Subaru and the oil consumption engine / lawsuit

[LexAtlanta]

In the market for a new car and thinking of Subaru. Either an Outback or Forester, 2015 model year with the 4cyl engine. 2011 to 2014 engines had consumption issues to the point there is a class action lawsuit against Subaru. Does anyone know if the issue has been corrected? Should I skip Subaru?

I know the 2015s are just coming out so no one may have actual experience yet. Any thoughts would be great.

 

[Rand]

there was a ring revision for late 2014 production,

also they will warranty it if your oil consumption is over about 1qt/3000 miles.

2013 outback just got back from the dealer..

ring job.

 

[6starprez]

The consumption issue has no rhythm or reason and it effects the 2.0 FB engine as well but it started with the 2.5. In March 2013, they implemented this ring surface treatment and it seems to make no difference from the people chiming in on NASIOC.com.

My 2.0i Impreza was built in November 2011 and I bought it in February 2012. Today I'm at 49,950 miles and have very minimal oil loss. I put in 5.5 quarts due to an oversized oil filter and that gets me a 1/2" inch over the full dot on the dipstick. After 5K miles, It's usually on or 1/8" inch over the full dot.

With Subaru's, the general consensus is not to baby the car during the break-in period yet the owners manual it tells you for the first 1,000 miles not to race the engine past 4K rpm, do not drive at one constant engine or vehicle speed for a long time, avoid rapid acceleration and avoid hard braking. Well, my car was a dealer trade and it was driven over 200 miles from Charleston, SC on I-26 & I-95. That's about a 3 hour drive at constant interstate speed and no problem to date.

If you want a 2015 Subaru, I say go for it. My earlier built FB engine doesn't have these updated rings and it's fine.

 

[edhackett]

My mother's 2013 Forester doesn't burn a drop in 5K. Broken in by an 82 year old lady driving like an 82 year old lady. So much for the consensus.

Ed

 

[Rand]

the 2013 outback wasnt babied or beat on.. but it was stick shift seeing alot of time around 80mph..

it was using 1/qt per 1800-2300 miles

it was just warrantied for new rings + associated work.

my 2011 forester uses about .5qt/oil change

so far about .5qt in 4000 miles
if driven extended on the highway with alot of engine breaking/mountains it uses abit more.. nothing serious...
but not my 2007 focus that used 0 in 7500 miles.

 

[Bandito440]

Mine burned 1 qt. in 5,000 miles during the last OCI. I'll update the community with this interval.

It appears the turbo Forester XT isn't seeing these issues, and Subaru claims to have fixed the issue in the FB25 motors for 2015. I like Subaru. Go for it.

 

[kmcavin]

I have 15.5K miles on my 2014 Outback and it's been just down an 1/8 of an inch on the dipstick on each of its first two oil changes. I went 7500 miles on both OCIs. I don't baby it, or beat on it either, but I've made numerous 850 mile round trips to Ohio running at 80+ mph, so it gets a good mix of short and long trips.

 

[Pablo]

2014 WRX consumes zero oil. It kinda bugs me, as I want a little more up to the top ring (but not by the turdbo) but I can used to it I suppose.

 

[JTK]

2014 FB20, 5spd manual owner here. Saw some fairly alarming oil consumption the first ~3K miles, but I've driven the khrap out of it since day one. No red-lining, but lots of aggressive acceleration, compression braking, etc. It still consumes some, but so far seems to have leveled out to ~1qt/6Kmi, which is nothing IMO.

To the OP, why a Subaru in Atlanta? As much as I love Soobs, I see no point unless you live in a winter wonderland.

 

[LexAtlanta]

JTK - change of pace really. The current vehicle is a van for the wife and she likes how the Sub looks. She wants a small SUV like a Sub, CX 5, Escape. CRV, RAV4, Etc. Besides, it does snow once a year here. We got 2" last year along with ice and it shut the city down for three days.

From all the replies, I might have to wait a few months to see if the problem is corrected. The Nissans I have owned for the past few years don't use any oil in a 10K OCI. Any oil use is problematic in my opinion, especially in a brand new engine. I'll probably still take the wife to test drive one though just for fun.

 

[Bandito440]

I concur; no new vehicle should be using so much oil that it needs to be replenished. I wish I could have gotten a manual transmission with the Forester XT and would have avoided these issues entirely. Oh well. Aside from that, it's a great vehicle and offers a lot of utility.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: JTK
To the OP, why a Subaru in Atlanta? As much as I love Soobs, I see no point unless you live in a winter wonderland.


Winter weather or not, Subarus are still good cars. Especially the Outback, one of the last readily-available/affordable station wagons. I'd own one in a heartbeat, even if we don't "need" the AWD here.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Originally Posted By: JTK
To the OP, why a Subaru in Atlanta? As much as I love Soobs, I see no point unless you live in a winter wonderland.


Winter weather or not, Subarus are still good cars. Especially the Outback, one of the last readily-available/affordable station wagons. I'd own one in a heartbeat, even if we don't "need" the AWD here.


I like the Forester. I think it's about as close to a modern day XJ Cherokee as you can get. Which, in my book, is good!

 

[emg]

Originally Posted By: LexAtlanta
From all the replies, I might have to wait a few months to see if the problem is corrected.


It's not entirely fixed. Our 2015 Forester is fine so far (approaching 2,000 miles from new with no noticeable drop on the dipstick), but a few 2015 owners are complaining about their FB25s burning significant amounts of oil. Whether Subaru are now any worse than any other manufacturer is a different question; clearly they were in the early years of the new engines, but all manufacturers produce some lemons.

We bought it with our fingers crossed, knowing it might burn oil, because we preferred it over the competitors we test-drove. As mentioned above, there's no clear reason for some to burn oil and some not, as there are exceptions to pretty much every theory that's been suggested so far (e.g. hard vs slow run-in, etc).

 

[thunderfog]

I also purchased a Subaru (FB20) and crossed my fingers about the oil issue. I subscribe to the hard-but-not-too-hard break in. No oil consumption here after just under 21k miles.

 

[emg]

Originally Posted By: thunderfog
I subscribe to the hard-but-not-too-hard break in.


We followed the instructions in the manual, but did some reasonably hard acceleration and engine braking too. Fortunately we get the paddle shifters on the CVT models in Canada, as the CVT likes to push the engine over 4k rpms if you press the gas pedal much past half-way down in automatic mode.

However, others have done similar break-ins and did end up burning oil, so I'm not sure whether it really made a big difference.

 

[k24a4]

Originally Posted By: Miller88


I like the Forester. I think it's about as close to a modern day XJ Cherokee as you can get. Which, in my book, is good!


Funny you should mention it. My gf just got rid of her '97 Cherokee 5mt (she was the orig owner and put 260000 mi on it) in favor of a 2015 Forester Premium 6mt for exactly this reason.

We broke it in by the book-stayed below 4k rpm and varied engine speeds for the first 1000 miles, which she just past. I'll be keeping an eye on consumption and will update.

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: thunderfog
I also purchased a Subaru (FB20) and crossed my fingers about the oil issue. I subscribe to the hard-but-not-too-hard break in. No oil consumption here after just under 21k miles.


How are you doing fuel economy wise, on your 2014 Impreza? I'm always curious how they do compared to the slightly lifted XV Crosstrek version like I have. I average ~29mpg tank/tank with my 5spd XV.