1999 Subaru Impreza Sport Oil Consumption

[bhorenst]

I have a '99 Subaru outback sport with ~125K miles. For quite a while
now, the car has been consuming oil - about 1qt every 800-1200 miles.
There are no oil leaks - I had it in for new seals, etc. a while ago.

My mechanic says that 1qt every 1K miles is normal. Does anyone else
have a differing opinion on this? To me it just seems like a lot of
oil to be consuming.

Just recently, oil consumption hasn't noticeably increased, but I have
noticed a burning smell, what seems like oil. Interestingly, that
burning smell wasn't always present, even with the oil consumption.

Thanks for any insight you might have.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

I have a '99 Subaru outback sport with ~125K miles. For quite a while
now, the car has been consuming oil - about 1qt every 800-1200 miles.
There are no oil leaks - I had it in for new seals, etc. a while ago.

My mechanic says that 1qt every 1K miles is normal. Does anyone else
have a differing opinion on this? To me it just seems like a lot of
oil to be consuming.

Just recently, oil consumption hasn't noticeably increased, but I have
noticed a burning smell, what seems like oil. Interestingly, that
burning smell wasn't always present, even with the oil consumption.

Thanks for any insight you might have.

Try replacing the PCV valve unless that's been done recently.

Carl

 

[Sheldon]

I have a '99 Subaru outback sport with ~125K miles. For quite a while
now, the car has been consuming oil - about 1qt every 800-1200 miles.
There are no oil leaks - I had it in for new seals, etc. a while ago.

My mechanic says that 1qt every 1K miles is normal. Does anyone else
have a differing opinion on this? To me it just seems like a lot of
oil to be consuming.

Just recently, oil consumption hasn't noticeably increased, but I have
noticed a burning smell, what seems like oil. Interestingly, that
burning smell wasn't always present, even with the oil consumption.

Thanks for any insight you might have.

A quart of oil every 1000 miles is within the norm of most makes and models.
Unless a mechanic can find a visual leak that can be easily fixed they're
usually enclined to just leave it alone.

 

[Victor Roberts]

A quart of oil every 1000 miles is within the norm of most makes and models.
Unless a mechanic can find a visual leak that can be easily fixed they're
usually enclined to just leave it alone.

Based on what data? I've had 7 cars and driven each for at
least 100,000 miles and never had to add a quart of oil
every 1000 miles to any of them. I just sold my 97 OBW at
115 K miles and never had to add oil between oil changes,
which were at 3000 mile intervals. If my 2006 Forester uses
1 quart per 1000 miles I will be very disappointed and it
will be my last Subaru.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Based on what data? I've had 7 cars and driven each for at
least 100,000 miles and never had to add a quart of oil
every 1000 miles to any of them. I just sold my 97 OBW at
115 K miles and never had to add oil between oil changes,
which were at 3000 mile intervals. If my 2006 Forester uses
1 quart per 1000 miles I will be very disappointed and it
will be my last Subaru.

Probably not 'average' but it is 'normal' (from personal experience as
well as reading) IN THE SENSE that, most makes will not offer any repair
to someone making a warranty claim of excessive oil usage unless there
is evidence of low compression, leaking, etc. at a rate of 1 qt. per
1,000miles. Not saying someone may not have gotten an adjustment of some
type, but there are plenty of stories of folks being told 1qt/1000 miles
is within acceptable limits and to drive home and live with it.

Carl

 

[Body Roll]

Based on what data? I've had 7 cars and driven each for at
least 100,000 miles and never had to add a quart of oil
every 1000 miles to any of them. I just sold my 97 OBW at
115 K miles and never had to add oil between oil changes,
which were at 3000 mile intervals. If my 2006 Forester uses
1 quart per 1000 miles I will be very disappointed and it
will be my last Subaru.

Hmm, $1.50/qt here in expensive California times 100 is about $150
extra per 100k miles.
Sounds cheap relative to other costs (gas, repairs insurance).
Lots of reasons to dump Subaru, but this is not a good one.

 

[Victor Roberts]

Probably not 'average' but it is 'normal' (from personal experience as
well as reading) IN THE SENSE that, most makes will not offer any repair
to someone making a warranty claim of excessive oil usage unless there
is evidence of low compression, leaking, etc. at a rate of 1 qt. per
1,000miles. Not saying someone may not have gotten an adjustment of some
type, but there are plenty of stories of folks being told 1qt/1000 miles
is within acceptable limits and to drive home and live with it.

We are arguing different things. I would take "normal" to
mean "typical" or "average" performance. On the other hand,
I don't expect any company to repair or replace a product
just because its performance was below average. I
understand that they set a lower limit than "average" for
the trigger point where they will pay for repairs.

 

[Victor Roberts]

Hmm, $1.50/qt here in expensive California times 100 is about $150
extra per 100k miles.
Sounds cheap relative to other costs (gas, repairs insurance).
Lots of reasons to dump Subaru, but this is not a good one.

You make a good point about the cost. However, I would also
factor in the hassle factor and the fact that after owning
so many cars that did not need any oil at 1000 mile or even
3000 mile intervals, I would consider a car that did to have
been designed and/or manufactured poorly and for that reason
would go elsewhere. .

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

We are arguing different things. I would take "normal" to
mean "typical" or "average" performance. On the other hand,
I don't expect any company to repair or replace a product
just because its performance was below average. I
understand that they set a lower limit than "average" for
the trigger point where they will pay for repairs.

agreed, I just overlooked the poor choice of wording.

Carl

 

[Body Roll]

You make a good point about the cost. However, I would also
factor in the hassle factor and the fact that after owning
so many cars that did not need any oil at 1000 mile or even
3000 mile intervals, I would consider a car that did to have
been designed and/or manufactured poorly and for that reason
would go elsewhere. .

I would not consider oil consumption an indication of poor quality.
My Yamaha GTS-1000A was drinking just as much as your Forester does,
especially when pressed and it was running just fine. RX-8 is a fine
car
but known to consume about 1 qt per 2k miles. Maybe some SOB
just abused the heck out of your car during a test drive and the dealer
was happy to unload it? Does not necessarily mean you'd end up
with engine problems in the long term. Usually other things
tend tofall apart in jap cars before engine goes.
The car might be happier with different oil or oil viscosity.
Experiment a little... create your own synthetic blend
and you might end up with a Martha Stewart grade franchise in the end
:-]
Besides, I think the manual says you should check oil level at every
gas stop.

 

[nobody]

Based on what data? I've had 7 cars and driven each for at
least 100,000 miles and never had to add a quart of oil
every 1000 miles to any of them. I just sold my 97 OBW at
115 K miles and never had to add oil between oil changes,
which were at 3000 mile intervals. If my 2006 Forester uses
1 quart per 1000 miles I will be very disappointed and it
will be my last Subaru.

You have been somewhat lucky to have avoided a "slow loser" out of 7 cars.

Out of the 16 I've either owned or were "in the family" (5 new), 4
consistently used some oil between changes at the rate of a quart every
1000 to 3000 miles. I'm not talking about rapid wearout, the oil use was
consistent for at least 10,000 miles on all of these.

One of the strangest ones was an '82 Toyota pickup that only used oil
when Castrol was put in it. There was noticeable blue smoke and it would
be down 2 quarts in a thousand. It wasn't leaking. (FWIW it was only
doing a quart /3000 when sold with 255,000 miles.)

My Bronco II has a habit of "gulping" a couple of quarts at weird
intervals. I've never seen smoke or leakage. Go figure.

My wife's 97 OBS occasionally will use somewhat less than a quart on a
long hot trip. It's hard to guess by the dipstick but it is noticeable.
The level is still OK by dipstick, so we don't add any.


I wouldn't worry about 1/1000 oil use but will admit that it's a pain to
keep adding oil if you drive long distances.

 

[Body Roll]

I wouldn't worry about 1/1000 oil use but will admit that it's a pain to
keep adding oil if you drive long distances.

Man, I want the same gas tank you have to go 1000 miles in one sitting.

Btw on Subies there is a thing called cargo net where spare oil bottles
fit very nicely,

 

[Victor Roberts]

I would not consider oil consumption an indication of poor quality.
My Yamaha GTS-1000A was drinking just as much as your Forester does,

My Forester is fine. Someone else had posted about the high
oil consumption of their Impreza. I was discussing a
hypothetical that has not occurred.

 

[Kurt Krueger]

A quart of oil every 1,000 miles is NOT normal for any car unless
it's one you run at Indy.

However, it is within specs for just about every car sold in
the USA. It's OK, it doesn't mean your engine is toast or
anything.

The bottom line is that you won't get any warranty relief. And
more so, unless a leak is found, you probably can't fix it without
a total engine rebuild. And even so, you still might end up with
an oil user.

I've got a few (older) cars in the 1,000 miles per quart category.
I just add oil, it's not worth the expense and effort to try to
fix it. One car had a leak at the valve cover. Fixing it got
the miles per quart up from 1,000 to about 1,500.

Note that you have to use some oil. You have to lubricate the
cylinders all the way into the combustion chamber. Otherwise
you've got real serious problems.

 

[Body Roll]

Note that you have to use some oil. You have to lubricate the
cylinders all the way into the combustion chamber. Otherwise

You sure any oil in 4 stroke engine should get into combustion chamber?
If it does 1 qt per 1000 miles seems low.

 

[Kurt Krueger]

Kurt Krueger wrote:




You sure any oil in 4 stroke engine should get into combustion chamber?
If it does 1 qt per 1000 miles seems low.

The piston rings allow some oil to pass around them. Note that the proper
term for the "oil ring" is "oil control ring". It's job is to let just enough
oil to leak through to lubricate the bore. The requirement is pretty small,
maybe a quart every 10,000 miles.

 

[Edward Hayes]

My 2000 Forester 2.5L uses a measured 6 oz. per 5-6,000 mile OCI. I
also noticed that Road & Track testing on a 2.5L Subaru did not need
oil added during their 10,000 mile test. Some other high performance
vehicles needed one quart added during a 7,000 mile road test. None of
my vehicles ever needed oil added during a 5-6,000 OCI and that
includes a Saab turbo, a Jeep 4.0, a Volvo 1800 and now my Subaru with
108,000 miles on it.