Upper Engine Cleaner

[Ben]

Hi all,

Quick question, probably answered here before but need a bit more detail (pics helpful!).

Just like to know were the best place is to spray the Subaru Upper Engine Cleaner. Planning on flushing it through my engine, just wanted to clarify that i am planning on doing it the right way - first time used before / limited knowledge on turbo powered cars makes me feel un-easy :-[

Many thanks

[Bazza-NZ]

 Ben said:

Hi all,

Quick question, probably answered here before but need a bit more detail (pics helpful!).

Just like to know were the best place is to spray the Subaru Upper Engine Cleaner. Planning on flushing it through my engine, just wanted to clarify that i am planning on doing it the right way - first time used before / limited knowledge on turbo powered cars makes me feel un-easy :-[

Many thanks

Easy to do, just read the directions on the can, not at all hard.. Any vacuum hose will do fine that goes to the inlet manifold

i remove the one going to the bov and spray it in there, does make a lot of smoke out the exhaust but well worth doing

hope that helps

[BC5RA]

As said follow the can directions.

I add a couple of extra tasks on mine, depending on model;

1/ Remove Intercooler and spray throttle body/plate.

2/ Remove lower plum back to intake pipe From IAVC and spray into the IAVC.

I always change the oil shortly after.

[Ben]

Many thanks for that guys,

Also one more question. How much oil should show on the dip stick while engine is warm (sitting for say an our)? The car while cold is dead on the full mark, but after coming home and checking the oil tonight it's on the low level marking.

Added about 800ml of oil but didnt change the levels showing on the dip stick. My forester (N/A) only takes about 300ml to change the dip stick level from low to high.

Thanks

[Guest boostcut]

it should read full. subarus sometimes take a while to drain oil down to the sump, 300 mls from low to high is a bit weird tho... my subaru is about a litre from empty mark to full mark. but aslong as it on the full mark or a bit under.

[Ben]

Yeah thats what i thought. After sitting in the garage for 2 hours i would have expected the oil to have drained down. Have now added 1L of oil and still no reading change on the dipstick.

Do I

A) Add MORE oil , even though it was at the full mark around 200km's ago

B) Leave it and drive the car tonight, re-check oil when engine is completely cold in the morning.

P.S to my knowledge the car is not using any oil. Not a flicker of smoke from the exhaust to be seen either.

[Guest keltik]

Its got oil and its somewhere above the low mark when hot - thats good enough for me. Personally i keep mine at the full mark when cold and it reads a little under full when hot.

Better to overfill and drain a bit out than to have it a bit empty and root the whole thing.

[Durty-Sanchez]

Adding too much oil can be a costly mistake - one I made twice. Looked at dip stick when warm, bugger I thought there's nothing in it! (barely up to low notch). Filled it until half way between the two... a week later I'm getting the crank seal replaced (and cam belt along with it). Didn't click though, a year later did the same thing with the same result. Learnt my lesson that time, only ever judge the oil level when it's cold!

[Guest boostin]

How does the oil level drop when hot? Oil, like water, expands when hot.

When the engine is cold, you're supposed to run it for a few secs after the oil light goes out, shut it down, wait 10 secs or so and check the oil level. That way all the galleries etc are full and you can properly gauge the reserve in the sump.

If you check it when cold without running it, the level should be up around the hole above the full mark.

[Guest keltik]

Aluminum, like oil, like water, expands when hot.

So in theory your engines oil capacity increases when hot. Ive got no idea if that would even be noticeable....

Where was i going with this?

Does anyone have a spare sump they can show the level of oil in it when reading full on the dipstick? I wonder how much margin there is for overfilling before trousers turn brown

[Guest boostin]

Aluminium won't expand anywhere near what the oil will. If it did, we'd start off with EJ20's, and an hour later they would be EJ25's!!

[Koom]

 keltik said:

Aluminum, like oil, like water, expands when hot.

So in theory your engines oil capacity increases when hot. Ive got no idea if that would even be noticeable....

Where was i going with this?

Does anyone have a spare sump they can show the level of oil in it when reading full on the dipstick? I wonder how much margin there is for overfilling before trousers turn brown

There's a few people around who run about 500mls over the full mark. i.e. when doing an oil change, put the full 5l container into the car (in the 4 cylinder ones, not your random, not a real Subaru engine 6 cylinder jobby)

I do this and haven't pushed out a crank seal in the last 140k kms.

p.s. I check my levels once the engine is warm and the engine has only just been shut down too.

[EJ20T]

i find that if you put in about 4.5l total it will be over full on the stick if u leave it over night, start it for a short period stop then recheck. it will be on the money

[Munkvy]

When I do an oil change I always overfill, Ive done this on all 3 of my subarus and only ever had a problem with a crank seal on one of them and that wasnt overfilled when the seal gave way (plus it was a high kays motor being raped on the dyno at the time).

I normally overfill by putting in 4.7L or so. Enough that it registers comfortably over full on the dipstick.

[log1call]

Does anyone find it strange that poster number one has put a litre of oil in and the dipstick level hasn't changed yet?

[Ben]

Thanks for all the tips everyone. Car is sitting in garage cold now so will do a oil check and post my results. Hoping the oil has gone UP =)

[Guest boostcut]

what hole did you put the oil in ???? :

did your oil level go up???

are you on flat ground doing it?

and dont overfill your oil unless your going to run a breather system and loctite your crank/cam seals in.

good day

[Ben]

Yes flat ground in my garage. Oil in the right place =) . . . upon being cold oil is reading fine again. Little over the full mark but not too worried - Most people have been saying they add 500ml's extra to compensate flowing through the engine.

[Guest boostin]

 log1call said:

Does anyone find it strange that poster number one has put a litre of oil in and the dipstick level hasn't changed yet?

Nah, I've seen them do that. Dunno why though....

[Durty-Sanchez]

Hot engine = an engine that has been running so oil is distributed around the engine, hence there's less in the sump to gauge if you have enough or not. Cold engine, ie one that has not yet been started, will have all the oil in the sump. That's why I can have a perfectly full amount of oil on the dipstick when cold, but if I check it after running the engine it drops off considerably