05 Base model wagon Burning oil

So anyone got any similar experiences... Mine has been NOTHING but trouble since I bought it... I'm truly begining to detest this car...

 

I'm gunna bring it to the dealer and see what they say but between this the bad o2's it got shipped with and the fact that the radio is possessed is making me crazy... plus a bivy of other "minor" problems.

 

I go down anywhere from a full quart to half a quart almost every 1k miles.

 

I've been driving my civic with 204k miles on it and I like that more... and it doesn't burn oil.

 

Anyone else burning oil? I broke it in VERY nicely... didn't rev it up or drive it fast at all for the first 1k... Although it was driven from one dealer to the one I did about 300 miles so god knows what that guy did to it...

 

Also it runs rough not terrible but there's a shake in the engine... and that "stink" everyone talks about happens EVERYTIME I get on the car at all... clutch being used or not...

 

And it's not just the clutch stink... I get several distinctly different stinks... one is DEFINATELY burning oil... the others smell like clutch brake fluid and gear oil...

 

So overall I'm really happy with my purchase.

 

Any input is appreciated.

Invoke the Lemon Law... That SUCKS dude. New cars are suppose to be fun and worryfree.

yeah that was my ONLY reason for buying this car too... my civic runs great and is a ball to drive but I needed something that I didn't have to worry about problems coming up and a little more room for the kids...

 

Now I worry about them inhaling fumes and crap.

 

If their doctor tells me to change my cloths after I smoke a cig. I can't imagine what she'd have to say about them inhaling straight car fluid fumes on a regular basis.

 

I don't know about the lemon law though... I don't think I'll qualify... I'm gunna drop it off at the dealer with a laundry list of problems next week or so though.

 

I'm gunna contact a lemon law lawyer though... see what they think... they won't spend any time on it if they don't think they'll get some money out of it... so I guess that's the next step.

yeah that was my ONLY reason for buying this car too... my civic runs great and is a ball to drive but I needed something that I didn't have to worry about problems coming up and a little more room for the kids...

 

Now I worry about them inhaling fumes and crap.

 

If their doctor tells me to change my cloths after I smoke a cig. I can't imagine what she'd have to say about them inhaling straight car fluid fumes on a regular basis.

 

I don't know about the lemon law though... I don't think I'll qualify... I'm gunna drop it off at the dealer with a laundry list of problems next week or so though.

 

I'm gunna contact a lemon law lawyer though... see what they think... they won't spend any time on it if they don't think they'll get some money out of it... so I guess that's the next step.

 

The car has been pretty reliable considering I beat teh sh!t out of it, but here is my service history:

@ 3k miles - carpet mat hook replaced

@ 5k miles - front left axle, because of water intrusion and hence rust, a fluke

@ 20k miles - faulty EGT sensor replaced

@ 21k miles - burnt out left lowbeam bulb replaced

 

Out of all that, the only thing that seemed odd was the EGT sensor.

 

Now when you go to the dealer, list every little thing you think is a problem. Be picky but not too whiney, make sure they record all that in the pre-service comments so that the post-service receipt would have a resolution or comment from the dealer.

I have not added any oil so far. Changed to Mobil 1 at 4000 mi. Changed again at 11,000 mi to M1 EP. Only problem is that dealer overfill oil; it's at the notch cold. I've pointed this out to him and he says its right. I finally bought a vacuum extractor and removed about 1/2 quart so that the level is at the full mark cold.

Oh I didn't even mention the burnt out bulb... My driver headlight went out at 13k.

 

yeah I made them list everything I stated in the first one... most came back saying they couldn't reproduce the problem...

 

the other quote that I got both at the dealer and here was

"have you ever owned a subaru before?"

 

WTF is that about... am I supposed to lower my standards because ALL subaru's do stuff they shouldn't???

 

The thing that gets me the most though is the fact that the dealer talks about the "smooth running boxer engine" and the thing either skips or has a pretty seriously un-balanced motor.

 

UGH... I just wish I could go back in time and not get this car... I don't know if it's mine specifically or if I just expect too much... but coming from NOTHING but dirt cheap economy cars to this and being disappointed is pretty sad IMO.

Yeah I"m running mobile 1 too only I continue to change it every 3-4k...

 

at first I thought I might have not added enough or maybe didn't wait long enough for the oil to drop down... but then I added almost a full quart and checked it 500 miles later and it was down again... not a full quart but a solid half a quart.

 

it's definately not leaking either (unless its on out of somewhere you can't see) cuz I've had the car up on a lift and it's BONE dry...

 

Also I brought this up before and got bashed.. .but damn near EVERY piece of that car's underside is rusting... the exhaust is attrocious... there's no way that thing will last over 60k. that's B.S. but whatever I mean the exhaust is expected to rust out a bit.. .but not as fast as this one has... and ALL the bushing surrounds and most everything else is already showing a tremendous amount of surface rust... Looks like they spent the money on decent steel for the body but didn't improve the quality of their other components.

Boxers are not naturaly smooth running. A little bit of shake at idle is to be expected.

 

As for your oil loss (could be leaking, could be burning, could be you can't read the dipstick) most car manufacturers state that 1 quart every 1K is acceptable.

 

Look, it's pretty obvious you have a serious case of buyers remorse. I'm not trying to be an ass, but perhaps you're being overly critical because of this?

 

John

Burning 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles is acceptable?!?!

Rust on the undercarriage? Umm, what car doesn't have that?! Every car I've been under for oil changes... 2004 CR-V, 2004 Focus, 2005 Legacy, 95 Neon, 99 Impreza, 96 Audi... All have surface rust on various undercarriage bolts, suspension components, etc...

 

-B

Rust on the undercarriage? Umm, what car doesn't have that?! Every car I've been under for oil changes... 2004 CR-V, 2004 Focus, 2005 Legacy, 95 Neon, 99 Impreza, 96 Audi... All have surface rust on various undercarriage bolts, suspension components, etc...

 

-B

Yep. Surface rust is unavoidable unless you have a special rust protectant sprayed on the metal. Even stainless steel exhaust will develop surface rust.

Burning 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles is acceptable?!?!

 

No, losing 1 quart of oil every 1K is acceptable. Like I stated before, most Auto manufacturers allow up to a 1 quart oil loss per 1K miles.

 

John

Boxers are not naturaly smooth running. A little bit of shake at idle is to be expected.

 

This is not true. Boxer or opposite located pistons design is the most balanced configuration and it should run very smoothly!

but you still have uneven firing of 4 cylinders, which is why 4 cylinder engines run rougher than 6 or 8 cylinder engines in ANY configuration. Plus, I don't believe that Subaru uses balancer shafts since the engine does have a natural balance. It will never be perfectly smooth though because of this.

This is not true. Boxer or opposite located pistons design is the most balanced configuration and it should run very smoothly!

 

Nope. Inline-6 has perfect primary and secondary balance. Boxers have perfect primary balance, but the secondary leaves something to be desired in 2 and 4 cylinder applications.

 

Thanks for the correction though, I should have made my statement a little more clear.

 

John

Definitely not as smooth as butter, but it's pretty darned smooth all things considered. The only thing that caught me kinda off-guard was the distinctive way that idle can be felt inside the cabin *_if I'm looking for it_*. This is on all the '05s I've test-driven, which is to say a good fleet of WRXs and LGTs. Prior to owning two Scoobys, I've always driven/owned conventional in-line or V-layout engines, and the distinctive idle vibration experienced in the Boxer-4 Scooby does take getting used to.

 

As for the oil, that doesn't seem normal. My much older -and tubocharged- DSM will go through a quart in about 3K miles highway or around 3 months of city driving. True, most manufacturers allow for 1qt. per 1K, but that just seems high in a modern non-turbo car.....

 

Since there are many on various Forums/d-boards who actually advocate a rather hard and harsh break-in period for modern Scoobys, I humbly doubt that your troubles should be attributed to your pre-delivery miles. My wife's '05 WRX had to be driven-in from out-of-state as well, and it's so far been a trouble-free 2K+ miles that we've had with that car. My LGT was a dealer demo, and I've had, myself, about 2K miles on her in just this past month - again no problems.

 

When it comes to surface rust, unfortunately, that just simply happens when you live in the snow-belt. Like BadAndy said, even "stainless steel" will rust. Trust me, I know - I may not be a metallurgist, but my other big hobby is collecting high-end knives. Pitting and through-corrosion, though, should not be happening on a car that is less than one year old, no matter what it's been treated through short of a complete bath in salt-water!

 

If I were you, everything considered, I'd first follow-up on exactly how much rust you're seeing and whether or not if that's within norms in your area (especially from fellow Scooby owners). Also, test drive other new LGTs to see if the engine vibration you're feeling is normal.

 

The other stuff, you might want to bring up either through arbitration (several states require this) or at least build a service record for the possibility of later having to go the "Lemon Law" route.

 

Best of luck!

 

-A

Boxers are not naturaly smooth running. A little bit of shake at idle is to be expected.

 

As for your oil loss (could be leaking, could be burning, could be you can't read the dipstick) most car manufacturers state that 1 quart every 1K is acceptable.

 

Look, it's pretty obvious you have a serious case of buyers remorse. I'm not trying to be an ass, but perhaps you're being overly critical because of this?

 

John

 

I've driven a porsche... it was NOT as lumpy as this car is at idle... granted maybe that's the 6 vs 4 thing.. but also NONE of the cars I test drove were lumpy AT ALL...

 

I mean the dampened shift lever shakes like it's having seizures...

 

I've been working on and around cars since I was 14 and I've NEVER heard ANYONE ever say that 1 qt per 1k miles is acceptable (most mechanics I know would say rings are worn if it consumend 1 qt per 3-5k miles much less 1k miles)... and if it is (by manufacturers) it's only so they don't have to replace motors that are not as good as the majority of them.

 

As for the surface rust... my other car is a 93 civic with 204k miles... driven winters etc... has maybe 40% of the rust that the suburu with 14k on it does.

 

Also the civic is an I4 which IS the absolutely most poorly balanced set up you can have and when it's running right it doesn't lump at idle like the sub does.

 

I don't consider

A. Burning oil

B. Malfunctioning Radio (volume randomly goes up and down... cd player randomly come on while listening to the radio)

C. CONSTANT stink from the car when you get on it

D. Poor Idle

E. General poor assembly

 

to be nit picking... or being overly critical... I actually DESPERATELY wanted to love this car... nothing would have made me happier.

 

If I mentioned the fact that 3-4 trim pieces have either broken their mounts or they rattle, the fact that a headlight went out at 13k miles, and that the pass rear headrest is stuck in one position... THEN it would be nit picking...

 

NO car "should" burn oil (other than a rotary)... it's acceptable to the manufacturer because they have crappy quality control and don't want to deal with fixing a poorly assembled car.

 

I'm not trying to be obnoxious but I'm getting tired of people telling me my brand new car is supposed to be crappier than my 11 year old car with 204k miles... or maybe I just haven't "owned a subaru before" lol... looks like if that's the case I'm a honda/nissan only guy from now on.

 

Sucks too I REALLY wanted to like this car... maybe if it were turbo I'd be willing to over look all this stuff... but frankly I don't even think I would.

 

I mean the dampened shift lever shakes like it's having seizures...

 

I've been working on and around cars since I was 14 and I've NEVER heard ANYONE ever say that 1 qt per 1k miles is acceptable (most mechanics I know would say rings are worn if it consumend 1 qt per 3-5k miles much less 1k miles)... and if it is (by manufacturers) it's only so they don't have to replace motors that are not as good as the majority of them.

 

As for the surface rust... my other car is a 93 civic with 204k miles... driven winters etc... has maybe 40% of the rust that the suburu with 14k on it does.

 

 

If the shifter is shaking that much, then yes, you do have a problem. As for the oil consumption (don't assume it's burning), yes, manufacturers specify 1 quart per 1K as a blanket coverage.

 

As for the undercarriage rust....well, it happens. The Legacy also has a lot more stuff under there than the honda. You know, the rear diff, driveshaft, all the bits that hold that together. You might just be noticing it more because of that.

 

I hope you get some resolution to your problems. If not, a roll of toilet paper under the seat and a match will solve all of your problems. :-)

John

If not, a roll of toilet paper under the seat and a match will solve all of your problems. :-)

John

 

See, now that's helpfull advise.

 

The first time I complained about the rust I figured I'd just see how it progressed...

 

This time I had 3 other people look at it... NONE of them (all mechanics) had seen a car as new with as much rust as mine had... again that's the least of my concerns at this point though.

 

It seriously has more rust than my civic... although the civic is pretty well undercoated which this car does not seem to be. So maybe if I'm stuck with the car I'll under coat it eventually.

I'd have a nice long talk with a competent and reasonable Subaru Technician, start a case, and then work with the dealer to either get all of the issues (except maybe the rust, I am not sure how they would solve that besides undercoating the car, over the rust, which wouldn't be the best resolution.

 

If you give them the opportunity to try and resolve the issues, then if they don't solve the problems, or others recurr, you will have much more grounds under the lemon law, and your manufacturer's warranty for a trade, or a buy-back.

 

Just work with them trade the car under the lemon law for another car of similar value, even another Legacy that you can examine for a specified time, and be sure doesn't have those same problems. Or you can try to get your money back.

 

I can't help but think that your car is a freak of nature, as I haven't heard half of this stuff (at least as not as severe as you claim, and I have no reason to discard your claims) from any other owners on this board. Another Legacy, especially with a much later build date, might be a completely different story than the one you have now.

 

Call and let SOA know how displeased you are with your ownership experience, and emphasize that you wanted to enjoy your subaru product, but that this experience is leading you to tell your freinds and neighbors about your trouble. (not to be snide, or mean to them, but they also have a vested interest not to leave you high and dry, and giving them bad word-of-mouth.)

 

Good luck, go through the channels, and let us know how it goes.

 

Oh, and document EVERYTHING in writing. Get these mechanics to jot down notes saying that the rust is excessive. Get family or freinds to jot down and sign little notes saying that they have seen the radio issues, or smelled fumes from the car. Document mileages, dates, and oil level adjustments every few hundred miles, over a few thousand miles, to show consistency of the low level conditions... etc, etc. Documentation goes a lot farther than word of mouth when Subaru's money is on the line.

NonovUrbizniz,

 

Chances are that you have an engine not put together as well as most... But, just in case, it is possible that the rings haven't seated properly to their cylinder walls.

 

I had a '98 Porsche that leaked about 1 qt per 1k miles. I had another air cooled 911 (a '92) that burned absolutely no oil at all.

 

Turns out that the '98 was broken in too easily and sat for a long time (about 3k miles in its first two years before I got it).

 

It was suggested that I track the car hard for a few sessions and see what happens. Well, probably about 3 or 4 track days later, no oil consumption whatsoever, and none for the next 20k miles or so.

 

Wish your solution were this easy. It's probably not, but just in case...

Oh, and BTW, Porsche's guidelines for oil consumption is 1 qt max per 600 miles before they will address excessive oil consumption. Be glad Subaru isn't that lenient!

 

Having said all this, there is nothing inherently wrong with oil consumption, IF (and a big if here) everything else with the engine is fine (power, smoothness, wear, etc.).

 

... Although it was driven from one dealer to the one I did about 300 miles so god knows what that guy did to it...

 

 

 

Uh oh. That is not good. It has been my experience that ANYONE who works on your car (or in this case transports it) that is not a relative or close friend will do you wrong. In this situation, you are saying that 300 miles of your break-in period was handled by some part-time teenage delivery boy, is this right?

 

If my Legacy burned a quart of oil every 1,000 miles I'd take it right back and demand a new car. How long have you owned it, and how many miles does it have on it now?

 

Your car is broken, and if I were in your position I would just drop the car back off at the dealer and tell them they can have it back.

Uh oh. That is not good. It has been my experience that ANYONE who works on your car (or in this case transports it) that is not a relative or close friend will do you wrong.

 

While I'm sure that most will drive it like they stole it, I did have one positive experience with my car. I had dropped it off at the dealer for an alignment. They ended up outsourcing it to a local tire store. I happened to be working in the area so I stopped by the tire store to check on their progess. When I got there, the dealership porter was getting in my car to take it back to the dealer. I hopped in my truck and followed him. I'm pretty sure he never saw me, and had no idea I was the car's owner anyways. To make a long story short, he drove slowly and cautiously the entire way back to the dealership. I was honestly surprised, but pleasantly so.

 

To keep this a little on topic, 1 qt/1K miles is excessive. While most manufacturers consider this acceptable it really isn't. While it's a shot in the dark, when did you switch over to synthetic. While many will argue that you can run syn from the get go, I personally have always broken in thoroughly on dino oil. As to the other problems, you need to insist you dealer handle them to your satisfaction. If the local dealer won't to the job right, find another. If all else fails, find an attorney and file a lemon law claim.

www.lemonlaw.com

 

 

These guys actually fight for you.