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Low oil level on new Subaru

28676 Views 16 Replies 13 Participants Last post by  jbooze
We purchased a 2013 Outback 2 weeks ago and have driven mostly interstate miles on 2 trips. With only 2500 miles, the low level oil sensor light came on 4 separate times approximately half an hour a part and went off a minute or two later by itself. It was flat interstate at slightly over 75 mph. When checking the oil levels, they appeared normal the best we could tell. Two days later, the local Subaru dealer checked out the car. They could find nothing wrong and indicated it was low a half quart and topped it off. They say it is normal for the car to burn a half quart every 1000 miles and nothing is wrong. The answer does not make sense and leads me to the conclusion that during a 7500 mile oil change interval recommended that I will be 3 1/2 quarts low. This is a brand new car, not a car with 100,000 miles. Does this make sense? Regardless, it doesn't paint a good picture for Subaru quality in my mind. I sincerely hope this is not a lemon or a sign of things to come.
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It's interesting to see that there are several oil consumptions threads in various Subaru forums where 0W-20 is specced. The Forester forum has had an ongoing thread since June 2011 and now 2013 owner's are posting the same thing. There are also posts popping up on nasioc in regards to the Impreza as well as posts on various BRZ forums.

-Dennis
in the past, there were rumors that CAFE created an incentive to spec lower weight oils and European/foreign vehicles had manuals that speced viscosities higher than in the US.

I wonder if it's still that way? Do British or German soobs come with a manual that suggests higher viscosities than here?
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