My ‘05 OBXT journal

I would think, as long as the intake tube connection is capped off...you should be fine.

You may want to start a new post with that question in the title so everyone see's it.

I'm thinking, member, covertrussian had some thought's about thought's about the PCV years back.

PM him for help. apexi, may be one to PM too.

Oh, member, "m sprank" would know the answer. You can tell Mike I sent you. LOL.

So I checked the engine oil today after my car has been seating for 2 days and to my surprise, the deep stick reads 0 oil. Not low, zero, zip, nada..

My garage porch has a small incline, so I placed the rear tires under some 2x4 to bring the car horizontally.

I checked the oil again and the same thing.. no oil at all.

The weirdest thing is I have no huge oil leaks and no oil burning coming out the exhaust..

There’s a tiny oil leaf off the valve covers, but it’s such a tiny amount it doesn’t even form a drop.

Anyways, was wondering if any of you experienced this before?

How many miles? They are known to consume. Where it goes is the question and is different for all of us. Sounds like you need to be keeping a closer eye on it. Low on the stick is not good and none is bad.

Valve guides/seals, rings, pcv, turbo.....gasket leakage. So many could be's.

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When was the last time you checked the level and how many miles driven since?

These engines range from almost no oil consumption to 1qt per 1k miles to worse when nearing a rebuild.

It has 213K miles. I’ve been dealing with an overheating issue for a while and I thought it was coolant related, didn’t even crossed my mind it could be oil related since it doesn’t seem to be leaking under, at least not a lot. But I did noticed some oil under the turbo and by the pcv.. weird thing is there’s no spillage or blowback by the transmission or rest of the car under.

I was trying to avoid it, but it looks like I may have no other option than to rebuild the motor. This really has me puzzled now..

Definitely will have to keep on top of the oil more in the meantime.

When was the last time you checked the level and how many miles driven since?

These engines range from almost no oil consumption to 1qt per 1k miles to worse when nearing a rebuild.

About 3K miles ago.. didn’t really think I had to be so much on top of it since it wasn’t leaking under. No wonder my car has been overheating though. And I thought it was thermostat related since the bottom rad hose felt cold at operating temperature most of the time which would indicate it not opening/operating properly..

I’m even more surprised the engine hasn’t seized on me while driving, dear God.

I will be doing an oil change tomorrow see how much oil comes out.

Did some research and our cousins at the Forester forum had a couple of threads on low/no oil on the turbo Foresters..

Looks like I may have lost a bit more than 1qt where now it’s low enough that it won’t reach the tip of the dipstick. It seems 1 quart is what it takes to read between the low and full marks.

I can’t imagine I’d have lost all 4.7 qts and this motor still starts/operates..

I wouldn't even really worry about how much comes out. Get it changed, keep it full and cross thy fingers at this point.

At 213k a rebuild needs to be on your mind just due to age. Is the car nice enough to invest 6-10k? If you are handy and have time you can save a bunch of money but it certainly is a wormhole.

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About 3K miles ago.. didn’t really think I had to be so much on top of it since it wasn’t leaking under. No wonder my car has been overheating though. And I thought it was thermostat related since the bottom rad hose felt cold at operating temperature most of the time which would indicate it not opening/operating properly..

 

I’m even more surprised the engine hasn’t seized on me while driving, dear God.

 

I will be doing an oil change tomorrow see how much oil comes out.

I check my oil levels every other week or every couple tanks of gas.

At 1/2-1 qt low, I'll top her off.

It's not abnormal to consume 1qt per 1k miles, so you need to check oil levels regularly.

Overheating is much more likely related to the cooling system, but low oil doesn't help for sure.

I went out and checked mine after reading this! She golden lol.

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Did some research and our cousins at the Forester forum had a couple of threads on low/no oil on the turbo Foresters..

 

Looks like I may have lost a bit more than 1qt where now it’s low enough that it won’t reach the tip of the dipstick. It seems 1 quart is what it takes to read between the low and full marks.

 

I can’t imagine I’d have lost all 4.7 qts and this motor still starts/operates..

The car needs to be level to check the oil level. IMO, checking the oil level and trying to get a correct reading is the biggest PITA about these cars.

I currently park the wagon on level ground, loosen the oil fill cap, pull the dipstick, and push it back in. Close the hood, next morning check the oil level...

There has been times when after parking on level ground, letting it cool overnight, then pulling the dipstick, I find the level is about 1" up the stick.

Wipe the stick, check the oil level, and find it's down to the low level, add a little oil. Check it the next morning and find it above full.

I've also seen it foam a V on the stick, flip the stick over and read the back side...

I also top it off when I see it's even a little below the full line. It's better to be a little over full than low.

There have been day's when I can't believe the oil is that low... so I add some, next day when I check it, I find it's over full...

My Husqvarna lawn tractor has a boxer engine, it will always show high level even after it has sat all week. But its level will read true after wiping the stick and rechecking. Subrau ej's don't read that easily.

Good Luck.

My legacy sure sounds like a lawn tractor, lol

When I removed my intake manifold I saw so many areas of oil soaked blow by that where not really visible with the manifold and intercooler on.

Mine has 177k and Evey gasket and hose in that general area was cooked from the heat and leaking.

Tgv to manifold, throttle body hose, turbo inlet and some weird little hose connecting block hard line breather cross over where the worst offenders

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In fact, it burned 1.4qts of oil in 3K miles..

I'm surprised this motor is still running. If I calculated it correctly, I was driving with almost 30% less oil

Definitely will check it every other week now.

I added around 950mL plus another 0.4qt to bring it to the full mark

There's the V shape the oil makes that Max Capacity was talking about

By the way, how often do you guys recommend replacing the oil?

In fact, it burned 1.4qts of oil in 3K miles..

 

I'm surprised this motor is still running. If I calculated it correctly, I was driving with almost 30% less oil

 

 

By the way, how often do you guys recommend replacing the oil?

That's not bad, about 1/2qt per 1k miles.

Just keep on top of checking it and you should be fine.

I change my oil 3-4k miles depending on the type of driving, shorter interval for mostly in-town, longer for more hwy driving.

Yeah, that's normal for the dipstick. I usually pull, clean, insert, pull check, repeat. I don't count the wings, that's scraping oil from the side.

I got around changing the engine oil/filter today. The oil was free of debris/metal shavings or anything weird.

Trying to focus on the main issue with this car, the mysterious slight overheating issue :/

I removed the Thermostat and cut it open to rule out if the overheating problem was due to it getting stuck close and not allowing coolant to cycle properly. In the past, after reaching operating temperature, the bottom rad hose has felt cold a couple of times, leading to think it was the thermostat..

Before commuting to work today (usually 20 mins) which is what it takes for the car to start heating up, I connected the scanner to monitor the coolant temps with the thermostat guts opened. Everything started fine, but half way to work as usual, temps started getting hot again as before, fluctuating between 210, 212, 217, 219, and the hottest recorded was 221 degrees..

I'm baffled by what it could be.. there are no apparent coolant leaks (however, cooling system seems to get over-pressurized more than usual because I have seen dried blue coolant residue on areas like the turbo cooling hose and the bottom of the rad hoses)..

There's no white smoke whatsoever coming out the tail pipes, no coolant/oil mix, the radiator is clean/free of leaves/dirt in the front.

The fans do come On, but only if the A/C is turned On. Fans do not turn On when engine reaches operating temperature (not sure if this could be part of the issue).

I drove half way with the A/C off to put less load on the engine and half the way with it On to see if it would cool down the temps.. not the case, still overheated. Could it be a bad coolant temperature sensor?

The overheating is not extreme, it did reach 221 degrees, but never gets to the red line and if I don't "push" it, it doesn't seem to overheat.

WTH could be wrong? Water Pump, clogged radiator? Bad coolant temp sensor? Fan switch?

What is normal operating temp? Google says between 192 -210, but FSM states the Thermostat fully opens at 196. Couldn't find the normal operating temp on the FSM.

The messed up part is there are no codes coming up on the scanner, making it more difficult to pinpoint what it is, not sure if the previous owner did something to hide the codes. Going to tackle the obvious/easy stuff first and go from there replacing the coolant temp sensor to see if that helps.

I got a feeling it could be the Coolant Temp Sensor since the fans do turn On with the A/C. I'm not too adept in the Electrical department, will have to learn how to check fuses and Relays as well..

Since the Thermostat was ruled out as not being the culprit, I'll install a new OEM one. I want to avoid running the engine without one.

Subarus in general are super picky about how you fill the coolant , might have air in the system, could have been changed by previous owner and not burped/filled properly

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My latest check oil level process is, park on level ground, remove the oil fill cap, set it back in place. Come back a couple of hours later and pull the dip stick, that should give you a correct reading.

Top off oil or reinstall oil fill cap. Oh, a little more oil over full is better than low.

That's how I check the oil in the wagon now that I have a garage. After she leaves in the morning, I'll pull the wagon inside and do that process.

I have learned that if you just pull the dipstick in the morning, the oil level will read high. For some reason, these engines seem to not let all the oil settle in the pan overnight.

Subarus in general are super picky about how you fill the coolant , might have air in the system, could have been changed by previous owner and not burped/filled properly

 

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Yes, that’s one thing I make sure every time I refilled the coolant, burp it for at least 10-15 mins until the engine reached operating temperature and there were no more bubbles coming out by the funnel. Pressing the rad hoses help to fet rid of the air too.

After installing the new Subaru OEM Thermostat today, the fans actually did turn On, but at 203 degrees!

Then the temperature went down immediately to 194. Not really sure what's going on, if it's an intermittent electrical issue or whatnot.

I'm waiting for a new OEM Coolant Temperature Sensor, to see if that makes things better.

I noticed Taiwan made motor mounts the other day lol

I try to go with OEM Subaru parts as much as I can, or at least Japan made. It looks like I'll be replacing a few a few things in the future. Only God knows what sort of parts they put in this car before.

So far, I know neither front axles, nor the motor mounts are original. Maybe this is why the car is acting up after all, they probably installed Chinese made electrical components.

Tried removing the Spark Plugs today, what a bitch of a job!

The Coil’s rubber got stuck with #2 Spark plug inside, had to fish it out..

I honestly gave up trying this job, didn’t have the time today. I think unless the engine is raised a bit is very difficult to get those Spark Plugs out.. and to make matters worse, now it looks like I ended with a miss fire because the engine trembles a lot, it wasn’t doing that before..

I don’t think I did, but will have to see if #2 Spark Plug ended up a bit lose from trying to remove the Coil grommet and hence the misfire/engine trembling now..

Not sure if I'm using the incorrect wrench combination, seems like I cannot grab the spark plug. I'm using the ratchet, a 3" extension, a swivel 3/8 and the spark plug socket.

Just as I thought. The motor trembling came from Cylinder#2 misfiring after trying to remove the spark plug. Sighs...

I'll get the Gearwrench magnetic swivel spark plug socket see if that helps with the job.

I can do a full set of plugs in about 45 min now, but it took me a while to figure out my process.

If you remove the airbox on the passenger side, you get a lot more room.

Sometimes I'll remove the battery from the driver's side as well.

I have a standard sparkplug socket, a short extension, and a thin ratchet (An insert for a ratcheting wrench). I put them in one at a time from the top. Get them connected together, break the plug loose, release the ratchet, then turn it out by hand with the extension. When loose, I separate the extension from the socket, then pull the socket and plug out.

Once you get the process down, it doesn't take too long. It is frustrating until you have a repeatable process though.

You might want a little mirror and a light to look into cylinder 2 to make sure you have everything out of it as well.