Burning oil!?

[Mikemywagon]

Hello All,

Just checked my dipstick second time now in 300 miles of driving. Last time I checked it it was on the tip of the metal of the dipstick. Topped it up and 300miles later its all gone? Any idea where its gone? Could it be blowing through the turbo somehow? A little worried I have to say.

[Anger]

Any smoke coming out the back

[Mikemywagon]

No smoke that I can see. Need someone to tail chase me.

[Anger]

Turbo would normally smoke on boost if it's coming thru there, have you checked under the car

[Mikemywagon]

Yeah checked under. No obvious leaks that I can see. Its there anything I should be looking for where they maybe prone to leaking?

[asperformance]

just a daft one but your not trying to check oil when its been recently run??

car needs to stand for at least an hour or so on level ground and make sure its just under the top drill hole (ignore any other marks!!)

[kirk]

has the car done a lot of miles ? my old engine use to drink oil but no smoke or leaks could be seen went on like that for a long time,but its worth getting a compression test done.

[Mikemywagon]

Thank you for the replies guys. I did check the engine cold and it was at the very bottom. I have topped it up now and will keep an eye on it.

She has done 85,000 miles. So a few but not to many to warrant burning so much oil I would have thought.

Will keep an eye on it and see how it holds out. :-/

[Mikemywagon]

Hey guys,

Since the top up about 800 miles later it is just touching the bottom of the metal dip stick. So its burnt it off somewhere.

I took the intercooler off for a clean up and found quite a bit of oil residue on the inside of the prodrive blue silicon pipe and the metal pipes. Any ideas?

No blue smoke and no oil dripping under the car.....

[Mikemywagon]

Some pics of the intercooler clean up...

[Scruff]

What oil are you putting in it?

[Mikemywagon]

Running 5W-30. Is that any good?

[andy-m]

check the underside of the rocker/cam covers. the one on passenger side could leak and not be noticed. The drivers side one would drip on the up-pipe so you would notice if it was that side

[thecrow015]

you will allways find a little oil in the intercooler so i would defo check that o/s/f rocker cover gasket out, let the car go stone cold open the bonnet and let it run up if its leaking you might see a little smoke but you should smell burning , also is there any oil in the water

[Mikemywagon]

Ah thanks. I will check it out tomorrow. The coolant tank looks a little brown. That sounds bad?!

[thecrow015]

if there is oil in the coolant defo not good to check wait till cold and stick your finger in the resovoir if oil is present it will leave a strange coating on your finger

[thecrow015]

it is prob somthing silly would not lose sleep over it as your not losing a lot of oil

[Mikemywagon]

Oil in the coolant would mean a head gasket? I will check her thoroughly tomorrow thank you Crow.

[thecrow015]

no worries

[asperformance]

very rare that oil & coolant mix on a Subaru due to the design of the water jacket unless you have a MAJOR engine issue (and you would know about it)

sounds like you have little or no a/freeze in the system so that requires a flush and fresh fill IMO - a compression check and plug inspection will tell you a lot about potential oil issues??

[Mikemywagon]

Thanks for your advice chaps. I have some pics of the suspect oil leak. Quite hard to see where its coming from but you should get the idea....

[Mikemywagon]

Out of interest. If the level was overfilled where would it vent it to?

[Mikemywagon]

Oh and no oil found in the coolant A very small leak on the rocker cover gasket passenger side but this looks like it is coming from the crank pulley maybe. Cant really work it out

[andy-m]

if the gasket is put on wrong for the rocker cover, it's the two areas at the front where it goes over the cam shaft that they tend to leak from. the leak tends to drip down, run to the back and drip down, not hit anything else on the passenger side so it can be worse than it looks. drivers side hits the exhaust so you see smoke.

If you overfill slightly, the oil doesnt vent anywhere. you just get slightly higher than normal oil pressure. I did this once by accident and it resulted in my rocker covers leaking. if you overfill, I guess whichever seal on your engine which is the weakest will leak as mine did. Sounds like your crank gasket was the weakest if thats what is leaking

[Brad Wrx]

have you checked the front cam seal, they have a tendency to blow through if over filled, it will slowly fill the cambelt cover causing the cambelt to soak oil, the easiest way to check is undo the corner bottom bolts pull the cover open slightly and see if anything comes out.

Brad

[Mikemywagon]

Thanks for your help guys. I have thoroughly cleaned under her and going to see if i can notice where it is leaking from in the next few days. I think it maybe the sump gasket.

[thecrow015]

cool hope you get it sorted i hate the smell of oil burning got to do my rocker cover gaskets when i get 5