Subaru Forester and synthetic oil

[Bighank]

My wife just got a new 2010 Subaru Forester. Now on the
Forester forum,s,she reads about head gasket problems. Her
2010 has the 2.5 NA engine. On the forum they are saying that
using synthetic oil adds to the problem. This does not sound
right to me. Any thoughts on this?

 

[bodeh6]

I heard that Subaru's take a while to break in. I changed over to Full synthetic in January at ~45K Miles. Been on conventional its whole life except once at 15k the dealer used a Synthetic blend.

 

[FL_Rob]

What forum exactly are we talkin about?

 

[tenderloin]

My son has a '07 2.5i. It has 80,000 miles mostly on name brand synthetics (Ultra in it now) along with a few dealer Quaker State conventional and Trop Arctic Syn Blend OC's.

No problems at all. In fact he never has to add oil before 5=7,000 miles OCI's....which for a boxer engine is good.

Bill from Utah is the Subaru expert here. He runs mostly conventional oil that meets what the owners manual requires..and he gets great results. Cannot argue with success.

If you want to use synthetic oil, do so with confidence.

 

[Gubaru]

Stay away from Mobil 1, our motors don't agree with it. I am running PP and not a problem, it use to burn Mobil 1.

 

[sangyup81]

Originally Posted By: Gubaru
Stay away from Mobil 1, our motors don't agree with it. I am running PP and not a problem, it use to burn Mobil 1.


Do you have the same motor as the OP or are you just product bashing?

 

[Durango]

Bighank,

To my knowledge that's not true. If your go to the Toyota forums you'll read that Toyotas are notorious for head gasket problem/failures as well. This is without hinting of using any type of synthetic oil.

I'd say goahead and use the brand of your choice and enjoy.

Durango

 

[fdcg27]

I dumped the factory fill in our '09 NA at 1K, ran QS 10W-40 for the next 3K, and then went to syn.
Car is currently on GC, which it will see until at least 24K.
While the 2.5 has had some history of head gasket problems, I believe (hope?) that these have been resolved.
In any event, I can't see how choice of oil would cause cylinder head gasket failures.
OAT coolant?
Maybe.
Synthetic oil?
I don't think so.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: Gubaru
Stay away from Mobil 1, our motors don't agree with it. I am running PP and not a problem, it use to burn Mobil 1.


wrong

 

[JayhawkRoy]

It appears the key to the head gasket issue is to use the Subaru coolant conditioner if your owner's manual recommends it for the Forester. It is $2 or less at the Subaru dealer. My instructions are to put it in every 30K when the coolant change is done, and we have had good results so far. 130K on an 03 Legacy.

Have also used synthetic oil for quite some time since 2003 and the Legacy does fine. Have used Mobil 1 and used more oil in between oil changes than with any other oil, so I don't use it anymore. Best performance to date is with Valvoline Durablend at 5K intervals.

 

[RISUPERCREWMAN]

A Synthetic Oil in no way can cause a Head Gasket failure on ANY enigine! If anything a Synthetic oil will reduce operating temps....

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: Gubaru
Stay away from Mobil 1, our motors don't agree with it. I am running PP and not a problem, it use to burn Mobil 1.


Oh! Brother!

 

[Soobs]

Originally Posted By: Bighank
My wife just got a new 2010 Subaru Forester. Now on the
Forester forum,s,she reads about head gasket problems. Her
2010 has the 2.5 NA engine. On the forum they are saying that
using synthetic oil adds to the problem. This does not sound
right to me. Any thoughts on this?


The head gasket problems were more prevalent in the late 90's and early 2000s. Their engines now have upgraded gaskets and lots of other improvements. They're solid engines.

Moreover, my 1995 2.2L Subaru Legacy L went 430,000+ miles on conventional oil and no head gasket issues. My better half has a 2008 Subaru Forester 2.5 that we purchased used with 14,000 miles. It has 76,000 miles on it now and it's never had any problems. I've used nothing but Chevron Supreme 5W-30 conventional oil in it since we bought it. With the coupons Costco puts out you can buy Chevron Supreme by the case at about $1.60/quart.

Take a look at this Q & A FAQ from Blackstone Labs:

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/faq.php

What's the best oil to use?

Ah, the million dollar question. We are an independent lab, so we don't make recommendations. It has been our experience that oil is oil, and either petroleum or synthetic-based oil will work well for just about any engine.

Come on, you're holding out on me. I should use synthetic, right?

Buddy, you should use whatever you want. Synthetic oil won't guarantee a longer engine life any more than my eating organic food will guarantee I'll live until I'm 90. We here at Blackstone generally use regular petroleum-based oil because honestly, it works just as well for us.

 

[fdcg27]

There are anecdotal reports of higher consumption in Subarus using M1 than with other oils.
I'm not sure how valid this information is, but it is a bit of Subaru lore.
I do and have used M1 in many engine, and have had no reason not to like it.
It may be that 5W-30 M1 is not ideal for a Subie.
I have little doubt that a little thicker M1 flavor, like TDT, EP or HM would do very well in any Subaru engine.
I will no doubt test this theory sometime in our Subaru's life with us.

 

[Solo2driver]

False. Subarus haven't had head gasket issues in the non-turbo engines since 2002. Oil does not contribute to this, the design of the gasket and the inherant design of the boxer motors are more prone to HG failures. I've owned quite a few Subarus, even the ones that "had the problem" did not rear their head in my personal vehicles.

Don't sweat it. The non-turbo cars are very easy on oil, put what you'd like in there and don't worry about it.

 

[JHZR2]

My wife's best friend got an impreza last year with the same engine. My only bit of advice is to leave the FF in until 3750 (or whatever the early first oil change interval is, in your manual). It was very high moly and is definitely a "break-in oil".

I refilled with havoline the first time, so it still was dosed high with moly, so no big deal, but in hindsight Id have just left it, then did the havoline for a shorty interval at 3750.

It is running nicely now on PP 5w-30.

 

[fdcg27]

Good to know.
With the miles you have on your current two, it is reassuring to hear from you.
We are recent converts to the faith, and I find myself thinking that maybe a 5spd Legacy would be an interesting replacement for my '99 Accord, as opposed to another 5spd 4cyl Accord.

 

[Soobs]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
Good to know.
With the miles you have on your current two, it is reassuring to hear from you.
We are recent converts to the faith, and I find myself thinking that maybe a 5spd Legacy would be an interesting replacement for my '99 Accord, as opposed to another 5spd 4cyl Accord.


They're fantastic cars. Just like with any vehicle, follow the manufacturers maintenance schedule for all maintenance. And it's also very important to get the tires rotated on schedule since it's AWD. Too many people let that simple and cheap task slip by and cause unnecessary wear on their transmission/differential.

 

[ZZman]

They had a problem with head gaskets up thru 2003. Yours is fine.

Oil has nothing to do with it. Poor design does.

 

[webfors]

The NA boxer will run on pretty much anything. This is my first subaru and I'm a believer now after 2 years with it.

Mine had conventional oil for the first 10k miles, than PP 5w30 for the next 30k miles. It's back on conventional because I like the way the boxer sounds/behaves on it and because I'm following the short warranty required interval.