wth: My dipstick is showing low

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
Old 08-06-2009, 01:28 PM
  #16  
Registered User
iTrader: (3)
 
Cody8675309's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Santa Rosa
Posts: 481
Car Info: 03 Sonic Yellow WRX Sport Wagon
To really know how much oil you've lost over time, you really should check it only when the motor is hot and has been shut off for aproximately 10 minutes. This gives the oil a chance to drain from the heads, etc and allows for thermal expansion. I believe this is what the owner's manual recommends and it's served me well.

When I first switched to Mobil-1 10-40 from dyno oil when the car was at like 7K miles, IIRC, I burned a bunch, but then it stopped consuming oil. I switched to Royal Purple and didn't like what I read about it so finally switched to German Castrol. I burn about half a quart between oil changes now (5K mile interval). I really like the GC.
Cody8675309 is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 06:01 PM
  #17  
General Pimpin'
iTrader: (7)
 
OneManArmy's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Knee deep in beer. subabrew crew, ca.
Posts: 23,019
Car Info: MY04 aspen wrx wagon.
Originally Posted by Cody8675309
To really know how much oil you've lost over time, you really should check it only when the motor is hot and has been shut off for aproximately 10 minutes. This gives the oil a chance to drain from the heads, etc and allows for thermal expansion. I believe this is what the owner's manual recommends and it's served me well.

When I first switched to Mobil-1 10-40 from dyno oil when the car was at like 7K miles, IIRC, I burned a bunch, but then it stopped consuming oil. I switched to Royal Purple and didn't like what I read about it so finally switched to German Castrol. I burn about half a quart between oil changes now (5K mile interval). I really like the GC.
Yeah I switched to 10w40 like 100,000 miles ago. No reason to use 5/30 or 5/40 imo. I only use mobil-1.

Still burns oil. If I don't add any oil it will burn probably 1.5 to 2 courts in one change cycle.

But
OneManArmy is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 06:11 PM
  #18  
Registered User
iTrader: (8)
 
07wrx4life's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: San Mateo, Cali
Posts: 1,161
Car Info: 06 GMC Diesel
M1 Is garbage oil to begin with, Switch to some regular castrol or like stated above German Castrol 10w30 will do yeah fine 10w40 wouldn't hurt either.
Every time you change your oil add 4.5q's run the engine at Idle for 10 mins shut down for 10 and recheck, continue until the oil Is at the full mark. With castrol 10w30 or 40 you shouldn't burn more then 1q in 3-4k miles atleast I dont and I run my car hard with my 30r on a stock block.

GL
07wrx4life is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 07:25 PM
  #19  
Roo
Forester Specialist
iTrader: (3)
 
Roo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Sonoma County
Posts: 3,985
Car Info: '98/'04 Foresters (S & XT)
Interesting. We used to run Mobil 1, but recently changed to the Castol Syntec 0-w30 motor oil found at Auto Zone. This product differs from the others as it is made in Germany - and the Blackstone Lab analysis on the engine oil proves that it has far superior wear characteristics in our particular application.

We haven't lost a drop in oil consumption since switching. I can't say the same for the Mobil 1 - we had to top off at least twice between changes.
Roo is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 07:33 PM
  #20  
VIP Member
iTrader: (17)
 
VRT MBasile's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Posts: 22,776
Car Info: '13 BRZ Limited / '02 WRX
Originally Posted by 07wrx4life
M1 Is garbage oil to begin with, Switch to some regular castrol or like stated above German Castrol 10w30 will do yeah fine 10w40 wouldn't hurt either.
Every time you change your oil add 4.5q's run the engine at Idle for 10 mins shut down for 10 and recheck, continue until the oil Is at the full mark. With castrol 10w30 or 40 you shouldn't burn more then 1q in 3-4k miles atleast I dont and I run my car hard with my 30r on a stock block.

GL
Whenever I see these posts I kick myself for not having my camera ready when the A1GP mechanics were pouring Mobil1 directly from the Mobil1 bottle into the RACE CAR ENGINE.
VRT MBasile is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 07:43 PM
  #21  
Registered User
iTrader: (11)
 
subie OCD's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Concord
Posts: 5,808
Car Info: 04 STi
Originally Posted by Cody8675309
I really like the GC.
Originally Posted by Roo
Interesting. We used to run Mobil 1, but recently changed to the Castol Syntec 0-w30 motor oil found at Auto Zone. This product differs from the others as it is made in Germany - and the Blackstone Lab analysis on the engine oil proves that it has far superior wear characteristics in our particular application.


Name:  IMG_1492.jpg
Views: 15
Size:  85.6 KB
subie OCD is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 08:17 PM
  #22  
Registered User
iTrader: (8)
 
07wrx4life's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: San Mateo, Cali
Posts: 1,161
Car Info: 06 GMC Diesel
Originally Posted by VRT MBasile
Whenever I see these posts I kick myself for not having my camera ready when the A1GP mechanics were pouring Mobil1 directly from the Mobil1 bottle into the RACE CAR ENGINE.
Key word "Race Engine" as In an engine that has been perfected to get every oz of power with the longest life span possible... Sure M1 works for them as they need a super thin oil because of their tight tolerances, suby engines are not built like this. Look over on nasioc there have been quite a few threads about M1 being garbage for our engines, I'm not bashing M1 by any means just stating that It Is not the best oil to use with these cars, plus why spend 30+ dollars in just oil per oil change and then add 2+ quarts in between lol M1 aint cheap
07wrx4life is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 08:36 PM
  #23  
Registered User
iTrader: (2)
 
SR20steve's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Discovery Bay, CA
Posts: 1,569
Car Info: Evo X GSR, F250 Powerstroke Diesel
I run Mobil Synthetic 15w50 and literally don't burn a drop with forged pistons (with more piston to wall clearance than the factory block). So if your burning oil, there are underlying problems. Now if its a oil leak, you all good. Just fix the leak.

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)
I think a quart per 1000 miles is just crazy, so you have to add 3 qaurts of oil in between oil changes?. Thats what my OEM block was doing with a piece of piston missing!

Last edited by SR20steve; 08-06-2009 at 08:39 PM.
SR20steve is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 08:39 PM
  #24  
VIP Member
iTrader: (17)
 
VRT MBasile's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
Posts: 22,776
Car Info: '13 BRZ Limited / '02 WRX
Originally Posted by 07wrx4life
Key word "Race Engine" as In an engine that has been perfected to get every oz of power with the longest life span possible... Sure M1 works for them as they need a super thin oil because of their tight tolerances, suby engines are not built like this. Look over on nasioc there have been quite a few threads about M1 being garbage for our engines, I'm not bashing M1 by any means just stating that It Is not the best oil to use with these cars, plus why spend 30+ dollars in just oil per oil change and then add 2+ quarts in between lol M1 aint cheap
so what youre saying is that Mobil1 is good for a healthy engine, but not for the Suby motor. That sounds to me more like the Suby motor is what is garbage, not the oil
VRT MBasile is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 08:43 PM
  #25  
Registered User
iTrader: (2)
 
SR20steve's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Discovery Bay, CA
Posts: 1,569
Car Info: Evo X GSR, F250 Powerstroke Diesel
Originally Posted by VRT MBasile
so what youre saying is that Mobil1 is good for a healthy engine, but not for the Suby motor. That sounds to me more like the Suby motor is what is garbage, not the oil
Mobil 1 is a great oil, I even knew that from my Nissan days. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
SR20steve is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 08:43 PM
  #26  
Registered User
iTrader: (3)
 
knock's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: pergatory
Posts: 794
Car Info: bici putas
Originally Posted by 07wrx4life
they need a super thin oil because of their tight tolerances
Uhhhhhhh do you know what you're talking about?

Race engines run loose chief.

I run Mobil 1 5w30, and haven't required a quart over 5k oilchange intervals, driving like an ***.
knock is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 08:49 PM
  #27  
Registered User
iTrader: (8)
 
07wrx4life's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: San Mateo, Cali
Posts: 1,161
Car Info: 06 GMC Diesel
Originally Posted by VRT MBasile
That sounds to me more like the Suby motor is what is garbage, not the oil

Well yeah we all knew that one haha suby engines arent the strongest out of the box.
What I'm trying to say Is that If you use M1 you will burn more oil then usual due to It being quite thin compared to other synthetics.
07wrx4life is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 08:51 PM
  #28  
Registered User
iTrader: (3)
 
knock's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: pergatory
Posts: 794
Car Info: bici putas
oh, and this thread is knocking helluve hard!

lol I'm like the harbinger of doom!

apologies to 07wrx4life for using 'chief'. No bueno. Use whatever oil you please
knock is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 08:54 PM
  #29  
Registered User
iTrader: (2)
 
SR20steve's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Discovery Bay, CA
Posts: 1,569
Car Info: Evo X GSR, F250 Powerstroke Diesel
Originally Posted by knock
Uhhhhhhh do you know what you're talking about?

Race engines run loose chief.

I run Mobil 1 5w30, and haven't required a quart over 5k oilchange intervals, driving like an ***.
EXACTLY! You have a healthy motor sir. Having a turbo does not give you some reckless abandon for burning oil, lol. If you are burning oil....there is some level of problem with your motor. To what degree? Ehh? We have seen allot of high mileage beat on motors, lol. Hell my blown motor went almost 10k before I swapped in a new one, and it was still running when we swapped it.
SR20steve is offline  
Old 08-06-2009, 09:01 PM
  #30  
Registered User
iTrader: (3)
 
knock's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: pergatory
Posts: 794
Car Info: bici putas
truf.

it usually irks me when a product becomes guilty by association. The oil didn't necessarily *want* to burn away, but got sucked into the burning lifestyle by those no-good misfit piston rings, or turbo seals with bad dispositions.

easier to blame the oil than fix the bottom-end I guess
knock is offline  


Quick Reply: wth: My dipstick is showing low



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 07:44 PM.