Drove over 3k miles with only 4 quart of oil how bad is it

[jiffyjhn]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Machines don't care about excuses. Live & learn.

Not making excuses. Not new knowledge to me to keep the oil topped to recommended level and I admit I've neglected this one time.
But when there is crazy deadlines at work I pick getting a fat bonus over a car worth less than $15k .

[cmiovino]

This might be the WRX owner in me (it's my current daily, and I've owned it 12+ years), but the general rule of thumb there was the check it at the gas station at each fill-up. That meant you were checking it every 200-300 miles and on a level surface.

You don't need to follow that exact procedure, but it's for people that don't have a garage or park on a level surface... or who just forget to check the oil. Doing it every fill up ensures it's never going to be catastrophically low. It's overkill, but that's the point.

Personally, I check my BRZ's probably every weekend or about every 100-200 miles in the garage. Also, put about 1/4" or so over the full mark so there's some leeway in there too. That way if it ever does burn any, you have a small reserve before it's even to the "full" mark.

[cmiovino]

Double post.

[wbradley]

Originally Posted by jiffyjhn

Not making excuses. Not new knowledge to me to keep the oil topped to recommended level and I admit I've neglected this one time.
But when there is crazy deadlines at work I pick getting a fat bonus over a car worth less than $15k .

That's an admirable sacrifice. Do you put gas in the car? If you know it consumes oil you should check the dipstick every couple of tanks. Worse case, buy a litre at the gas station and i
top it up. And not sacrifice a car that's worth only $15k. It sounds like a silly excuse.but then again I wouldn't work sweatshop hours unless the incentive was really big, big enough that after not too long I'll never need to do it ever again. OK I'll stop with the unsolicited advice.

PS, my brother in law owns a '60 Vette, '68.5 Jag E Type, a '55 Austin Healy 100M, and a new Bentley and Ferrari.
None of those awesome vintage cars would still exist to be restored if nobody cared when their car's values were low. Your eyes would bleed if I showed you the Barrett Jackson values on his restored/restomod vintage cars.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by jiffyjhn

Not making excuses. Not new knowledge to me to keep the oil topped to recommended level and I admit I've neglected this one time.
But when there is crazy deadlines at work I pick getting a fat bonus over a car worth less than $15k .

[jiffyjhn]

Originally Posted by wbradley

That's an admirable sacrifice. Do you put gas in the car? If you know it consumes oil you should check the dipstic every couple of tanks. Worse case, buy a litter at the gas station and top up. And not sacrifice a car that's worth only $15k.

Fair point. I do keep half a quart and a funnel in the trunk incase it's low , but recently I've neglected to check and refill, got too many things on my mind.

Normally I don't lose much between oil changes, I've checked the seals when changing the oil yesterday and it didn't seem to have leaks. I did see some some residual oil on the oil change nut, so that could be why it was losing more oil than normal. New washer changed so hopefully it's good now.

[jiffyjhn]

Originally Posted by cmiovino

This might be the WRX owner in me (it's my current daily, and I've owned it 12+ years), but the general rule of thumb there was the check it at the gas station at each fill-up. That meant you were checking it every 200-300 miles and on a level surface.

I used to do this before I let my strict oil regimen slip recently, I need to start doing that again. Funny thing is sometimes people will come up to me and ask me if everything is ok at the gas station

[jiffyjhn]

Originally Posted by removedonut

lol no.

you will get a low oil pressure light when your engine no longer has oil in it and oil pressure falls to zero though.

After draining 4 quarts out of it I put in 5 quarts(not 5.4) back and it was up to the full line, so realistically it prolly had a bit more than 4 quarts and I wasn't able to drain all of it.

Any idea how low before the light comes on in these cars? Years ago my friend's G35's light came on and we were only able to get 2 quarts out of it. The engine didn't feel the same after that and he trade it into dealership.

With 4 out of 5 quarts my main concern was sump not getting oil when cornering as I corner pretty hard in this car. Does the light come on in this case?

[cmiovino]

Originally Posted by jiffyjhn

I used to do this before I let my strict oil regimen slip recently, I need to start doing that again. Funny thing is sometimes people will come up to me and ask me if everything is ok at the gas station

Yep, I get that too. Anytime you open the hood, everyone thinks there's a big problem or something lol. No one checks their oil, coolant, or anything anymore. A lot of people don't even know where the hood latch is in their car, which is sad.

[removedonut]

Originally Posted by jiffyjhn

Any idea how low before the light comes on in these cars?

I wasn’t joking when I said you have to have literally zero oil pressure for the light to come on. The oil pressure switch activates when you have less than 2.1psi of oil pressure which is like, catastrophic engine grenade scenario. I’ve seen people put windows in their blocks without that light ever coming on.

That being said, being a quart and change low isn’t going to kill your motor unless you were doing some high-G cornering like that.

[fredzy]

Originally Posted by cmiovino

You don't need to follow that exact procedure, but it's for people that don't have a garage or park on a level surface... or who just forget to check the oil. Doing it every fill up ensures it's never going to be catastrophically low. It's overkill, but that's the point.

Sadly it's not overkill for a Subaru engine. I think they are the only modern vehicle where you need to worry about checking the oil frequently like that.

My WRX went 7-8 years without ever using more than 1/3 quart in a 5000 mi OCI. I might have added oil 3 times in 70,000 miles, checking every 500 miles on average. And then one day after a longer gap of maybe 1500 miles I checked and the dipstick was barely touching oil. Couldn't find a leak and it didn't use any in the following 4000 miles. Shaky PCV valve maybe? Inexplicable.

I don't recommend anything with a Subaru engine to anyone.

[Tokay444]

Originally Posted by LancePower

Intriguing. What's the point of even having a warning light then?

It's called an idiot light for a reason. If you depend on it, you're an idiot.
This is literally the most common configuration for oil lights on the planet. Very very few vehicles employ an actual oil volume light.

[foshjowler]

If I had to wager, it's probably fine. Any major damage would have already showed itself. Mostly just a reminder to yourself to keep an eye on it. I had a saying with my old Miata, if I wonder if I should check the oil, it's time to check the oil. But those engines were known for burning oil.

[LancePower]

Originally Posted by Tokay444

It's called an idiot light for a reason. If you depend on it, you're an idiot.
This is literally the most common configuration for oil lights on the planet. Very very few vehicles employ an actual oil volume light.

Excellence in engineering.