BURN OIL?

[ZUBB92]

HI, I'M KINDA NEW HERE AND I WAS I WONDERING IF ANYBODY HAD EXPERIENCE THIS. AFTER AN OIL CHANGE MY (92 LEGACY L 2.2 147.000 MILES) " BURNS" A QUART OF OIL BETWEEN 1,500 AND 2,000 MILES.
NO CHANGE IN PERFORMANCE, NO OIL ON THE GROUND AND I DON'T SEE ANY ON MUFFLER. (CHANGED PVC VALVE), NO CHANGE. I HAVE USED VALVOLINE HIGH MILEAGE AND NOW USING PENNZOIL HIGH MILEAGE 10W-30. STARTED DOING IT ABOUT A YEAR AGO....THANK YOU FOR ANY COMMENTS.......

[BoostedSubie]

With that low of miles on your car, i doubt its your rings but maybe could be your valve stem seals. How soon after your oil change did it start burning oil and do you have any smoke coming from the exhaust? Did you put in any kind of engine treatment, Seafoam, stuff like that in with the oil change?

[evolutionmovement]

I don't think he's aware of when it's burning due to his use of quotes. My wagon has much higher mileage and didn't use as much, but it ate about a quart and a half between 7500k oil changes. Never saw blue smoke or nasty residue on the bumper and no leaks either, even just before I burned an exhaust valve and it ate a quart in a couple days. Didn't even see any AFTER the valve melted and it was running on 3 cylinders. It's worth a try to have someone look when you start it up after sitting overnight and see if you get any blue smoke. Then again, not only with my own, I've never seen blue smoke from any Subaru, even when I knew they were eating oil (unlike K-cars, which I believe were commonly light blue to camouflage the color of the exhaust).

[93forestpearl]

It all depends on how the car was treated and driven before you purchased it. Mine burns about a quart every thousand miles, yet still runs like an open sore and has decent fuel economy. Check the oil once a week, and you'll get a lot more miles out of it.

[ZUBB92]

well, i am going by miles and it always is between 1500 and 2000 miles after oil change, almost like clock work. (BoostedSubbie) i have never used any engine treatment and i only saw smoke from the exhaust on cold days not in warm days, wasn't even blue. Now when is time for the next oil change at 3000 miles, i' m not short any oil.

[Rubasu]

i personally think its that high millage oil, mine was doing it, and stopped after the switch to synthetic. i have also seen the same thing with high millage oil on other sites.

[ZUBB92]

i was thinking of going to syn high mileage or syn regular but not sure10-30 or 5-30...

[BoostedSubie]

Yeah, i would try the switch to synthetic and see if that helps things. I need to make the switch over to synthetic myself.

[Rubasu]

I personally run royal purple 5w30, love it and change it every 5K. Highly recommended!
Busted subie BTW do u have less throttle response with ur fmic?

[93forestpearl]

Anything fancy is a waste of money. Burn the oil, and replace it with more dino oil. Subie run long time....

[Rubasu]

that might be ur opinion but it does make a difference so if u did some research u might find that it is better and not a waste of money, Dan.

[evolutionmovement]

He's got an L that burns oil. I agree with Dan. Why eat $7+/qt. oil when you can eat $2 or whatever the dino costs. I use Mobil 1, but I also change the oil every 7500+ (10k on the Mazda) and I don't feel confident keeping dino oil that long. If he used the car in extreme conditions, wanted to go to a long oil change, or had a performance engine, then synthetic would be a better idea, but that doesn't sound like him.

[93forestpearl]

Correct Steve. It burns oil, leaks oil, and possibly converts it into antihorsepower, but I haven't proven that yet.


Synthetic is nice for long oil changes, and extreme conditions since it holds its viscosity better at the extremes. However, the engines I've disassembled were all ran on dino oil and were over 200k on the clock. The wear on the rings, bearings, varnish, etc, was all fantastic. Synthetic is not going to take a great situation and make it momentous.

Asking an oil to stop consumption is an attempt in futility. It will continue to burn (or leak) oil because there is a mechanical problem. "Fixing" said problem with different oils is like putting a band-aid on those ugly warts. It looks better but the problem is still there.


For the record, I live in MN, so the conditions can be extreme. -30 in the winter and 95+ in the summer. I use 5w30 in the winter and 10w30 in the summer, all NAPA brand oil (which I think is from Valvoline). Oil has never been a factor in any of my engines whether they make 100 hp or 400 hp.

[ZUBB92]

you are right (evolutionmovement), i' m sticking with the high mileage pennz. why eat 7$ for 2$. i use 10w-30 all year round, i live in northeast pa and according to the manual i can use 10w, doesnt get that extreme here.