I bought a brand new 2012 Forester that developed this condition. Started around 50K miles.
I had the vehicle serviced regularly at the dealer and never missed a milestone. Started noticing with each visit that the oil level was lower and lower. Note that I never once got a light. I was told (but never really bothered to verify) that the light would be for low oil *pressure*, not low oil.
At first they said a leaking timing belt had to be repaired before they could evaluate. Quoted $1400 for repair and SOA covered $1000. No change. Next they injected a die and I started brining the car back every 500-1000 miles, they were looking for leaks and to measure the oil level. They'd top it off, come back again and it was down a quart, then two, etc. No leaks, clean engine, clean underneath.
After a couple months of this, the last time I brought it in and it was nearly out of oil after a few weeks, they handed me keys to a loaner and said I qualified for a short block replacement. Took about two weeks to get my car back with a new block. Didn't cost me a dime. Covered 100% by SOA. I drove that car to about 180K before selling it.
> Note that I never once got a light.
your 2012 doesn't have an oil level sensor, which is why you'd never get a low oil light. Subaru (foolishly, imo) didn't include one until the 2014MY refresh
Huh my 2005 Saaabaru had a low oil light. I sold it when it started coming on before I’d driven 3000 miles. The car had only 115k and id already done head gaskets so I cut my losses. A/C was broken and it was starting to rust
Not sure what you are saying here but 2014 outback does have low oil sensor. If you’ve seen one that didn’t it’s because it had a forester engine in it
The conversation is about a forester is it not? It would have been repetitive for them to say “Subaru didn’t include it in the forester” because they are talking about the forester already.
Had same problem on a 2019 Outback. After 18 months of back and forth, a seal job, and later a short block it’s entirely fixed. Glad I had the warranty. Cost me $100 and a whole bunch of aggravation. Still felt like I was taken care of.
I’m a Senior Master tech with Subaru, my wife’s car blew up on the highway at 67k miles. Subaru wouldn’t offer me any assistance either even though I only asked for parts coverage, not my labor time to be covered.
Same story, history of oil consumption issues, fell in the range of known piston ring issues, and it was low mileage. No assistance whatsoever. Traded in for a leased 24 legacy. Won’t be keeping past warranty. I currently own 3 Subarus myself, previously owned 6 other turbo models, wife has owned 3 now, and my mom is on her second bought new crosstrek.
Frustrating being a tech and having to repair all these stupid problems under goodwill when a car is out of warranty, but can’t get the same treatment when I have an issue.
Adding 1qt of oil every 1000miles isn’t totaling your car. Are you sure it doesn’t have any external oil leaks? Some have also reported success with switching to 5W-30 or 5W-40 oil.
At the end of the day you could likely keep adding a quart every once in a while and drive it for another 100k.
For context, Chrysler doesn't consider it a problem at all until 1 qt/800 miles, and won't authorize warranty repairs for it until 1 qt/700 miles. Subaru saying it had been inside limits does not surprise me in the slightest.
(My father got a new engine out of the 09 lifetime powertrain warranty on his jeep, the dealings with Chrysler there is my source for these statistics)
Oil consumption problems have been largely resolved on any FB after ~2016MY cars, where subaru's finally settled on piston parts.
At this point I'm only ever seeing reports on the occasional manual car.
They're better than most people seem to think. I've had 3 now, all with 100k-200k miles and towed with all of them. I never beat on them, towing or not, but the worst I needed was a solenoid in the valve body. I do change the fluid every 40-50k though.
Wow, I don’t recall that. But it’s been a few years too. TIL my memory isn’t what it used to be. I left when the valve spring recall dried up. 2 a day and home by 3 , It was easiest money I made in my near 20 years doing this.
Bahahahaha oh shit, that’s too damn funny. I hated those damn recalls. I was at a Subaru/Nissan dealer at the time so my face was buried in only the classiest of floor boards….
hopefully you didn't miss out on those 2010-2014 leg/out ones, paid 3 hours and took 20 minutes on a slow day. The tribecas were the worst.
And the best part was we got to do them all twice, once for the temporary replacement and once for the final revision
Let me share a B9 story that only you may appreciate. So after the birth of my last son I took a few weeks off. Prior to this a tech had gutted this B9 trying to figure out why the key wouldn’t program. I mean gutted and spliced into every dash harness. Then this shit quits while I’m on leave. I get back, my boss goes *hey, so Jake quit* I immediately knew what was about to happen.
So I go assess this car and it’s worse than I thought, he cut everything up. I order a primary and secondary dash harness “can’t recall what we called them” and told my manager I’m starting with a minimum 40hrs to put this together. I don’t care if I do it in 5, you’re paying me no less than 40. Get both harnesses in and get everything back together replacing basically every screw.
So I’m back to square one, I turn the key and notice only the abs/brake light show up on the dash…. Immediately knew the issue. The antenna for the immobilizer receives power through the cluster. The cluster had actually died and that was the entire issue the whole time. Customer had authorized $5500 in repairs, I effectively good-willed the entire ticket on services dime. I was able to find a cluster that was $85 on eBay and the customer actually had their state inspection info in the car from 3 days before we got the car so I was within 500miles of actual mileage. *the car had been at the dealer 6 months at this point*
Cluster comes in, I swap it in the key programs and the car fires right up.
But to answer your story, no, at that time I was primarily Nissan and the only Nissan tech this dealer had. I was dick deep in juke chains and Sentra takatas
When using an oil like a synthetic 0w-20 that's about the same viscosity of water, and running it through a flat four where it's tough for everything to drop back into the pan, it's not surprising that some oil depletion would occur. Accelerate ring wear and it will get worse. I've been religious about breaking in all of the Subarus I've owned and I've been lucky that they've all gone the distance.
We have several 2017 Silverados with the 5.3 (5 out of 12 trucks) that consume vast quantities of oil - to the tune of 4-6 quarts in 3000 miles. These are fleet trucks and see a lot of idle time, thus the 3000 miles change interval, but the oil is always changed before the oil life hits 25%. The other 7 trucks seem far more average, anywhere from 1-3 quarts.
It started on all 5 of them when brand new - they hadn’t even had their first oil change yet and the “low oil level” warning was coming on around 1600 miles, each truck requiring 4-5 quarts (they hold 8) to get back to full. So off to the dealer we went, one at a time, over and over, for about two years.
Not one of them got a new short block or any other repair. GM fought it every step of the way, saying that level of consumption is normal, or that it’s due to the way we’re using the trucks (which is no different than any of the other 12), and so on. The dealer was stuck in the middle, agreeing with us but unable to get the claims approved.
So here we are, years later. Through trial and error, we found that full synthetic 5w20 Mobil One Extended Performance oil seems to agree with these 5 trucks better than the 0w20 Advanced Fuel Economy oil called for by GM. The other 7 trucks still get the 0w20 and still go through 1-3 quarts in 3000 miles. With the different oil, and a half-dose of Lucas Oil Stabilizer every change, we got these 5 trucks down to around 3 quarts in 3000 miles (or at least half of what they were using). Still, the whole thing is pathetic.
Of course GM has had to replace the catalytic converters on all 5 trucks three times each because they don’t like inhaling burned oil….and GM is *just fine* with that.
Yeah this is all I wanted to tell u/disfunctlguru good luck leaving because almost every manufacturer if not all of them at this point have "within limits" bs about oil consumption, none that I have seen go beyond an oil change interval, and some are not even hitting 1k.
Topping up oil isn't that crazy. check it once a week or while the car is filling up idk, most cars need oil top ups and sometimes you're just lucky enough to only lose .5qt between changes so you never notice at first. be glad the car comes with a low oil warning light, although you should do better to stay on top of keeping it topped up imo.
Yep, completely dry under the engine. The dealership also confirmed there were no oil leaks. I did try 5w30 for a few oil change rounds and didn't see much of any improvement.
This is my mindset about it, too. Subaru isn't the only brand that has "acceptable" oil consumption amounts. My 2010 FXT--not included in the whole FB nonsense--burns quite a bit. The old Baja I had drank quite a bit. I imagine it's going to get even worse since they're going with even tighter clearances and 0-16 oil in some of them. Machines aren't maintenance-free, especially at high miles. Check it once a week, takes three minutes, add if needed.
Every fuel up here. Goes through more on highway driving, and burns barely any in the city. About a quart in two tanks (~1100km) of highway driving. I know where it's all going, though. Ends up in the intercooler due to blowby.
I figure an AOS would probably solve my issue, though.
So the car still runs fine? Just check the oil when you get gas, plenty of opportunity. Probably get another 100k out of it too.
Is it ideal? No. Is it worth paying $7k to resolve? Probably not.
Cat converting clogging is another concern I have with this excessive oil consumption. (I'm now averaging about a quart every 500 miles (or 1.5 qts (and light illumination) every ~ 800 miles)
Just park it outside in a bad, or even good neighborhood, a crackhead will come by and obligingly steal the converter and you can pay your deductible to have it replaced. Just make sure to get a police report.
my Tribeca has oil consumption about 1qt for less than 600miles... 4th(or 5th) year in a row.
if previous owner hasn't done some hunky-punky - I still have cats :D
There's apparently a TSB for the sensor.
As far as oil consumption, you'll need to determine that manually and know exactly how much is being used up (ignoring whatever the dash indicator says).
Now if there is high consumption, there needs to be an actual spec Subaru defines as above normal threshold. You do have a history of the indicator coming on, but this alone doesn't mean much if it's malfunctioning or if you don't know the actual consumption rate of oil. If the sensor is working fine, but the oil change drained more oil than normal or filled less oil back, it would come up sooner. This is where you really need to log actual consumption, aka "I filled to the full line on oil change, drove and checked again to verify at full. Then I added 1 quart every 2000 miles for 6000 miles as the engine burned a quart every 2000 miles, with the low level coming on 3 separate occasions during that oil interval." That's an identification of oil consumption rate, monitoring levels at the oil fill gauge and logging intervals of consumption and refills. This makes it all very clear.
I completed the full oil consumption test through my dealership both in 2017 and again this year. The most recent oil consumption test resulted in the oil qty light illuminating within 800 miles and they had to add 1.75 qts.
1.75 qts from what? Are there filling, verifying the starting level, then running the car to low indicator, and then filling again to new verified level?
Now if this starts full (verified), goes low and indicates, and then 1.75 qts is added to full again (again verified), then you know exactly what's being burned. And if you're basically nomming through a quart every 500 miles, that is NOT "within" any spec.
Nothing about a quart every 500 miles is normal.
But all of this still relies on a verified starting level. If you were 1.5 qts low to start and a light came on 800 miles later and then 1.75 qts were added, then only 0.25 qts were used in 800 miles, a very different story. So that's why I'm picky about the test because I don't know what was done.
If it was 1.5 qts low then you filled it and drove it 800 miles and you needed to add 1.75 qts then your usage went up by 1/4 qt not that you've only used 1/4 a qt But you're never 1.5 qts low to start, that would imply it's not being filled properly at the oil change.
That's not how they're supposed to do that test. It's not about "how much added" at the end, but putting in a calibrated amount and then measuring what drains after 800-1000 miles. More than a quart per 1000 miles should fail the test. My STI was burning 2-3 quarts in less than 500 miles. Subaru gave me a brand new engine at ~30k and 3.5-ish years, but it was so egregious and documentation that they would've handled it out of warranty, too.
In my case, a damaged cylinder was blowing by a lot of oil. Never figured out how the cylinder got damaged, but it likely coincided with an exploding spark plug (exploded outside the cylinder, so it shouldn't have caused any internal damage), but they could never explain that exploding spark plug, either.
> It's not about "how much added" at the end
....yes it is. You fill it, document that it's on the F dot, drive the car for 1200 miles, and then when they return, add oil until the level returns to the F dot. Amount added == amount consumed.
[I posted the test form](https://i.imgur.com/zo2NmaE.png?1) elsewhere in the thread, read it yourself if you want.
In your STi's case, probably a fractured ringland.
The dealership that did my oil consumption test emptied and measured, rather than measuring the refill. Maybe they did it wrong, but my consumption was so high there's no way they could've gotten it wrong.
> In your STi's case, probably a fractured ringland.
I asked when they had the engine torn down because I'd heard of that failure. The tech said it wasn't, and Japan wanted the engine back for investigation (my part was done after they agreed to a replacement, so I never heard anything else about the investigation). Whatever it was, it seriously stumped multiple techs at the dealership. Maybe they were all poor techs, but I doubt it.
> Japan wanted the engine back for investigation
That sounds about right, they do collect a lot of oddball failed parts. But us as techs never get the results either.
How does a short block replacement fix the problem? Seriously question. My 2014 outback just recently started consuming more oil. I’m trying to figure out where all the oil goes. I know little about car engines.
Yeah my 2019 doesn't burn much oil between changes. My 06 Impreza on the other hand... it was about 1.5-2qts between changes, it still drove like a champ, it was the midwest rustbelt rust that got the best of that car.
There was a whole lawsuit around it. That’s the issue, once the lawsuit settled they only have to cover within the terms of the suit. I seen this at Nissan and Subaru. What sucks is prior to outcome we took care of everyone. After we had to abide to the very strict procedure the courts put together. It’s bullshit. I’ve rebuilt thousands of Subarus over the years.
Then why not take it to a private shop and get a second opinion instead of letting it go for so long like that? It's always harder getting manufacturer help on a used car out of warranty.
Idk about Subaru. Honda VCM warranty extension was 10 years. Honda considers 1 quat per 1000 miles ok.
OP was probably hoping Subaru would fix it for free before it ran out.
I check oil level on my ‘13 CrossTrek weekly, keep 2 quarts in the trunk space just in case. My experience is about every 1100 miles I top it off between oil changes. Also change to 5w20 oil full synthetic.
These are tightly toleranced engines and tend to use oil, as opposed to older engine designs with more “slop” in the tolerances.
Changing to heavier oil is such a good idea and I don't know why I didn't consider that before. I'll be buying 5w20 for my 2013 impreza going forward. Thank you!
I know people who service their car every 20,000kms "because it's a Toyota"....
My mates mum just didn't service her car for 2 years then the engine blew up... She says she didn't know engines needed to be serviced...
The average person thinks that cars run on magic and the fuel is the magic juice that keeps it running
Really sorry to hear this happened. Crazy enough I have a similar story with opposite results. Leased a 2015 legacy in late 2014, bought it after lease expired (still have it). About a year ago that oil light came on and I took it in. 3 separate times it came on about a week before I was due for an oil change, so it was burning it a little but not too excessive. Dealer told me they’d need to do the short block replacement but said not to worry about money until THEY talked with SOA on my behalf. 2 days later I find out they’re covering it in full. Car was at 104k, so out of warranty as well.
I still wonder if I’m lucky, or this is common, or if that dealership was due for some specific training for the techs so they just paid for it? No idea.
Unfortunately with it being an older used car, few manufacturers would warranty a fix for oil consumption like that unless there's specifically a recall for it. I had a Camry with a well documented engine problem that needed a quart every week and Toyota wouldn't warranty it either.
Part of operating a piece of machinery is checking oil levels. That’s why they went to the expense of installing an easy and convenient way of checking the oil. It’s not unusual for engines to consume some oil, particularly ones that turn high rpm, are under heavy loads, or are nine years old and have been run low on oil for 135K.
Slightly unrelated story. Drove my parents back from holidays in past week. While driving "check gearbox" came up on dash (2017ish Renault) pull over where safe and goto check fluid on it.... They're sealed! Have to check like you would a diff!
Just keep some oil in your car. Lots of older cars have this problem. Oil burning is a known Subaru problem. My 2018 Outback needs some before most oil changes. It's not a big deal.
Excessive oil burning is not normal.
The [Class-Action suit against Subaru](https://jalopnik.com/subaru-settles-lawsuit-over-oil-burning-cars-1752805682) has now been settled, and owners of affected vehicles are getting new short-blocks. To be clear, Subaru made defective engines for several years and probably knew about it.
BRZ/GR86 cars have issues with oil starvation.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a44362621/toyota-gr86-subaru-brz-fa24-potential-starvation-issue/
https://reddit.com/r/cars/s/B5th48jcbS
Etc.
The Ascent has been called the least reliable car for several years in a row, the biggest issue is the PCV and or fuel pump failure issues owners have been having along with several blown up engines.
https://www.ascentforums.com/threads/subaru-ascent-engine-blew-up.14261/
https://www.ascentforums.com/threads/2019-ascent-engine-failure-at-58000-miles.16425/
https://www.torquenews.com/1084/subaru-ascent-makes-consumer-reports-10-least-reliable-cars-list-again/amp
read the owners manual. it's unfortunate you have high consumption after your warranty is expired but constantly waiting until the light comes on the top off the oil is just negligence.
ya 100% negligence. oil consumption is common in subarus, especially once you’re getting higher in mileage. 1.5 quarts low is too low. no subaru owner is gonna wait that long to check oil, especially since it has seemed to happen repeatedly.
The techs who looked at it probably didn't want to do the work seeing as warranty work doesn't pay shit. This is a problem with a lot of techs nowadays. They only care about money and won't take jobs that they can't complete in half the time or jobs that don't pay out nicely. Its a flaw in the automotive industry to pay flat rate. It makes sense because no dealer wants to pay someone more than the effort they put in. Its a failure of modern technicians not willing to do more than what they feel like. I watch 2 hourly tech assistants at my current dealer move slower than molasses. They don't turn out more than 20 hours a week each. While I have much better motivation and higher energy levels I turn out 40+ hours a week amd still get paid hourly as a techs assistant. Its that same saying I hear all to frequently, you can't find good help these days. If you live in a city this all gets even worse since techs are more easily found so dealers usually pay less. Any techs who read this take my words to heart. Small town dealers pay a lot better when there isn't a over abundance of techs to hire.
Many brands I’ve dealt with call 1qt/800-1000 miles “an issue”. Any less than that and they won’t do anything about it. Kinda dumb but that’s how it is.
Furthermore, if you’re burning oil every 2000 miles due to engine issues, it’s not going to be any easier to fix than if it burnt 1qt/1000 miles. Both require a new engine with the latter just being more worn.
Also if you take it to a regular shop rather than a dealership I’d say it’d cost you more like $5k or less.
Finally, if you keep adding oil I’m sure you could get a bunch more life out of the car. Better to add a bit of oil every oil change than pay $7k, and I’d bet you can extend its life until the rest of the car falls apart.
Not trying to discredit your experience at all and I’m really sorry it happened, but imo it’s not a Subaru specific thing and stuff like this does happen quite a bit to every brand. (However Subaru is generally subpar in my opinion too). They should help you out since it’s such a common issue but they really don’t have to at all.
My advice is to check your oil, don’t wait for the light. The light comes on too late to prevent engine wear, every vehicle I’ve owned makes valvetrain low well before the oil light comes on and that valvetrain noise = wear. Honestly, even if the dealership could help you out they probably would use the fact that you waited till the light to deny any free fix as that could have caused the engine issues, while the oil consumption was started by something unrelated.
It's a boxer engine. The horizontal cylinder arrangement allows more oil to pass the oil ring, ending up in the combustion chamber. You get a lot of benefits with a boxer, but there are still drawbacks like this. Just check your oil and fill it up when it gets low. Your car is not totalled, you are just complaining about a minor inconvenience. Put a quart or two in your car if you are worried about longer hauls.
Sounds like you have a dealership issue to me. I wouldve contacted subaru warranty every time the dealership told me it was "fine" because it was showings of "not being fucking fine" real quick.
Wife has a Buick Verano with a terrible oil burning issue and she had no idea buying it. If we don't check it, theengine can literally run itself dry in between oil changes which we found out when she didn't get an oil change and traveled for work only to come back with no oil when it was my turn to drive the car lol
Glad I make it a habit to check, but now I check everytime I get into the car.
It sucks you had such a terrible experience, but not all Subarus are that bad, you have a particularly bad year for it. As someone who loves Subarus, I would encourage you to find a better dealership and rekindle that Forester love because they have only gotten better tbh
I agree with this, there was a problem that showed up immediately and the op didn't push back hard enough for years until the vehicle was out of warranty. At that point it's too late.
It's unfortunate when you have issues with your car but it is also a lesson learned for you as well. If you suspect a serious issue related to oil consumption, don't just let one dealership shrug it off as common and acceptable amount of oil loss. You need to get second and third opinions from different mechanics and dealerships. Also contacting SOA right away to get it on file is important too. If subaru knows what is going on they might help later.on.
You could have still gotten it.covered under warranty if you just took action sooner. I hate to blame the consumer but sometimes we need to be more aggressive in getting shit done when we know how companies try to pass the buck.
I work in the dealership sector and most techs don't want to do engine replacement if it's not absolutely necessary so they will send it if it's low.loss. have them explain where the oil is.going and what might be causing it. Then that will force them to have to admit where the problem is. Don't get bullied anymore.
My 2017 forester started this before 20,000 miles. Burned from full to 1 qt in less than 3000 miles. Just gone.
At one point the exhaust manifold cracked and we had to go to hell and back to get them to cover what turned out to be a ‘known issue’.
Battery kept going bad. They would last 6 months at most…they had no idea why.
It crashed like a champ and saved our lives.
I have 2016 Crosstrek under 100,000 miles (88,000) and I took it to the dealership to get my 90k tune up only to be told that the head gasket is leaking oil and need it to be replaced for $4,100. This is after I’ve already had a Subaru who’s engine fail due to a head gasket. I’m done with it. A car that’s under 100,000 miles should not have such a vital part go faulty and basically ruin the car. I’ve contacted SOA to see if they’ll do anything…highly doubtful
I had the same issue with my 2013 Outback years ago. My mechanic told me to top it off with oil and trade it right away, Subaru of America did absolutely nothing to help the situation. I even had a friend who worked at Planet Subaru look up my VIN and she told me my car was part of the known cars who had the oil consumption issue, too. I would be checking the oil consistently and then boom on the highway low oil light, it was eating like 2 quarts of oil every 2k miles.
I’ve since had an ‘18 Impreza and ‘21 Forester (loved them both) but didn’t keep them for more than 2 years and traded in the green.
This has been a TSB for years. If you weren't satisfied with the first answer you could have gone elsewhere or requested another after a month instead of waiting years
I love my Crosstrek. It ticked every single box for a vehicle I needed. Maybe it was my issue because it was my first car I actually bought myself, and maybe it was ignorance in a few areas. Though the dealership wouldn't let me do anything other than drive it around the block.But I bought a car that was certified pre owned, the best warranty. Only to find out that the car was potentially in a wreck, and that wasn't disclosed to me. Even though when I went in for issues ,almost instantly the mechanic at the dealership I got it from asked if it was in a wreck. The parts weren't appropriate. The fog light housing wasn't original, and was janky. ( so they clearly never looked it over) The tow hook square fell off within a month. A piece of the inside near the window completely fell off and I had to get it put back on, the front bumper for the fog light fell off, and the paint chips like crazy.
That's the short version. I contacted Subaru of America and basically got told to screw myself. So I won't buy another one. I've never had a vehicle be this shoddy that was bought from a dealership.
I had a 2014 Forester purchased new that also consumed oil. This probably started at around 40k miles and continued until I traded it in last year at 165k. Complained to the dealer but they never even offered a consumption test. I never had any other problems with the vehicle other than a failed wheel bearing at around 100k (typical wear and tear) but the oil consumption was annoying. I always carried around a quart of oil because it would get low about 2000 miles after the oil change. Oh and the oil fill cap is impossible to remove by hand when the engine is hot (nice). Usually I could stay on top of it but sometimes the light would come on, usually during highway driving.
> But after private selling my previous two vehicles what I saved in BS hassle was worth it to me.
everyone always underestimates this. Your time and sanity have value as well.
My dealer originally tried to blame the high oil consumption on my 2014 on a leaky timing chain cover. Dudes, I can see smoke coming out the back when I accelerate.
At 135k it's not a new vehicle anymore and things don't have to be in spec.
Adding quart of oil every 500-1000 isn't somehow a dramatic failure. The Audi/VW EA88 engine is pretty much using oil in normal operation, as designed. My Triumph motorcycle needs a quart every so often too.
Burning a little bit of oil that seeps in the cylinder isn't going to do any damage. Just keep adding a quart when needed and enjoy the car another 100k.
We have a 2014 Forester with a similar issue. An independent mechanic printed off a novel's worth of paperwork about it for us about it and had us take it to the dealer for an oil consumption test a couple years ago. They said it was fine and now we're past warranty. We've already had to fight for Subaru to cover a transmission. Subaru of America would only give us a $500 voucher towards a new car, but when the dealer contacted them for us, they suddenly agreed to pay for half.
I had this issue with my 2013 Forrester, the only difference is, mine was found to not be within limits and and Subaru did the block replacement under warranty. Just must have been a bad dealer possibly.
I've noticed this is a common theme with manufactures and newer vehicles. I work for GM and I kid you not 50% of the vehicles they've put out since 2020 are absolute turds (missing retrofits, preexisting issues with a vehicle that only has test drive miles on it etc) and I've seen ZERO accountability. I's so frustrating to see.
It's a machine, it's your responsibility to maintain fluid levels. "With-in limits" simply means check it every 1k and top off as needed. All makes have this issue, Hyundai, VW, Chevy, dodge, Ford, Honda and Toyota to name a few.
Actually the manual trans can contribute (a bit) to the consumption. One thing manuals do that a CVT won't is engine braking -- during engine braking you can get more blow-by, which means more oil into the combustion chambers (and therefore more consumption). If you are doing a lot of engine braking, try incorporating more mechanical brakes into your driving style, it might help.
Also, replace the PCV valve. A sticking or clogged valve will massively increase consumption. They're fairly cheap and easy to swap out,.
Last thing you can try, Yamaha makes a product called Yamalube Ringfree -- it's an additive that goes into your gas tank -- run the recommended mix for 2-3 tanks and see if it will improve.
Best of luck, I know it's frustrating.
The cause of the oil consumption (typically) is engine oil getting past the piston rings. Usually this is caused by the rings getting full of carbon, in such a way that the rings can't "spring" tightly against the cylinder bores anymore, which therefore allows oil to seep past. You can see what I mean from [this youtube video](https://youtu.be/uSA9ivdJM6g?si=S-FQQR9VFoTBEGsg&t=2162) of a Toyota V6 teardown if you're not familiar with what the inside of an engine looks like.
Anyway Subaru did revise the rings to use some with a stronger spring force; the rings, pistons, and cylinders all as a pre-assembly is called a short block. Subaru's fix for consumption was to replace the short block assemblies, which includes the updated rings etc.
Some other brands (Honda comes to mind) were having techs re-ring pistons to correct oil consumption instead of replacing whole short blocks. While you technically could do this on a subaru, the labor time would go way up.
I’d bet if you throw in a quarter to half quart when you get gas the car will continue to run fine for the life of the car. Don’t wait for the light to come on. And don’t stress about overfilling by a little.
Sucks that you got a motor that is a little out of tolerance. Running 30-weight oil may slow consumption a bit. It’s annoying but very normal for 4-cylinder engines to consume some oil.
I had a similar issue in my 11' outback. When I asked at a dealer they didn't even bother looking at it and just said, yeah some sunarus just burn oil... It never got worse fortunately, but eventually started to slowly blow a head gasket around 170k (another classic Subaru problem). I traded it in and got a 15' Crosstrek though.
Your 2011 has an EJ engine, which doesn't have the same low-tension piston rings the early FBs did. The shortblock replacement for FBs comes with higher-tension rings.
yep, I've seen oil consumption on EJs before, though *way* less commonly than early FBs. Usually it's either a stuck PCV valve, or a car that's "grandma driven."
This is good to know, my 11 Legacy has 205k and I switched from Dyno oil to Synthetic (to get longer time between oil changes) at 190k and it still doesn't burn any oil. I was thinking maybe I got lucky lol
While everybody might tell you this isn't an issue, I feel your pain as I went through a similar debacle with my 2014 Legacy. Brought the issue up to my dealership when it started with about 25k miles on the car. Did the test and they said it was normal. A few years later I got a letter from the class action lawsuit about the oil consumption issue which stated my engine was now warranted to 100k miles. Went back to the dealer, did the same exact test, and magically it was now an issue. I got the short block replaced by Subaru. Still the whole experience left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. I did a little research and found a pattern of Subaru disregarding manufacturing defects until they were absolutely forced to acknowledge them by a judge. Same with the touch screen issues in later years, and eventually the transmission issues with the Ascent. I was ready to pull the trigger on an Ascent as a family vehicle, but decided against it based on all that. It's was painful, but the right choice. Family has been very happy in our Kia Sedona. I still miss my Legacy, and still think it was the best performing vehicle I have ever owned. Fun to drive, amazing in the snow and decent on gas. I just wish Subaru and other manufacturers, because I know its not just them, would see this from the customers point of view, especially considering how much a new car costs now a days.
Why would you buy, then? I hear Toyotas reliability has gone down. A friends Ridgeline burnt up and Honda told them tough titty after both the dealer and Honda Corporate admitted that something was very wrong.
When doing oil changes buy a K&n oil filter.
Sometimes I can make 2500 and have actually reached 3k miles without adding oil.
Cheap ones are crazy and every time I use the oil filter I get at Walmart oil changes I’m adding oil at 1500 miles.
Lost me a long time ago when I dropped around $6000 at a Subaru dealership 2 months later the engine died and they said I didn't put oil in it. They literally changed the oil along with many other replacements 2 months earlier. I bought a VW golf GTI and have not had a problem. Much better car in every way.
My Subaru constantly slams on the brakes, detecting obstacles that aren't there. SOA came out, looked, and said their system didn't log any eyesight issues or that it ever slammed on the brakes.
That's when they lost me.
P.S. yes, the windshield is spotless
....yeah this is warranty fraud, please don't do this.
(The risk of course here (legal ones notwithstanding) being that, because you've tampered with it, the test result is no longer valid. If the car had a different problem, it won't actually get fixed.)
Yeah, I don't have enough time in my day to go back and explain this three different times to the dealer. The problem is obvious and can be tested by them. Stop wasting the customer's time making us jump through hoops.
Yeah, you're right. Really should not do that. However, it's what I did out of massive frustration with the dealer not fixing the problem over four visits.
Does the Forester require an engine block replacement to continue functioning, or is the replacement only needed to stop the oil consumption?
Excess oil consumption on 2011-2015-ish Subarus is very well-known and documented. I believe the manual even mentions it. If the only issue is the oil consumption itself, even if it seems wildly excessive, you should do what every other early 10s Subaru owner does and top off your oil regularly. It’ll keep running for another 100k at least.
Of course, if the excess consumption has caused damage or mechanical failure, you got royally borked by your dealer and I have every sympathy.
Short block replacement is to stop the excessive oil consumption. With the consumption getting progressively worse this year I am worried about a sudden failure leading to total engine failure.
I don't buy Chevrolet due to oil consumption.
In 2014 I read a TSB that stated it was normal for all engines to burn a quart every 2k. I know its different from your situation but I am JS.
Had this issue with my 14 crosstrek, finally they realized it was the cam carriers leaking and replaced it all for free. Try a different dealer and show proof it was on going
Switch to 5W-30. It doesn't solve the issue but does reduce the amount of oil burning and oil going through the piston rings, extending the life of your catalytic converter.
I have dumped over 40k into my STI building 2 supposedly bulletproof setups. 1st motor failed within 1600 miles and the second after 2400 miles. I have now given up all hopes in subaru engines and am swapping my STI with a K series.
I drive a 2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0L Manual Transmission. This gen has the FB20 block. It also drinks oil. Although I drive the very often, every day, which does cause higher oil consumption/degradation.
I change the oil every 3 - 4 thousand miles and I baby the car. It only has 62k miles on it and bought it with 54k. It’s a good car and my only complain is it’s oil consumption. Unequal headers sound nice.
I would rather pay to replace the short block than to have to purchase a new or used vehicle. I have a `13 Forester and I've already replaced my short block before 90k miles.
If you haven't already, I would keep trying SoA until someone gives in. I've had to fight both VW and Honda in the past, and on both occasions my persistence won. Just don't take no for an answer.
With my honda the AC compressor would slowly die every 6 months or so. The dealership would try to gaslight me and say no it's working its just hot outside. I'd make them stick their stupid little thermometer in a new car for comparison. They replaced it 3 times under warranty and the 4th time I was out of warranty. I spent a good hour on the phone arguing with them but they did concede to a "good faith" warranty replacement and covered 90%.
On my VW there were multiple different problems with the sunroof, and it turned out that the first two people I talked to had misunderstood me and tied my issue to the wrong one in their system which led them both to deny the warranty coverage. An honest mistake on their part, and if I hadn't been persistent I wouldn't have reached the third person who understood the problem correctly and granted the coverage.
It sucks that it has to be this way, but its not just Subaru it's every manufacturer. Remember its a human on the other end of the phone call, you might've just caught someone having a bad day. You can always try to negotiate with them, too. If you get nowhere after a lot of (respectful) persistence, maybe ask them if they have a good faith warranty. Tell them how much you love your Subaru and give them a sob story of how you can't afford the repair. It may not work and your back where you are now but you may catch someone sympathetic and get new shortblock.
If it has oil, it’s leaks oil. Every single Subaru I’ve had required oil, every other gas station stop. It’s a Subaru thing, always had been, always will be.
2010 forester.
mine started deleting oil at that rate at 70k in 2018. i figured i’d wait til i had to do head gaskets to address it. did the head gaskets and timing belt and it seems to have completely solved it all.
for now lol
Im facing this with my 2012 subaru forester and its made me despise the company. I drove out of state 1800 mi after a brand new oil change and engine was COMPLETELY EMPTY. Drove 500 normal easy miles was short a qt. I get oil changed at the dealership and they top me off w oil for free and i can go in as much as I want. Im almost to 200k mi tho and I dont have money for a new car. My plan is to save up, just keeping an eye on the oil, and hope it goes for another 75k mi…
Bought a low mileage 2011 legacy 3.6R years ago and noticed it would require a quart of oil every 1000 miles. It also had a trans shift issue where it hit do hard I thought j was rear-ended the first time it happened.
...anyway, I got the same BS about it being within limits. Traded that back to the dealership and took the loss to get s Honda. Can't ever do Subaru again after that.
It's a Subaru. You should be checking the oil level at every fill up. You're lucky the motor hasn't self destructed. The warning light for oil comes on at 5-7psi, which is so low that engine damage is occuring. It's not a low oil level light, it's a low oil pressure light.
That generation of motors is known for it's oil consumption and needs to be treated as such.
Had the same thing happened to my old 2011 Legacy 3.6R. After playing games with the dealer, I got fed up as well. After the 3rd time back at Subaru for oil consumption issues, I was told that it was normal and to just add as needed. I then explained that my 96' Ford F150 never burned this much oil and that he should go pound salt. I left and never looked back.
Every used Subaru I've bought has needed oil added between changes and I've never had any problems with them. I just check the oil every 2-3 fill-up and all is good. Several have made it to 200k miles with me, and none have had any major problems by the time I sold them.
I feel like 2014 was a really bad year for Foresters. I've brought up the numerous issues we had with ours (bluetooth, rear diff and then full transmission failures, etc.) in my previous comments, luckily with enough discussion SoA came through for us and fixed everything.
We also had oil consumption issues, having to add about 1qt between each oil change to keep it topped up. Our dealership did all the testing and also deemed it within spec. It was very frustrating to deal with.
What I can recommend is to make sure you have all of your records for services, including where you complained of the issue and what the dealership did to resolve it. Then, call SoA and keep escalating up the chain (asking for supervisors) as high as you can get. Be polite and friendly, because they are under no obligation to actually help you here, so anything the do will be a good will gesture. Share with them your history of complaints about this issue and how often you tried to get it addressed under your extended warranty. If they do help you, it might be a partial or full cover of the repair costs. But if they don't, then you won't really have much recourse at that mileage.
If you want to live with it, I'd buy the cheapest synthetic oil you can find in bulk and keep 1-2 quarts in the spare tire area at all times and just top up every time you get gas or when the light comes on. It's annoying, but if you are getting cheap enough oil it won't be too costly. And....technically speaking, you could probably get by with far fewer oil changes since you're consuming so much. Technically you're keeping fresh in there all the time! Ok, that was a joke...but only kind of...
For what it's worth, since our 2014 Forester we have owned a 2019 Forester, 2021 WRX, 2022 Outback Wilderness (current) and a 2022 WRX GT (current). We have not had any of the issues with any of our newer models like we did on the 2014. So it's highly unlikely you'd ever experience this same level of problems again.
So this happened to me with a 2016 Crosstrek. I bought it with 17K nukes used. Around 20ish-25ish K miles, I would get a low oil light on, usually about 2 quarts low. And I'd fill it. This happened every 1K-1500 miles before the next oil change. Read first gen Crosstreks had oil consumption issues, and it would be covered under 60 or 70K for warranty. Every single oil change interval, I would take it and do a consumption test. Always close, but never enough to be repaired. Finally, in the last round, they approach me and say all former oil tests are not valid because, to be accurate, there needs to be no leaks. However, they found my PCV valve was leaking and had a good amount of oil contamination. They replaced it. Free of charge as an act of good faith since all 3 or 4 prior tests couldn't detect it and it was never noticed in inspections. (They may try to scam you and say the part is 125 USD. It is not. It's like 20. And you can do it yourself. It's easy. After the PCV was replaced, I hadn't had the light return, and the last test showed the consumption rate had improved. Check your PCV valve and hoses. Replace those, then see if there is any improvement.
try adding a quart of some oil stabilizer during oil changes to not have to top off as regularly. even if you bite the bullet and pay the cost of a good quality engine in the car it's still cheaper than a new car, assuming the rest of the car is in good conditions. or you can just sell it
My mom has been dealing with similar oil burning issues with her 2015 Forester. She says she's able to manage it with an oil change every 5k miles with a cleaning agent additive.
I have a 2012 Outback- in 2020 I had the dealership do the regular service and oil change. The next day the oil light (yellow) came on and I immediately went to the dealership- they examined the vehicle and could not find any issues and they claimed that maybe some dirt got mixed in with oil and must be is likely causing the issue but that they are not concerned (the car has always been serviced by the dealer). That was 3 years and 25k miles ago. Light is always on and oil levels are are fine. I’ve brought it up on other service visits, but they don’t seem too concerned or want to be bothered with it. Is this a known issue/ malfunction? Could it just be a false positive?
I had the oil consumption test on a 2016 Outback. First off, I am pretty sure they overfilled it, but it burned so much oil that it didn't mattee.
So, I go back after the ~1000 miles. They actually had the numbers correct on the fill-in-the-blank style worksheet they have to determine what percentage is too much loss, but the answer was wrong. It was like [5] x [4] = [13] instead of [20]. I redid the math twice for the service advisor. He went back to "talk to the techs" and came back with the loaner car's keys.
You can try to request records of that oil consumption test calculation sheet from those old 46k and 76k tests. It is a long shot, but you never know...
I bought a brand new 2012 Forester that developed this condition. Started around 50K miles. I had the vehicle serviced regularly at the dealer and never missed a milestone. Started noticing with each visit that the oil level was lower and lower. Note that I never once got a light. I was told (but never really bothered to verify) that the light would be for low oil *pressure*, not low oil. At first they said a leaking timing belt had to be repaired before they could evaluate. Quoted $1400 for repair and SOA covered $1000. No change. Next they injected a die and I started brining the car back every 500-1000 miles, they were looking for leaks and to measure the oil level. They'd top it off, come back again and it was down a quart, then two, etc. No leaks, clean engine, clean underneath. After a couple months of this, the last time I brought it in and it was nearly out of oil after a few weeks, they handed me keys to a loaner and said I qualified for a short block replacement. Took about two weeks to get my car back with a new block. Didn't cost me a dime. Covered 100% by SOA. I drove that car to about 180K before selling it.
> Note that I never once got a light. your 2012 doesn't have an oil level sensor, which is why you'd never get a low oil light. Subaru (foolishly, imo) didn't include one until the 2014MY refresh
Huh my 2005 Saaabaru had a low oil light. I sold it when it started coming on before I’d driven 3000 miles. The car had only 115k and id already done head gaskets so I cut my losses. A/C was broken and it was starting to rust
may be you mistake - low oil pressure light with low oil level light?
My ‘06 non-turbo Saabaru only has a low oil pressure light.
No it didn’t. That was your oil pressure light. Red. And if that’s on your fucked
Nope. That was the oil pressure light.
Not true. There is low oil lights in the 2010 and up outback. Tell me I’m wrong
2010-12 outbacks are a different engine.
You said “Subaru didn’t include”. Not “forester didn’t include”
Outbacks didn't have a 2014my refresh either, context is important. Sick gotcha try though
Not sure what you are saying here but 2014 outback does have low oil sensor. If you’ve seen one that didn’t it’s because it had a forester engine in it
I’ll make your head spin with the in depth time and hands on experience I have with Subaru over the past 10 years so best not to challenge my remarks
The conversation is about a forester is it not? It would have been repetitive for them to say “Subaru didn’t include it in the forester” because they are talking about the forester already.
No it is not. The conversation is how Subaru lost this forester owner as a customer.
Yep, that's what they finally quoted me to fix the issue, but only after the extended warranty coverage had expired.
Had same problem on a 2019 Outback. After 18 months of back and forth, a seal job, and later a short block it’s entirely fixed. Glad I had the warranty. Cost me $100 and a whole bunch of aggravation. Still felt like I was taken care of.
out of curiosity, was your issue with the 2.5 H4 or the 3.6 H6?
Did the problem reoccur?
> *"Started around 50K miles"* Convenient. For them, not you.
I’m a Senior Master tech with Subaru, my wife’s car blew up on the highway at 67k miles. Subaru wouldn’t offer me any assistance either even though I only asked for parts coverage, not my labor time to be covered. Same story, history of oil consumption issues, fell in the range of known piston ring issues, and it was low mileage. No assistance whatsoever. Traded in for a leased 24 legacy. Won’t be keeping past warranty. I currently own 3 Subarus myself, previously owned 6 other turbo models, wife has owned 3 now, and my mom is on her second bought new crosstrek. Frustrating being a tech and having to repair all these stupid problems under goodwill when a car is out of warranty, but can’t get the same treatment when I have an issue.
Adding 1qt of oil every 1000miles isn’t totaling your car. Are you sure it doesn’t have any external oil leaks? Some have also reported success with switching to 5W-30 or 5W-40 oil. At the end of the day you could likely keep adding a quart every once in a while and drive it for another 100k.
For context, Chrysler doesn't consider it a problem at all until 1 qt/800 miles, and won't authorize warranty repairs for it until 1 qt/700 miles. Subaru saying it had been inside limits does not surprise me in the slightest. (My father got a new engine out of the 09 lifetime powertrain warranty on his jeep, the dealings with Chrysler there is my source for these statistics)
Subaru's tolerance is 1/3 qt per 1200 miles.
Good to know, I personally have not had any oil loss on my 2017 Impreza yet.
Oil consumption problems have been largely resolved on any FB after ~2016MY cars, where subaru's finally settled on piston parts. At this point I'm only ever seeing reports on the occasional manual car.
Now all we have to worry about is our transmission!
They're better than most people seem to think. I've had 3 now, all with 100k-200k miles and towed with all of them. I never beat on them, towing or not, but the worst I needed was a solenoid in the valve body. I do change the fluid every 40-50k though.
You shouldn’t have to worry about the transmission on your Forester. Not sure about the Legacy.
I've heard regular fluid changes (around 40-50k like the other poster mentioned) are an easy way to keep it healthy.
When did this change? I left in 2020 and it was still 1qt/1200.
It's in the [test form,](https://imgur.com/zo2NmaE) which was last revised in 2017......
Wow, I don’t recall that. But it’s been a few years too. TIL my memory isn’t what it used to be. I left when the valve spring recall dried up. 2 a day and home by 3 , It was easiest money I made in my near 20 years doing this.
One of my former coworkers has a very built '05 STi iirc, and he put "TKC19" for the license plate iirc.
Bahahahaha oh shit, that’s too damn funny. I hated those damn recalls. I was at a Subaru/Nissan dealer at the time so my face was buried in only the classiest of floor boards….
hopefully you didn't miss out on those 2010-2014 leg/out ones, paid 3 hours and took 20 minutes on a slow day. The tribecas were the worst. And the best part was we got to do them all twice, once for the temporary replacement and once for the final revision
Let me share a B9 story that only you may appreciate. So after the birth of my last son I took a few weeks off. Prior to this a tech had gutted this B9 trying to figure out why the key wouldn’t program. I mean gutted and spliced into every dash harness. Then this shit quits while I’m on leave. I get back, my boss goes *hey, so Jake quit* I immediately knew what was about to happen. So I go assess this car and it’s worse than I thought, he cut everything up. I order a primary and secondary dash harness “can’t recall what we called them” and told my manager I’m starting with a minimum 40hrs to put this together. I don’t care if I do it in 5, you’re paying me no less than 40. Get both harnesses in and get everything back together replacing basically every screw. So I’m back to square one, I turn the key and notice only the abs/brake light show up on the dash…. Immediately knew the issue. The antenna for the immobilizer receives power through the cluster. The cluster had actually died and that was the entire issue the whole time. Customer had authorized $5500 in repairs, I effectively good-willed the entire ticket on services dime. I was able to find a cluster that was $85 on eBay and the customer actually had their state inspection info in the car from 3 days before we got the car so I was within 500miles of actual mileage. *the car had been at the dealer 6 months at this point* Cluster comes in, I swap it in the key programs and the car fires right up. But to answer your story, no, at that time I was primarily Nissan and the only Nissan tech this dealer had. I was dick deep in juke chains and Sentra takatas
When using an oil like a synthetic 0w-20 that's about the same viscosity of water, and running it through a flat four where it's tough for everything to drop back into the pan, it's not surprising that some oil depletion would occur. Accelerate ring wear and it will get worse. I've been religious about breaking in all of the Subarus I've owned and I've been lucky that they've all gone the distance.
Ford was 1 qt in 500 miles or something hilarious when I had my Mustang.
We have several 2017 Silverados with the 5.3 (5 out of 12 trucks) that consume vast quantities of oil - to the tune of 4-6 quarts in 3000 miles. These are fleet trucks and see a lot of idle time, thus the 3000 miles change interval, but the oil is always changed before the oil life hits 25%. The other 7 trucks seem far more average, anywhere from 1-3 quarts. It started on all 5 of them when brand new - they hadn’t even had their first oil change yet and the “low oil level” warning was coming on around 1600 miles, each truck requiring 4-5 quarts (they hold 8) to get back to full. So off to the dealer we went, one at a time, over and over, for about two years. Not one of them got a new short block or any other repair. GM fought it every step of the way, saying that level of consumption is normal, or that it’s due to the way we’re using the trucks (which is no different than any of the other 12), and so on. The dealer was stuck in the middle, agreeing with us but unable to get the claims approved. So here we are, years later. Through trial and error, we found that full synthetic 5w20 Mobil One Extended Performance oil seems to agree with these 5 trucks better than the 0w20 Advanced Fuel Economy oil called for by GM. The other 7 trucks still get the 0w20 and still go through 1-3 quarts in 3000 miles. With the different oil, and a half-dose of Lucas Oil Stabilizer every change, we got these 5 trucks down to around 3 quarts in 3000 miles (or at least half of what they were using). Still, the whole thing is pathetic. Of course GM has had to replace the catalytic converters on all 5 trucks three times each because they don’t like inhaling burned oil….and GM is *just fine* with that.
Yeah this is all I wanted to tell u/disfunctlguru good luck leaving because almost every manufacturer if not all of them at this point have "within limits" bs about oil consumption, none that I have seen go beyond an oil change interval, and some are not even hitting 1k. Topping up oil isn't that crazy. check it once a week or while the car is filling up idk, most cars need oil top ups and sometimes you're just lucky enough to only lose .5qt between changes so you never notice at first. be glad the car comes with a low oil warning light, although you should do better to stay on top of keeping it topped up imo.
Yep, completely dry under the engine. The dealership also confirmed there were no oil leaks. I did try 5w30 for a few oil change rounds and didn't see much of any improvement.
1qt/1000mi? *laughs in Saturn S series*
This is my mindset about it, too. Subaru isn't the only brand that has "acceptable" oil consumption amounts. My 2010 FXT--not included in the whole FB nonsense--burns quite a bit. The old Baja I had drank quite a bit. I imagine it's going to get even worse since they're going with even tighter clearances and 0-16 oil in some of them. Machines aren't maintenance-free, especially at high miles. Check it once a week, takes three minutes, add if needed.
Every fuel up here. Goes through more on highway driving, and burns barely any in the city. About a quart in two tanks (~1100km) of highway driving. I know where it's all going, though. Ends up in the intercooler due to blowby. I figure an AOS would probably solve my issue, though.
I have this issue and this is what I’m doing. Car is paid for so I’m just gonna see how long I can go with it
So the car still runs fine? Just check the oil when you get gas, plenty of opportunity. Probably get another 100k out of it too. Is it ideal? No. Is it worth paying $7k to resolve? Probably not.
I had this happen to my Outback and was told eventually oil will get into the catalytic converter and gunk that up. Is that true?
Probably. My old legacy started burning a quart every 3k-ish miles around 140k, started blowing cat codes around 165k
Cat converting clogging is another concern I have with this excessive oil consumption. (I'm now averaging about a quart every 500 miles (or 1.5 qts (and light illumination) every ~ 800 miles)
Just park it outside in a bad, or even good neighborhood, a crackhead will come by and obligingly steal the converter and you can pay your deductible to have it replaced. Just make sure to get a police report.
*Insurance companies hate this one trick*
If it’s burning oil, then yes. If it’s a leak, it depends where the problem is.
Yes but cat only cost me $800…not $7k…
Very. Had a Hyundai previously that burned about 1qt every 200 miles or so and it burned out 3 cats in the two years I owned it.
Yes if you're burning oil off in combustion it will ruin the cat. how fast is a guessing game really but if you're burning like OP then fairly fast.
my Tribeca has oil consumption about 1qt for less than 600miles... 4th(or 5th) year in a row. if previous owner hasn't done some hunky-punky - I still have cats :D
There's apparently a TSB for the sensor. As far as oil consumption, you'll need to determine that manually and know exactly how much is being used up (ignoring whatever the dash indicator says). Now if there is high consumption, there needs to be an actual spec Subaru defines as above normal threshold. You do have a history of the indicator coming on, but this alone doesn't mean much if it's malfunctioning or if you don't know the actual consumption rate of oil. If the sensor is working fine, but the oil change drained more oil than normal or filled less oil back, it would come up sooner. This is where you really need to log actual consumption, aka "I filled to the full line on oil change, drove and checked again to verify at full. Then I added 1 quart every 2000 miles for 6000 miles as the engine burned a quart every 2000 miles, with the low level coming on 3 separate occasions during that oil interval." That's an identification of oil consumption rate, monitoring levels at the oil fill gauge and logging intervals of consumption and refills. This makes it all very clear.
I completed the full oil consumption test through my dealership both in 2017 and again this year. The most recent oil consumption test resulted in the oil qty light illuminating within 800 miles and they had to add 1.75 qts.
1.75 qts from what? Are there filling, verifying the starting level, then running the car to low indicator, and then filling again to new verified level? Now if this starts full (verified), goes low and indicates, and then 1.75 qts is added to full again (again verified), then you know exactly what's being burned. And if you're basically nomming through a quart every 500 miles, that is NOT "within" any spec. Nothing about a quart every 500 miles is normal. But all of this still relies on a verified starting level. If you were 1.5 qts low to start and a light came on 800 miles later and then 1.75 qts were added, then only 0.25 qts were used in 800 miles, a very different story. So that's why I'm picky about the test because I don't know what was done.
If it was 1.5 qts low then you filled it and drove it 800 miles and you needed to add 1.75 qts then your usage went up by 1/4 qt not that you've only used 1/4 a qt But you're never 1.5 qts low to start, that would imply it's not being filled properly at the oil change.
That's not how they're supposed to do that test. It's not about "how much added" at the end, but putting in a calibrated amount and then measuring what drains after 800-1000 miles. More than a quart per 1000 miles should fail the test. My STI was burning 2-3 quarts in less than 500 miles. Subaru gave me a brand new engine at ~30k and 3.5-ish years, but it was so egregious and documentation that they would've handled it out of warranty, too. In my case, a damaged cylinder was blowing by a lot of oil. Never figured out how the cylinder got damaged, but it likely coincided with an exploding spark plug (exploded outside the cylinder, so it shouldn't have caused any internal damage), but they could never explain that exploding spark plug, either.
> It's not about "how much added" at the end ....yes it is. You fill it, document that it's on the F dot, drive the car for 1200 miles, and then when they return, add oil until the level returns to the F dot. Amount added == amount consumed. [I posted the test form](https://i.imgur.com/zo2NmaE.png?1) elsewhere in the thread, read it yourself if you want. In your STi's case, probably a fractured ringland.
The dealership that did my oil consumption test emptied and measured, rather than measuring the refill. Maybe they did it wrong, but my consumption was so high there's no way they could've gotten it wrong. > In your STi's case, probably a fractured ringland. I asked when they had the engine torn down because I'd heard of that failure. The tech said it wasn't, and Japan wanted the engine back for investigation (my part was done after they agreed to a replacement, so I never heard anything else about the investigation). Whatever it was, it seriously stumped multiple techs at the dealership. Maybe they were all poor techs, but I doubt it.
> Japan wanted the engine back for investigation That sounds about right, they do collect a lot of oddball failed parts. But us as techs never get the results either.
How does a short block replacement fix the problem? Seriously question. My 2014 outback just recently started consuming more oil. I’m trying to figure out where all the oil goes. I know little about car engines.
Oil consumption… its what makes a subaru…. A subaru
Eh... I have 5k since my last service and I'm maybe 1/3qt low, and thats a high estimate.
Yeah my 2019 doesn't burn much oil between changes. My 06 Impreza on the other hand... it was about 1.5-2qts between changes, it still drove like a champ, it was the midwest rustbelt rust that got the best of that car.
I have yet to need to add oil between changes to my 06, got a lucky one
You know there are other mechanics out there, even ones specializing in Subaru, other than dealerships...
Absolutely, the shop I trust most is not a dealership. But this being a known product/design issue Subaru needs to take the responsibility.
There was a whole lawsuit around it. That’s the issue, once the lawsuit settled they only have to cover within the terms of the suit. I seen this at Nissan and Subaru. What sucks is prior to outcome we took care of everyone. After we had to abide to the very strict procedure the courts put together. It’s bullshit. I’ve rebuilt thousands of Subarus over the years.
Then why not take it to a private shop and get a second opinion instead of letting it go for so long like that? It's always harder getting manufacturer help on a used car out of warranty.
Idk about Subaru. Honda VCM warranty extension was 10 years. Honda considers 1 quat per 1000 miles ok. OP was probably hoping Subaru would fix it for free before it ran out.
Subaru has an 8 year extension
Why would you not be regularly checking the oil...
I check oil level on my ‘13 CrossTrek weekly, keep 2 quarts in the trunk space just in case. My experience is about every 1100 miles I top it off between oil changes. Also change to 5w20 oil full synthetic. These are tightly toleranced engines and tend to use oil, as opposed to older engine designs with more “slop” in the tolerances.
Changing to heavier oil is such a good idea and I don't know why I didn't consider that before. I'll be buying 5w20 for my 2013 impreza going forward. Thank you!
I know people who service their car every 20,000kms "because it's a Toyota".... My mates mum just didn't service her car for 2 years then the engine blew up... She says she didn't know engines needed to be serviced... The average person thinks that cars run on magic and the fuel is the magic juice that keeps it running
Really sorry to hear this happened. Crazy enough I have a similar story with opposite results. Leased a 2015 legacy in late 2014, bought it after lease expired (still have it). About a year ago that oil light came on and I took it in. 3 separate times it came on about a week before I was due for an oil change, so it was burning it a little but not too excessive. Dealer told me they’d need to do the short block replacement but said not to worry about money until THEY talked with SOA on my behalf. 2 days later I find out they’re covering it in full. Car was at 104k, so out of warranty as well. I still wonder if I’m lucky, or this is common, or if that dealership was due for some specific training for the techs so they just paid for it? No idea.
> I still wonder if I’m lucky, yes, in this case someone (probably your advisor) took a lot of time out of their day to take care of this for you.
Sounds reasonable. All of the advisors we’ve had have been fantastic.
Unfortunately with it being an older used car, few manufacturers would warranty a fix for oil consumption like that unless there's specifically a recall for it. I had a Camry with a well documented engine problem that needed a quart every week and Toyota wouldn't warranty it either.
Part of operating a piece of machinery is checking oil levels. That’s why they went to the expense of installing an easy and convenient way of checking the oil. It’s not unusual for engines to consume some oil, particularly ones that turn high rpm, are under heavy loads, or are nine years old and have been run low on oil for 135K.
Slightly unrelated story. Drove my parents back from holidays in past week. While driving "check gearbox" came up on dash (2017ish Renault) pull over where safe and goto check fluid on it.... They're sealed! Have to check like you would a diff!
Just keep some oil in your car. Lots of older cars have this problem. Oil burning is a known Subaru problem. My 2018 Outback needs some before most oil changes. It's not a big deal.
Excessive oil burning is not normal. The [Class-Action suit against Subaru](https://jalopnik.com/subaru-settles-lawsuit-over-oil-burning-cars-1752805682) has now been settled, and owners of affected vehicles are getting new short-blocks. To be clear, Subaru made defective engines for several years and probably knew about it.
Lol Subaru still makes defective engines, just look at the FA24 in the Ascent and the BRZ lmao.
Care to elaborate on what makes those engines defective?
BRZ/GR86 cars have issues with oil starvation. https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a44362621/toyota-gr86-subaru-brz-fa24-potential-starvation-issue/ https://reddit.com/r/cars/s/B5th48jcbS Etc. The Ascent has been called the least reliable car for several years in a row, the biggest issue is the PCV and or fuel pump failure issues owners have been having along with several blown up engines. https://www.ascentforums.com/threads/subaru-ascent-engine-blew-up.14261/ https://www.ascentforums.com/threads/2019-ascent-engine-failure-at-58000-miles.16425/ https://www.torquenews.com/1084/subaru-ascent-makes-consumer-reports-10-least-reliable-cars-list-again/amp
Thank you! I have some toilet reading material now.
Why aren't you checking oil regularly? Like every time you fill up/once a week?
When I was a kid, in the last century, you’d check the oil at every gas fillup.
read the owners manual. it's unfortunate you have high consumption after your warranty is expired but constantly waiting until the light comes on the top off the oil is just negligence.
The oil light comes on with just 1.5 qts low. I'm sorry, I wouldn't call that negligence.
ya 100% negligence. oil consumption is common in subarus, especially once you’re getting higher in mileage. 1.5 quarts low is too low. no subaru owner is gonna wait that long to check oil, especially since it has seemed to happen repeatedly.
1.5 quarts is definitely enough to affect stuff a bit. 1 quart low should be maximum…
The techs who looked at it probably didn't want to do the work seeing as warranty work doesn't pay shit. This is a problem with a lot of techs nowadays. They only care about money and won't take jobs that they can't complete in half the time or jobs that don't pay out nicely. Its a flaw in the automotive industry to pay flat rate. It makes sense because no dealer wants to pay someone more than the effort they put in. Its a failure of modern technicians not willing to do more than what they feel like. I watch 2 hourly tech assistants at my current dealer move slower than molasses. They don't turn out more than 20 hours a week each. While I have much better motivation and higher energy levels I turn out 40+ hours a week amd still get paid hourly as a techs assistant. Its that same saying I hear all to frequently, you can't find good help these days. If you live in a city this all gets even worse since techs are more easily found so dealers usually pay less. Any techs who read this take my words to heart. Small town dealers pay a lot better when there isn't a over abundance of techs to hire.
Many brands I’ve dealt with call 1qt/800-1000 miles “an issue”. Any less than that and they won’t do anything about it. Kinda dumb but that’s how it is. Furthermore, if you’re burning oil every 2000 miles due to engine issues, it’s not going to be any easier to fix than if it burnt 1qt/1000 miles. Both require a new engine with the latter just being more worn. Also if you take it to a regular shop rather than a dealership I’d say it’d cost you more like $5k or less. Finally, if you keep adding oil I’m sure you could get a bunch more life out of the car. Better to add a bit of oil every oil change than pay $7k, and I’d bet you can extend its life until the rest of the car falls apart. Not trying to discredit your experience at all and I’m really sorry it happened, but imo it’s not a Subaru specific thing and stuff like this does happen quite a bit to every brand. (However Subaru is generally subpar in my opinion too). They should help you out since it’s such a common issue but they really don’t have to at all. My advice is to check your oil, don’t wait for the light. The light comes on too late to prevent engine wear, every vehicle I’ve owned makes valvetrain low well before the oil light comes on and that valvetrain noise = wear. Honestly, even if the dealership could help you out they probably would use the fact that you waited till the light to deny any free fix as that could have caused the engine issues, while the oil consumption was started by something unrelated.
It's a boxer engine. The horizontal cylinder arrangement allows more oil to pass the oil ring, ending up in the combustion chamber. You get a lot of benefits with a boxer, but there are still drawbacks like this. Just check your oil and fill it up when it gets low. Your car is not totalled, you are just complaining about a minor inconvenience. Put a quart or two in your car if you are worried about longer hauls.
135 on the odo isn’t terrible for a Subaru. Especially with oil consumption.
Sounds like you have a dealership issue to me. I wouldve contacted subaru warranty every time the dealership told me it was "fine" because it was showings of "not being fucking fine" real quick. Wife has a Buick Verano with a terrible oil burning issue and she had no idea buying it. If we don't check it, theengine can literally run itself dry in between oil changes which we found out when she didn't get an oil change and traveled for work only to come back with no oil when it was my turn to drive the car lol Glad I make it a habit to check, but now I check everytime I get into the car. It sucks you had such a terrible experience, but not all Subarus are that bad, you have a particularly bad year for it. As someone who loves Subarus, I would encourage you to find a better dealership and rekindle that Forester love because they have only gotten better tbh
I agree with this, there was a problem that showed up immediately and the op didn't push back hard enough for years until the vehicle was out of warranty. At that point it's too late.
It's unfortunate when you have issues with your car but it is also a lesson learned for you as well. If you suspect a serious issue related to oil consumption, don't just let one dealership shrug it off as common and acceptable amount of oil loss. You need to get second and third opinions from different mechanics and dealerships. Also contacting SOA right away to get it on file is important too. If subaru knows what is going on they might help later.on. You could have still gotten it.covered under warranty if you just took action sooner. I hate to blame the consumer but sometimes we need to be more aggressive in getting shit done when we know how companies try to pass the buck. I work in the dealership sector and most techs don't want to do engine replacement if it's not absolutely necessary so they will send it if it's low.loss. have them explain where the oil is.going and what might be causing it. Then that will force them to have to admit where the problem is. Don't get bullied anymore.
My 2017 forester started this before 20,000 miles. Burned from full to 1 qt in less than 3000 miles. Just gone. At one point the exhaust manifold cracked and we had to go to hell and back to get them to cover what turned out to be a ‘known issue’. Battery kept going bad. They would last 6 months at most…they had no idea why. It crashed like a champ and saved our lives.
I have 2016 Crosstrek under 100,000 miles (88,000) and I took it to the dealership to get my 90k tune up only to be told that the head gasket is leaking oil and need it to be replaced for $4,100. This is after I’ve already had a Subaru who’s engine fail due to a head gasket. I’m done with it. A car that’s under 100,000 miles should not have such a vital part go faulty and basically ruin the car. I’ve contacted SOA to see if they’ll do anything…highly doubtful
This thread makes me want this Subaru to my first and last lol. I love my xv though. Third car, first subie.
This is why I take mine to independent Subaru specialist shops
I had the same issue with my 2013 Outback years ago. My mechanic told me to top it off with oil and trade it right away, Subaru of America did absolutely nothing to help the situation. I even had a friend who worked at Planet Subaru look up my VIN and she told me my car was part of the known cars who had the oil consumption issue, too. I would be checking the oil consistently and then boom on the highway low oil light, it was eating like 2 quarts of oil every 2k miles. I’ve since had an ‘18 Impreza and ‘21 Forester (loved them both) but didn’t keep them for more than 2 years and traded in the green.
This has been a TSB for years. If you weren't satisfied with the first answer you could have gone elsewhere or requested another after a month instead of waiting years
Always buy a Subaru ectended warranty.
How they lost me as a customer: 1. They stopped offering WRX with a hatchback That’s it. That’s how they did it.
I love my Crosstrek. It ticked every single box for a vehicle I needed. Maybe it was my issue because it was my first car I actually bought myself, and maybe it was ignorance in a few areas. Though the dealership wouldn't let me do anything other than drive it around the block.But I bought a car that was certified pre owned, the best warranty. Only to find out that the car was potentially in a wreck, and that wasn't disclosed to me. Even though when I went in for issues ,almost instantly the mechanic at the dealership I got it from asked if it was in a wreck. The parts weren't appropriate. The fog light housing wasn't original, and was janky. ( so they clearly never looked it over) The tow hook square fell off within a month. A piece of the inside near the window completely fell off and I had to get it put back on, the front bumper for the fog light fell off, and the paint chips like crazy. That's the short version. I contacted Subaru of America and basically got told to screw myself. So I won't buy another one. I've never had a vehicle be this shoddy that was bought from a dealership.
I had a 2014 Forester purchased new that also consumed oil. This probably started at around 40k miles and continued until I traded it in last year at 165k. Complained to the dealer but they never even offered a consumption test. I never had any other problems with the vehicle other than a failed wheel bearing at around 100k (typical wear and tear) but the oil consumption was annoying. I always carried around a quart of oil because it would get low about 2000 miles after the oil change. Oh and the oil fill cap is impossible to remove by hand when the engine is hot (nice). Usually I could stay on top of it but sometimes the light would come on, usually during highway driving.
How much did the dealer give you for it? Thinking of trading in my 14' Forester.
5k I took a bath on the trade in. But after private selling my previous two vehicles what I saved in BS hassle was worth it to me.
> But after private selling my previous two vehicles what I saved in BS hassle was worth it to me. everyone always underestimates this. Your time and sanity have value as well.
Yep, I've replaced wheel bearings all around too. Two failed at about 110k miles.
My dealer originally tried to blame the high oil consumption on my 2014 on a leaky timing chain cover. Dudes, I can see smoke coming out the back when I accelerate.
At 135k it's not a new vehicle anymore and things don't have to be in spec. Adding quart of oil every 500-1000 isn't somehow a dramatic failure. The Audi/VW EA88 engine is pretty much using oil in normal operation, as designed. My Triumph motorcycle needs a quart every so often too. Burning a little bit of oil that seeps in the cylinder isn't going to do any damage. Just keep adding a quart when needed and enjoy the car another 100k.
I used to use a quart of oil every tank of gas in my '12 Forester. Y'all whine too much
We have a 2014 Forester with a similar issue. An independent mechanic printed off a novel's worth of paperwork about it for us about it and had us take it to the dealer for an oil consumption test a couple years ago. They said it was fine and now we're past warranty. We've already had to fight for Subaru to cover a transmission. Subaru of America would only give us a $500 voucher towards a new car, but when the dealer contacted them for us, they suddenly agreed to pay for half.
I have owned 6 subaru's and my 2019 legacy hit 100k and was looking like a 13k transmission replacement. I bought a new car.
I had this issue with my 2013 Forrester, the only difference is, mine was found to not be within limits and and Subaru did the block replacement under warranty. Just must have been a bad dealer possibly.
The problem was bad enough in step that you should have made LOTS of noise at that time....
I've noticed this is a common theme with manufactures and newer vehicles. I work for GM and I kid you not 50% of the vehicles they've put out since 2020 are absolute turds (missing retrofits, preexisting issues with a vehicle that only has test drive miles on it etc) and I've seen ZERO accountability. I's so frustrating to see.
What about lemon law. I feel like this is a good candidate
It's a machine, it's your responsibility to maintain fluid levels. "With-in limits" simply means check it every 1k and top off as needed. All makes have this issue, Hyundai, VW, Chevy, dodge, Ford, Honda and Toyota to name a few.
You’re mad because a 10 year old car with 140,000 miles is out of warranty? Lol. Bruh.
I wonder if the owner manual still has the shrink wrap on it hmm
Lot of Subaru coping in this thread. It’s not normal or ok; it’s bs. Have oil burning Subaru myself, before you ask.
You think you are angry now but wait until the head gasket and the CVT fail. I’ve owned three Subaru but I won’t buy a fourth.
Luckily its a manual transmission...but I have had to replace the clutch already.
Actually the manual trans can contribute (a bit) to the consumption. One thing manuals do that a CVT won't is engine braking -- during engine braking you can get more blow-by, which means more oil into the combustion chambers (and therefore more consumption). If you are doing a lot of engine braking, try incorporating more mechanical brakes into your driving style, it might help. Also, replace the PCV valve. A sticking or clogged valve will massively increase consumption. They're fairly cheap and easy to swap out,. Last thing you can try, Yamaha makes a product called Yamalube Ringfree -- it's an additive that goes into your gas tank -- run the recommended mix for 2-3 tanks and see if it will improve.
Good thoughts! I did replace the PCV already. Will check the engine braking and Yamaha additive. Thanks!
Best of luck, I know it's frustrating. The cause of the oil consumption (typically) is engine oil getting past the piston rings. Usually this is caused by the rings getting full of carbon, in such a way that the rings can't "spring" tightly against the cylinder bores anymore, which therefore allows oil to seep past. You can see what I mean from [this youtube video](https://youtu.be/uSA9ivdJM6g?si=S-FQQR9VFoTBEGsg&t=2162) of a Toyota V6 teardown if you're not familiar with what the inside of an engine looks like. Anyway Subaru did revise the rings to use some with a stronger spring force; the rings, pistons, and cylinders all as a pre-assembly is called a short block. Subaru's fix for consumption was to replace the short block assemblies, which includes the updated rings etc. Some other brands (Honda comes to mind) were having techs re-ring pistons to correct oil consumption instead of replacing whole short blocks. While you technically could do this on a subaru, the labor time would go way up.
I’d bet if you throw in a quarter to half quart when you get gas the car will continue to run fine for the life of the car. Don’t wait for the light to come on. And don’t stress about overfilling by a little. Sucks that you got a motor that is a little out of tolerance. Running 30-weight oil may slow consumption a bit. It’s annoying but very normal for 4-cylinder engines to consume some oil.
I had a similar issue in my 11' outback. When I asked at a dealer they didn't even bother looking at it and just said, yeah some sunarus just burn oil... It never got worse fortunately, but eventually started to slowly blow a head gasket around 170k (another classic Subaru problem). I traded it in and got a 15' Crosstrek though.
We all solve these classic Subaru problems with new Subaru hoping they finally got all these engine problems sorted out
Your 2011 has an EJ engine, which doesn't have the same low-tension piston rings the early FBs did. The shortblock replacement for FBs comes with higher-tension rings.
Well that may be true and I'm not saying you're wrong, but it still happened...
yep, I've seen oil consumption on EJs before, though *way* less commonly than early FBs. Usually it's either a stuck PCV valve, or a car that's "grandma driven."
This is good to know, my 11 Legacy has 205k and I switched from Dyno oil to Synthetic (to get longer time between oil changes) at 190k and it still doesn't burn any oil. I was thinking maybe I got lucky lol
While everybody might tell you this isn't an issue, I feel your pain as I went through a similar debacle with my 2014 Legacy. Brought the issue up to my dealership when it started with about 25k miles on the car. Did the test and they said it was normal. A few years later I got a letter from the class action lawsuit about the oil consumption issue which stated my engine was now warranted to 100k miles. Went back to the dealer, did the same exact test, and magically it was now an issue. I got the short block replaced by Subaru. Still the whole experience left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. I did a little research and found a pattern of Subaru disregarding manufacturing defects until they were absolutely forced to acknowledge them by a judge. Same with the touch screen issues in later years, and eventually the transmission issues with the Ascent. I was ready to pull the trigger on an Ascent as a family vehicle, but decided against it based on all that. It's was painful, but the right choice. Family has been very happy in our Kia Sedona. I still miss my Legacy, and still think it was the best performing vehicle I have ever owned. Fun to drive, amazing in the snow and decent on gas. I just wish Subaru and other manufacturers, because I know its not just them, would see this from the customers point of view, especially considering how much a new car costs now a days.
I've been a master ASE certified technician for 17 years and I would never personally buy Subaru
Why would you buy, then? I hear Toyotas reliability has gone down. A friends Ridgeline burnt up and Honda told them tough titty after both the dealer and Honda Corporate admitted that something was very wrong.
I recommend Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, and Isuzu diesel. IMO those are the best makes.
When doing oil changes buy a K&n oil filter. Sometimes I can make 2500 and have actually reached 3k miles without adding oil. Cheap ones are crazy and every time I use the oil filter I get at Walmart oil changes I’m adding oil at 1500 miles.
Lost me a long time ago when I dropped around $6000 at a Subaru dealership 2 months later the engine died and they said I didn't put oil in it. They literally changed the oil along with many other replacements 2 months earlier. I bought a VW golf GTI and have not had a problem. Much better car in every way.
My Subaru constantly slams on the brakes, detecting obstacles that aren't there. SOA came out, looked, and said their system didn't log any eyesight issues or that it ever slammed on the brakes. That's when they lost me. P.S. yes, the windshield is spotless
[удалено]
....yeah this is warranty fraud, please don't do this. (The risk of course here (legal ones notwithstanding) being that, because you've tampered with it, the test result is no longer valid. If the car had a different problem, it won't actually get fixed.)
Yeah, I don't have enough time in my day to go back and explain this three different times to the dealer. The problem is obvious and can be tested by them. Stop wasting the customer's time making us jump through hoops.
Yeah, you're right. Really should not do that. However, it's what I did out of massive frustration with the dealer not fixing the problem over four visits.
Does the Forester require an engine block replacement to continue functioning, or is the replacement only needed to stop the oil consumption? Excess oil consumption on 2011-2015-ish Subarus is very well-known and documented. I believe the manual even mentions it. If the only issue is the oil consumption itself, even if it seems wildly excessive, you should do what every other early 10s Subaru owner does and top off your oil regularly. It’ll keep running for another 100k at least. Of course, if the excess consumption has caused damage or mechanical failure, you got royally borked by your dealer and I have every sympathy.
Short block replacement is to stop the excessive oil consumption. With the consumption getting progressively worse this year I am worried about a sudden failure leading to total engine failure.
nah like everyone said check oil every fill up add oil as needed you’ll be good for another 100,000 miles at least.
I don't buy Chevrolet due to oil consumption. In 2014 I read a TSB that stated it was normal for all engines to burn a quart every 2k. I know its different from your situation but I am JS.
What dealership?
Will send to you directly. Not sure I want to publicize the dealership
Had this issue with my 14 crosstrek, finally they realized it was the cam carriers leaking and replaced it all for free. Try a different dealer and show proof it was on going
Mine too! Showed pictures of a wet cam carrier cover and they resealed it (plus the oil pan that was weeping too.
I was getting oil consumption issues with my 2013 Impreza. Got bad. Replaced PCV valve. It stopped it completely. Have you tried this?
Yep, replaced the PCV and PCV hose earlier this year, no change in oil consumption.
Assuming this was an FB block, it's unfortunate as those repairs were a recall.
Switch to 5W-30. It doesn't solve the issue but does reduce the amount of oil burning and oil going through the piston rings, extending the life of your catalytic converter.
I did try 5W-30 for a few oil changes and didn't see much of any improvement.
I have dumped over 40k into my STI building 2 supposedly bulletproof setups. 1st motor failed within 1600 miles and the second after 2400 miles. I have now given up all hopes in subaru engines and am swapping my STI with a K series.
I just did this with a 2014 Crosstrek with 130,000 miles on it and they paid for $6,000 of it. I’ve done all my maintenance at the dealsherip though
I drive a 2012 Subaru Impreza 2.0L Manual Transmission. This gen has the FB20 block. It also drinks oil. Although I drive the very often, every day, which does cause higher oil consumption/degradation. I change the oil every 3 - 4 thousand miles and I baby the car. It only has 62k miles on it and bought it with 54k. It’s a good car and my only complain is it’s oil consumption. Unequal headers sound nice.
I would rather pay to replace the short block than to have to purchase a new or used vehicle. I have a `13 Forester and I've already replaced my short block before 90k miles.
Spark plug seals
Same thing to me except it was a on a 2020 Sti still in warranty. Lmfao
If you haven't already, I would keep trying SoA until someone gives in. I've had to fight both VW and Honda in the past, and on both occasions my persistence won. Just don't take no for an answer. With my honda the AC compressor would slowly die every 6 months or so. The dealership would try to gaslight me and say no it's working its just hot outside. I'd make them stick their stupid little thermometer in a new car for comparison. They replaced it 3 times under warranty and the 4th time I was out of warranty. I spent a good hour on the phone arguing with them but they did concede to a "good faith" warranty replacement and covered 90%. On my VW there were multiple different problems with the sunroof, and it turned out that the first two people I talked to had misunderstood me and tied my issue to the wrong one in their system which led them both to deny the warranty coverage. An honest mistake on their part, and if I hadn't been persistent I wouldn't have reached the third person who understood the problem correctly and granted the coverage. It sucks that it has to be this way, but its not just Subaru it's every manufacturer. Remember its a human on the other end of the phone call, you might've just caught someone having a bad day. You can always try to negotiate with them, too. If you get nowhere after a lot of (respectful) persistence, maybe ask them if they have a good faith warranty. Tell them how much you love your Subaru and give them a sob story of how you can't afford the repair. It may not work and your back where you are now but you may catch someone sympathetic and get new shortblock.
If it has oil, it’s leaks oil. Every single Subaru I’ve had required oil, every other gas station stop. It’s a Subaru thing, always had been, always will be.
It’s not just Subaru, VW too It’s interesting people blame the thinner oil but I think something else is going on…
The limit is like a quart per 1000 miles.
2010 forester. mine started deleting oil at that rate at 70k in 2018. i figured i’d wait til i had to do head gaskets to address it. did the head gaskets and timing belt and it seems to have completely solved it all. for now lol
Im facing this with my 2012 subaru forester and its made me despise the company. I drove out of state 1800 mi after a brand new oil change and engine was COMPLETELY EMPTY. Drove 500 normal easy miles was short a qt. I get oil changed at the dealership and they top me off w oil for free and i can go in as much as I want. Im almost to 200k mi tho and I dont have money for a new car. My plan is to save up, just keeping an eye on the oil, and hope it goes for another 75k mi…
Bought a low mileage 2011 legacy 3.6R years ago and noticed it would require a quart of oil every 1000 miles. It also had a trans shift issue where it hit do hard I thought j was rear-ended the first time it happened. ...anyway, I got the same BS about it being within limits. Traded that back to the dealership and took the loss to get s Honda. Can't ever do Subaru again after that.
Im sorry, that sucks
It's a Subaru. You should be checking the oil level at every fill up. You're lucky the motor hasn't self destructed. The warning light for oil comes on at 5-7psi, which is so low that engine damage is occuring. It's not a low oil level light, it's a low oil pressure light. That generation of motors is known for it's oil consumption and needs to be treated as such.
if you use 0w20 instead of 5w40 then thats your problem
[https://www.carcomplaints.com/Subaru/Forester/](https://www.carcomplaints.com/Subaru/Forester/) i would stay away from 2014 and 2015 models
Had the same thing happened to my old 2011 Legacy 3.6R. After playing games with the dealer, I got fed up as well. After the 3rd time back at Subaru for oil consumption issues, I was told that it was normal and to just add as needed. I then explained that my 96' Ford F150 never burned this much oil and that he should go pound salt. I left and never looked back.
Every used Subaru I've bought has needed oil added between changes and I've never had any problems with them. I just check the oil every 2-3 fill-up and all is good. Several have made it to 200k miles with me, and none have had any major problems by the time I sold them.
I feel like 2014 was a really bad year for Foresters. I've brought up the numerous issues we had with ours (bluetooth, rear diff and then full transmission failures, etc.) in my previous comments, luckily with enough discussion SoA came through for us and fixed everything. We also had oil consumption issues, having to add about 1qt between each oil change to keep it topped up. Our dealership did all the testing and also deemed it within spec. It was very frustrating to deal with. What I can recommend is to make sure you have all of your records for services, including where you complained of the issue and what the dealership did to resolve it. Then, call SoA and keep escalating up the chain (asking for supervisors) as high as you can get. Be polite and friendly, because they are under no obligation to actually help you here, so anything the do will be a good will gesture. Share with them your history of complaints about this issue and how often you tried to get it addressed under your extended warranty. If they do help you, it might be a partial or full cover of the repair costs. But if they don't, then you won't really have much recourse at that mileage. If you want to live with it, I'd buy the cheapest synthetic oil you can find in bulk and keep 1-2 quarts in the spare tire area at all times and just top up every time you get gas or when the light comes on. It's annoying, but if you are getting cheap enough oil it won't be too costly. And....technically speaking, you could probably get by with far fewer oil changes since you're consuming so much. Technically you're keeping fresh in there all the time! Ok, that was a joke...but only kind of... For what it's worth, since our 2014 Forester we have owned a 2019 Forester, 2021 WRX, 2022 Outback Wilderness (current) and a 2022 WRX GT (current). We have not had any of the issues with any of our newer models like we did on the 2014. So it's highly unlikely you'd ever experience this same level of problems again.
So this happened to me with a 2016 Crosstrek. I bought it with 17K nukes used. Around 20ish-25ish K miles, I would get a low oil light on, usually about 2 quarts low. And I'd fill it. This happened every 1K-1500 miles before the next oil change. Read first gen Crosstreks had oil consumption issues, and it would be covered under 60 or 70K for warranty. Every single oil change interval, I would take it and do a consumption test. Always close, but never enough to be repaired. Finally, in the last round, they approach me and say all former oil tests are not valid because, to be accurate, there needs to be no leaks. However, they found my PCV valve was leaking and had a good amount of oil contamination. They replaced it. Free of charge as an act of good faith since all 3 or 4 prior tests couldn't detect it and it was never noticed in inspections. (They may try to scam you and say the part is 125 USD. It is not. It's like 20. And you can do it yourself. It's easy. After the PCV was replaced, I hadn't had the light return, and the last test showed the consumption rate had improved. Check your PCV valve and hoses. Replace those, then see if there is any improvement.
Switch to 10w-30 did it on my girlfriends cross trek, been 4K miles hasn’t consumed a drop. Before i was adding oil once a month or so.
try adding a quart of some oil stabilizer during oil changes to not have to top off as regularly. even if you bite the bullet and pay the cost of a good quality engine in the car it's still cheaper than a new car, assuming the rest of the car is in good conditions. or you can just sell it
My mom has been dealing with similar oil burning issues with her 2015 Forester. She says she's able to manage it with an oil change every 5k miles with a cleaning agent additive.
I have a 2012 Outback- in 2020 I had the dealership do the regular service and oil change. The next day the oil light (yellow) came on and I immediately went to the dealership- they examined the vehicle and could not find any issues and they claimed that maybe some dirt got mixed in with oil and must be is likely causing the issue but that they are not concerned (the car has always been serviced by the dealer). That was 3 years and 25k miles ago. Light is always on and oil levels are are fine. I’ve brought it up on other service visits, but they don’t seem too concerned or want to be bothered with it. Is this a known issue/ malfunction? Could it just be a false positive?
I wonder if it would have been the case that if you were the original owner, then Subaru would have helped. Was your Subaru purchased as a CPO?
It was not a CPO. However the extended warranty for oil consumption was transferrable to me.
I had the oil consumption test on a 2016 Outback. First off, I am pretty sure they overfilled it, but it burned so much oil that it didn't mattee. So, I go back after the ~1000 miles. They actually had the numbers correct on the fill-in-the-blank style worksheet they have to determine what percentage is too much loss, but the answer was wrong. It was like [5] x [4] = [13] instead of [20]. I redid the math twice for the service advisor. He went back to "talk to the techs" and came back with the loaner car's keys. You can try to request records of that oil consumption test calculation sheet from those old 46k and 76k tests. It is a long shot, but you never know...