Oil use. How much is too much?
 

Hi, I'm a newbie, but have been looking in here for months. I have a MY03 wagon.
It was registered oct 03, and has just clocked 3200miles. During the running in period, it never used any oil and performed faultlessly. The oil was changed at 1100 miles, and until 2 weeks ago, still hadn't used any. I gave up checking the oil weekly at christmas, and now do it fortnightly. Horror of horrors, this morning I checked and the oil level is now on the minimum! It has only taken around 500 miles to go from full, to minimum, is this bad? When I start the car, normally it is dark. Today I started it in the daylight, and there was a big plume of blue oil smoke, that lasted for 30 secs or so, then no noticeable smoke at all. Is this normal? I have had a variety of cars, and never experienced this ever. This is my first new car to date, and to be honest didn't expect this! I don't abuse the car until it is warm, and always let the car idle before I shut down. It has synthetic oil in it, but I do not know what grade. I will be contacting the dealer tomorrow, but does anyone have any advice?
Thanks Daz.

i have a 03 sti, and its never used oil from day one, its at 9500 mls now,but i have heard on here that some do, but not the blue smoke, sooner you get it looked at the better i think.

Using FULLY synthetic at 1100miles is far too early - halfway through the sevice period would be usually considered the minimum. Using fully synthetic oil too soon will not allow the final bedding-in and there is a good chance the oil consumption will rise. Having said that, I would check for leaks at the sump plug and oil filter seal. You need to remove the undertray for that. Blue smoke at start-up often indicates oil seepage past the valve stem seals when at rest after a run (more common on "upright" engines where gravity does its worst!) Another possibility is the turbo oil seal allowing seepage into the inlet side of the turbine.
There has to be a clue in fact that it got worse after the first service?
JohnD

My 03 WRX with 6200 miles on it uses some oil as well. I seem to remember a thread a few weeks (months?) back where a lot of people had oil usage on the new ages, but not sure if full to empty in 500 miles is normal... Mine crept from full at 1000 miles (service) to low at about 5000 miles, but never noticed that the car would be excessively 'smokey' or anything such.

Like you, I never abuse the car when it's cold and always let it cool down too before shutting engine off.

My dealer uses castrol magnatech semi synthetic, apparently.

As my consumption was less than a lot of other peoples', I've let it be for now, but will ask the dealer when service time comes.. However, if I was you and it uses that much oil and smokes badly, I'd take it back to the dealers for them to have a look.

As I said, I have now contacted the suplying dealer. They seemed quite concerned, and the end result is, the car is running on shell 10/30 fully synthetic oil. I will buy a litre and monitor the situation accordingly. They were most helpful, and were more than happy to have the car overnight, to check if it smokes at startup the next day. I would go down this route, however they are 70miles away, and is not really practical until I have exhausted all I can do.

Mine has started to use a bit of oil as well (6,500 miles), and when I phoned the dealer to find out what to top it up with they informed me that they use fully synthetic 5w40 because of a technical note from Subaru.

I have heard of quite a few new cars using oil early on (including Civic Type R's), but they do aparently settle down after a bit.... we shall see!

Hi,

If your dealer does anything about it, please tell here as there are at least another two with dealers saying 'its normal'

I personally have gone from half full to below min in 300miles! on one occation.

on average i use about 600ml/1000 miles which is below the 'ford factor' excuse of the dealers of 1000ml/1000miles

Simon

Oh i forgot, ive done 20000 miles (11 months) it started 'eating oil' about 7000 miles and ive had to put in 9 ltrs since then (need another can of oil now)

Simon

oh i forgot again - MY03 PPP

My 03WRX used nothing up to the first service at 1,000 miles, then used 2.75 litres up to the 10,000 service and has not used a drip since (now 17,000 miles).
- Depends a lot on how you drive, but I would expect most modern engines to use a bit up to about 15,000 miles. I assume you are now using max power / max revs?

As a reference - the girlfriends Clio 172 did exactly the same as mine 3 litres up to 10,000 miles - hasn't used any since!

My O3 WRX dropped to minimum between 1000mile oil change and about 4000miles- didn't check it between so don't know how quickly it dropped!
I started a similar thread back then and received reassurances that it was fairly normal.
One punter suggested that the quicker ones use more oil- fact or fiction we will never know!!

Hi everybody!

I didn't think it was normal for any new car to use up the oil these days. I know this seems a thead exclusively about the MY03 model but I have an MY00 and it never needs topping up.... ever.

I'm still going to check it now though ;)

When I say new, I mean running in (zero miles) new. As I have said, I have read about a lot of Civic Type R's and things using oil for a few thousand miles while everything starts bedding in and sealing properly. Generally this will then stop (Read it in Evo about a year ago).

Have you had your MY00 from new?

I am hoping that the oil use should stop after the first 10,000 mile service.

Funnily enough, the Subaru dealer in Staffs did actually quote a silly figure for the amount of oil a car should use before it is considered excessive!

Just to clarify a point, I understood the oil level should only be at the low level on the dipstick when cold. If overfilled then it can contaminate the boost solenoid and associated pipework. Does this only apply to classics?

Don't want everyone reading this thread to check their oil, see it's low, fill it to the full mark, and the start suffering from overboost / fuel cut problems ;)

Graz - the 03' have 2 "full" marks - full when cold (mid level notch) and full when hot (upper hole).

The dealer did tell me NOT to check oil when cold. The handbook does also say to check oil when re-fuelling, again suggesting warm engine. The oil when checked warm, was infact very near to the max mark, but I am not happy about the oil smoke at startup. For now, I will not be adding any oil but will be checking twice a week! The dealer did say that they often settle down, and not to unduly worry. Along with the ford connection, my ex wife had a nearly new fiesta, and lately a focus, both used oil initially, then stopped almost overnight. Time will tell, but I have always got the warranty to fall back on. Although I do not anticipate reaching 10000 miles before the annual service is due, the car does get 'Driven' as subaru designed it for.
Many thanks for all the replies, it is nice to know I don't have a unique problem.