG kept going up at every refill. I think the latest two I was around 30/32 and the very last one around 40 but just because I drove from Reno to San Francisco and there was a lot of downhill from Lake Tahoe, but usually I get around 30-32. why?

Oil lowers your effective octane rating, so if you were consuming a lot through your cylinders, your gas mileage should be somewhat bad, depending on the amount being burned.

Sir Punk · 11-02-2009, 09:30 PM

so I took a couple of pictures. of the tail pipe as well. I haven't cleaned the tail pipe in more than a year. I tried to clean it a bit and it's very hard to get to the shiny part. it looks a bit more brownish in the picture.
The only visible leak is on the driver side, I hope you guys understand where this is. does this look like the rear main seal? the passenger side is rather clean.
is it possible that a headgasket leak can cause so much blowby?

a_k · 11-03-2009, 12:22 AM

I am having the same problem. I have a 2002 outback sport with 127k. It does not leak anywhere and has no oil in the coolant, and it goes through at least a quart every 1k. One of my spark plugs looks worse than the others. I switched to 20w50 and it helped. I also noticed that it consumes more when I tow my boat (1200 lbs) and it smokes out the tailpipe near red line. I've just been adding oil and the car runs great with an average of 23mpg. Any ideas?

Back Road Runner · 11-03-2009, 12:23 AM

Burning oil evidence on the plug is only black if it's monstrous amounts. Lower amounts turn into white, clumpy deposits.

Couple links for reading spark plugs:
http://www.verrill.com/moto/sellingg...colorchart.htm
http://www.superstreetonline.com/tec...ugs/index.html

Burning oil is due to wear or damage. To lessen the amount burned, you run a thicker oil. Note this does NOT mean going from a 5w30 to a 10w30. At operating temperatures, both of these oils are the same thickness, equivalent to a straight 30 weight oil. The thickness of these only varies when cold when both are quite thick. You instead bump up the "hot" viscosity, stepping from a 5w30 to a 5w40. Consumption will lower. You have the option to even step to a a 5w50 and even a 10w60 if so needed. As well, not all oils are created equal and two 5w40 oils will burn off at different rates despite their raw viscosity is very similar.

Moderate burning of oil typically also comes with blue smoke. Blue smoke at start up = heads and valvetrain. Blue smoke after warmed = piston rings, worn or broken. There can of course be other issues. A leak down test will point to specific issues.

I will note that our engines can burn a lot of oil. I can throw some Mobil 1 or Amsoil 0w30 in and eat 0.5 quart during a rally-x or auto-x. I can run some Mobil 1 0w40 or Rotella or Duragard(local produced) 5w40 normally and not lose more then 0.5 quart over 3k to 5k miles. It does depend on what you do with the car, although wear does play a big part too. I know my engine is moderately worn at 100k miles compared to when I got the car back at 23k miles. It uses about 2x the oil since then and can at times moderately use oil if I'm running an inappropriate viscosity for the conditions (like a 0w30 in the summer under race conditions).

I'll note after my wearing through my current Rotella 5w40 fill, I plan to step to Eneos 0w50 as a year round solution and to promote additional longevity of the engine through the sport use. It's the most broad spectrum solution I'm aware of. A close second is Castrol's 10w60 exclusively used in BMW M cars but isn't the best suited for extremely cold climates.

imprezkid · 11-03-2009, 03:30 AM

I was losing oil at about the same rate, nothing i did would stop it, had some tick in the motor, but no smoke or oil spots that i noticed, i ended up running a 40w towards the end, then one day running down the highway midway through a 1hr40min trip, cruise @ 70 something let go, don't know what it was. Ran it/limped it till it seized enough the starter wouldn't turn it over, went to pop starting at intersections but eventually ran out of steam, so we pushed. Next day went to pick it up, drove it onto the trailer, and then moved it around the yard for a few months till i drove it into the garage and a ej253 went in.

Don't know what the problem with the motor was, believe it started after i accidently ran it low for a bit too long, and haven't taken the motor apart yet to see what came apart, still has compression so who knows..but man it was knocking bad

Sir Punk · 11-03-2009, 10:52 PM

so after all this talk what should I do first? from what I remember the plugs were ok when I changed them. also I could try another oil. but I am not sure if it's a good idea to switch to synthetic. is there a rotella 10w40 dino?

does anybody have any idea where is leak coming from on that pic I posted? I am almost certain that the headgasket leak only counts for maybe 10% of it. Because at times I left the car sitting for 1-2 months and the oil level was stable. it's gotta be something else.

Rocketjones · 11-04-2009, 12:18 AM

I burn 1 quart of oil/tank if I drive 80 miles/hour. Slow down and you will consume way less oil.

GARGOYLE · 11-04-2009, 12:29 AM

Im no authority,But I filled my library before my garage.
Heres 1 of the things I absorbed.
'' 1 qt of oil goes ''poof''every 1000 miles'',that in fact, is the american petro. institutes' ''normal''
avg ammt. documented to go MIA in between changes for all cars turbos included.

This oil consumption was adopted by,and is now written in stone, for ALL cars passing emissions in this country.NORMAL!
I do not give a rats' testicle if you believe it,agree with it, or wtf ever?...go ask black fang [service writer/ subaru]if you need it repeated from more persons than me.

IMO-It is bull**** for the API to group all the cars for such consumption.No significance between dyno or synthetic considered.Also,I have many other opinions on this loss of oil,but I am in a too bad of a mood to discuss.I need to eat...cary on.

Back Road Runner · 11-04-2009, 01:29 AM

So there ya go.

All I can suggest is try a thicker oil if you want less. If consumption doesn't reduce, then there may be a problem. I think the biggest issue is just normal wear of the engine and staying with a relatively thin oil.

Running low on oil is ALWAYS a bad, bad thing.

Don't do it if you know what's good for your engien.

Go order some Eneos 0w50. You live in Minnesota like me, so you really should use an oil well suited for the winter months. A zero base weight will do you good (less wear on start up, quicker pumping and pressure) in the winter. The thicker hot viscosity will keep the oil more readily on its side of the combustion process. Consider it a last attempt. If you burn very little oil, great. If you're engine is still drinking the stuff like water, expect a rebuild or swap in the spring and start saving for it now. If a 50 (hot) weight burns up like water, nothing will save the engine.

By the way, since you're a Minnesotan, head over to www.MNSubaru.com and sign up if you're not already there under a different name. Come say hi. I'll note there are a lot of Subaru guys around you, many happy to help out a fellow Subaru owner. If you need rebuild help or maybe cheap parts, or just some spare hands on the project, ask. Many of us love wrenching on cars, a little more fun if it's not our own.

I'm down in the Mankato-Rochester area, but a lot of MNSubaru members are in the Cities and quite a few up in Duluth and well everywhere really. There are meets that happen pretty much weekly at a local Firestone if you want to do some fellow socializing. It's a little out of the way for me, but there are also tons of events we do throughout the year, some small, some rather large. If you're already a member, you know. If you're not, you'll find out.

kay95 · 11-04-2009, 12:51 PM

For highway that isnt bad really. Engines burn oil you can stop that unless you dont want to keep the piston oiled. Think about it the cylinder needs oil for the rings and piston to slide on or else it would gald and seize quickly. Well that little bit of oil is exposed to combustion temps and cooks off on each exhaust stroke. Since you where cuising at that speed for a long time you had high EGTs and RPM to contribute to max oil consumption that you saw.

Look at it this way. I went to the track and in 80miles I went through half a quart because I was on it the entire time.

VIsubi · 11-05-2009, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by formula91

Are you sure it's not the Castrol?

Subarus normally consume a fair bit of oil, and it seems the problem is compounded by the types of oil. I'm not a fan of dino oil, M1 is no longer fully synthetic. M1 is also notorious for having bad shear in Subarus and to be fair are very particular with which engine it works well on.

Oils people recommend on these engines seem to be Amsoil, Shell Rotella, and some other stuff if you search in the maintenance forum.

I personally use Castrol Syntec 0w-30. This is also known as German Castrol, and has consistently had very good UOA on BITOG. Don't let the 0w turn you off, German Castrol is one of the thickest 30 weights out there.

Another problem could be excessive blowby into the crankcase? I personally had little problem with blowby when I switched to German Castrol. All I have in the oil catchcan is a clear liquid that kinda smells like fuel.

Shell Rotella is garbage sure good cleaning oil for your engine but royal purple is what I use in everything tranny engine rear diff..no problems and no oil burning like above I love this stuff so much I bought 2 cases sitting in the car garage...

a_k · 11-05-2009, 02:33 AM

That sounds good but I had a 95 2.0 Passat with 200k before this car and it would not burn a drop of oil between the 5k oil changes...

Sir Punk · 11-05-2009, 02:30 PM

I went under the car and I noticed the usual leaks. can anybody tell me if this leak is just due to a head gasket? at this point I think that it is a con cause of things: normal oil consumption+minor leak. At this point next time I will try german castrol or that 0w50.

road runner, I am no longer in minnesota, at least for now, so cold start are not an issue, I am in the bay area, I should update my profile here. But yes, I am on mnsubaru as well. I had a chance to work on other people cars and always had fun but never got to a meeting. it's a great community for sure.

I also called Shell and the tech told me that "rotella will accelerate the wear on the cat, because of some chemicals that has in it. He also told me that changing oil might reduce the consumption a bit but not by 1qt/1k miles. He suggested not to switch to synth in my case and to look for the cause somewhere else." so again, this comes from them, rotella is bad for your cat because it is made for diesel engines.

here are the pictures. the head gasket on the passenger side is relatively clean. you can also see oil in the engine mount area and the cross member.

Sir Punk · 11-05-2009, 02:30 PM

VIsubi · 11-06-2009, 02:08 PM

yeah bro thats a head gasket leak and probably your cause of loss of oil reason being is the oil still looks very wet not like grease or gunk from over time..you ca nrun it till your ready to rebuild or take it in and rebuild it now..change your mounts while your at it too. Sorry to say but yeah that looks like a bad leak only to get worse than that...

11-02-2009, 02:47 AM	#1
Sir Punk Scooby Specialist Member#: 173492 Join Date: Mar 2008 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: Minneapolis,MN Vehicle: 99 RS BRP	losing oil 1qt/1000 miles I lose about 1qt/1k miles, that it's too much. I just changed that valve cover gasket/spark plug pipes gaskets which were leaking, I know my head gasket it's leaking a bit but there's no trace of oil on my skid plate, or the ground. Also there is no trace of oil in my exhaust. A quart is a lot of fluid not to see where it goes in such a short period of time. I drove 2k miles in 3 days, all highway at speeds between 70-80 and had to add 2qt. - I changed the PCV valve - compression test is good 170:170:170:165 - car has 85k, and it's been doing it since I got it at 65k - I tried Castrol dino 5w30,10w30,10w40 and M1 5w30. same results. what would be the cause, is there any test I can do to troubleshoot the problem? I am getting a bit desperate. next thing I am gonna try valvoline 10w30, but I doubt that it's Castrol.

11-02-2009, 02:27 PM	#7
bobko Scooby Newbie Member#: 64646 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Northern Virginia Vehicle: 1995 Legacy wagon Green	A fouled spark plug will have black tarry stuff on the electrodes (the metal tip and the curved bit of metal that goes under the tip). Plugs that are not fouled have a thin, hard, gray/white (or maybe a little yellow) on the electrodes. If you see anything black and it's thick enough to scrape off, that's evidence of oil burning in that cylinder. The more oil getting into that cylinder, the thicker the black gunk will be. If it gets too thick, it will foul the plug and cause that cylinder to miss. I had a car that used a lot of oil (a quart every 500 miles) and the exhaust looked clear. But that had to be where the oil was going. One other point: If a car is driven aggressively with lots of high-revving and heavy power demands, that will burn more oil. I'm not saying you do that, just that hard driving increases oil consumption. I knew one idiot who got a new high-performance Audi and thrashed the crap out of it for 3,000 miles, until it ran out of oil and engine seized. He couldn't believe a new car could need oil so soon, but three racing events and several trips north of 120 mph will do that to any car. Idiot... Good luck! --Bob Last edited by bobko; 11-02-2009 at 02:32 PM.

11-03-2009, 10:52 PM	#16
Sir Punk Scooby Specialist Member#: 173492 Join Date: Mar 2008 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: Minneapolis,MN Vehicle: 99 RS BRP	so after all this talk what should I do first? from what I remember the plugs were ok when I changed them. also I could try another oil. but I am not sure if it's a good idea to switch to synthetic. is there a rotella 10w40 dino? does anybody have any idea where is leak coming from on that pic I posted? I am almost certain that the headgasket leak only counts for maybe 10% of it. Because at times I left the car sitting for 1-2 months and the oil level was stable. it's gotta be something else. Last edited by Sir Punk; 11-03-2009 at 11:40 PM.

11-04-2009, 12:29 AM	#18
GARGOYLE Scooby Newbie Member#: 178918 Join Date: May 2008 Chapter/Region: SCIC Location: marina del rey Vehicle: 007 STi OBp	Im no authority,But I filled my library before my garage. Heres 1 of the things I absorbed. '' 1 qt of oil goes ''poof''every 1000 miles'',that in fact, is the american petro. institutes' ''normal'' avg ammt. documented to go MIA in between changes for all cars turbos included. This oil consumption was adopted by,and is now written in stone, for ALL cars passing emissions in this country.NORMAL! I do not give a rats' testicle if you believe it,agree with it, or wtf ever?...go ask black fang [service writer/ subaru]if you need it repeated from more persons than me. IMO-It is bull**** for the API to group all the cars for such consumption.No significance between dyno or synthetic considered.Also,I have many other opinions on this loss of oil,but I am in a too bad of a mood to discuss.I need to eat...cary on. Last edited by GARGOYLE; 11-04-2009 at 02:55 AM.

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11-02-2009, 11:39 AM	#3
IAmTheSleepySubie Scooby Newbie Member#: 204177 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Blacksburg VA Vehicle: 2000 OBS	rear main seal maybe is there any sign of oil at the bottom of the clutch/flywheel plate?

11-02-2009, 12:33 PM	#4
bobko Scooby Newbie Member#: 64646 Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Northern Virginia Vehicle: 1995 Legacy wagon Green	If it's not dripping anywhere, and ruling out oil in your coolant, it's gotta be going out the tailpipe. Check the spark plugs to see if one or more shows evidence of oil or fouling. It might be oil seals in the cylinder heads, such as those on the valve stems. I have a 1995 Legacy (2.2 engine) with 200k+ miles, and it uses no oil. I use Walmart 5W-30 synthetic and the car seems to love it. --Bob

11-02-2009, 01:46 PM	#6
watchunglava Scooby Specialist Member#: 168862 Join Date: Jan 2008 Chapter/Region: NESIC Location: Portland Maine Vehicle: 2007 ej253n/a 5speed Red Sox Nation Lifer	i was loosing oil like you and switched to 5w 40 and it has gotten better. obviously **** seals / cheap rings in the heads. i mean the fact that my spark plug gaskets had a visable leak at 25k wow.

11-02-2009, 02:29 PM	#8
jay25RS Scooby Specialist Member#: 4273 Join Date: Feb 2001 Chapter/Region: NESIC Location: CT Vehicle: 2006 WRX Sedan Aspen White	Try some Shell Rotella Synthetic 5w-40. I've gotten great results from my UOA.

11-02-2009, 03:53 PM	#9
Matt Monson Scooby Guru Member#: 832 Join Date: Jan 2000 Chapter/Region: RMIC Location: Teh Ghetto Garage, CO Vehicle: 1999 2.5RS, '08 WRX '73 914 and Bumblebee	What kind of gas mileage did you get on the road trip?

11-02-2009, 09:30 PM	#12
Sir Punk Scooby Specialist Member#: 173492 Join Date: Mar 2008 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: Minneapolis,MN Vehicle: 99 RS BRP	so I took a couple of pictures. of the tail pipe as well. I haven't cleaned the tail pipe in more than a year. I tried to clean it a bit and it's very hard to get to the shiny part. it looks a bit more brownish in the picture. The only visible leak is on the driver side, I hope you guys understand where this is. does this look like the rear main seal? the passenger side is rather clean. is it possible that a headgasket leak can cause so much blowby?

11-03-2009, 12:22 AM	#13
a_k Scooby Newbie Member#: 198767 Join Date: Dec 2008 Chapter/Region: NESIC Location: Upstate NY Vehicle: 2002 Outback Sport	I am having the same problem. I have a 2002 outback sport with 127k. It does not leak anywhere and has no oil in the coolant, and it goes through at least a quart every 1k. One of my spark plugs looks worse than the others. I switched to 20w50 and it helped. I also noticed that it consumes more when I tow my boat (1200 lbs) and it smokes out the tailpipe near red line. I've just been adding oil and the car runs great with an average of 23mpg. Any ideas?

11-03-2009, 12:23 AM	#14
Back Road Runner Scooby Specialist Member#: 60082 Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Minnesota Vehicle: 2002 Forester Blue	Burning oil evidence on the plug is only black if it's monstrous amounts. Lower amounts turn into white, clumpy deposits. Couple links for reading spark plugs: http://www.verrill.com/moto/sellingg...colorchart.htm http://www.superstreetonline.com/tec...ugs/index.html Burning oil is due to wear or damage. To lessen the amount burned, you run a thicker oil. Note this does NOT mean going from a 5w30 to a 10w30. At operating temperatures, both of these oils are the same thickness, equivalent to a straight 30 weight oil. The thickness of these only varies when cold when both are quite thick. You instead bump up the "hot" viscosity, stepping from a 5w30 to a 5w40. Consumption will lower. You have the option to even step to a a 5w50 and even a 10w60 if so needed. As well, not all oils are created equal and two 5w40 oils will burn off at different rates despite their raw viscosity is very similar. Moderate burning of oil typically also comes with blue smoke. Blue smoke at start up = heads and valvetrain. Blue smoke after warmed = piston rings, worn or broken. There can of course be other issues. A leak down test will point to specific issues. I will note that our engines can burn a lot of oil. I can throw some Mobil 1 or Amsoil 0w30 in and eat 0.5 quart during a rally-x or auto-x. I can run some Mobil 1 0w40 or Rotella or Duragard(local produced) 5w40 normally and not lose more then 0.5 quart over 3k to 5k miles. It does depend on what you do with the car, although wear does play a big part too. I know my engine is moderately worn at 100k miles compared to when I got the car back at 23k miles. It uses about 2x the oil since then and can at times moderately use oil if I'm running an inappropriate viscosity for the conditions (like a 0w30 in the summer under race conditions). I'll note after my wearing through my current Rotella 5w40 fill, I plan to step to Eneos 0w50 as a year round solution and to promote additional longevity of the engine through the sport use. It's the most broad spectrum solution I'm aware of. A close second is Castrol's 10w60 exclusively used in BMW M cars but isn't the best suited for extremely cold climates.

11-03-2009, 03:30 AM	#15
imprezkid Scooby Specialist Member#: 71462 Join Date: Sep 2004 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: Ames, IA Vehicle: 2002 WRX, RS Graphit Grey Pearl Metallic	I was losing oil at about the same rate, nothing i did would stop it, had some tick in the motor, but no smoke or oil spots that i noticed, i ended up running a 40w towards the end, then one day running down the highway midway through a 1hr40min trip, cruise @ 70 something let go, don't know what it was. Ran it/limped it till it seized enough the starter wouldn't turn it over, went to pop starting at intersections but eventually ran out of steam, so we pushed. Next day went to pick it up, drove it onto the trailer, and then moved it around the yard for a few months till i drove it into the garage and a ej253 went in. Don't know what the problem with the motor was, believe it started after i accidently ran it low for a bit too long, and haven't taken the motor apart yet to see what came apart, still has compression so who knows..but man it was knocking bad

11-04-2009, 12:18 AM	#17
Rocketjones Scooby Newbie Member#: 142754 Join Date: Mar 2007 Chapter/Region: MAIC Location: Petersburg, VA Vehicle: 2005 RS Wagon	I burn 1 quart of oil/tank if I drive 80 miles/hour. Slow down and you will consume way less oil.

11-04-2009, 01:29 AM	#19
Back Road Runner Scooby Specialist Member#: 60082 Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Minnesota Vehicle: 2002 Forester Blue	So there ya go. All I can suggest is try a thicker oil if you want less. If consumption doesn't reduce, then there may be a problem. I think the biggest issue is just normal wear of the engine and staying with a relatively thin oil. Running low on oil is ALWAYS a bad, bad thing. Don't do it if you know what's good for your engien. Go order some Eneos 0w50. You live in Minnesota like me, so you really should use an oil well suited for the winter months. A zero base weight will do you good (less wear on start up, quicker pumping and pressure) in the winter. The thicker hot viscosity will keep the oil more readily on its side of the combustion process. Consider it a last attempt. If you burn very little oil, great. If you're engine is still drinking the stuff like water, expect a rebuild or swap in the spring and start saving for it now. If a 50 (hot) weight burns up like water, nothing will save the engine. By the way, since you're a Minnesotan, head over to www.MNSubaru.com and sign up if you're not already there under a different name. Come say hi. I'll note there are a lot of Subaru guys around you, many happy to help out a fellow Subaru owner. If you need rebuild help or maybe cheap parts, or just some spare hands on the project, ask. Many of us love wrenching on cars, a little more fun if it's not our own. I'm down in the Mankato-Rochester area, but a lot of MNSubaru members are in the Cities and quite a few up in Duluth and well everywhere really. There are meets that happen pretty much weekly at a local Firestone if you want to do some fellow socializing. It's a little out of the way for me, but there are also tons of events we do throughout the year, some small, some rather large. If you're already a member, you know. If you're not, you'll find out.

11-04-2009, 12:51 PM	#20
kay95 Scooby Newbie Member#: 45494 Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: glen rock, pa Vehicle: 95 impreza L awd green	For highway that isnt bad really. Engines burn oil you can stop that unless you dont want to keep the piston oiled. Think about it the cylinder needs oil for the rings and piston to slide on or else it would gald and seize quickly. Well that little bit of oil is exposed to combustion temps and cooks off on each exhaust stroke. Since you where cuising at that speed for a long time you had high EGTs and RPM to contribute to max oil consumption that you saw. Look at it this way. I went to the track and in 80miles I went through half a quart because I was on it the entire time.

11-05-2009, 02:33 AM	#22
a_k Scooby Newbie Member#: 198767 Join Date: Dec 2008 Chapter/Region: NESIC Location: Upstate NY Vehicle: 2002 Outback Sport	That sounds good but I had a 95 2.0 Passat with 200k before this car and it would not burn a drop of oil between the 5k oil changes...

11-05-2009, 02:30 PM	#23
Sir Punk Scooby Specialist Member#: 173492 Join Date: Mar 2008 Chapter/Region: MWSOC Location: Minneapolis,MN Vehicle: 99 RS BRP	I went under the car and I noticed the usual leaks. can anybody tell me if this leak is just due to a head gasket? at this point I think that it is a con cause of things: normal oil consumption+minor leak. At this point next time I will try german castrol or that 0w50. road runner, I am no longer in minnesota, at least for now, so cold start are not an issue, I am in the bay area, I should update my profile here. But yes, I am on mnsubaru as well. I had a chance to work on other people cars and always had fun but never got to a meeting. it's a great community for sure. I also called Shell and the tech told me that "rotella will accelerate the wear on the cat, because of some chemicals that has in it. He also told me that changing oil might reduce the consumption a bit but not by 1qt/1k miles. He suggested not to switch to synth in my case and to look for the cause somewhere else." so again, this comes from them, rotella is bad for your cat because it is made for diesel engines. here are the pictures. the head gasket on the passenger side is relatively clean. you can also see oil in the engine mount area and the cross member.

11-06-2009, 02:08 PM	#25
VIsubi Scooby Newbie Member#: 187834 Join Date: Aug 2008 Vehicle: 06 2.5i impreza Red	yeah bro thats a head gasket leak and probably your cause of loss of oil reason being is the oil still looks very wet not like grease or gunk from over time..you ca nrun it till your ready to rebuild or take it in and rebuild it now..change your mounts while your at it too. Sorry to say but yeah that looks like a bad leak only to get worse than that...