Rotella T6 5w40, 3600 mi, 2011 Legacy GT

[ScoobyGT]

Info: 11 LGT w/ 20k miles, I have used Rotella T6 5w40 for the last 15k with OEM filters, no mods beside exhaust and stage 1, never driven hard, 70% city driving.

Note: the 10k UOA had a blend of Rotella and Subaru Syn. just fyi. Not my wishes...!

Please let me know what you guys think.

Code:
OIL RT6 5w40 RT6 5w40 RT6 5w40

MILES IN USE 3.6k 3k 3k

MILES 20.1k 13k 10k

SAMPLE TAKEN 9/17/12 2/12/12 12/05/11



ALUMINUM 2 2 2

CHROMIUM 1 1 0

IRON 6 8 8

COPPER 58 47 76

LEAD 1 0 0

TIN 0 0 1

MOLYBDENUM 55 55 52

NICKEL 0 0 1

MANGANESE 0 0 0

SILVER 2 2 2

TITANIUM 0 0 0

POTASSIUM 0 1 0

BORON 30 31 4

SILICON 4 5 6

SODIUM 7 5 2

CALCIUM 834 1336 2692

MAGNESIUM 1150 843 11

PHOSPHORUS 960 976 752

ZINC 1161 1069 847

BARIUM 0 0 0



INSOLUBLES 0.2 0.1 0.2

WATER 0 0 0

FLASHPOINT ºF 375 395 390

SUS VIS 210ºF 71.2 68.4 60.0

cSt @ 212ºF 13.26 12.52 10.23

Fuel TR

TBN 4.2

 

[GumbyJarvis]

Try 5k next time?

 

[Donald]

Why such a short OCI? I would go at least 7500. Also not sure how meaningful a UOA is until after 20K. Hopefully the copper is part of the break-in and will drop dramatically.

 

[ScoobyGT]

I wanted to keep watching the numbers, like copper, before I start extending OCI.

 

[skyship]

To quote just one oil site:
Cooler leaching in new engines can account for high copper readings as a result of the additives in the engine oil forming a coating on the surface of the copper tubing. Once this coating is established, the copper readings will drop down to the low levels typical for mechanical wear. However, if there is a change in oil chemistry, the coating layer will reform with the new chemistry, sometimes causing high copper readings until the new coating is established.

I would not be concerned about Copper readings during the break in period unless the other wear metals were also high, which they are not. The short oil & filter changes are probably bad news because a new oil filter is far less effective than a dirty one.
Not sure what the recommended service interval is, but 5K miles for the next oil change and another 10K miles before you change the filter would be good in my opinion, but always DYOR and don't exceed the manufacturers limits without very good reason.
Getting stuck in traffic jams is tough on an engine, but there is no sign of bad figures from this UOA and 5K miles should be fine before looking at 7500 miles.
Not sure who did the report, but the other figures like viscosity, insolubles, fuel contamination and remaining TBN that Blackstones give are of interest in figuring out what is going on in oil terms, as wear metals are only part of the story.

 

[ScoobyGT]

My OCI from Subaru are 3,750 miles so I don't want to push it much over being that I'm under warranty and don't want to have reason to be denied for any reason. Also, these UOAs were done by Blackstone

 

[dnewton3]

If 3.75k mile OCIs were the "norm" then I'd ditch the syn and get a decent dino oil.

You're not in an extreme environment, you "never drive hard", you're contrained to short OCIs, so why syn?

What do I think? You're wasting money because you believe it's "better" to use syn for every situation, where a decent PCMo would fare just as well.

 

[bluesubie]

Synthetic is required in all turbo Subaru's from 2011 and later. I believe the LGT also specs 5W-30 and allows 7,500 mile OCI's like the WRX and Forester XT, doesn't it? Did the LGT also drop the 5W-40 recommendation for some conditions? Not that I agree with that, since there was no change to the engine between MY2010 and 2011. Although, it is funny to see someone being concerned about oil intervals and warranty in a modfied car.

-Dennis

 

[adolan21]

Cobb Stage 1? Means your putting down 30% more torque nice! I used to have a Legacy GT and I loved it. What I didn't love was the awful gas mileage I got with it. I had a stage 2 and I got around 16 to 17 mpg in town and at best 27mpg on the highway! Legacy GTs from 2010 and older required a 3750 mile change but I believe they changed that for MY 2011 for changes up to 7500. Something about an oil pickup screen getting clogged so I'm assuming they fixed that for 2011. I always changed my oil at around 5K and used Amsoil or M1 5w30.

 

[ScoobyGT]

@adolan21 - I 'm loving the LGT and Stage 1! Its been my favorite car! I'm still feelin like may gas milage is what I would expect for such a large car and tuned. Happy with it.

@Dennis - Subaru's recommendations for the 11 LGT is 3w40 synthetic oil but it does still says 5w40 is acceptable. Also, from what I have came up with, my car still has a banjo bolt filter and Subaru cut the oci in half from 7.5k for the car.

I don't mind extending my oci once I understood the UOAs Iv'e been getting. Seems like the copper is an oil cooler thing and no worries. I have confidence in Rotella but not so much in the OEM filter. How far can that be pushed? I like OEM for the correct pressure valve in the filter.

I don't think stage 1 while under warranty is a big deal. I'm just being smart about the decisions I make while under warranty. I think enjoying my car while being responsible about a 30+k car is important.

 

[bluesubie]

Did you pick up the car early in the model year? I believe the early 2011's allowed 5W-40, but SoA came out with an addendum that said 5W-30 synthetic and "5W-40 conventional" could be used for replenishment only. Don't get me wrong I would use RT6 over any Resource Conserving oil.

I also do not believe your car has the banjo bolt filters. At the same time SoA changed the oil recommendation to 5W-30, they extended the turbo OCI's to 7,500 miles.

http://drive.subaru.com/sum12_QuickStops.aspx

A guy here tried to take legal action against SoA for warranty denial on a stage I STI but he forgot to reflash to stock. Oops. Ended up dropping the case due to cost.

-Dennis

 

[ScoobyGT]

Yes, mine is an early '11 model. Ya is seems like the Subaru info has been iffy lately and have also seen some misprints but I will go with the 7.5k oci. I will extend the oci this round to 5k and check again. Still running Rotella on this one.

Link: http://www.cars101.com/subaru/maintenance2.html#turbo

new for 2011 Synthetic Oil required on all 2011 turbos and recommended for all 2010 and prior turbos (statement July 2010)

2011 Subaru owner's manual maintenance schedule
> Early warranty books: the Subaru maintenance schedule note #1 reads "When the vehicle is used under severe driving conditions, the engine oil and filter should be changed every 3,750 miles or 3 3/4 months. All turbo-charges vehicles are considered to be operated under severe driving conditions"
> Later warranty books: the statement no longer includes All turbo-charges vehicles are considered to be operated under severe driving conditions.
Suggested: do the first oil change by 3mos or 3000 miles and then at least a minimum of every 7500 miles or 7.5 months afterwards. That is as long as you should go and it is strongly recommended to replace it much more frequently.

It's funny the back and forth info! haha Oh Subaru!

You gotta be smart and reflash back before some services for sure! I've seen wins and loses. Got to pay to play!

 

[skyship]

Originally Posted By: ScoobyGT
Yes, mine is an early '11 model. Ya is seems like the Subaru info has been iffy lately and have also seen some misprints but I will go with the 7.5k oci. I will extend the oci this round to 5k and check again. Still running Rotella on this one.
Link: http://www.cars101.com/subaru/maintenance2.html#turbo
new for 2011 Synthetic Oil required on all 2011 turbos and recommended for all 2010 and prior turbos (statement July 2010)
2011 Subaru owner's manual maintenance schedule
> Early warranty books: the Subaru maintenance schedule note #1 reads "When the vehicle is used under severe driving conditions, the engine oil and filter should be changed every 3,750 miles or 3 3/4 months. All turbo-charges vehicles are considered to be operated under severe driving conditions"
> Later warranty books: the statement no longer includes All turbo-charges vehicles are considered to be operated under severe driving conditions.
Suggested: do the first oil change by 3mos or 3000 miles and then at least a minimum of every 7500 miles or 7.5 months afterwards. That is as long as you should go and it is strongly recommended to replace it much more frequently.
It's funny the back and forth info! haha Oh Subaru!
You gotta be smart and reflash back before some services for sure! I've seen wins and loses. Got to pay to play!


WOW!! That's a short OCI even for severe service use, BUT how do they define severe service as it is a very vague term. A few examples:
FORD:
Towing, Heavy Commercial Use, Operating in Dusty Conditions and Off Road Operations
MOBIL 1:
Trips of less than 10 miles
Driving in cold weather
Idling for extended periods
Stop-and-go traffic
Pulling trailers/carrying heavy loads
Driving in dusty conditions

My own opinion is that real severe service conditions most commonly results from either dirty air or too much time stuck in traffic. Blackstones posted some UOA results for towing that indicated little change in wear rates and my own UOA results indicate that multiple stop start or commercial taxi type use is not such a big problem.
I suppose that if the warrenty says a low figure then you are stuck with it, but there is no fuel contamination or significant Silicon showing in this UOA, so I doubt very much if this engine should be on a severe service OCI.

 

[ScoobyGT]

^^ Ya in no way do I feel like my driving habits are in the severe conditions category but that post just shows my misinformation about the true oci for my LGT!

 

[SubLGT]

It is not that often that we see a silver value other than zero in turbo Subaru UOAs. That and your high copper would have me thinking about a turbo bearing issue. OTOH, that 2 ppm of silver could be coming from the oil itself.

 

[ScoobyGT]

Ya I noticed that and have seen a VOA for Rotella with 1 silver and Rotella UOAs with 0-2 ppm on turbo Subarus.

 

[skyship]

I can't see anything wrong with this UOA, it just shows normal break in figures for Copper and Iron. The 2 ppm of silver is within the accuracy limits of the report and could easily be from an outside source as it is such a small number. With the trace elements anything less than 10 is probably not significant unless there is a trend in the reports and for the all important Iron figure, I would not be concerned during break in if it was as high as 100 ppm unless the trend was in the wrong direction.

 

[ScoobyGT]

Thanks skyship. 20k seems like a long break in time but maybe not. How long can break in go for?

 

[bluesubie]

My wear metals only started to decline at 18k miles. IMO, it probably depends on the oil and the driving conditions.

-Dennis

 

[ScoobyGT]

Sounds good. Never know break ins could take so long in some cases. Thanks a lot