Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watmum.UUCP 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.