Oil Leak Question (follow up to blue smoke)

[shortshannon]

Hi,

I wrote here a few days ago about my 2006 B9 Tribeca and how there was a puff of blue smoke coming out of the exhaust during cold starts.

A few people mentioned to keep an eye on the oil levels. I had my oil checked last week and I was a quart low. I checked it again today, and I was low again, or on the lower end of the 'safe zone' of the dipstick (I'm not a car person, so I hope this is right!). I don't see any oil puddling under my car when I am parked, but I do remember something during my last oil change. I was going to have my oil changed at Wal-Mart (not my first choice, believe me, but it was convenient at the time) and they wouldn't do it because they thought that my oil plug was stuck or broken because it was leaking oil. I brought the car to a local mechanic who said he didn't see anything wrong with the oil plug but there was a little bit of an oil leak 'somewhere' and to keep an eye on it.

SO now my question is, do you think the blue smoke and the oil levels are related? Should I be losing this much oil in a week?

The other thing I should mention is that my last 2 oil changes (during the same time the blue smoke occurs) were 4 months apart. The mechanic said the oil levels were a little low, but nothing out of the ordinary. The time between the last oil change and checking the oil last Monday (at a quart low) was a month. Then a week later, low again.

I hope this isn't too confusing, I'm just worried I'm going to be stranded somewhere and I'm hoping to get my tax refund back before I have to go have this checked out.

Thank you for making it through my post!

[LeolaPA]

You don't say that you added oil between last week and "today." Did you add oil?

 

When you check the oil level do you do these things:

Have car on level surface.

Check after car has been sitting without running for 15 minutes or more.

Wipe the dipstick

Make sure the dipstick is fully inserted and bottomed out?

 

At this point how do we know that the person who checked it last week or that you yourself did it correctly?

[shortshannon]

Thank you for the reply. To clarify, Last week I had stopped at a gas station after driving for 10 miles. The mechanic checked the oil and added a quart. Today I had a friend who studied as an auto tech check the oil. The car was on a level surface and was shut off for about an hour. He checked it 3 timed and did wipe off the dipstick each time. He showed me it was low. I haven't added oil yet.

[LeolaPA]

There must be something wrong to use a quart of oil in a week, unless you drove the car across the country.

[jamesm113]

How many miles on the car?

 

Have you taken a look underneath the car? I'd check:

 

*valve cover gaskets

*front main seal

*rear main seal

*cam seals

*cam cap seals

[Mike104]

Oil leaks on Subaru's tend to all deposit themselves onto the exhaust that may be causing the blue smoke and be a reason why there isn't a leak onto the ground. One other thing to check is the PCV valve as it can cause oil to be pushed out of certain areas.

 

The areas mentioned above are other very likely possibilities causing leaks.

[afterbang]

you wouldn't see any oil leaking onto the ground because the underside of the engine is completely covered by a plastic guard. the mechanic who performed the oil change saw the leak because there are ports to open to get to the drain plug and filter. if you're loosing a substantial amount of oil, most of it would pool in the cover. my wife drives this same car.

[johnceggleston]

remove the under pan until you sort out the leak, then you can re-install it.