Another Subaru Guy

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Alright folks, yet another Subaru guy asking for advice. I guess, at the very least, it says we care or maybe are paranoid about our cars. Here is the pertinent info.

1. What kind of vehicle you have
Just picked up a 2008 Subaru STi hatch back with 33,000 miles on it.

2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
ILSAC GF-4 or API SM.
5W-30 preferred for all operating ranges.
10W-30/40/50 for temperatures greater than 0 degrees F.
For severe driving conditions, API SM (or SL) SAE No.: 30, 40, 10W-50, 20W-40, 20W-50.

OCI: 3750 miles

3. Where you live
Dothan, Alabama. Avg temps are between 92 for the high and 38 for the low. Record low was 0F back in 1985.

Yes, I know, why do you have a Subaru in Alabama? Because I wanted one.

4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
I tend to mix it up. Fast on the way to work. Slow and easy on the way home. Of course I let the inner child come out and rage every once in a while. I will be autocrossing the car once/once-every-other month with a full track day probably once a year.

5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
My daily drive is 20 miles one way of mostly highway. 75mph on the way to work. 65mph on the way home.

6. Whether your car has any known problems
There are zero problems with the car. It was driven by an older gentleman to and from work (hence the low miles) and all maintenance was done on schedule by the dealership.

BLUF: Synthetic or organic? Rotella T6 5W-40 or alternative? OEM blue filter or Bosch/Purolator/alternative? OCI: every 3750 or longer?

The consensus I get from searching your boards leans towards Rotella T6 5W-40. With my climate, do I need something that low in weight? Are there alternatives that would be better for turbo performance/safety or gas mileage?

The guy I bought the car from said the dealership always filled it up with organic 5W-30 until the last oil change when they said Subaru now recommended all turbo cars use synthetic. He also said his oil change bill was now double what it was. Synthetic oil performance aside, you'll have to excuse me if I don't see this as a little bit of a dealer racket especially since no change to the OCI was recommended. Should I go with a synthetic or not? The OCI makes the organic price point look attractive especially since I drive 250+ miles a week. Should I extend the OCI regardless? Obviously for autocross weekends and track days the OCI goes out the window.

Finally, the debate between using the OEM blue filter (Honeywell/Fram?) since the Roki Tokyo black filters are no longer available in the states and what seems to be the top picks either a Bosch or Purolator. Personal preference, price point, doesn't really matter anyway with how often the oil is being changed? Recommendations?

Thanks in advance for the help and reading this far.
 
A cordial welcome to BITOG.

You provided my "learn something new every day" topic:


BLUF: Bottom Line Up Front - A BLUF is a paragraph detailing the conclusions and recommendations at the beginning of some text, in order to facilitate rapid decision making. This differs from an abstract or executive summary in that it doesn't necessarily summarize the arguments or evidence included. Wikipedia.

Expert advise will follow by those in the know!
 
Rotella T6 is the favorite for these motors. Mobil 1 0w-40 and Castrol 0w-30 round out the trifecta. Pick whichever is easiest for you to obtain. I happen to like Rotella. It'll keep that turbo happy.

You won't go wrong using OEM filters. I'm using a Wix on my Subie with the proper bypass. PureONEs are fine too as long as the specs match up. Pick whichever of the three is easiest to buy. I get P1 filters at AAP using their discount codes.

Start with a 5,000 mile run and get a UOA.
 
T6 is a popular choice.
I would definitely run synthetic.

5w30 is fine for grandma use,

Anything involving track use or extended periods of high output you should step up to 5w40.

I wouldnt extend the OCI. This isnt a normal pontiac Vibe/toyota etc.
IF you really want to extend try a UOA or 2 but I wouldnt recommend it.

The factory filter is preferred as subaru spec's a fairly high bypass pressure that most aftermarket filters dont come close to.

PS. Regular oil is usually called conventional or dino. Organic is not usually used to describe engine oil.(at least on bitog)
 
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Welcome, and enjoy your STi!

(Thanks for following the directions too!)

Yes that "organic" oil can get expensive!
wink.gif


T6 is synthetic and is a fine choice year round in Georgia.

Other favs of mine are M1 0w-40, Edge 0w-30 and 0w-40, PU 10w-30.

Doesn't sound like you will be that hard on the car, so even T5 10w-30 would be fine for a cheap non-winter run.
 
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Oh, and for filters you can still get Roki filters here in the US, you just have to go to a Mazda dealership. The late model RX8 filter thread right up and has the correct bypass pressure spec'd by Subaru. There are threads on NASIOC and LegacyGT.com about this filter.
 
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Welcome to the Board!

Rotella 5w-40 is a very robust Synthetic 40 weight oil.
The 5w represents cold flow properties.
I think it begins to gel at 40 degrees below 0, IIRC

It is much thicker than a 30 weight, nothing thin about it. And it is an awesome oil for any warm weather application with a turbo.

Lots of great 30 weight synthetics out there for this application also. Pennzoil Platinum (PP) is a board favorite, and it does an awesome job cleaning things up.

That being said.
Regardless of what you choose I'd go Synthetic, either 30 or 40 weight, and start with a 7,000 mile Oil Change Interval (OCI).
I'd do a Used Oil Analysis (UOA) at the end of the 7,000 mile run and see how it held up.

I doubt the guy you bought this car drove it like he stole it, but conventionals typically break down quickly when exposed to a turbo, hence the short OCI recommended by the stealerships.

As far as filters, I'd just choose something that has a good reputation.
Fram Tough Guard is inexpensive and built well. Purolator is a board favorite, seems to be built well for the money.
Fram Ultra - Napa Platinum - Mobil 1 - Purolator Synthetic - are all great premium filters and can withstand a 15,000 mile OCI on a clean engine easily.

You might need to see what filter your car "likes".
Different cars make different noises with different oil filters. It depends on how everything is made, engine, oil, and the cheap part, the filter.
 
With some of these robust oils that have been mentioned, it shouldn't be a problem extending your OCI to 5-6k miles, IMO.

Congrats and
welcome2.gif


-Dennis
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
T6 is a popular choice.
The factory filter is preferred as subaru spec's a fairly high bypass pressure that most aftermarket filters dont come close to.


What is the general educated (with a heavy emphasis on educated) opinion here, re. this? There has been a lot of discussion on this topic, at a Subaru Outback forum I visit. From the research that I have done, I tend to think that using a filter with the same, high bypass valve pressure, is not that important, as long as one is doing regular maintenance. Here is a very well explained article. http://saturdaymechanic.com/subaru-oil-filter-bypass-valve/

I apologize if anyone feels I am stealing this thread. I only mention this because, I would like to recommend to the OP using an aftermarket oil filter, particularly the NAPA Gold. But I want to reassure any concerns he may have, after hearing about Subaru OEM filters having higher pressure bypass valves.
 
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Does subaru have a TSB on aftermarket filters and them not meeting the spec?

I have run a bunch of "low bpv spec" in the past before I knew that it was an "issue". I prefer meeting the proper spec now, but if you look at all the Millions and millions of miles clocked on subarus with a lower bpv spec than factory filters it's hard to fathom it being a problem.
 
Originally Posted By: 05LGTLtd
Does subaru have a TSB on aftermarket filters and them not meeting the spec?

I have run a bunch of "low bpv spec" in the past before I knew that it was an "issue". I prefer meeting the proper spec now, but if you look at all the Millions and millions of miles clocked on subarus with a lower bpv spec than factory filters it's hard to fathom it being a problem.

My impression is that the high bypass spec was sort of a "one size fits all" approach to protect turbocharger bearings from debris, even though it applied to models without turbos. My understanding is that they used to spec the same filter for all the H4 engines, but then came up with the idea of the small filter as an afterthought because of the heat issues with the exhaust headers so close to the filter mount.
 
Ended up going with Rotella T6 5W-40 and a Subaru OEM blue filter.

Managed to get the T6 on sale so I stocked up and picked up a 12 pack of Subaru filters on the cheap.

I'm going to start with a 4k run then go out to 5k if the analysis comes back clean. I'll let you know how things go. Thanks again for the help.
 
Alright so ran a fill of Rotella T6 out to 4k miles and sent in a sample to Blackstone. The report came back with high silver content which they say may speak to bearing wear and copper which is pretty standard from Subarus. The report is below.

On a side note, when the oil was draining it was basically opaque. It seemed to have extremely fine black sediment in it even though the oil itself strained out to be a dark golden brown. From what I was able to figure out this may be carbon contamination from potentially rich combustion? I've changed the oil on a number of Subarus and I've never seen it come out opaque. Let me know if you have any thoughts.

08STI-022314.jpg
 
Figured I'd keep up with this just in case anyone wanted to see the progress. I do have to say I'm a little leery of their suggestion of doubling the stock oil change interval.

 
Silver has declined as have all other wear metals.
Sodium is much lower.
Whatever was going on with this engine when you got it seems to have settled down.
FWIU, high silver is a big red flag with these and may signal a spun bearing in the near future.
Have you considered M1 0W-40?
Costs about the same as T6 and might be an even better choice.
Porsche, DB and VAG seem to think so.
 
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