Engine oil for my 08 legacy GT Limited

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted By: Jonlee89
Ok plain boring question what oil/oils would you recommend. Why do you recommend it and what viscosity rating and why did you choose it over an other one.

Anything NOT Resource Conserving/GF5 at 5-6k mile intervals. The reasons can be found within the 195,375 turbocharged Subaru oil threads here and LegacyGT.com. If I were to run Royal Purple, it would be the HPS line or an xW-40. Would you run a 5W-20 in that car?

From RP:
Quote:
INCREASED FUEL EFFICIENCY
A low coefficient of friction results in optimized fuel efficiency (the fuel economy of our 5W-30 meets the fuel economy requirements of a 5W-20 oil) ...

For those seeking enhanced performance in vehicles not under warranty, we recommend our HPS Series of high performance street motor oils with our proprietary Synerlec additive technology.

And the fuel economy comment can really be applied to any Resource Conserving oil.

-Dennis

 

[sicko]

Originally Posted By: Jonlee89
I don't believe I said anything about having leaks


No, you didn't say anything about leaks. But Subarus are known for head gasket leaks, which is why I mentioned leaks not being caused by the motor oil. Supposedly Subaru fixed the issue right around '08, and I believe it was more predominant in the non-turbo models, so hopefully it won't happen to you.

As for oil/filter combos, I'd suggest any quality 0w-40 like M1 or Castrol, or any quality 5w-40 like Rotella T6. Turbo Subarus tend to like thicker oils, check the UOA section for tests done on turbo Subarus and look at what oils resulted in the lowest wear numbers. That's far from definitive testing, but it should help guide you towards oils that do better in Subarus.

As for filters, I like the Wix 57712 for Subarus (the NAPA Gold 7712 is the same filter), because it has the high bypass pressure that Subaru specs for their filters. It's a quality filter and it's well made, so that's what I'd suggest. However, if you're not concerned with the high bypass release pressure spec'ed by Subaru, Fram Ultra filters also appear to be high quality filters.

 

[Jonlee89]

Thank you great responses from everyone.

 

[route66mike]

Originally Posted By: Jonlee89
Ok plain boring question what oil/oils would you recommend. Why do you recommend it and what viscosity rating and why did you choose it over an other one.


I'd recommend Pennzoil Ultra 5w-30 since it meets high temperature specs and shows some evidence of leaving cleaner pistons, per Pennzoils claims of being cleaner than M1, Valvoline, and Castrol Synteq.

 

[Jonlee89]

Thanks for your input I have not used a 5-20w oil at all. I only have one more question for you and others on here. so there are manny people that say the Subaru EJ25 turbocharged engine runs better on a thicker oil like a 10-30 or 10-40 weight and others say just fun the recommended 5-30w and others say 0-30,0-40 and 0-50w oils work best so if I could get some opinions on why you and others would use a thicker or thinner oil for. I'm just curious on peoples out look their reason for running these weights and how their engines ran on them thank you

 

[Bandito440]

That turbo runs hot and will beat the snot out of energy conserving 5w-20 or 5w-30. An oil with a higher HTHS value is appropriate. Rotella T6 is easy to find and will work well.

Other options:

Castrol Edge 0w-30 or 0w-40
Mobil 1 0w-40, 5w-40 TDT, or 10w-40 HM
Red Line 5w-40

Pick something that's easy to find and stick with it.

Install an OEM, Wix, or Fram Ultra filter. Change your oil at 5,000 miles, or go longer if you get a UOA to see how it's doing. Oil color is not an indicator that it's spent. If it's dark, it's doing its job; keeping particles in suspension.

 

[HKPolice]

Subaru guys swear by Shell rotella T6 5w40.

 

[Trix]

Originally Posted By: bluesubie
Originally Posted By: Jonlee89
Ok plain boring question what oil/oils would you recommend. Why do you recommend it and what viscosity rating and why did you choose it over an other one.

Anything NOT Resource Conserving/GF5 at 5-6k mile intervals. The reasons can be found within the 195,375 turbocharged Subaru oil threads here and LegacyGT.com. If I were to run Royal Purple, it would be the HPS line or an xW-40. Would you run a 5W-20 in that car?

From RP:
Quote:
INCREASED FUEL EFFICIENCY
A low coefficient of friction results in optimized fuel efficiency (the fuel economy of our 5W-30 meets the fuel economy requirements of a 5W-20 oil) ...

For those seeking enhanced performance in vehicles not under warranty, we recommend our HPS Series of high performance street motor oils with our proprietary Synerlec additive technology.

And the fuel economy comment can really be applied to any Resource Conserving oil.

-Dennis


No GF-5 eh? Pennzoil Ultra 5w40 Euro or 5w30 seem to do well, but are GF-5? Has that general consensus changed?

 

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted By: Trix
Originally Posted By: bluesubie
Originally Posted By: Jonlee89
Ok plain boring question what oil/oils would you recommend. Why do you recommend it and what viscosity rating and why did you choose it over an other one.

Anything NOT Resource Conserving/GF5 at 5-6k mile intervals. The reasons can be found within the 195,375 turbocharged Subaru oil threads here and LegacyGT.com. If I were to run Royal Purple, it would be the HPS line or an xW-40. Would you run a 5W-20 in that car?

From RP:
Quote:
INCREASED FUEL EFFICIENCY
A low coefficient of friction results in optimized fuel efficiency (the fuel economy of our 5W-30 meets the fuel economy requirements of a 5W-20 oil) ...

For those seeking enhanced performance in vehicles not under warranty, we recommend our HPS Series of high performance street motor oils with our proprietary Synerlec additive technology.

And the fuel economy comment can really be applied to any Resource Conserving oil.

-Dennis


No GF-5 eh? Pennzoil Ultra 5w40 Euro or 5w30 seem to do well, but are GF-5? Has that general consensus changed?

General consensus about oil? Really?

PU 5W-40 is a great choice IMO, but it loses points with many bitogers for not being available at Wal-Mart for $25 or less for a 5 qt jug.

A year or so ago, KHP on this forum had a nice little trend on PU 5W-30 in his stock, mainly highway driven WRX. At that time, there were a few random uoa's where the oil stayed in grade. IIRC, it was just a bit after SoA started allowing 7,500 mile intervals in turbos and most of those uoa's were 5-6k+ mile oci's (maybe the oil thickened back up after shearing?). KHP's oci's were ~7k+ miles I believe.

Lately though, I've been seeing a few uoa's with PU and PUP 5W-30 coming back as a 20 grade (here and on the Forester board on the 2.0L DIT FXT) and that is lower than the level of comfort for most turbocharged Subaru owner's.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3442654

-Dennis

 

[KHP]

Originally Posted By: bluesubie
General consensus about oil? Really?

PU 5W-40 is a great choice IMO, but it loses points with many bitogers for not being available at Wal-Mart for $25 or less for a 5 qt jug.

A year or so ago, KHP on this forum had a nice little trend on PU 5W-30 in his stock, mainly highway driven WRX. At that time, there were a few random uoa's where the oil stayed in grade. IIRC, it was just a bit after SoA started allowing 7,500 mile intervals in turbos and most of those uoa's were 5-6k+ mile oci's (maybe the oil thickened back up after shearing?). KHP's oci's were ~7k+ miles I believe.

Lately though, I've been seeing a few uoa's with PU and PUP 5W-30 coming back as a 20 grade (here and on the Forester board on the 2.0L DIT FXT) and that is lower than the level of comfort for most turbocharged Subaru owner's.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3442654

-Dennis


Just so you guys know that I'm still around. I just don't have much interesting things to post. I decided to skip 1 or 2 UOA's since I'm comfortable with the lab result trend I established.

I'm still running my PU 5w30 SN stash on my stock 2011 WRX at 7500 mile intervals. I have enough PU to last me a few more years (5 more jugs to go lol).

So far my WRX still runs like a top (with 46000 mile on the ODO) and my engine consumes virtually no oil(maybe .25-.5 qt every 7,500 miles).

I'll keep you guys posted as soon as I get my next UOA which I'm thinking will probably be around January 2015 or so.

 

[Trix]

I do not intend to use 5w30 PU in my car. Using Euro spec oils (so they can also be used in the Audi). I have 0w40 Euro Mobil 1 in there now at 5300 Miles. Time for a change and will put in some 5w40 Pennzoil Euro in. Might do a UOA on the 0w40 Mobile 1.

I am using the larger Mazda Tokyo Roki Oil Filters with the 23 PSI bypass valve from Fred Beans. Really want to see how far I can comfortably push an oil in my LGT. I did 3750 mile intervals when I was using the smaller Subaru Honeywell filters.