Subaru Repair: Forester oil always low, engine makes tap sound, timing belt tensioner, mobil 1 oil

Question
Recently I've noticed that my 2000 Forester's (synthetic Mobil 1) oil is always low and my engine makes a tapping sound when it first starts. (Sound goes away after running for about 10 minutes.) There is no oil burinig, but I have to keep topping it off.  Could these two problems be related to an earlier answer you gave about the cam seals leaking and the timing belt tensioner making noise?  Is the only cure for this to have the timing belt, cam and other seals replaced?
Thanks,
Robert


Answer
The tappind noise is either the timing belt tensioner, or most commonly what is called piston slap. The piston slap won't hurt anything as long as it does go away after the engine has warmed up. I the noise remains pretty loud after the engine has warnmed up then that means it has gotten much worse. As far as loosing oil, if there are no leaks anywhere, then it must be burning it somewhere.