Oil for a new Subaru Outback

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: Ken2
Can you document where Subaru of America, Inc. said that? Or was it just the good ol' boy at the dealership who has not been trained in oils and engine lubrication? Your dealership is an agent for Subaru of America, but they are not "Subaru."


It does say it in the 2012 Legacy/Outback manual. Non-turbo engines. Section 12-5:

"If you choose to use synthetic oil, it's recommended you use it for the life of the vehicle."

C'mon though. We BITOGers know better. That's crazy talk.

Joel

They must have the same people in the technical department that said that in an Edmunds SoA chat in 2002 about the WRX!

Must be the same people that remarked in the new owner's manual that 5W-40 conventional is allowed for replenishment, and said that the required oil for the new 2.0 Impreza is 0W-30 conventional in a recent SoA email newsletter! There is no such thing and the new Impreza specs 0W-20 "synthetic".

I'm still waiting on a reply to my email from my friend at SoA volunteering my services as an oil consultant. I have no formal oil training and apparently neither do the technical folks at SoA!

The language in the owners manual for the new Forester actually states that "synthetic oil is required for optimum engine performance", but not that "synthetic oil is required". OTOH, a letter to dealers and available at techinfo.subaru.com said it's "required". At least the language in the owner's manual above does say it is "recommended" that you stick with synthetic. Unfortunately it causes a lot of concern for nothing.

Ok, I'm calm now.

-Dennis

 

[DB_Cooper]

I bought a new, in 2007, 2.5 Subaru outback. Changed the oil at 1000 miles with Formula Shell 5w30. I do the changes about every 5000 miles. Jumped from F. Shell to Pennzoil Ultra 5w30 at about 20,000 miles.

Never burns a drop of oil, engine sounds great and go a couple of extra MPG with the PU oil.

Great engine. I don't mind running the shorter oil change intervals. Subaru suggests 5000 miles on www.mysubaru.com.

Nice online maintenance log they let you keep on the site there.

 

[vtmecheng]

Thanks for all the responses! Let me start by answering questions.

1. It is the CVT model and I would love to compare notes. Coming from all manual transmission vehicles this is a big jump.

2. Like others have already confirmed, the actual owner's manual says that if you use synthetic you stick with synthetic.

3. Regarding oil filter. I have been on subaruoutback.org for a few weeks now and they go into detail about the filter and why to use the subaru blue one (actually they link back to a thread on BITOG). It really is surprising that no other filter manufacturer makes a filter with 23 psi bypass. Guess I will be stuck looking for online deals on the subaru branded one from Honeywell.

4. I will probably just leave the oil until 3,000 miles and do the 5,000 mile changes after that. Valvoline has their normal rebate program right now so I will give that a try.

Do you guys know any reason I shouldn't use the NextGen stuff during the warranty period? It would suck to have the dealer deny warranty work because of using recycled oil. From what I have read on here NextGen isn't a bad oil and I do like the idea of reusing what we already have instead of shipping more from over seas.

So far I really love this car. Thanks DB_Cooper for the link to mysubaru.com.

 

[LoneRanger]

Originally Posted By: tenderloin
Congrats on the vehicle. We have a 2007 Impreza 2.5i (135,000 miles)that is on its third university student. I have put in almost every known oil brand sold. I have used 5W-30. 10W-30, 0W-30 and 5W-40. The car seems to like Trop- Artic and Kendall 5W-30 blends the "best", so I assume Motorcraft 5W-30 would work as well. It gets 5,000 miles OCI's with a variety of oil filters, currently using Subaru blue.

(By "best" I mean combination of mileage, noise and smooth operation)


My Forester likes the Kendall blend, too. Might be something to the liquid Titanium hype.

 

[bluesubie]

Valvoline NextGen is SN/GF5 so I would say you're good to go!

-Dennis

 

[Whimsey]

Do you guys know any reason I shouldn't use the NextGen stuff during the warranty period? It would suck to have the dealer deny warranty work because of using recycled oil. From what I have read on here NextGen isn't a bad oil and I do like the idea of reusing what we already have instead of shipping more from over seas.

If it meets Subaru's oil spec's they cannot deny you warranty coverage as long as you follow their oil OCI's and filter requirements. What oil does Subaru spec for you engine? Does it have an only Subaru spec or is it a general API spec?

Whimsey

 

[Xstang]

Originally Posted By: Whimsey

Do you guys know any reason I shouldn't use the NextGen stuff during the warranty period? It would suck to have the dealer deny warranty work because of using recycled oil. From what I have read on here NextGen isn't a bad oil and I do like the idea of reusing what we already have instead of shipping more from over seas.

If it meets Subaru's oil spec's they cannot deny you warranty coverage as long as you follow their oil OCI's and filter requirements. What oil does Subaru spec for you engine? Does it have an only Subaru spec or is it a general API spec?

Whimsey


There is no "subaru" spec per se, like BMW LL-01 or VW 502.

 

[bluesubie]

API SM or SN is recommended.

-Dennis

 

[Norm Olt]

Been using just about every kind of 10W-30 oil (or, at the early years, a "50/50 Blend" of syn and conventional 10W-30 oils from the same company) in the SVX.

Other than replacing valve cover gaskets, plugs, PCV, timing belts and water pump the engine has never been touched beyond oil & filter changes.

For the 1st 120K miles all but a couple oil & filter changes were done by the dealer under the "Lube 4 Life" program which cost me an additional $19.95 at the time of purchase.

Every 3K, or so.

Still gets 24+ mpg around town and got 28+ on my last 11K road trip. On regular.

You can use almost any SM or above 5W-30 with absolute confidence for 5K, no sweat!

I'd also bet a steady diet of HDEO 5W-30 would be good for a long, long, long time...

Cheers!