checked my oil today and i cant seem to get a reading on the dipstick, at first it looked ok but now it showing up there is no oil. it had a service about 2500 miles ago so it is very unlikely that there is no oil in the engine. i put in a litre of oil and still nothing showing up on the dipstick, it on a slight incline forward so shouldnt effect it too much should it?

i drive it hard on occasion but 70% of the mileage is motorway miles!!!

anybody got any ideas??? could it have burnt that much oil in that space of time???

 

2.5's are notorious for drinking oil, find some flat ground (car park) give it 30 mins and check again, chances are that it doesnt have any oil in there!
(oh noticed your on a slight incline forward, still it should show oil if full, dont rag the car at any point until you have proven there is no oil in there)

Tony

 

well i know there is at least a litre in there cause i put a litre in. is it always so hard to get a reading on the dipstick???

 

i drive my 2.5 hard at times
and it uses no oil

 

Well your one of the lucky ones, ask most 2.5 owners how much oil theirs use, well they will be checking and topping up every 1k

Tony

 

As above couldnt believe how much oil my 2.5 uses i check it everytime i use it now, infact i bet it uses more than a litre in 1000 miles.

 

belive they all are , park on flat ground , take dip stick out and leave it out for 5/10mins then check the oil , i always go and drink a coffee

 

checked the oil this mornin and it is well over the top mark now! Drove 40 miles to work nice and steady. Can this damage the car havin it over filled with oil! Think i might just bring it to subaru and get the oil changed amen new filter!

 

Usually, up to 1 litre for every 1000 miles is considered "acceptable" for an oil-using motor.

Anything significantly more, then............

 

what can happen when there is too much oil in the car???? will it be alright to drive it?

 

you can blow the oil seals (with any car)

 

Do you have your cats in, too much oil can knacker those to, not to mention hydraulic the engine, smoking, blowing seals as above.
I'd get it sorted mate sooner rather than later.

 

i wouldnt trust the dipstick on impreza i changed the oil in my impreza i put 4 litres of oil in the engine the dip stick showed nothing when i checked it 45 mins later. about half hour later i put in half ltr in and as soon as i checked ithe dipstick showed 2 much oil. but a scooby can hold 4.5 litres or least thats wat the maual say

 

You can drain some out using a syringe with a long pipe on it.
You don't want to drive around with too much in.
It is 1L between top and bottom markers on a 2.5 AFAIK
In my experience, Subarus are f*ckers to read the oil levels in.

 

Checked mine over the weekend after leaving it for 4 or 5 hours in a nice level car park - On one side of the dipstick it was full on the other side it was 2/3 empty so I added some oil down the empty side of the filler

 

Level ground and you should really check when cold, say in the morning prior to starting and after an overnight rest. Always look at both sides of the dipstick and I normally take mid point between the two sides as an indication.

Personally, I check my levels everytime I use the car.

 

Every time?? Not really practical and particularly tricky if home parking is nowhere near level.

My normal location for checking oil is after filling with petrol. OK, I know it should be cold but I get very little opportunity and warm level oil has got to be better than cold on a slope.

 

Imprezas are annoying for reading the oil, i was well paranoid about mine, did a bit of research on the net and most people were finding it annoying too !!

I found out:

• Ignore the back of the dipstick, read only the front (dont know why)
• There is a hot and cold reading (Near f mark at cold & near top notch when hot
• Take out dipstick / wipe / insert back in / hold for 10secs take out check (Its difficult to get an accurate reading without it smearing all over the dipstick!)

 

When you have the amount of cash ploughed into an engine as I have... you tend to check everytime to be sure!

I don't use my car every day, but when I do I would normally do in excess of 100+ miles each time. My engine uses oil (which is fine), so I would rather be safe than sorry.

I am not suggesting you should do this on your car, but I just do it for peace of mind. Since I have to open the bonnet to take the battery conditioner off, it makes no odds to me to check the oil whilst under the bonnet.

 

thanks for all the feedback, im gonna try drain the excess that i put in, if i cant i will just drop the lot and put in some fresh stuff.

is castrol edge alright to put in a wrx?

 

Mine also uses it and is also a bitch to read.
(Forged engine - pistons knock when cold and oil gets past em)
I also check it everytime I use it like Shaun.
From cold on level ground.
If it reads low I put quarter/half liter in. Get the engine warmed up over 15mins and then when the oil is hot - recheck. as sometimes when it looks like it needs more in when cold perhaps less might do.

I am also under the personal impression that it is a bit random as too how much oil returns to the sump.

Re - overfilling. The big danger is the crank touching the oil and frothing it up.
However I vaguely remember David mentioning that there is quite a large clearance between the crank and the oil level in a subaru engine

 

I tried this - and it works very well