wth: My dipstick is showing low
 

I recently did my oil change about a month ago and I only put 583 miles since then. Today I decided to check my oil before I wash her up and little I know it was almost on low. How could this happening? I really don't drive her often. My avg commute a day is about 25 miles. I also put it a quick drain valve recently (fumotovalve). Oil that I use is Mobil-1 5W-30. I never had this problem until now. What could be wrong?

Mods:
Sti up
Helix catted dp
IC hoses
HKS-catback
Cobb AP stage 2 ACN map
SPT short ram intake

check underneath the car to look if there is oil on your underbody...i had a leak coming from my valve covers...

or if you have a parking spot that you park in daily, check to see if there is oil there...

Yeah there is little bit of oil where I park daily, but I put about 4.5 quarts of mobil-1? Thanks, I'll take it to capital subaru and get her checked out.

I've never had a problem with my futomo. Did you use a crush washer? How many miles on the car? Burning oil is normal but it should burn much in that little amount of miles.

about 57,xxx miles my suby. Me and my buddy were doing the oil change. I'm pretty sure he did put the crush washer in. He has a sti and he does his own oil change, so I'm positive he did not forget to put that in. I'll make sure and double check.

I'd put something under the car, under the valve. See if it leaks over night. That will tell you if it's that.

If it's leaking from anywhere else it'll be on the plastic cover.

hmmm.... was the car warm or cold when you checked it? Was it on a flat surface? Did you recheck it 2 or 3 times? Subaru says burning 1 qt per 1000 miles is 'normal' and in my experience Subarus do tend to burn oil (all 3 of mine have burnrd - 84 wagon burnrd a lot, 02 bugeye burned a lot and my current 04 Sti burns a little). How much oil did you have to add to get back to full?

hmm? id add it and check. Remember the bottom of the dipstick doesnt mean u have zero oil. Just check it a bunch, and ull figure out whats up

[QUOTE=subie OCD;2683175]hmmm.... was the car warm or cold when you checked it? Was it on a flat surface? Did you recheck it 2 or 3 times? Subaru says burning 1 qt per 1000 miles is 'normal' and in my experience Subarus do tend to burn oil (all 3 of mine have burnrd - 84 wagon burnrd a lot, 02 bugeye burned a lot and my current 04 Sti burns a little). How much oil did you have to add to get back to full?[/QUOTE]

I only turned the car on for about 15 sec to move closer into my driveway. I was on a flat surface. I recheck the dipstick about 3 times and still showed up low. I've only put about 583 miles since I did my last oil change about a month ago. I put about less than half of the bottle of mobil 1 to be showing up normal on the dipstick. It's not full, but below the full mark on the dipstick.

Onemanarmy, I did put a piece of cardboard underneath my undertray to see if any leaks arise.

OK - so less than half a quart in 580 miles isnt tooooo bad. Just keep an eye on it.... maybe run a thicker oil - M1 is notorious for burning away.

Also, what are your driving habits? Lots of short trips? Do you make sure the car is warmed up before you drive hard? I always stay below 4k rpms for the first 7-10 minutes before I start romping on it.

let the car sit off for like 1-2 mins before u check it

I had a really slow leak after installing a fumoto valve. I tightened it a little more but careful to avoid stripping the threads and that fixed it.

I took my car in today @ capital subaru and they said no leaks. Not in even a spot in the undertray. Mmmm? I guess my car just eats too much oil, I'll just have to keep a close eye on it and keep checking from time to time.

BTW big ups to Justin for bumping me up for a last minute appt. Also thanks to Ivan and the tech that was inspecting my car as well in making sure it runs well.

use a heavier weight oil maybe...i was usually running m1 5w30 and i switched to 5w40 and now i have a 10w40 and it lasts a bit longer between oil changes...

^^Thanks bro, yeah I think 5w-30 is too light so I guess going up a grade oil won't hurt the engine.