Subaru Reliability

Rick (and all),

Thanks for your input and I am fully aware of just how fortunate I am that this is a well cared for engine. (At least until I pulled this little no brainer on it.) But it truly is running and performing like nothing bad ever happend to it. I guess I was impressed the most when all symptoms I was observing stopped at the same time with just that first topping off of the oil level. Even then I cheated and mixed two different viscosities as that was all I had other than strait 30 weight for the lawn mower.

My Subaru dealer has been providing all service on this car since it rolled off the lot new in 1993. The original owner was a retired Air Force pilot (according to the dealership) and started his maintenance from the first 25 miles on the OD and religiously hit all service intervals from then on. He sold the car back to the dealer while it still had some value and used the money to help on a down payment for a real estate deal! I am not quite as able to keep up with that kind of devotion for service, but handle things when they start to show trouble.

So you made 342K on your Subie boxer? Way to go! Would you believe that I ran my '80 Mustang out to 225K by the time I traded it for the Subaru? It had the top end overhauled at around 100K along with clutch, rebuild on the carb and stuff like that. That 1K or so spent bought a second life on a car that cost me just $5050 new in late 1979! So I really do keep my cars and try to take good care of them - unless I have a brain fart like this summer!

Anyway, Cheers to you this Christmas season and keep adding miles on that Subaru!

Chris

Hi and congratulations for the baby, Dont take this as an expert answer but as that of a shade tree mechanic with more than a little knowledge of car and engine operation. I've never understood exactly the problem seen with running low on oil if the oil pump's intake is still in contact with the sump oil. As far as I can understant the working of modern engines, their lubrication is not assured by bathing parts in oil (like in a manual tranny for example) but by the circulation of oil maintained under pressure by the oil pump. If the oil level in the crankase is sufficient for the pump intake to reach the oil and send it thru the engine's oil galleys, i dont see a relatively low level having any effect of the oil pressure and thus on engine lubrication. So I think that if the oil pressure idiot light was not lighted at any moment during the engine's operation, there has been no damage done to your engine. You car might have been very close at some moment to oil starvation but this apparently did not occur. So no problem. Moreover, I'm pretty sure that cylinder walls which were lubricated in the past by the crankshaft splashing the oil in the pan are now lubricated by well placed jets spraying oil at the right places. Hope I'm not wrong and that this can put your mind at ease. Happy new year! Gilles (Montreal)

Gilles (and group),

I tend to agree that oil was still being pumped around and possibly with the exception of higher demand periods on the engine. Here, where engine RPM pumped more oil that there is supply, may have created periods of oil starvation but the oil already in the engine block was still doing it's job while gravity returns the oil flow to the pan. Just my take on it as imagining myself "inside". Talk about "Fantastic Voyage"! Some movie maker or animator should do a movie like that. Could be fun and educational.

Anyway, you hit on a point about the Oil Pressure "Idiot Light" never did rear up and tell me anything was amiss with the engine. I am pretty sure I would have noticed such an event if it had happened because I was so aware of every sound that was not normal during the period of driving on low oil levels. I still wish I had been more on top of things and caught this sooner.

Oh thanks for the congrats on my little baby girl. Her name is Emily and is fully 2 months old now. What a joy she is in our lives and now my blue Subaru can truly be called into service as a "Mommy Wagon" or is that "Daddy Wagon" as I typically drive it. My wife has a Mercury Mystique - another story, but still a relaiable car.

Thanks again.

Chris

I agree with you, and I think there is quite a lot of margin between the low level line and real problems, with the proviso that a lower volume of oil will be circulated more often, wear out faster, and possibly get hotter if you don't have a thermostatically controlled oil cooler [1].

Going below the low mark shouldn't cause any damage to the engine, as long as oil pressure is maintained.

-- Bruce

[1] I don't know why cars don't have these. My 1100cc boxer-engined BMW motorcycle (pretty much half of a Subaru 2.2) has *only* an oil cooler, with no water-based cooling system at all. It works great, and the oil temperature stays extremely stable, winter or summer with only a very small oil cooler.

Bruce (and group),

Actually, the oil on the stick was dried on and there is evidence that the oil that remained was well "cooked" once it mixed with the 2 quarts of new oil. Then I took it for a real oli change and the mechanic did not mention anything unusual. Of course, the dip stick still looked a bit singed. Oh well.

Chris

I'd guess the reasons come down to (a) cost; (b) expense; and (c) money. For most applications (i.e., typical city, highway, commuting, etc. driving) in most places it's probably considered overkill, and the cost would have to be reflected in higher car prices. It might also make engines last longer, which means less repair revenue and fewer new car purchases.

HW

Ron,

How many miles did you put on it before you changed the brade pads? I'm closing in on 150,000 mile on my 2000 Forrester and the brakes seem fine. Does the Suberus have a warning sensor on the brakes when they get too worn?

David

After the first couple of oil changes on a new car, I usually change my oil from 12,000 to 15,000 miles. I am beginning to think that the 3,000 mile oil change is just a scam run by the oil companys and oil change places. Even dealers make money from oil changes and other "regular maintenance" items so they will want cars brought in for maintenance as often as they can get you to do it.

David

David

I replaced mine on a '98 GT sedan at 82,000 spirited miles. Only reason I had to replace them was one of the guide pins in the front right caliper jammed and wore the pad unevenly. There was a wear indicator on the lower portion of the pad. Luckily mine wore that side of the pad first so i did have some warning. My wife' '97 accord is at 115k mi on original brakes.

Stu

David,

I replaced front pads and disks at 60,000 and rear pads and disks at 75,000. I believe Subaru brakes do have a warning sensors but I have a hearing lose from too many years of flying airplanes without hearing protection so I have never heard it.

Ron

Thanks for the reply. I can't believe I've got just over 149,000 miles on the original brakes and it still stops fine and I don' hear any noise or warning signal yet. I'm starting to get a bit nervous soI will have to get it checked as soon as I get the time.

David

149k of gentle miles would not be unreasonable. I've been changing mine at 40k and there's at lease 2/3rds of the meat left on the pad. Don't press your luck though, time to change them.

How nice of you to have Ron's oil analyzed! Do you charge him for it? Seriously, only oil analysis can tell if 15k mi intervals are too long. Anything else is shade-tree mechanic conjecture.

He's _agreeing_ with your 1500 mi OCI, for Pete's sake! He didn't miss anything.