Does Subaru have a oil burning problem?

Yes! Friend has a 2011 Forester and monitors Subaru forums. He says all report oil burning/loss well before oil change times. Says a local mechanic who specializes in Subarus says it is because the horizontally oposed cylinders leak oil. Pointed out to him that BMW has had this design forever on their motorcycles and do NOT have this problem. My conclusion? Poor design. He says the last couple of years don’t seem to have this problem.

A number of performance oriented models from BMW and Audi are known for burning oil. With regard to the Subies its not something that seems to affect models outside of NA that use 5w30 oil rather than the 0w-20 used here for fuel economy reasons. Moving up to the thicker oil reduces gas mileage a wee bit but it also reduces oil useage. There is too much insistence in this thread that under no conditions should an engine burn any oil, even though that is a practical impossibility.

1 Like

I would check the ground under where car has been stationary for a while. The cars may not be burning oil. They may be leaking oil. If oil changes are not done properly, this could easily be the problem. It is important to make sure there is a tight fit when fitting the new filter on. Also, Never reuse drain plug gaskets or oil filter cartridge o-rings. Especially, make sure the drain plug gasket is replaced with a new one for each oil change. Sometimes it is just a solution of changing the filter or type of oil being used.

Conversation has deteriorated into this nonsense, hi-jacked thread.