Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultramaroon
Detailed approach:
You need a fresh start because the leftovers are toast. You can have it trailered to a shop for another oil change. Ask to have the remainder saved in a clean container. Send it off for a used oil analysis to have it checked for contamination. Explain the situation so the analyst knows what to look for.
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Or you can use your Subaru roadside assistance to have the car towed home, order a sampling kit from Blackstone (free) and do all that yourself. Catch the oil in the sample bottle as it drains, not from the contaminated drain pan you use (which is where a shop would likely dip for your sample). Be sure to indicate on your oil sample report that you took the sample cold, so they know to adjust for condensation. If you can't wait for the sample kit to arrive before getting the car back on the road, you can catch the sample in some other CLEAN, dry plastic or glass container that you can seal, then transfer it to the sample bottle once it arrives. I would email or call Blackstone for suggestions on what to use.
Put the oil sample double bottle in a padded envelope and send it via any method OTHER than USPS, because they suck hippo balls and will quarantine your sample for a month while they try to pull their heads out of their rectums to figure out that the container is not hazardous material. I usually send mine UPS Ground, but you may want to expedite yours to get your results faster.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ultramaroon
If you take it to a real shop to have the oil changed they can test the oil pressure.
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You can do that yourself also. You can pick up a manual oil pressure test kit from Harbor Freight for $25 (or $20 with their 20% off coupon). It has a six foot hose on it so you can read the pressure while sitting in the car and can turn it off quickly if you have no pressure. You can either pull the oil pressure switch and put the manual fitting in its place, or there's a plug in the oil gallery on top of the engine next to the A/C compressor you can tap into if you want to be able to see both the manual gauge and the warning on your dash if you suspect the switch to be bad.
Probably easier to let a shop do all this, but it's not entirely necessary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chaoskaze
Mind if I ask a thing? Am I suppose to check oil when the engine is cold or when it's hot?
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The manual says to check it at operating temp five minutes after shutdown. You wait five minutes to allow oil to drain back into the oil pan. HOWEVER, if your oil pressure light is on like the OP, you don't want to start it up to see how much is in it. In that instance just check it cold.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tcoat
"Keep in mind that the oil may have become diluted"
WTF? If my oil is "diluted" to the point where it reflects quantity on the dip stick I have bigger issues to deal with!
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Which is one reason I send an oil sample off at every oil change. If you're burning the same volume of oil as the water going into it from a cracked head, you may not realize there's a problem. Modern oil doesn't turn milky the way it did 30 years ago when you get coolant in it.
My Cherokee had one of Chrysler's defective heads that cracked, and my Gladiator has an engine-driven mechanical fuel pump that will fill the crankcase with gasoline if the diaphragm inside ruptures. I'm used to just sending off samples as a standard part of the maintenance process.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickosport
Regardless, 1qt/600mi would piss me off royally in a brand new car.
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I suspect that's not included in there for the new cars. That's in there for when someone has been dogging the shit out of it for a few years and has started to burn oil, and they start wondering how much is too much. I'm at 49K now and still don't see any drop between changes.