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Found eensy weensy pieces of metal in my oil, at the bottom of the pan today, when attempting to change my oil, the napa silver filter wont come loose, so i have to put the change on hold til i get back from work with an oil filter wrench. apparently subaru didnt want their turbo owners to change the oil, so they put the exhaust stuff RIGHT IN THE WAY so you could cut your hands... at any rate... Is this something i need to worry about. not lots of metal, but enough to make me a bit nervous...

art suggested changing the oil in about 2k miles to check and see if there were any metal bits... the oil was BLACK when it drained, so it may have been longer since the last oil change than the seller said.

I have noticed the tight clearance too, but I have small hands, and I only put my filters in hand tight, so I don't have a problem getting them out...

me neither, but the oil hasnt been changed since i've had the car, so it was probably the guy who changed it...

The clearance is tight because your car is missing its oil cooler.

You cut your hands? Not burned them? Was your engine not warmed up before you changed the oil?

The metal bits might be something to be concerned about... maybe you could send a sample to Blackstone Labs to see what they think.

If I were you I'd save this oil just in case, change the oil once, and then change it again in 1000-2000 miles and see how that looks. For all you know the previous owner could have done that ghetto suck-old-oil-out-with-a-vacuum-through-the-dipstick oil change technique, never actually getting rid of the particulate matter.

my oil is almost black every time i change my oil. i am going to try changing it every 2000 miles, but i think the turbo's just tear that oil up. is this other turbo owners' experience?

You shouldn't have metal shavings in your oil... hmmm. Someone might have worked on something with the oil cap off. Or used a dirty rag when checking the dipstick.

Turbos are indeed very hard on oil. Mine's pretty dark at every change too, and I use Mobil 1 and change it at approximately 3000-mile intervals.

Laurel, can you take pictures of the metal bits?

man up laurel Rip that shit off. Go buy a set of filter pliers or a good sized bandwrench and put some man into those arms . You can also stab into the side of it with a screwdriver or something and turn it off that way. Also if it was done at the dealer the filter is gunna be tight as hell.

Yeah, I've had to stab a few oil filters with screwdrivers in order to get them off the car before. Once I actually had to turn it two full turns with a screwdriver handle before I could turn it by hand.

I often stab my oil filter in the bottom with a screwdriver just to drain the hot oil before I loosen the filter.

vrg3 wrote:The clearance is tight because your car is missing its oil cooler.

So the oiler coolers can be added onto cars that didn't come with them from the factory?

yes. Ideally you'd want to also get the coolant lines and stuff that goes with it, but you dont NEED that if you just want to install it temporarily, or if you're piecing it or something.

My car's oil is black the day after a change and it's N/A. All my Subarus have done this. First time I changed the oil in my GL it scared me.

Steve

My oil never seems to get past the dark brown. After 4000 miles its still fairly clear. 5500 its gettin time to change...
N/A wagon driven like a granny 90% of the time

123c - Yes, they can. Like THAWA said, it helps to have the coolant lines and stuff, but you can hack a lot of it yourself. Subaru actually made several oil coolers that fit the EJ series of engines, each with slightly different configurations of hose fittings.

If you do a search on it we talked about it in another thread.

I'd recommend changing the oil and then do it again real soon....see if you notice any more metal shavings. You may want to try putting a small magnet on the bottom of the oil pan to try and trap/keep any existing metal in the system from circulating around.

Am I mistaking, or is this a car you've bought from someone recently? Some of the oil additives like Restore have metal flakes that are in the mix. I've read on some that it's to fill in gaps or spaces in worn engines to form a better seal. I can't imagine anything other than a short fix and an even worse problem soon with the metal bits in the oil scraping around. As mentioned, a pic (with a quarter or something for scale) would be helpful.

I know it's blurry, but here's what i've got...

all the little dots are metal

OK. That rules out my idea of the oil additive. It looks different than that.

hmmm....what's the texture of the metal....how does it feel when you rub it between your fingers....jagged, smooth?

Also, what's the condition of the oil pan itself? If the previous owner threw in a bottle of engine cleaner or oil conditioner it's possible that the flakes you're seeing are debris from a well-intentioned "cleaning".
While I've never done this in my Subaru, I have cleaned out a couple V-8's using engine flushes and someof the stuff that came out as a result was disturbing -and not unlike what you're displaying in those photos.

Time for a new shortblock.

MK

i hope i dont need anything like a shortblock, or even a rebuild. the metal that came out was rounded. I kept it, but dont know what to do with it

Is it aluminum, or iron? see if it's magnetic.

MK

Put those flakes under your pillow Laurel. Maybe the Subaru fairy will come by while you sleep and replace them with some goodies!

Compression and leak down test.

Steve