subie oil change

Jerry,

Absent something very strange, you only want to fill until your dipstick is on the FULL mark.  Too much oil can damage oil seals.  How much oil did you drain out, and where was the oil level on the dipstick before you changed it?

Jerry,

Do you have a shortened oil pan.  If so, do you have the matching dipstick or a stock one.  If you have a stock dipstick, the "twist" in the stick becomes your new full mark, NOT the factory marks.

oil level was at the full mark before oil change--not sure how to ID which pan i have- drained out 3/4 qt and now its at the full mark---theres only 3.25 qts plus the oil i put in the shorty filter in the car now---

The stock oil pan is black and has a heavy rounded dip down in the center, making it the lowest part of the motor by 2".  They can be shortened by 1) replacing it with a cast/finned custom aluminum oil pan, or 2) cutting the dip out by 1.5" and welding in a flat steel plate.  Both styles also use a redesigned oil pick up tube inlace of the stock one.

With either pan, the factory "full" mark is now the "low oil" mark, so if you have a shortened pan, then you are actually 1.75 qts low, as both designs still use 5 qts.

thanks for the help--my pan is steel with a flat bottom and is 4" deep at the back and slopes upward toward the block at the front-the dipstick is 20" overall length including the outback T handle end-- so where does that leave me? Im thinking put in another Qt of  oil til it reaches the twist and mark it there

OK, so you have the welded version of the shortened oil pan.

Info about it can be found here:

http://www.outfrontmotorsports.com/oil_pan.htm

I am not familiar with that dipstick, sorry.

Yeah, a shortened oil pan will still use the stock dipstick, it doesn't go in far enough to interfere with the bottom of the pan. The Full mark on the stick is your new Low mark, the twist becomes your new Full mark. This works because there's enough gap between the old Full level and the windage tray to let you overfill the sump somewhat.

Jerry,

From Carey's post above, it sounds like John Steele uses Outfront Motorsports for his Subi engines.  Makes sense, since they're close by and have a great rep for Subi engine builds.  You may want to e-mail them to get the answer to your dipstick questions.  If you have any other engine questions, they'd be the folks to ask.

I spoke to Jeremy at outfront--he was puzzled about my oil level question--best answer was put in at least 4 qts watch for breather leaks--if there are none, your good.. so my oil level now is at the twist with 4 qts plus the small filter was half full, even tho he said it should be at the "F" hole, he could not figure out why my level is at the twist---

Jerry, aren't custom made cars fun?

Here's a funny oil story to take your mind off your oil level troubles:

Last year I loaded the wife and two dogs into our (now sold) 1986 Westfalia.  After driving for a couple of days, and covering over 1000 miles, we stopped at a beautiful campsite.  I thought it might be a good idea to check the oil level, so I did.

To my surprise no oil showed on the dipstick!

What the hell!

Luckily I brought along a couple of quarts of oil, so I put a quart in.

To my double suprise no oil showed on the distick!

I then put another quart of oil in, and...nothing showed on the dipstick!

WHAT THE DOUBLE HELL!

Then my wife asked me if I should be wearing my polarized sun glasses when I check my oil level.

Long pause......

I took my sun glasses off and checked the oil.  It was WAY, WAY above the 'full' mark.

Guess what I had to do next?

That's a good story Ron!

D'oh!

Having just filled my Subie for the first time--with the Small Car finned oil pan, I wondered the same. Thought I overfilled even with the 4 qts I put. Now I know.

Thanks!