Compression and oil loss

So here's the story. At about 48k miles, my 99 Forester couldn't go between oil changes without the oil lamp coming on. Dealer said front crank seal leaking and replaced it under warrantee. But the problem persisted, and I brough the car back to them several time, but the dealer said that it's normal to go through a couple of quarts of oil between oil changes, which I disputed since if it was normal, the oil lamp shouldn't be coming on. My fault for not pushing harder on this. That was about 40k miles and two years ago. Finally, it's come to going through 2 quarts of oil per 400 miles of highway driving and now the dealer can't deny that it is an oil consumption problem. They checked compression: three cylinders are the same, one of the cylinders is low; the spark plug from that cylinder was also coated black looking.

Dealer says that the best option is to do a short block replacement, and that the cost would be about UD$3k for parts and labor; I pointed out that this was a problem going back to when car was under warrantee that they never fixed. He talked to SOA's district service guy, and he said SOA would chip in $1k for it. Anyway, that still leaves me $2k in the hole.

Is this the way to go? What are the costs of a short block replacement?

Thanks

Rudy

Reply to
zungr
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Yes; Subaru should have fixed it when excessive oil consumption was first brought to their attention. ANY vehicle that uses 2 quarts over an oil change has a big problem and you were given very bad information. You should be checking oil levels many times during an oil change interval and most recommend at every gas fill or two. Now that the damage is done they recommend a short block replacement and your at about 95,000 miles? A short block is the way to go IMO but at this mileage I would push them to include a new timing belt and waterpump. The reason being is that the belt change interval is

Reply to
Edward Hayes

so, you experience a engine oil loss and a loss pressure of 1 cylinder? then you found out that the sparks are all coated dark?

I suspect it's the piston ring worn-out leads to oil leaks to cylinder thus cause pressure loss in the cylinder and consumption of oil. You should notice that after your oil change, the oil quickly turned very dark, since if the ring is worn out, the fire can went thru rings to burn a few your oil.

Reply to
grape

snipped-for-privacy@efi.com writes: [..]

Anyway have any ball park figures on how much labor and parts cost in Pennsylvania for a short block replacement for a 99 Forester?

Rudy

Reply to
zungr

check

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be a possible way to go. Carl

1 Lucky Texan
Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Another bit of advise...

After you get the new block installed, *don't* wait for the oil lamp to come on. It's not an "add oil" lamp, it's a low oil pressure indicator. If if comes on, you've already potentially damaged your engine.

Check your oil with the dipstick every time you fill up.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

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