My oil level was low!

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by FRSjeff

Ok, I have no idea what that is. But, I will look into it and educate myself a little. Thanks for the tip.

Also known as a catch-can. Personally I don't like the crawford setup.

Mine hasn't burned a drop in almost 14,000 miles including 4 track days, at least nothing measurable. It's always basically at the full dot.

[FRSjeff]

I'm not sure how low it was. The service advisor did act somewhat concerned. Now, I'm getting more nervous. I hope if something is wrong they'll catch it and fix it while under warranty.

[gmookher]

I went thru a half quart in the first 3500, then consumption slowed down

[russv]

Originally Posted by gmookher

Burning some oil on new motor is normal. Mine does it too.

Mine hasn't used a drop.

[JP]

if you dont get the rings bed in early, it will be an oil burner. Just like the EZ subaru engines.

[FRSjeff]

Originally Posted by JP

if you dont get the rings bed in early, it will be an oil burner. Just like the EZ subaru engines.

Can you elaborate? What does this mean and how would I know? I am grateful to learn about this stuff.... This is my first new car in 20 years. I drove a Honda del sol si for 18+ years. It did start burning oil at some point despite me taking very good car of it. It was a good car; still is. I sold it to a friend who still drives it everyday. It must have close to 200k miles by now. I was hoping to have my frs for a long time. But, I am afraid it might be plagued with too many issues; I will still wait it out and see. But, I also may just trade it in for a 2014 model. In any case, I love this car and I'm glad to have discovered this forum; I'm learning a lot.

[JP]

on your nice new engine, give it plenty of cylinder pressure and engine braking to force the rings out to the bore. If you baby it, it have a hard time bedding the rings in.

For now, keep checking the level every 1000 miles. Keep in mind the dipstick can be a bit of a pain to read correctly, and the difference between the low and full marks is 1L

[bluesubie]

If you look at all of the Subaru forums where 0W-20 is specced (the new Foresters, Outbacks, the Impreza, etc.) you'll find oil consumption threads. There has been one on the Forester board since June 2011 which is only a couple of months after the Forester came out with the new engine.

Some of my theories:

-Engines being broken in too easy (i.e. by the book)
-First oil change done too early (the factory fill has boatloads of moly and extra zinc and phosphorus all which probably help with break-in)
-Not enough testing on 0W-20 in these engines. Maybe top off with 5W-20. A 5W-20 will be less volatile than a 0W-20 and possibly even less volatile than a 5W-30 (which shears to a 20 weight anyway). These engines were supposedly designed with 0W-20 though.

-Dennis

[getbent]

@bluesubie, we haven't seen many threads about big oil burners in the FA20 yet. This thread is the only one I can recall about oil consumption that I have read.

IMHO the impreza cvt cars seem like more likely candidates for ring sealing issues due to the nature of how the cvt works, whereas the brz/frs owners have control over engine revs and braking in both AT/MT configurations. BRZ/FRS owners overall are likely to drive their cars a bit more aggressively I would think than the average Impreza owner.

I have ~4500 miles on my car so far and haven't seen the oil level move from full. I changed the oil at 550 miles and 2500 miles.