VVT solenoid leak 2010 Subaru Forester

[R-Buffalo2023]

Hello everyone,

On Thursday I picked my car up from the autobody shop. It had its timing belt, drive belt and head gasket replaced, it even had an oil change. I brought it there when I noticed oil was pooling underneath the car (not externally to the ground yet). They said it was the head gasket. So I picked the car up after the repairs, I drove locally around town to get to dinner and then home. I did not drive on Friday. Saturday morning I was driving for 5 minutes on the highway when the check engine light came on. I pulled over and checked the oil. The dipstick was completely dry. I called the autobody shop to report this but they were closed. So I got some oil at a nearby gas station. I added three quarts (I wasn't paying attention as that was too much as the oil level is over full). I drove to Autozone and the check engine was giving a P0028 Code for replace engine variable valve timing solenoid.

My questions are:
I just got an oil change on Wed, could the solenoid have leaked that much oil in such a short time? I also barely drove the car, I am not sure if that means anything. Like do these things leak more when you drive?

Was this really my head gasket in the first place? Maybe it was the solenoid and the valve covers all this time?

I am bringing the car to the shop tomorrow via tow truck. What should I say to them? Is it possible they just assumed it was the head gasket but really is was the VVT soledoid? Is it common for VVT To go bad after a head gasket change. Was it both at the same time? If so shouldn't the shop have noticed this when it was there??

Thanks for any help anyone can provide.

[OutdoorLover]

As you seem to know - a dry dipstick is a dangerously low oil condition. Most any oil leak will be worse when you drive because the oil viscosity is lower at higher temperatures. I don't know too much about the boxer engine, but it's a horizontally organized engine, so the heads, pistons, and crank are at the same vertical level, so they will have to drain the oil to do this job. Whether they didn't tighten the oil pan drain plug properly, or didn't seal the heads and block properly together with the new head gaskets (one on each side), you would lose oil quickly.



If you're taking it back to the same shop, good luck. I can't know what they did but I think they screwed up something egregiously on this job. This is a general forum, for detailed questions on the Forester and its engine, I'd ask in a specialty Forester forum.