My 2007 subaru outback burns one quart of oil a month. No leaks, just burning. Any ideas?
How many miles on this engine? Has the engine ever been overheated?
You might have a leak down test done on the cylinders to see if there is excessive blowby of the piston rings. If the rings cannot hold compression, oil will migrate up into the cylinders and be burned during the power stroke. The oil burning may not be noticeable until the catalytic converter stops finishing the burning of the oil.
Get back to us with answers and we can help you further.
18000 miles and it has never overheated.
What really matters is how many miles it takes for a quart to burn off.
Some engines consume small amounts of oil as part of their normal operation. Many manufacturers consider oil consumption of 1 quart per 1,000 miles to be within the “normal” range.
So, how many miles do you drive before you have to add a quart of oil. It doesn’t really matter if it takes a week, a month, or six months.
One test that I found more valuable than a leak down test (espicaly when leak down test was inconclusive) was one recently mentioned on the Forum, that test is inspecting the bore with a scope type device (passed through the sparkplug hole).
One qualification,you do have to know what to look for.
We still don’t know how much oil it’s burning…A quart every 200 miles, 500 miles, 1000 miles, 2000 miles, what?
I’ll have to look at that. It’s about a quart a month, but definately not 1000 miles. Most likely closer to 500-750.
If it really consumes that much oil visit your Subaru dealer and get complaint in writing soon. This is a warranty issue.
That’s way too much. You should talk to your Subaru dealer about this.
Andrew J is correct.
The solution to the OP’s problem is spelled w-a-r-r-a-n-t-y.
Unless the OP has voided the warranty through poor maintenance practices, the Bumper-to-Bumper Warranty and the Powertrain Warranty are still in effect on this 2 year old car with 18k on the odometer. When any issue arises with a car that is still under warranty, your first thoughts should be, “Isn’t this covered by one of the car’s many warranties?”.