2014 Subaru Forester Oil Weight Recommendation Request

B

Bellavita

Joined
Oct 28, 2017
Messages
680
Location
Wisconsin, USA
I'm looking for guidance on an oil weight for my son's 2014 Subaru Forester Limited to reduce oil usage. He recently purchased the vehicle with 166,100 miles. He has 1,671 highway miles on the oil change he did when he bought vehicle and today he is down exactly 1/2 liter and we added 17 ounces to top it off. The oil and filter he is using is;

0W20 Valvoline High Mileage Full Synthetic (0W20 is the recommended weight)
Fram Tough Guard oil filter

His plan is to use a 5,000 mile OCI.

1. Should he stay with the 0W20 and add oil?
2. Can he move to a different weight, e.g. 5w30, to reduce oil consumption?

Thank you for your thoughts and recommendations.
 
Use any SP rated 0/5w-40. I'm currently using Quaker state euro 5w-40 instead of 0w-20 in my 2021 with 22k miles which is still under both warranties and i have no worries whatsoever. Mobil also has SP euro's for sure and i believe Castrol too but you'd have to check the back cause I can't remember for sure. All available at Walmart.
 
JavierH19 said:
Use any SP rated 0/5w-40. I'm currently using Quaker state euro 5w-40 instead of 0w-20 in my 2021 with 22k miles which is still under both warranties and i have no worries whatsoever. Mobil also has SP euro's for sure and i believe Castrol too but you'd have to check the back cause I can't remember for sure. All available at Walmart.
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Thank you Javier. Question, why are you running the different weight on your newer vehicle?
 
Mine with the 6 speed manual didn't burn a drop using all the 0w-20 oils I tried*. It cruised on the highway at 3000 RPM too.

*except mobil1. It went through maybe a pint of oil in a 6000 mile OCI
 
Any 0w20, 5w20, 0w30, or 5w30 will be fine for 5k. I'd probably prefer a HM 0w20 like ST HM synthetic, and that's what I'm going to use for the next OCI of a 2015 Forester I change the oil on.

The best filter for your Forester is this Full 2-OSB007

What are his driving conditions? If it's mostly short trips, stick with 0w20. If it's mostly longer drives, then 0/5w30 might be a good idea :unsure:
 
slacktide_bitog said:
Any 0w20, 5w20, 0w30, or 5w30 will be fine for 5k. I'd probably prefer a HM 0w20 like ST HM synthetic, and that's what I'm going to use for the next OCI of a 2015 Forester I change the oil on.

The best filter for your Forester is this Full 2-OSB007

What are his driving conditions? If it's mostly short trips, stick with 0w20. If it's mostly longer drives, then 0/5w30 might be a good idea :unsure:
Click to expand...
He's driving 100% highway, trip time is 22 to 28 minutes.
 
Bellavita said:
He's driving 100% highway, trip time is 22 to 28 minutes.
Click to expand...
Keep the 0w20 for now, and buy some quarts of HPL EC30 for top up til this OCI is done. Then, on the next oil change at a 5:1 ratio replace engine oil with EC. So, if it’s 5 quarts use 4.25 quarts regular oil and 0.75 quarts EC30. Also, mix the last 0.25 qt EC with the 0.75 qt of regular oil for top-up during the OCI.

Might take 2 OCIs in this manner, but this will help clean the ring pack and hopefully reduce oil consumption with minimal increase in cost.
 
SubieRubyRoo said:
Keep the 0w20 for now, and buy some quarts of HPL EC30 for top up til this OCI is done. Then, on the next oil change at a 5:1 ratio replace engine oil with EC. So, if it’s 5 quarts use 4.25 quarts regular oil and 0.75 quarts EC30. Also, mix the last 0.25 qt EC with the 0.75 qt of regular oil for top-up during the OCI.

Might take 2 OCIs in this manner, but this will help clean the ring pack and hopefully reduce oil consumption with minimal increase in cost.
Click to expand...

Have you had actual success using this method, on the FB25?
 
My 2005 CRV, which specs 5w20, used a litre every 1k and now that I’m on 5w40 ( Supertech and Pennzoil Euro both give the same results), it takes about 4K to use a litre. No noticeable change in operation.
 
SubieRubyRoo said:
Keep the 0w20 for now, and buy some quarts of HPL EC30 for top up til this OCI is done. Then, on the next oil change at a 5:1 ratio replace engine oil with EC. So, if it’s 5 quarts use 4.25 quarts regular oil and 0.75 quarts EC30. Also, mix the last 0.25 qt EC with the 0.75 qt of regular oil for top-up during the OCI.

Might take 2 OCIs in this manner, but this will help clean the ring pack and hopefully reduce oil consumption with minimal increase in cost.
Click to expand...

Sedin26 said:
My 2005 CRV, which specs 5w20, used a litre every 1k and now that I’m on 5w40 ( Supertech and Pennzoil Euro both give the same results), it takes about 4K to use a litre. No noticeable change in operation.
Click to expand...
Good Morning Sedin26,
How many miles do you have on your 2005 CRV. Thank you!
 
Bellavita said:
Thank you Javier. Question, why are you running the different weight on your newer vehicle?
Click to expand...
Bought it new and by 14k miles at the 4th change it was burned almost 2 quarts of 0w-20 so I switched to what I believed should be used. I reset my tank every fill up and my mpg is within margin of error and it runs perfectly, it actually got rid of some engine noise at acceleration too.
 
JavierH19 said:
Bought it new and by 14k miles at the 4th change it was burned almost 2 quarts of 0w-20 so I switched to what I believed should be used. I reset my tank every fill up and my mpg is within margin of error and it runs perfectly, it actually got rid of some engine noise at acceleration too.
Click to expand...
Got it, I'm very grateful for the insights. Thank you!
 
Bellavita said:
I'm looking for guidance on an oil weight for my son's 2014 Subaru Forester Limited to reduce oil usage. He recently purchased the vehicle with 166,100 miles. He has 1,671 highway miles on the oil change he did when he bought vehicle and today he is down exactly 1/2 liter and we added 17 ounces to top it off. The oil and filter he is using is;

0W20 Valvoline High Mileage Full Synthetic (0W20 is the recommended weight)
Fram Tough Guard oil filter

His plan is to use a 5,000 mile OCI.

1. Should he stay with the 0W20 and add oil?
2. Can he move to a different weight, e.g. 5w30, to reduce oil consumption?

Thank you for your thoughts and recommendations.
Click to expand...
Just to be safe, is the coolant in the car clean? No mixing with the oil?

Just want to be sure.

If the oil is burning in the combustion chambers, I would move up to a 5w30.
 
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