Forester Diesel oil smoke

[jingaloonies]

Morning, all, new to Subaru ownership but not owner's fora.

Took ownership of an ex-demo Forester Diesel 66 plate with 9k miles on a few months ago, now has an extra 4.5k miles, economy on the up, was 38.1mpg when I got it, now creeping up to 41.7mpg. That's the good news on consumption, but the oil is dropping slowly, not dramatically, but noticeable over my mileage. There's a very visible cloud of smoke after driving in traffic around the Edinburgh area in the lower gears at low revs & accelerating onto less congested roads & changing up through the gears.It then clears completely on the open road & it doesn't seem to make any difference if it's cold or up to normal operating temp. Is this a common and/or well known aspect of Subaru diesels, or have I got a duff one, any suggestions welcomed.

My previous daily drive was a well used Yeti 2.0 TDi with the 170 bhp motor & oil consumption was negligible between services, usually every 16 to 18k miles & that had 73k miles on when I sold it.

Cheers for any ideas.

[Jay762]

Wotcha and welcome - not familar with the diesel motor myself maybe @Mr B might be able to shine some light on it?

[Mr B]

sounds likely an issue to me. at over 12K now engine should of bedded in so no real excuse for oil consumption and smoke ...

I would act on that pretty quickly and don't get white washed with excuses, and if possible do a vid of smoke and make record of oil volume lost in mileage covered and see where it takes you with subaru dealer .

[jingaloonies]

OK, oil cons has settled down a lot & after checking many other sites on the subject & talking to the dealer who sold me the car, it looks like the smoke is most likely the dpf regenerating itself. This is totally new to me but after reading the manual more thoroughly, found some info, although the warning light has not been on.

It's going in for a check in 10 days & have the aircon looked at, that's not working & with the weather warming up over the last week or so, has been necessary. As an experienced motorist, I know to give the aircon a spin every week or so in the cold weather.

Thanks for the assistance given above & I'll keep you posted on what the dealer finds.

Cheers.

[Mr B]

dpf regen only happens when specific conditions are met which is not driving in traffic in city or changing up through gears and shouldn't be a cause of oil loss .

If oil level dropping you either burning it or leaking it .

Smoke under driving conditions you mentioned is either engine oil getting burnt or diesel oil delivery issue due to perhaps injector issue (ecu injector learning or actual injector physical fault)

 

[jingaloonies]

Thanks for all your help, dealer has done a check & it's been the DPF regenerating. Not an issue I'd come across before, but looking at various websites, I've nowt to worry about.

However, with the recent warm weather,  found that the aircon ain't working.

First diagnosis was a leaking hose on system, that was changed then it was pressure tested & found that the condenser was faulty. After that was changed, all well for a couple of days then what sounded like the aircon compressor started making one hell of a racket, so not wanting to cause further damage, potentially, back it went for another inspection. Fortunately, not the compressor, turned out to be part of a heat shield around the turbo was split & it was just conicidental that when the aircon comp was running, enough vibration on the engine to start the clattering of the heat shield. A quick dab with the mig welder & all silent again. The technician told me that this is a fault known to be developing & a recall will be on the cards soon to fit a re-designed part. All staff unfailingly helpful & accommodating with provision of a courtesy car f.o.c every time & parts supply was swift, as was fitting. However, in the 7 months I've owned the Scooby, it's had more trips to a dealer than 7 years of Skoda Yeti ownership & 3 years of Octavia ownership, not quite what I was expecting from a brand renowned for it's reliability,  one of the main reasons I went into Subaru ownership & believe me, I did a lot of research as this will probably last me ten years or more. Dealer is 55 miles away so it's costing me fuel every trip, but fortunately, I have family close by so I can always grab a coffee with them.

Any others had similar problems detailed above, I'd be very pleased to hear? If I have any further problems, I'll be looking to get the car replaced, as I paid the deposit on a credit card with the associated protection.

Cheers the noo from a very sunny Scottish Borders.