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Path: utzoo!watmath!water!watmum!gvcormack
From: gvcormack@watmum.UUCP (Gordon V. Cormack)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: a comment on Subarus (oil consumption)
Message-ID: <209@watmum.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 8-Jul-85 11:15:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmum.209
Posted: Mon Jul  8 11:15:24 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 9-Jul-85 05:42:16 EDT
References: <939@eisx.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 38

> Just a comment on Subarus. My father bought a 1985  in January.
> (a 4 door station wagon) It is not very powerful (not a problem)
> and it is very comfortable. However, it regularly goes through
> oil. He has to add about a quart every 2000 to 3000 miles. This
> has 2 disadvantages. The first is the cost. That is almost like
> an old 2 stroke engine. The second, and more important problem,
> is that one of the quickest ways of ascertaining that there is
> some sort of engine problem is that you are losing oil. This is a
> very early indicator of several problems but if you must add oil
> regularly you can't use this as an indicator. This oil loss
> occurs even though he we have always changed oil and filter every
> 3000 miles regardless of the color, etc.
> Sam Saal         ..!{ihnp4}!kitc!sms

You can't be serious.  One quart per 2000 to 3000 miles is perfectly
normal.  It is true that some cars use 2 to 3 times less than this,
but there is still no problem.  You don't say how many miles are on
the car, but since its a 1985, I will assume not many.  The oil
consumption is quite likely to decrease for the first 10,000 to 
20,000 miles of the car's life.

The cost?  You can add $30 - $50 over 100,000 miles.

Same as a 2-stroke?  At 50:1 and 50mpg, a 2-stroke engine would
use a gallon of oil in 2000-3000 miles, not a quart.  And 2-stroke
oil is a lot more expensive than regular crankcase oil.

As an indicator of engine wear, you can still observe increased oil
consumption.  It is unlikely that you would want to do anything about
such oil consumption unless the engine had other symptoms or was
burning a lot more than 1 quart per 1000 miles.

There are many factors to consider when deciding (in the initial
design) how much oil an engine should consume.  If the oil control
rings work too well, only a very thin film of oil is left on the
cylinder wall.  This film may be inadequate to lubricate the
compression rings.  So the car that gets 10,000 miles/quart today
may well wear out faster.