Ugh... advice

[The Korean]

Ok, so most of you know I just bought a new 99 Subaru Legacy L Wagon with the 2.2 motor. It currently has 145,000 miles on it and has a 5-speed tranny. I've already done some curvy mountain driving where I pushed the car. Things I've noticed:

Oil: I'm going through quite alot of oil very quickly. I put 2 quarts in yesterday and am already down to about .75 of a quart (the oil line is at the first dot if you start up on the dip stick). I've never gone through this much oil... and it seems quite strange to me. In all the Subaru's I've had and driven hard this is the first with this "problem." I thought it might be a major oil leak, but there is only a small amount of oil on the garage floor after sitting for a night. Yes I know driving your car hard brings down the oil level quicker, but this is sillyness in terms of how fast it's using it up. Any ideas?

Losing Power: Ok, I'm thinking I know how to solve this problem. During curvy moutain driving it loses power between 4000-4500 rpm in 2nd gear. At the current moment I have 1/4 of a tank of gas. What could this problem be? It only happens a few times and only occurs out of tight turns. Is it not having enough gas? Is it related to the oil problem? What if I install a Super AFC... would that help?

Smoke: Under hard acceleration I've noticed light blue smoke coming out of the exhaust. I know this is a total noOb question and that I should know the answer to this, but um, is that a bad thing?

Thanx for your advice/suggestions/comments in advance!

Jon

[blueb3]

Check a few things first. How is your coolant? what color is it? If it is electric green, and not frothy, no worries. If it's brown tinged and greasy you have a major problem. The power loss could be from the low fuel level in the tank. Subarus like to have more than a 1/4 tank on hard driving.

A few more knowledgeable folks will chime in shortly.

[badbasser98]

the blue smoke is burning oil :wink:

[subyluvr2212]

As far as the oil, is the bottom end of the car coated in oil? Needless to say, if it's leaking that much oil, then you'll see it all over the place. It can be leaking anywhere from the valve cover gaskets to the O-ring on the driver's side cam carrier.

If it's burning oil, then blueb3 might be right, even though I hope he's not.

And I don't mean just the possibility of the headgaskets being blown, I mean maybe the engine was overheated bad enough in the past that the rings are cooked :shock:

Do a compression test.

[Wiscon_Mark]

I'd call the lemon law there, big guy. The dealership sold you a car that was cooked, it looks like. My EJ22 has considerably more miles without oil burning, which makes me think this one was abused badly.

[Plays_with_Toys]

Some basic maintenance, replace the PCV valve and the fuel filter, that'll help it efficiency wise. As for the blue smoke, its usually a sign of burnt oil. White is coolant. Check for where the oil is coming from. Could be as simple as a not so well tightened down oil filter, to one of the front seals (cam seals, crank seal, oil pump o-ring). You'll see oil coming out from the timing cover seal. Here's what mine looked like with that type of a leak:

http://img325.imageshack.us/img325/7386/leak19ml.th.jpg (http://img325.imageshack.us/my.php?image=leak19ml.jpg)

[blueb3]

I really hope I am wrong too, did the car come with any type of warranty (I doubt it since it's that old)

[scottzg]

thats an amazing amount of oil to loose. I hope you just misread the dipstick pr something. I always associate blue smoke with worn out rings, but it could be getting in through the head too. It's relevent that it's happening on accel rather than when shifting, but i forgot precisely what it means.

[Huffer]

Do a compression test.

+1

[BuruKid]

while we are on the subject of gas in the tank my car came without a gas cap. I know it helps build pressure in the system. Could this have an ill effect on performance?

[Wiscon_Mark]

Uh, it could screw up a few things. Like the fuel pump.

So yes.

[The Korean]

And you should also get a CEL with no fuel cap.



Well, my two of my buddies looked at the engine today and they're pretty sure it's the PCV valve. I'll keep you all updated, but when we popped it off the valve had oil... so we'll replace it and see what happens.

BTW, the oil and gas issue somehow fixed itself. It's not going through eleventy billion quarts of oil every minute anymore. It's normal now and the gas mileage seems like it's now better than my Impreza... :-?




And Mark... how are you the mod for almost every single part of the forum?

[Plays_with_Toys]

Because he's t3h ch33se and never leaves!

[blueb3]

Damn cheese head :razz:

[Wiscon_Mark]

And Mark... how are you the mod for almost every single part of the forum?

I'm not as far as I can tell. Only for the General Discussion, Site Help/Suggestions, Member Introductions, and Meets. Not a very big portion of the site, IMO.

[BlueMan0312]

[quote="The Korean":nguhm1o5]And Mark... how are you the mod for almost every single part of the forum?

I'm not as far as I can tell. Only for the General Discussion, Site Help/Suggestions, Member Introductions, and Meets. Not a very big portion of the site, IMO.[/quote:nguhm1o5]


he just pushes all of the other mods to do what he wants...

PS-I'm not very smart for posting a comment like this in general.

[Wiscon_Mark]

what!? :lol:

[BlueMan0312]

:grin:

[The Korean]

The smoking problem was the PCV valve... :smile:

[Wiscon_Mark]

The smoking problem was the PCV valve... :smile:

good! cheap/easy fix :smile:

[The Korean]

[quote="The Korean":29yzdjmq]The smoking problem was the PCV valve... :smile:

good! cheap/easy fix :smile:[/quote:29yzdjmq]

$3.17 FTW... :grin: