Hi all, I have a 2003 Foz XS 5 speed with 148k miles on it. I changed the oil to Mobil 1 Full syn High Miles oil in it about 2 mo. ago. Then winter came and when I started the car in the morning and let it sat a little, it would get a really bad smell. It smell almost like oil on exhaust or burning rubber. It usually worst when I hadthe fan on full blast and highest heat.

 

Once the car started moving, the smell went away pretty fast and MIGHT come back in a BARELY noticable way if I sat on a stop light for a while.

 

I took it to a respectable Subaru shop to get it look at today and they said they couldn't find any oil leak at all. They suggest it MIGHT be the cabin air filter.

 

Do you guys have any ideas?

 

P.S. I usually have the rear defrost and the windshield wiper de-ice on during the warm up. Don't know if it matters or not.

replace the cabin filter? at 140,000+ miles it's probably warranted.

 

did they check the axles? they can sling grease onto the back of the engine or exhaust. but it's grease not oil so it doesn't flow and drip and is slightly less noticeable.

 

if the axles have ever been replaced/rebooted then maybe a small amount of grease squeezed out and got slung around like that rather than blatantly obvious amounts when the boot cracks. i've seen that before too - more likely on aftermarket axles.

replace the cabin filter? at 140,000+ miles it's probably warranted.

 

did they check the axles? they can sling grease onto the back of the engine or exhaust. but it's grease not oil so it doesn't flow and drip and is slightly less noticeable.

 

if the axles have ever been replaced/rebooted then maybe a small amount of grease squeezed out and got slung around like that rather than blatantly obvious amounts when the boot cracks. i've seen that before too - more likely on aftermarket axles.

 

You mean the CV joint? The said they looked at the boot and "everything where that possibly can cause a leak" and couldn't find anything.

Weeping driver's side rear corner of the head gasket.... look there for oil and on the engine cross-member. Pretty common with that head gasket.

 

GD

They said they checked the head gasket and it looked fine too.

A thought.

 

Most people who go full synthetic do so within 20K.

 

Your seals are used to dino oil, synthetic is thinner. Better but still thinner.

You may just have a little leaking past the seals.

 

O.