GF's Car Broke Down - Need Advice

[HLxDrummer]

Hey guys,

Gunna make this quick cause I have a huge test I need to be studying for today.

Last night my GF called me and said he car was "vibrating" and the CEL was flashing. Told her to pull over and when she did it started vibrating worse and the oil temp/oil pressure/battery voltage/CEL all came on (guessing because it was barely idling and out of oil). Told her to shut it off.

Got there (in single digit weather) and checked the oil. Bone dry. Don't see any oil underneath the car and the drain plug/filter are still on and don't have oil on them.

Tried to check the CEL with Evoscan but I couldn't figure out the settings and we needed to get home. Going to try that again today probably, maybe with Romraider (does anybody know which settings to use for Evoscan or Romraider? I selected Openport2.0 and subaru but didn't know what to select under "select ECU").

Took a quick look at the engine and nothing seemed out of place but I didn't spend a ton of time looking at it. Should have checked the coolant for oil.

Any ideas? 2008 Legacy 2.5i Auto with almost 80K on it. Changed the oil 4-5,000 miles ago. Haven't checked it as much as I should but it never uses oil and it has been freezing out so I blew it off. What could cause it to chew threw oil that fast?

I think I am going to try to read the codes after my test today and dump in 5 quarts of oil and see what happens. Really hoping she shut if off in time..

[fastfalcon94]

You can't check cels with romraider or evoscan. Subaru guys use a little executable program called "learningview". I have a copy of it on my google drive share.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzs...it?usp=sharing

That should be all you need. If you were flashing the ecu for anything there would be an additional connector or two you need to hook up, but for reading codes or datalogging that is it. If you wanted to datalog you would need to download the ecu definitions for ecuflash first. If you wanted to use romraider you'd need to download a different set of ecu definitions there.

[NOMIEZVR4]

just throw the oil in the car, and figure out what the issue is. I have cars come in ALL the time with little to no oil...with super high mileage too...you should be fine. 80k is nothing...the main thing you gotta worry with subies is the HG's failing...

[HLxDrummer]

Thanks a lot! Are there any settings I need to mess with to use Learning View? Or just plug and play?

What would you recommend to datalog? I'm pretty new to this stuff and don't have a ton of time to mess with it so I will just go with what you recommend.

Any idea what might be wrong?

Thanks again!

[HLxDrummer]

Well don't worry about it. Cops called and said it needed move right away but I was busy so she got it towed to Subaru. They put in oil and it was knocking. Game over!

[mb3000]

Damn that's rough. Interested in what they say was the cause of the problem.

[NOMIEZVR4]

Make sure you see/hear it for yourself...dealerships lie to people in their face 24/7

[fastfalcon94]

There are no special settings for learningview. I've had 7-8 subarus and they all burn a little oil. When I drove my old sti home from Chicago to Vermont I went through 2 quarts of oil. The car only had 9500 miles on it.

[HLxDrummer]

Ya I'm curious, too. I'm guessing it was leaking internally suddenly causing a misfire (and the CEL). Then it ran out and caused low oil pressure? I just can't imagine it burning through it slowly when it never has burned any and it suddenly causing it to run like shit. I honestly don't know anything about it though.

Her dad is bitching out Subaru saying he will never buy another one again so they said they will do it at cost if it was their fault. Originally they wanted $4,300 for a used engine installed or $6,000 with a new short block. If Subaru doesn't give him a deal I will just buy a short block for $2,000 and have my dad do it cheap.

I also can't believe it is knocking because she shut it off the instant the oil pressure light came on.

I'm real curious what happened and curious to read the codes.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I am going to tell her dad not to have anything done until I go check it out as well.

[GTOJOE]

The problem with female drivers is they don't notice shit. It could have been knocking for weeks but she wouldn't notice because the music is too high or they just don't pay attention. Also if it ran out of oil then it prob spun a bearing. The oil light is useless. By the time it comes on it's too late really. But I would still insist on looking at it. Also used Subby engines are cheap from Japan. Just drop one in if it's a spun bearing. A mate and I did one in a weekend without a proper engine crane. Just a block and tackle etc.