I’ve a 2002 subaru impreza wrx with roughly 93,000 miles and at its last oil change I was told that the oil level was “very low.” It is not leaking oil in the garage, the exhaust is not blue, there is no seepage in the exhaust pipes, and it runs fine. The oil pressure light never came on. I’ve had its oil changed regularly every 3000 miles. Any thoughts as to cause and treatment, other than to monitor oil consumption at every gas up? thanks
How low was it? What did it look like last time you checked it? Your inching up to 100,000 miles, and oil consumption is not uncommon. If it was not quite a quart low, than this is a low enough rate not show visible smoke out of the tail pipe. Take this as an early warning, and check your oil periodically.
UPDATE: Another thought may be a leak in the turbo seals. To see if it may be in the intake portion, disconnect and look in the intercooler. Leaking oil will pool in there.
If there isn’t an external leak check the transmission fluid. Some folks have reported they had a leak between the two sections.
Monitor the oil level at every or every other fuel fillup. Also a key thing is alway verify you oil level just after an oil change.
You really have no idea if it was underfilled at the last oil change.
Monitor the easy stuff and worry about the harder stuff latter.
Post back if it consumes or LEAKS oil still based on your monitoring observations. There is extra oil line plumbing related to your turbo and an oil line to or from can be leaking at the seals.
Just because there are no oil spots in the garage does not mean that it’s not leaking. Have you actually inspected the bottom of the car? Many times depending on the source of the leak oil will blow back on the bottom of the car. Some cars may wind up with an oil smear all the way back to the rear axle.
It’s possible for an engine to burn oil and not exhibit any blue smoke because the catalytic converter will catch it.
The only places oil can go is either by the piston rings or valve seals (any overheating episodes can prod this along), external leakage, or an internal leak (head gasket, etc.)
It sounds like you’re not in the habit of raising the hood to check the oil level on a regular basis and you’re simply relying on everything remaining the same from one oil change to the next.
That’s a very bad habit (an all too common one) to have and eventually it’s going to cause a catastrophic engine failure with this gets away from you.
You could have a leak-down test performed and this MIGHT tell you something about the piston rings. Hope that helps.