Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

Car has used approx 4 litres in the last 1500 miles, after a run when restarting the car, strong smell of oil through air vents.

Cracked piston? Ringland failure? Anything else it could be?

No large pools of oil beneath the car or anything obvious, car runs normally and pulls strong under boost.

Steve's Sti

iTrader: (2)

Have you checked you intercooler for oil inside? Car done much miles?

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

Haven't checked the intercooler, car has done 54k.

Steve's Sti

iTrader: (2)

Thats what mines had down, get a compression test and if possible leakdown test to confirm ringlands thats a hell of alot of oil mines was using abit aswell, also now and again would hold back boost, i take it hasn't been forged yet?

blackhawksti

Sounds like ring-land failure to me :-( Happened to the previous owner of my car. Resulted in some nice forged cosworth pistons being dropped in. If you need new pistons, its a good opportunity to fit uprated gaskets and bearings while your at it

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Sounds suspiciously like ringland failure to me.

I suggest you get it to a specialist engine builder quick sharp before you **** the crank as well, as that costs a fair few quid on it's own + bearings and modine adds another £1k to the cost of the job, let alone scored bores, damaged valves and heads, once the metal starts traveling around the engine it can be fatal for so much more pushing the costs through the roof.

But to be honest it's probably fcuked it already.

EDIT to add; People please save yourselves some serious dollar and just get it sorted before it goes **** up, burying your head in the sand and hoping it won't happen to you is a very expensive roll of the dice, and as the weeks go by more and more get added to the list.

I think this is the 3rd thread this past week.

blackhawksti

One thing you can check is the oil pick up pipe. Notorious for cracking near the welded flange. That could be pi**ing oil out from there, but you would get the oil light coming on when the car is starting. It's definitely worth checking out but I imagine 1 or more pistons are shot!

Fudgey

iTrader: (1)

is the bumper oily where the tail pipe is?

as if its not leaking its being burnt, or the oil fairy's are thirsty!

that is a lot of oil over 1500 miles, so unfortunately its not looking too good.

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

No, standard as far as I know.
Not that I can see.


Have had a look through a few threads on here and it sounds like it's on borrowed time...

Luckily enough I have a warranty with it.

The car will be going back to Subaru for a fault with the secondary air system soon, I will contact the dealer I bought the car from and let them know what's happening with the oil and try to get it in ASAP.

Would it be standard practice to charge for a compression test, and if so, how many £ are we talking?

If this sort of thing is fixed under warranty by Subaru, would they replace all of the pistons/rings as a precaution or just the one that has failed?
Do they replace them with the same type that failed in the first place?

rob84

iTrader: (5)

sounds like its shat itself, compression and cylinder leakdown test will confirm.

the limit is 1 ltr per 1000 miles

AS Performance

iTrader: (4)

can happily assist you as we have previously if required....................

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Alyn, unfortunately as this is covered by warranty it has to go to the dealer I bought it from then to Subaru for any warranty work.

They're pretty **** useless as well, three trips to replace shock absorbers etc. The sort of job you have done for me in a couple of hours..

jason73

My 52 wrx also uses a lot of oil. Had a compression test and that's fine. I use castrol 10w40 oil. What could it be. Everything else fine apart from like above it feels like its holding back on boost sometimes

nyscooby

iTrader: (12)

I'd check if the drain plug in actually in!! 4ltrs!!!! oooof!

Steve's Sti

iTrader: (2)

Get the engine done on warranty then save up for forger job that way you get time to save

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

Go and see Rob at Stan palmers it will get sorted if warrenty job

AS Performance

iTrader: (4)

not always strictly true depending on the exact warranty applied, if you go through your warranty book it will state clauses

also be aware most have a max. claim value so you may well get caught for a cost your not banking on!!

have just done an engine job that was far cheaper for me to sort than it was for the "top-up" on the warranty cost!!

mickp

iTrader: (1)

4 Litres. That's a huge amount within that mileage. Must be other clues surely ??

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

I'll look into that, the problem is that they haven't supplied the warranty booklet, which I requested, so not 100% sure.

Anyway, had the car down to Subaru today and they think it could possibly be a problem with the oil feed and return pipes or possibly turbo oil seals.

Hmmmmm...

rob84

iTrader: (5)

Judging by the engine etc etc & known faults, I'd find it hard to believe the turbo being bust, Most break a ringland on cyl 2 or 4 on the 2.5

MichaelB

You'll probably find any VAT registered garage can do warranty work. They just claim the cost from your warranty company. Alyn would be my choice.

Ring the dealership and ask. I know all the management where you bought it do I don't mind speaking to them to try and help you.

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for that, I'm off work next week so will find out what the score is with regards to the warranty.

DmcL

sorry to be a buttinski here but regarding the "1 ltr per 1000 miles" comment.. does anyone know about how much 1L would be on the dip stick? asking as i only just got mine and oil was low when bought and now shes up to the max mark again and id like to keep a hawks eye (haha) on it as the warranty on the car is only 3 months so between driving it somewhat hard and monitoring oil level im hoping to ensure its a good strong 2.5 without any hidden problems before the point of no comeback with the dealer.

tony de wonderful

You can figure it out yourself when you top it up. Pour in a known amount (like 0.5L), and make a note of how much it rises (use a ruler) after ticking the engine over to move the oil about. Of course it won't be linear exactly but you'll get a rough idea.

DmcL

ahh but any more would put it above the max mark at present and depending how quickly it goes down i may not have sufficient time to keep a tab on oil consumption before the warranty period is up.

how much oil does the 2.5 WRX hold when full? i can get a rough idea that way atleast..

tony de wonderful

Note the oil level on the dipstick exactly, drain out what looks like roughly a litre, note the oil level again, then measure the amount of oil you drained. If you don't have a proper measuring jug then fill like a 2 L plastic milk container and estimate how much oil you have with your eye. Knowing the amount of oil you drained and the distance dropped on the dipstick, some simple maths will tell you how far 1 L will drop it if you didn't drain (roughly) 1 L.

Then pour the oil back in.

DmcL

yea never thought of that.. running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off today so only half thinking about things lol

cster

1 litre between max and min on my 06 STI 2.5.

DmcL

bound to be more than 1L between the marks surely? how much oil does the engine hold? if 1L is that much then the engine must not take much to fill from empty.

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

Just received the warranty details today.
The good bit is.
This is the annoying part.
Subaru have advised to check the oil feed and return pipes on the turbocharger and say the oil smell may be due to 'oil on exhaust dripping onto down pipe from turbo return' they have advised an oil consumption test - fill up to max and test how much car uses over 250-500 miles.

Standard is apparently 1-1.5 litres per 1000 miles.

After that a compression test, cost £100

Few observations I have made myself are:-

* No black/blue smoke on a cold start or that I can see when boosting
* Smell of burning oil when driving on boost - could this point to a leak somewhere?
* Small spots of oil on my driveway and also parking place at work- Just noticed this, thought it had been from the wife's car.

Have also found out that the car had a full top end rebuild done under warranty by Subaru 3 years ago.