[mellon2003]

Hi everyone!
I bought my crosstrek in October and have almost 6,000 miles. Yesterday my oil light came on. I checked my oil, and it was low. I brought it to Subaru to have them check it out. They said it was within the acceptable limits for "consuming oil" for the amount of miles I had. They said I was 1 quart low. A brand new car burning oil this quickly?!?!?!? Looking for some advice or suggestions.

 

[Subir_roo]

The EJ series motors did burn about that much normally. Even motors broken in correctly and running high grade oils do burn a touch because of the design of these engines. Obviously these new motors don't have a lot of time on the market so it's hard to say for sure what is normal but on the EJ that would fall into normal ranges, usually about 1/2qt per 3500mi or so. That's probably what your dealer is basing this information off of.

 

[CJBROWN]

Yep, sounds normal.
Since the motor is filled with syn from the get-go it make take quite a long time for the rings to completely seat. Expect subsequent miles to show less consumption, but a half quart in 3500 is well within normal.

Different oils can produce differing consumption results too. I was pretty shocked when I switched one time on our BMW 3-series. We bought it as a cpo with about 35K, was pretty sludgy inside from going WAY too long on it's oil changes. Probably only got changed twice. My favorite oil for those is the euro-spec line from Amsoil, changed it out and did a couple of short change intervals and the motor got cleaned out. In fact, did a valve cover gasket at bout 80K and it was spotless inside. It would use about 3-4 oz of oil in 6K miles, my OCI, which is about half of factory recommendation. One time I put 5w-30 signature series in it thinking that closer matched the recommendation. At about 3200 miles the oil light came on, it had used just over a quart. I was shocked because it had never done that. That motor held 7 quarts, and it had used that much. I switched back to euro-spec shortly thereafter and consumption went back to nill. Go figure, eh?

I have some concerns with the 20w recommendation. If you have 6K on the car with a fresh oil change, then see what it does for the next 3K. If the oil is filthy black at 5500-6K it should be changed anyway, the additive package could be used up. if you're down a half quart at 3K consider switching to a 0w-30. The slightly higher viscosity may well stop your consumption by helping the oil ring to seal better. I can't say for sure that would fix it, but might go a long way to improving it.

 

[Subir_roo]

On point. One other HUGE factor to this is proper setting of the rings, remember the engine braking is key to setting the rings. A lot of people don't know that and don't ever engine brake. you're not using a huge mechanical advantage given to you to save brakes on large hills and overtime. There's no reason not to engine brake. It will help set the rings during your first miles on the car and help you save pads and rotors over time.

 

[CJBROWN]

On point. One other HUGE factor to this is proper setting of the rings, remember the engine braking is key to setting the rings. A lot of people don't know that and don't ever engine brake. you're not using a huge mechanical advantage given to you to save brakes on large hills and overtime. There's no reason not to engine brake. It will help set the rings during your first miles on the car and help you save pads and rotors over time.

Yes, definitely key to good ring seating. I was going to mention this, but unfortunately he may be well over breakin time, hard to say. The CVT is going to be darn tough to do much engine decel unless you shift it manually. In the first 500 miles this really helps, and then put some revs on it up and down once getting to that 1000 mile mark. In otherwords, drive it like you stole it. LOL. Babying them is probly the worst thing for ring seating.

 

[Subir_roo]

With the CVT it's damn easy to downshift to brake. You don't even have to put it in manual mode, just slap that downshift paddle and it'll drop a gear for ya! Yeah, it's amazing to see how poorly people brake cars in. Avoid the highway people! Keep those RPMs changing and low for the first 1000ish miles, then open her up. Accelerate and engine brake. DON'T keep it in the same RPMs for brake in ever, try as hard as you can to keep things variable.

 

[Got One]

I'm going to check mine today. My previous vehicles, Honda and Nissan never burned oil, well negligible amounts.

Just checked and mine is down half way with only 4500km. Surely this can't be normal?

 

[Subir_roo]

Half way as in between the full line and low line half way? Because that's a pretty dang small amount of oil between those two lines. It might have even only been at that level when filled.

 

[Twist2Stop]

"Subaru thing."

 

[Subir_roo]

Not quite....if we're going that route its a "boxer" motor thing. BMW boxer motors do it too, Porsche motors do it sometimes, most flat motors do burn a bit more than other motor designs.

 

[ClubCrosstrek]

"Subaru thing."

This is my third Subaru and haven't ever had an oil issue. Just had my Crosstrek's changed today at the dealer around 6,800 miles (no oil light was on, I was just there already and decided to have it done) and dealer said it looked fine.

 

[Subir_roo]

Agreed, the majority of these cars do just fine. It's a boxer trait to burn a little oil and some motors will do it more than others. It is "normal" and we see it on a lot of the cars that we work on or that come through the shop. Others are just fine. It's generally a factor of how well the motor was broken in and what oil is used. Some minor oil burning can be considered normal though.

 

[Twist2Stop]

"Subaru thing."

This is my third Subaru and haven't ever had an oil issue. Just had my Crosstrek's changed today at the dealer around 6,800 miles (no oil light was on, I was just there already and decided to have it done) and dealer said it looked fine.

Hang out at the shop a while. They are almost always all low on oil when they come in.

 

[Twist2Stop]

Not quite....if we're going that route its a "boxer" motor thing. BMW boxer motors do it too, Porsche motors do it sometimes, most flat motors do burn a bit more than other motor designs.

Difference being, BMW doesn't base all of their engines off a design that consumes fluids.

 

[Subir_roo]

Haha true. Just a few random motorcycles!

 

[Got One]

Took mine to the dealer today. Was told that the MT will burn oil, more than the CVT. Apparently this is normal for a Subaru & that is why the recommendation is to check oil every second fill. I have always had MT cars, this is the first time I have ever had to worry about oil consumption.

 

[Twist2Stop]

Did they have a reason why MT would burn more? That is interesting. I am replacing the engine in a manual Baja right now that the customer ran low on oil.

 

[Got One]

Not really, something about everyone driving a MT differently and that when you change gears it sucks in oil?? Then he said it is a Subaru thing apparently, "perfectly normal", then he said that maybe the oil wasn't full when the car was new. When I told him it was because I checked the second day, he reverted to "perfectly normal". I am very suspicious, but have learned that getting a straight & understandable answer is probably not going to happen.

I told him that my previous Hondas and Nissans never had this issue, I was told "Subarus are different".

 

[Subir_roo]

I have no clue what this whole "sucking" oil on shifts thing he is talking about would be. But it is normal for the flat motors to burn a little oil. Some of them don't but a lot of them do. Sounds like he is trying to make odd excuses for a simple common issue.

 

[XVEwing]

I'm used to changing my oil every 3000 miles. I looked at the manual and it looks like it is recommending every 7,500. I'm a low mileage driver so it looks like I should expect this low oil light to come on me before it's time for an oil change. I'm looking at getting my oil changed every 9 months!! Seems like a long time to wait. If that's the case, might as well spend extra for synthetic oil.