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My wife drives a 2008 Subaru Tribeca. It is supposed to take approximately 7 quarts of oil.
It has always burned/lost oil. Today she called at work, the dipstick was bone dry. I came home and checked. The level was 4 Quarts low. She claims it was checked about 3 weeks ago. But I suspect that is not possible. I have always used Amsoil 5w-40 in that car.
I have now put a warning on her phone to remind her to check. Maybe it works. More likely, I am going to have to take over checking – but that WILL cause a fight.
Several questions…
How likely is engine damage? It has been low – but not that low – before.
What should I check? Compression?
I am debating increasing the viscosity – again. (factory specifies 5w-30). Pro/Con?
I am fairly convinced that she is NOT going to check the oil. Is there a way to install an oil level sensor light? I am sure there is, but within reason….
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an oil level indicator would be tricky to install as it would require you to custom install it into the pan then wire a gauge to the cabin (or wherever you want the gauge). Are you sure there is no leak. I had a leak on my subaru where it would leak on to the exhaust so it would burn up and leave very little on the ground.
i believe the best answer in this scenario is to let the oil run low, let the engine seize up, and then blame it all on the woman.
Here is what you do
1. Let car die
2. When you pick up your wife admit it was your fault some how (be creative)
3. Tell everybody else that it was your ill lit wifes fault
4. Have beer and celebrateIt depends on how long the oil was bone dry, the dipstick doesn’t go all the way down so maybe there was enough oil to keep from to much engine damage.Try using a oil leak stop stuff.(It’s work for me.) If u have oil leak, try checking ur oil pan for leaks, they have putty dries into hard patch( But the oil pan has to bone dry). Also check the plug & gasket where the oil is changed, or the filter. I would also suggest talk to your wife, tell her that you don’t want her car to throw a rod, then become stranded somewhere unsafe. If she would check her oil everytime she get gas, she should be ok. If you tell her in a way of trying to keep safe. She should take it better. Good luck. 🙂
4 quarts is a lot of oil to be lost. Do you see blue smoke coming from the exhaust? I would say check for external leaks, but with that big of a leak, it should be apparent, like on your driveway or something. Or maybe all along the bottom of your vehicle lol. If you can’t see any leaks, then yes, do a compression test. Then do a WET compression test. If the numbers increase significantly after the wet compression test, then it’s likely you’re burning the oil due to bad rings. You can go a step further by doing a leak down to see where the leak is.
@ Hondaguy – Thanks. I agree 4 qts is a TON of oil to be missing. There is nothing in the driveway at all. No obvious leaks – certainly not enough to explain that kind of loss. Everything I read suggests that Subaru’s have oil loss issues, but there is no obvious sootiness on the tailpipe.
I never drive the car, so I can’t say that there is any blue smoke, but I have never seen it.
I was leaning to a compression test too.
Try switching back to conventional oil 5w-30
no sense running ams oil if your burning/losing it.
All you can do now is listen to the engine for noise.
You could change the oil and run it through a paint
filter and look for metal or cut open the oil filter
to look for metal.If your not hearing any abnormal noises
then drive the car.Can’t change whats done.^agreed about running the regular oil, and who knows maybe it was fluke(sounds weird but bare with me)
I had changed the oil on my subaru and about a week later the dipstick was bone dry, I topped of the oil and it didn’t lose a drop for the next 3 months till I changed it again. Just check the oil as like once a week and add as needed. I would still do the tests that way you can get a better idea of what is going on.You could just add a quart every week or a quart with every gas fill up or you could buy her a new car.
Just curious how you know that it’s 4 quarts low. Unless subaru’s are different, don’t the dipsticks only show the top quart? Or did you drain the oil and that’s all that came out?
7 quarts? hard to believe I have a V 10 and it just holds 6 with filter are you sure you are not over filling it and engine is just not dumping it because of over fill? I think you better check you book or call car company.
[quote=”jmorgan456″ post=54777]My wife drives a 2008 Subaru Tribeca. It is supposed to take approximately 7 quarts of oil.
It has always burned/lost oil. Today she called at work, the dipstick was bone dry. I came home and checked. The level was 4 Quarts low. She claims it was checked about 3 weeks ago. But I suspect that is not possible. I have always used Amsoil 5w-40 in that car.
I have now put a warning on her phone to remind her to check. Maybe it works. More likely, I am going to have to take over checking – but that WILL cause a fight.
Several questions…
How likely is engine damage? It has been low – but not that low – before.
What should I check? Compression?
I am debating increasing the viscosity – again. (factory specifies 5w-30). Pro/Con?
I am fairly convinced that she is NOT going to check the oil. Is there a way to install an oil level sensor light? I am sure there is, but within reason….[/quote]
your wife is doing tons of short drives around town, right? 4 qts in 3wks? pretty severe burn…or just engine wear and tear…
i had seen that on my subaru customer that they wouldn’t check oil until at the time of oil change that they have 8 oz or less left in the crankcase and wonder why…i guess it’s better…at least she checked it..
make sure it’s not overfill and vehicle is sitting in flat area…is your winter pretty severe? try to put synthetic 5w-30we used to put 10w-30 on some higher mileage…tons of them starved oil due to lack of care and common sense of some people…
p.s. are there any noise from lifters or bottom end of engine?
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