Last Monday, my car’s (Subaru Impreza) low oil light came on while I was driving down the highway. I didn’t know what the light was and nothing sounded wrong so I kept driving. When I got to my parents’, I looked up the symbol and then learned it was probably not a good idea for me to have kept going. Luckily, no harm seems to have been done.
We checked the oil and it was indeed low, below the low mark though not by a lot. But the oil was very black and dirty. My last oil change, I had gone to Take Five and asked for the 7500 mile, full synthetic, more expensive kind. I should’ve still had plenty of miles left before 7500, and wouldn’t have been too far past the 3000ish mile cheaper oil length if they had used that. I’ve never had this car burn a noticeable amount of oil. I think they did something wrong, maybe put in the wrong oil or maybe even didn’t change it at all. They had upsold me on a coolant flush, so I was paying more attention to that than the oil. Maybe they were too. I don’t think I’ll be going back to that Take Five (Cuyahoga Falls) again.
I put in a quart of oil my dad gave me, though it was conventional and a thicker viscosity than my car required, to make sure I could get home and then to the shop. The next day I went to a Valvoline oil place recommended by my dad (Graham Road) and got the oil changed before work. They were similar to Take Five, if a bit slower, but seemed to get the job done right. I got into work late, but my car felt better. It had kinda been feeling lethargic, and the mileage had dropped quite a bit, which I assumed was mostly to the cold weather. The mileage quickly went up and the car had more pep. Hopefully it stays that way.