1999 Subaru Forester L 2457 cc, burns oil, no leaks, oil pressure light comes on intermittently regardless of rpm. If oil slightly overfilled light goes out.

I've done the calculations and am interested enough to take the next steps. In answer to your questions, the work was done recently. The car has a smooth functioning auto trans.

Wow, I'm impressed that you're on the original automatic transmission, great! I have more confidence in Subaru's automatic than their manual transmissions. OK, even if you had to rebuild the engine completely, it would still be less expensive than buying a new car. The most expensive thing is acquiring a car and paying it off, many times with interest. Once that's done, the average cost for maintenance on actual repairs is no more than $1,000 per year. Compare that with car payments which usually run $400 per month for five years. That's almost $5,000 per year, every year for five years. It's almost always less expensive to keep and maintain your older car. At some point though you'll want newer safety features and better fuel economy. That's something you can't fix. In the meantime, your car should serve you well. I imagine that you are a proud owner and a member of the Subaru high mileage club. Good luck.

Thank you Mark, Your calculation is very similar to my own. I believe that depending upon the cost of replacement, as long as the average monthly cost of repairs (not tires, oil changes tune ups etc) is under about $200/ month, the car is still a good investment. You are right, there are some "nice to have", and possibly "need to have" features that are simply not available. In my case, a second cup holder tops the list, but seriously, all in all, I think it is both a financially and ecologically sound trade off.

This is one of those things where you might want to ask on NASIOC or SF.org and ask for expert advice. You might have an oil pump issue, clogged passages or something else. You may also want to look on youtube for failing oil subaru forester or similar to find the guy in.. canada? that has researched the spun bearing issues from oil restriction, etc. He also shows where to listen for the noises of this problem before it goes kaboom. I also don't know what mark? mentioned and why his comments are gone/hidden to me but that's interesting. You can also try seafoam in your oil, maybe you have junk in your oil rings and that is where you are losing the oil. The seafoam is amazing. Initial runs with it need to be quick interval changes.. say so many minutes running or so many miles. But you can also leave it in as long as you'd like but the first few times I would change it soon after to get rid of all that junk. jm2c and I wish you well. keep us posted.

I'm suspecting a clogged oil passage.

Rumble, are you having issues with your car?

Replace the oil pressure sender and see what happens.