'04 3.0R H6, 1l oil for the last 3000 km?

This doesn't make sense. If you had a catastrophic leak, you'd find obvious evidence (missing oil pan plug, etc.). If you had a slow leak, you'd see oil on your garage floor or driveway. If you were burning that much oil, you'd see smoke in your mirror. If someone forgot to refill your engine with oil, it would have seized up on you.

I can't explain it. Either you're missing something or your dipstick is bent.

-LK

Thx for the reply. What should one expect with this engine, is a refill between the service the rule or the exception? Anyone with over 50 K miles out there? How about those 3.0R sold in Australia with the heat and the dust.

I guess that a high running temperature, high speed driving and the air conditioning wide open will certainly place a strenuous load on the engine (and its usage of oil). Anyway the car is under the 3 years manufacturer garanty so I do not worry too much at this moment. It still feels like new but I will further check for leaks and smoke signs. Thanks for the tips.

Hi,

All these are contributing factors (IME generally more noticeable with lighter grades of oil), but it sounds like your consumption jumped rather quickly--have you checked the PCV and hoses that feed it? If the PCV system's clogged, it can cause blowby and/or sucking oil into the intake. Current emissions equipment (US models, at least) work well enough some engines can use a LOT of oil before seeing much (or any) smoke.

Hope it's nothing serious...

Rick

Hello Rick thanks for your reply and that other post where you explain in great details what a PCV is. I still would need to locate it under the hood though :-). I will mention your point at the next service if I can wait until then.

exception rather than the rule. I would of course prefer that.

Z.

I checked the oil level in my brand new Outback after driving it home from the dealers. Took a litre of oil. Methinks precheck was not quite up to standard.

That car was serviced by and according to Subaru and I checked the oil every two or three weeks. First time I needed to add more. How is that possible on a car with such a little mileage? I quickly checked the engine and could find no oil leaks.

The last 3000 km were driven mostly between 30°/86F and 37°/98F at an average speed of 110kph/68mph some on the German Autobahn at 10.5 L/100 km (27 mpg). Could the heat wave that has hit Europe last week be the explanation?

My other car, a 2.5L V6 mitsubichi needs about 0.5l per 10'000 miles but it has over 100K miles.

Z.

On the other hand 0.5 l of oil saved on each new car might mean a lot for a short-sighted bean counter.

Could be a mixture of temp and change in running environment by the sound of it. One suggestion is keep monitoring it and see if it's ok now it's off the A-bahn. Also, is the oil 5W-30 or 5W-40? If it's 30 it may be a bit light for sustained high speed/high temp running.

If it keeps using that much, prob time to get it checked out while it's still under warranty, but hopeuflly it's just the change. Fuel figures aren't too horrible though - my 2.5 doesn't do much better! Cheers

Meanwhile I have read over here

thatadding 1-1.5 liters of oil between the services seems to be normal (isthat a particularity of flat engines or Subaru?). In my case, now at25'X00 km, the level still is above the highest mark so it looks likeit will last until the 30K service.