2012 Subaru Forester Engine Knocking? Oil consumption and oil level checked.

[@rogergarcia306]

Hey Joe, that was great I have the same noise and a 2012 Subaru. I topped it up with oil a little while ago and have come back from a big trip. Thank you so much !.

[@larsnielsen6343]

Did you put in 0w-40?

[@buickdude69]

This is an identical situation to my girlfriends car. She just bought it in '19 with an aftermarket warranty. It was knocking, put in 4 quarts of oil and and knocking stopped but it was still 1/2 quart low and only holds 5.5 quarts. Took it to Subaru and started oil consumption test. They changed the oil and she has to take it back every 1,000 miles. We drove it on a 574 mile road trip yesterday and it used 1 quart only 700 ish miles into this new oil change. Made a video documenting it also. I'm linking this video in my description.

[@idavidgraficks123]

When Subaru went to the twin overhead cam, timing chain and extra HUNGRY for Oil Piston Rings in 2011 - Subarus needed OIL and lots of it.

[@HollomanUFOLanding]

I'll never understand how people will nickle & dime, penny pinch, over the cost of a new car - perhaps spending over $30k for it - but then can't be bothered to do simple but important tasks like checking the oil once a week (30 seconds) , tire pressures, etc.

[@geoffholmes8173]

1. Missed regular service due to “life”(e.g. looming retirement and celebration holiday planning) 2. Never had a car that has used oil so much for 30+ years. 3. No oil leaks. 4. Relying on oil light to come on. (It didn’t: seems like a common problem from scanning the net) 5. Non mechanics have NO idea as to what the problems of each individual car is that mechanics know as routine e.g. you only find out after it’s happened that Subaru Foresters 2012 use a lot of oil. I was told this as if it was common knowledge like it won’t rain if there are no clouds. This is but one way, or several ways put together, that it can happen. It happens.

[@chencho7083]

Mine is a 2012 Forester and burns about 1 quart or less every 6 months. It has 84k miles and everytime I hear all those stories about engine problems I pray mine keep being good. I bought an used 2014 Outback and burns 1/2 quarter every 1k miles with 90k miles. I think is not terrible but I don't think I will ever buy another. Had a 2003 Forester and the engine blew @ 227k miles. I still miss her...

[@andrewearley3660]

I just watched a video talking about the stabilizer bar bearings being the thing that knocks. He said that he went to a professional and that was how he fixed it. The bearings are only $20.

[@andrewearley3660]

I think the guys an idiot haha

[@nsn876]

Yes bad bushings knock, but if your mechanic says your bushings are knocking when the vehicle is stationary and idling. he may have knocked his head and need replacing himself.

[@bryanwhelan5431]

This is a straight up manufacturers defect. I got Subaru to replace my engine at 77,000 miles because of this. It was also a 2012 Subaru Forrester and the same color even!! It now has 250K miles. Google Subaru Oil Consumption issues.

[@ryanneedham8820]

I have a 2011 Forester. It burns oil so quickly. This happened to me once. Was at the 3,000 mark and barely had any oil. I now change my oil every 2k miles. Vehicle only has 90,000 miles

[@brooklynbummer]

There was only one quart left, amazing it did not seize. 5:14

[@Benjamin-David]

Vehicles that use 0-20 will burn oil from the get go, and over time it will get worse. This is a design flaw that was built into these motors to make less friction all in an effort to meet governmental fuel economy standards. It seems boxer engines are really prone to this problem.

[@joesnowmobiles]

Thanks that's great info!

[@stepannovak2859]

I use 5w30 in my subaru with same engine and it runs just fine and does not consumes oil. Using 0w20 is good for fuel consumption but it should be mainly use in super cold weather...

[@ozzierabbit587]

My 2018 Forester that I bought new and my gf's 2015 Forester she bought with 22k miles both use only 0W-20 and have noticed no oil consumption on either.

[@darylhill9400]

Checking oil frequent and oil changes! you can get great longevity out of these motors.

[@jaelementsk8ter]

@@stepannovak2859 does it keep running good? I might change to 5w 30 cause its cheaper but i tho subaru didnt recommend it

[@tridongo1432]

It's amazing how this was EXACTLY my experience with my mom's 2012 Forester (same color too!). The oil light just came on after the oil was changed 5 months ago, fortunately I was less than a mile from her house, so I pulled in to the garage and kept adding a quart at a time until almost 4 quarts until I could see the level! I was stupefied - didn't know an engine could run on so little oil! Obviously now we'll keep a close watch on the oil level, but I was wondering about the oil pressure sensor: it is faulty to not trigger until there was essentially a quart left?!? If so WHY don't they sell replacement sensors that are more sensitive (i.e. trigger at higher oil pressure level)??

[@DillanBoutin]

They have a service bulletin out for certain models that will have the dealer replace the shortblock assembly and piston rings after an oil consumption test is performed. I encourage everyone who qualifies to get this done to prolong the life of the engine.

[@pantera6672]

please send this to me , if ya can THANK you

[@jessicanathan306]

Who doe sit apply to? Have a 2011 bought used and knocked like crazy once, but oil has kept it quiet. Now I'm scared to drive it on any road trips and that's lame!!!!

[@ericp3573]

The low oil light symbol should have come on in the dash if it was that low. Either the owner did not notice or the sensor is defective which does happen.

[@lilyesp5652]

on mine- it was very low that couldnt see on the dipstick and the low oil light didnt come up .

[@HamidRHariri]

I have 2011 forster that burns 1 quart every 900 miles or so. The oil light you see in dash is not a low oil indicator. It is oil pressure light. Even with 1quart of oil left the pressure light won't come on. This was my 1st and last subaru.

[@ericp3573]

@@HamidRHariri It should, low oil will cause low oil pressure

[@ericp3573]

@@HamidRHariri 11 and 12 had a recall on the motor, you needed to go to the dealer have a consumption test done if it failed they would replace the motor. This warranty was for 10 years/100k miles

[@HamidRHariri]

@@ericp3573 One would think that would be the case. But in my experience low oil levels doesn't necessarily translate to low pressure. I could be wrong on this but low oil pressure indicates a failing oil pump. You could have full oil and if the pump fails you get zero pressure.

[@JesusTorres-bw3bn]

These older foresters are junk! I had a 2013 Forester with 95k miles and it burned 1 quart of oil every 250 miles, that’s literally BS, idk why Subaru says that if a Subaru burns 1 quart of oil every 1,200 miles is normal. I sold that junk and bought a 2012 Toyota Prius with 110k miles and I change the oil on it every 5k-6k miles and it doesn’t burn a single drop of oil

[@brooklynbummer]

I had a 2001 Forester trading it in at 135,000 in 2018, no oil burning during all those years.

[@danbuffington75]

​@@brooklynbummer me too. Over 200k miles in my 2001 Forester and never burned oil.

[@brooklynbummer]

2016 Forester 2,000 miles since last oil change, still above the full mark. I had a 2003 Forester, it did not burn oil.

[@joubess]

My 2011 Subaru Forester sucks oil like it's water. I have to add up to a quart every week. This week I had to add 1.5 qt and it was knocking just before I did that. I'm thinking it may be time to trade it in for a Honda! I have a 25 year old CR-V that hasn't consumed any oil in a year. I'm thinking it's time to buy another gen 1 CR-V. It's been the best vehicle I've ever owned. And I can fix nearly everything on it. I will say this. When I put the manufacturer recommended oil in, 0W-20, it consumes oil like crazy. When I put 5W-30 in it, it runs pretty well and consumes oil a lot more slowly. Subaru claims it should burn a quart about every 3000 miles. I think that's way too much, and mine is burning a lot more than that if I use 0W-20. It's very hot here in south Louisiana, and Honda has told me I could use 10W-30 or 10W-40 in my CR-V. I've always used 5W-30 in it with no problems. I think 0W-20 is just too thin for a very hot climate.

[@danrascal4045]

Amazing this engine survived. If it consumes that much oil it should be smoking like a bad diesel engine.

[@joesnowmobiles]

She drove from Tennessee to Portland to Chicago I think that was the length of time it took to consume all the oil.

[@carsonp9971]

so it took 4 thousand miles to burn all of it ?

[@GoNuckingFuts]

My 2011 CRV with 135k did the same thing during a cross country road trip. Got oil changed immediately, problem solved.

[@bassmaster7874]

I'll never by a Subaru again my wife wanted one so bad we bought a 2010 Subaru forester and nothing but problems that car had Toyota and honda all the way

[@Jacksea]

It sound like a piston slap not a engine piston knock. It’s common in boxer diesel engine When the engine is cold due to metal dilatation. I have a Subaru forester 2009 2.0 D 108kw too

[@malcolmfarwell1879]

I like to look for the simple answers first (well most of the time). The 2011 engines went from a timing belt to a timing chain. How is the chain tensioner?

[@DillanBoutin]

Same thing happened to me on my 2012 Forester. Mines at 143k and burns through 5 quarts in 3k miles.

[@u3962521]

Wow! That's a LOT of oil

[@u3962521]

Check your oil pressure sensors they could be leaking. Apparently there are three of them on this model and it's a cheap fix to replace them (cheap part and a 10 min job tops for each one )

[@hellobooom]

@Charles it's absolutely not normal, maybe for Subaru's but they don't spec the motor to burn all of its oil in one single oil change intervals either ..

[@propertarian485]

Dillan Boutin sane here, 2010 at 144k and it ran through so much oil it was at 2 qts in only 1500 miles

[@marcgendron2077]

same with my 2011, 1000km = 1 litre of oil.

[@Valdismith]

I have the 2.0 liter version in Europe and the dipstic is on the right side, but oil in this SUbarus goes like this, 90%of the time I have oil at the end of the stick 1mm, but I monitor it often, always before long trips. THe thing is that they are very tricky to measure due to the boxer pan layout, one moment I have nothing, I put 1,5liters and I go a little over the second dot up to 1cm (it's not gonna hurt), but having it low I never had knocking sound. At one point it started using too much, so I had the engine halfly rebuild- bearings and mostly for the oil separation bearings. Now it doesn't use as much, but it still uses oil, but I use 5W40 Motul- very thin, it's like shaking water even at room temperature. Do you think it could be the PCV, I am not afmiliar with the PCV system on this car. Exhaust is dry, car runs strong.

[@4RT0119]

Did 0W-40 engine oil reduce oil consumption?

[@joesnowmobiles]

That I couldn’t tell you because she lived in a different state and I think she got rid of the car when she got back my guess is it probably did not make much of a difference.

[@Flyshooter2]

Class action lawsuit required Subaru to offer 100,000 mile warranties for 2011-2014 foresters AND pay for some engine repairs and replacements. Still, Subaru claims that burning a quart every 1,200 miles was “normal.” Meanwhile my 17 Tacoma and 14 Accord burn ZERO oil between changes. Never again will I buy from such a deceitful company.

[@yamahass66]

VW 600 miles = 1 quart = Normal.

[@yamahass66]

@Mihailo Milcic that is nothing according to vw. Vw says 1000km = 1 liter = Ok. It even says that in the manual. Vw got better reputation then they deserve.

[@jamesellis5549]

same here I have a 2007 Subaru Forester 240k miles;burns 1 qt. every thousand and has for many years.My wifes Toyota Avalon burnt or leaked not one drop in the same miles.My advice is buy a Toyota,you pay more but get more.

[@littlered6780]

2002 CRV - 240 thousand - 1qt per 7,000 miles. FANTASTIC! Mobile 1 15,000 mile extended performance. Changed to 10-30 at 130K!

[@varunvalsalan1793]

I had the knocking issue started today for my 2009 Subaru Forester, I checked the oil it was very low, the mechanic added oil still the knocking sound exist. What would you suggest? Is it bearing issue or i have to add more oil ?

[@89zccivic]

what was the solution?

[@glennd7115]

Pretty silly. I’ve never experienced this before …. My daughter asked me to check her oil. Pulled the dip stick, nothing on it, went and picked up 4 qts 5w-30 synthetic. She has the turbo and this is its capacity. Put in 1 qt. Nothing on the stick. Put in another qt. Showing oil on the stick but 1/2 way to full. Added 1/2 qt. Oil way up the stick now. I have never had to drain oil from an engine before but fearing ruining the motor drained 1/2 a qt at a time out 5x’s and the stick still shows excessive amt on it. Now the car runs rough stalls and kills. Good god!

[@scottfirman]

We had the 2010 Forester that had a very noisy engine. It had an exaust vibration when cold that would go away upon warm up. The engine rattled like a tin can on cold start but was fine after that. We finally traded it in . I found out it had an exterior head gasket oil leak after trading it in. I know it was leaking. I told the salesman when we traded it and he told me not to tell the service technician anything about that leak. He said it wouldn't affect the trade in value. I took it to another Subaru sales place and they told me that the leak affected the trade in and that because Carfax indicated it had been in a previous accident, they were only going to give us $3, 400 for the vehicle. That would have only covered our pay off. I told them to go screw someone else because they were not screwing me. We took it to the first place we went and they gave us a $5,500 trade in on the car. Plus they knocked off $1,000 because it was the end of the month and they wanted the sale to meet their end of the month sales quota.

[@Currancchs]

It's about $2k to have a shop replace the head gaskets, which is what it would take to fix the external leak, so the second shop priced the car based on the known issue. You then hid the issue from the first shop to sell the car for a higher price. I don't understand how you think this amounts to the second shop trying to screw you. If anything, you and the original salesman are the ones being dishonest in this situation.

[@davidison3905]

@@Currancchs I like the way you think. I can not trade a vehicle I know that has a problem because I know the stealership will just turn around and sell it to someone else. I feel the pain of the buyer of a defective car just thinking about it, I can not sell a vehicle with out full disclosure. I had Pontiac G6 with 130,000 on it and it was in good shape since I owned it from new and took good care of it but it developed a no start condition. The engine would turn over but would not run. Sometimes you could cycle the key a few dozen times and it would run or let it sit for days and start up on the first try. It would then run great for weeks then it would no start out of nowhere. I gave the car away with full disclosure to a coworker friend and still feel like I did something bad.

[@Currancchs]

@@davidison3905 my dad was always that way, learned it from him! He actually has a really nice rx450h right now that has an intermittent timing pull at WOT that reduces power considerably when it happens, but doesn't happen every time. No codes and not really noticeable without monitoring a scan tool unless you're really familiar with the car. He wants to get rid of it for something else, but refuses to sell it with this weird issue simply because he knows he'll disclose it and then the purchaser, who would have bought at a discount, would probably flip it without disclosing. Hard buying decent used cars due to people that do this sort of stuff! Thank you for your honesty!

[@greggsteven1028]

My 2014 forester has yellow low oil light that comes on if its low.

[@mikepafiolis853]

Hmmmmm I have 210,000km on mine. Eats oil like crazy but I always just throw in a quart when the yellow oil light comes on. Now I'm wondering if the yellow light isn't accurate 😱

[@89zccivic]

that light lies

[@brooklynbummer]

Subaru forester takes between 4.5 and 5 quarts of oil. Some Foresters have been k own to burn oil, not a majority.

[@roshi98]

She'll need to get that engine replaced - once the rods start knocking failure is inevitable. Maybe not now but soon. It seems like she's mainly a highway driver in which case she's traveling 65-75mph regularly. The Forester is notorious for burning oil when on the highway for longer trips so she'll need to be diligent.

[@MC-eh2ot]

This isn't a rod knock

[@cadencesweetser6907]

@@MC-eh2ot What type of knock is it?

[@50zoomie]

Her oil warning light must have been on and been ignored.

[@jayxpoke]

Was the low oil pressure light on?

[@joesnowmobiles]

It was not, if you get that low it will probably be to late already.

[@akusitaaiai2215]

I noticed my forester 2011 started eating oil at 30000 miles, now it has 75000 miles. For each 5000 miles I need to add 1 quart of 0w20. I started using liqui moly oil stabilizer. It works but for 30% maybe

[@DaDaDo661]

1 quart per 5000 miles is really normal

[@joed873]

I'm losing 5.5 Quarts (full) in 2000 miles.

[@lewisstratton]

Oh-oh. Sounds like my 2011 model.

[@_JTPR_]

FYI all Subarus consume oil unless you use bg moa

[@mahmouddally7830]

After adding oil the engine will work fine if it had knock sound before?

[@joesnowmobiles]

She got lucky it’s still running

[@brockmartinez3723]

Hey I was wondering if you could give me some advice and help with my Indy xlt

[@joesnowmobiles]

Sure what kind of advice help do you need?

[@23hublock1]

Another perfectly fine car that has been neglected. She won't learn, she'll run it out of oil again, and then moan when (not if) it blows up...if it hasn't already. Zero sympathy for allowing this situation to arise.

[@dylanschmidt4607]

SOOOOO lucky that engine didnt seize

[@КонстантинКуклев-н8ц]

Avcs problem

[@hellobooom]

Engine is gone it will return 100% seen it over and over.

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

What do you mean the engine is gone? It sounds like it is running fine.

[@dylanschmidt4607]

2.5l

[@johnward6699]

For all the good things Subaru offers their boxer 2.5 engine is junk... it's what we call in the military a "white elephant "

[@josephwoehlerii2855]

ROD KNOCK!,Your friend needs a New engine or better yet buy a New vehicle. And Let's HOPE! , Lesson Learned!

[@joesnowmobiles]

Thankfully the car is still running strong and no rod knock after adding the right amount of oil.

[@MC-eh2ot]

This is not a rod knock. Most likely a valve issue or exhaust leak. Since it burns oil (most subarus do) it just needs to be filled up. This engine can run for a long time

[@Currancchs]

Might have been the avcs system rattling due to the low pressure.

[@cadencesweetser6907]

@@MC-eh2ot Oh okay I see. My 2013 forester makes a similar noise when it gets low on oil. I've owned it for 6k (it just reached 126k) miles and have already needed to get an oil change twice. I don't think the used car dealership changed the oil before I bought it. The first oil change was at about 122k, and I just did the second one today at nearly exactly 126k.

[@salenareese4348]

Update on the car now?

[@i-am-me722]

What a big POS that is the worst engine Subaru made

[@tylerchew668]

This guy sounds like the Cop/boyfriend from Bridesmaids

[@juliosdiy3206]

Tellem peeple dont drive subaru if u dont know anything about them.

[@johnnyq1233]

I think the message should be...if you own a car or van or truck, check the oil regularly!!!! This happens to all makes and models of vehicles.