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Oil consumption driving me nuts!


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I have a 2005 LGT 5spd that I bought end of May 2012 from a private owner. I bought it knowing it had a few issues, but got a good deal on it. I figured I'll clean up the issues, fully service the car, and get it in top shape. Well, it burns oil and can't pin point where it's going. I've seen several threads on it, but most don't seem to be consuming as much as mine, and I checked many of the things I've seen in those threads without finding anything. A little background of the car and the oil consumption....

 

I did an immediate oil change when I bought it and after 1,000 miles noticed a quick flicker of my oil light when braking hard one time right when I got to work. I found out how bad that is, that it is not a simple low oil light, and took my lunch break to go and buy oil. It took 3 qts! That was my first clue that it eats oil. I was running Castrol Syntec 5w30, so I did an oil change to run Castrol Germanc Syntec 0w30. Same issue at the same mileage...about 250-300 miles it needed a quart. I ran German Castrol for about 700 miles and ordered a new PCV valve. I swapped that in, did another oil change with Rotella T6 (5w40) and made about 350 miles now before needing a quart. This is current. The Rotella T6 did smooth out my idle a lot, there is no big twitch/shake like before and it just seems to run much smoother and quieter. Very smooth, so I am very happy with the Rotella and plan to keep running that. When changing the PCV valve, there was no oil in the intercooler, just a minor little puddle.

 

Today I did a compression and leak check. It passed the leak check, and compression was about 140 psi for cylinders 1 and 3, a little over 130 psi for cylinders 2 and 4. The spark plugs looked good, no oil in them. We put a borescope into the spark plug holes to see what the pistons looked like and they looked normal...minor normal carbon on there and the edges around the piston were clean. It did not appear that oil was caked on there. I also do not trail blue smoke out of the exhaust, it does occasionally 'smoke' on cold start outside, but it's grayish and not bluish or a blue hue in there, and it does not smoke when cold started inside the garage.

 

Things done to the car since purchasing it:

 

Immediately changed the oil/filter, air filter, diff fluid, trans fluid, steering fluid, clutch fluid, banjo bolt and filter (it was clean), coolant flush and had rear wheel bearings replaced under Subaru warranty. In September I put in new spark plugs I bought from Subaru and did Seafoam induction and put some in the gas tank, both drive belts, did all 4 brakes, rotors, ATE blue fluid, SS lines, G/S brace, sway bar bushings(after market warranty), cabin air filter, new clutch, and had trans rebuilt (under aftermarket warranty).

 

This oil consumption has me stumped. Luckily my brother is a tech and has his own shop so I was able to have this looked at without incurring a bill. He and his partner (who is a great mechanic) are not sure what it is exactly since everything they did today checked out good. The car runs great, pull strong, it's smooth, and I am really glad I bought an LGT...I love the car, but this oil consumption is just driving me nuts.

 

Anybody have a situation like this one? What was the outcome? I don't want to just get a new short block, or start tearing it apart for rings if it could be something else that we're missing.

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Any possibility its an aftermarket motor?

 

How much boost are you running? If you stay out of boost does it still drink oil?

 

Not sure what you mean by aftermarket...I'm pretty positive it's the original motor, the car only has 63k (60k at time of purchase). It runs and sounds exactly like the stock motor.

 

I don't beat on the car by constantly flooring it, but I also have never stayed out of boost. Sometimes I'll leave a light a little quicker, other times I'll boost a bit in 2nd or 3rd, but nothing outrageous.

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that is some crazy oil consumption. does the car smoke any? when flooring it or upon startup? did you check again to make sure no oil in intake or ic? your oil can not just disappear like that, it is either getting put where its not supposed to or its burning it out. unless there is a issue i never heard off. Max capacity is pretty good with these types of things, pm him.

 

btw i run mine in boost everyday 40k miles motor and it only uses around a quart every thousand miles which is normal just for reference.

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What I meant was perhaps you had a replacement built block such as one made by the now defunct Raw Performance which were known to drink a quart every 500 miles.

 

Is it a stock tune, and do you know how many pounds of boost you are running?

Is the car modded?

Possible if you don't track your car an AOS might help.

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What I meant was perhaps you had a replacement built block such as one made by the now defunct Raw Performance which were known to drink a quart every 500 miles.

 

Is it a stock tune, and do you know how many pounds of boost you are running?

Is the car modded?

Possible if you don't track your car an AOS might help.

 

Oh. I don't believe it's a replacement block. I am the 3rd owner so I can never be 100% sure but everything looks original. 1st owner had it to 30k miles, and I bought it from the second owner who did not mention any upgrades. The car is stock...again not sure if it was always stock, but stock when I got it. I don't track car, this was bought with the intent of being my daily driver (I would like to go stage 2 and leave it at that). I've thought about the AOS just don't think it will fix the issue. It's quite a bit of oil, and it has to be going somewhere. No evidence of leakage under the car even when it sat for a couple of days.

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I would stay away from synthetics if I were you. My '05 which I bought brand new started consuming oil after I did 7000 mile oil change.. I did the Mobil 1 5W-20 I believe and it immediately started consuming oil at a rate of about a quart about every 800 miles... Soon after that went back to conventional castrol GTX and consumption was cut down down to around a quart every 1500 miles which is somewhat typical on forced induction subaru motors (of which I have 3). Hope this helps.
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that is some crazy oil consumption. does the car smoke any? when flooring it or upon startup? did you check again to make sure no oil in intake or ic? your oil can not just disappear like that, it is either getting put where its not supposed to or its burning it out. unless there is a issue i never heard off. Max capacity is pretty good with these types of things, pm him.

 

btw i run mine in boost everyday 40k miles motor and it only uses around a quart every thousand miles which is normal just for reference.

 

Yeah, the oil has to be going somewhere. I was really thinking we would find something today with the leak down and compression test or looking in the cylinder through the spark plug holes with the borescope. I don't see any smoke in my rear view mirror while driving or when accelerating, and the other night my wife was driving behind me and did not see any smoke even when I revved out the first two gears from a light. On start up in the garage I don't notice smoke, although outside after start up I'll notice a little bit of grayish smoke when sitting at idle...nothing bluish or with a blue tint, but again when I give it some throttle and pull away no smoke can be seen from my rearview mirror. When my I went to my brother's shop to have them replace the PCV valve, there was no puddling of oil in the intercooler. I'll have to pm max capacity later today and see what else to look at.

 

I would stay away from synthetics if I were you. My '05 which I bought brand new started consuming oil after I did 7000 mile oil change.. I did the Mobil 1 5W-20 I believe and it immediately started consuming oil at a rate of about a quart about every 800 miles... Soon after that went back to conventional castrol GTX and consumption was cut down down to around a quart every 1500 miles which is somewhat typical on forced induction subaru motors (of which I have 3). Hope this helps.

 

I have seen a couple of threads where some went to dino oil and had better results while others go to dino and consume even more. I haven't read about issues with Rotella T6 5w40 and consumption. I wouldn't think going dino or synthetic would consume oil at the rate I'm doing it.

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Good Morning, You might try Rotella 15w-40 but I don't thnk it will help very much more then other good dino oils.

 

I ended up replacing the short block. I have 10,000 miles on it now and use about .2 qt's after 2000miles.

 

Mine wasn't using like yours but I was adding .2qt's every 200-300 miles.

 

The plugs looked fine, I didn't do compression or leakdown test. The engine ran great, just used oil.

 

The thought about not seeing blue smoke is that the turbo is hot enough to burn it all off.

 

My rebuild/replacement thread is, "got some new stuff for engine R&R" in this forum. It's about 2-3 pages back right now.

305,600miles 5/2012 ej257 short block, 8/2011 installed VF52 turbo, @20.8psi, 280whp, 300ftlbs. (SOLD).  CHECK your oil, these cars use it.

 

Engine Build - Click Here

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any coolant consumption? a quart every 350 miles is far worse than a simple cracked ringland. since you did a comp test and they are acceptable, I don't think it's the ringland. What I suspect is that either the oil control rings are shot, somehow(maybe improper break-in procedure?) or you have a headgasket issue (which will pass a comp and leakdown test when warm), or the valve seals are shot. This is a complex case study since you already did the typical oil consumption items, nor do you find much oil in the intercooler. Do a headgasket test for shits and giggles, it's simple with a test kit. Or it's the turbo, the exhaust housing seal that separates oil journal from exhaust turbine might be shot but typically you see blue smoke.

 

even built motors with forged pistons do not consume that much(assuming pistons were installed correctly-cyl dome dots facing front of the engine).

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Good Morning, You might try Rotella 15w-40 but I don't thnk it will help very much more then other good dino oils.

 

I ended up replacing the short block. I have 10,000 miles on it now and use about .2 qt's after 2000miles.

 

Mine wasn't using like yours but I was adding .2qt's every 200-300 miles.

 

The plugs looked fine, I didn't do compression or leakdown test. The engine ran great, just used oil.

 

The thought about not seeing blue smoke is that the turbo is hot enough to burn it all off.

 

My rebuild/replacement thread is, "got some new stuff for engine R&R" in this forum. It's about 2-3 pages back right now.

 

Hi, thanks for chiming in :) I'm in a similar situation in that the engine runs great and plugs look fine, no tell tale signs. The plugs had some white areas and something my brother and his partner suggested was that if oil was getting through, the plugs were hot enough to burn it off, so what you're saying is probably right. Odds are the oil is getting burned off and not leaving evidence. I'm sure the short block would solve all of my problems, it's getting the warranty company to cover it that would be the trick! In the end I think we'll have to open it up, I just wouldn't be able to do it until winter is over so I could drive my other car while this one is down. I'm hoping someone had an exact experience with a solution as to what it is, but it seems like it's going to have to be looked at by opening up the engine.

 

any coolant consumption? a quart every 350 miles is far worse than a simple cracked ringland. since you did a comp test and they are acceptable, I don't think it's the ringland. What I suspect is that either the oil control rings are shot, somehow(maybe improper break-in procedure?) or you have a headgasket issue (which will pass a comp and leakdown test when warm), or the valve seals are shot. This is a complex case study since you already did the typical oil consumption items, nor do you find much oil in the intercooler. Do a headgasket test for shits and giggles, it's simple with a test kit. Or it's the turbo, the exhaust housing seal that separates oil journal from exhaust turbine might be shot but typically you see blue smoke.

 

even built motors with forged pistons do not consume that much(assuming pistons were installed correctly-cyl dome dots facing front of the engine).

 

No evidence of coolant leakage so I wouldn't think head gasket. It has to be something internal, and oil control rings are a possibility. It would be awesome if we could somehow get the warranty company to cover a new short block...it would be like starting from scratch and then I can be sure I have a good engine for a very long time.

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It's going to be tough getting a warranty company to cover it when there's no definitive data that the short block is whats causing it.

 

Very true. It's looking like the engine will have to be pulled and opened so we can see what the pistons and rings look like. I just don't want to do that and end up finding nothing wrong...that would be quite a bit of work for nothing, but at the same time SOMETHING has to be wrong to lose so much oil. I guess if they open it and find a bad ringland or the piston rings caked to the pistons it would be covered by warranty. Instead of a shortblock I could just replace the internals with something better like forged internals.

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There are rare occurrences that a cracked ringland still nets normal, or acceptable compression tests. I'd say it's a possibility, but it'd be easier to check the turbo first, for shaft play and a gunked/wet hot side. remove the downpipe and see for yourself...to rule that out.
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Pull the downpipe and look inside the turbine housing to see if you've got any evidence of oil leakage in there. Not uncommon for thrust bearings to take a shit in these cars.

 

There are rare occurrences that a cracked ringland still nets normal, or acceptable compression tests. I'd say it's a possibility, but it'd be easier to check the turbo first, for shaft play and a gunked/wet hot side. remove the downpipe and see for yourself...to rule that out.

 

Ok, I will definitely do that.

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I didn't see ripemeat's post - apologies for the redundancy.

 

My first turbo from BNR had a bad thrust bearing in it, and even though I hadn't driven the car enough to notice a significant amount of oil consumption, I am running a fully catless exhaust and was getting clouds of smoke and a nasty burning smell any time I'd let off the gas in boost.

 

Pulled the DP, and the hot side housing was not pretty.

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Some of the oil does get blown from the valve covers back into the intake, and then gets burned. I was like you, trying to figure out where all the oil is going. Replaced the PCV assembly and installed a catch can to determine how much blow-by the valve covers are putting out. On average, the can catches about 1/2 quart of oil every 1,000 - 1,200 miles. It catches even more if I do a lot of WOT runs.

 

Since I've installed the catch can, the intake track is mostly clear of oil now.

My wife's balls are delicious.
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Pull the downpipe and look inside the turbine housing to see if you've got any evidence of oil leakage in there. Not uncommon for thrust bearings to take a shit in these cars.

 

 

This would seem like a reasonable next step after checking everything you did. A buddy of mine lost the motor in his STI to starvation after his turbo seal (aftermarket turbo) failed and drank all the oil. No smoking evident and it drank it fairly quickly. Depending on where the oil is leaking from and the temperatures it could see (i.e turbine housing and/or catalyst), it is possible to almost fully oxidize the oil and not see much smoke.

 

My .02 cents. Good luck, 100k on my spec b and less than 1/4 quart consumption for 3500 mile OCI.

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I would have your brother and mechanic scope the engine again. You probably will find some piston damage PM specialB or look at thread "mangled a spark plug" there are pics on there of his scoped and you can see a broken ringland in the pics. I think he had to do it multiple times before he actually "saw" the damage
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I would have your brother and mechanic scope the engine again. You probably will find some piston damage PM specialB or look at thread "mangled a spark plug" there are pics on there of his scoped and you can see a broken ringland in the pics. I think he had to do it multiple times before he actually "saw" the damage

 

 

He already scoped the bores. At this point in the game, given what he's already looked at, my money would be on a bad thrust bearing or seal in the turbo. The engine sounds like it's OK.

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Pull the downpipe and look inside the turbine housing to see if you've got any evidence of oil leakage in there. Not uncommon for thrust bearings to take a shit in these cars.

 

+1 I just went through this exact situation - no obvious problems with the motor, but oil consumption was high (1qt / 700mi). When the turbo finally died and was replaced, my oil consumption dropped by a lot.

Kyle "BlackHole"
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