Thin 30-weight in a 1996 Subaru Legacy 2.5L H4?

[GearheadTool]

1996 Subaru Legacy Limited Edition
2.5L H4 engine
Unknown miles

I want to put in a thin 30. I want to put in Redline 0W-20, which in reality is a very thin 30-weight oil. Would I see any problems by doing this? Thank you!

Also, I am tempted to go to the Subaru dealer and get that "Coolant conditioner." There is one down the street. Maybe I will add some? Thanks!

 

[joaks]

Why thin? I would suggest the opposite. maybe amsoil if you want top shelf.
Go ahead with the coolant conditioner. Probably not needed but a lot of guys use it and I think it is dealer protocol to add it.

EDIT: I would use the recommended weight which I assume to be 5W30

 

[Eddie]

The only issue I see is that you will be using a non-recomended oil weight. Probly no major problems but, I see no aadvantage either in fuel mileage or winter starting. I agree with using Subarus coolant Conditioner as it can eleminate HG weeping as it did on my 2000 Forester. Ed

 

[fdcg27]

The coolant conditioner, really stop leak, would be a good move and could help prevent a head gasket leak.
It certainly won't hurt.
If you want a thin thirty, try PP which is a whole lot less expensive than Red Line.

 

[squareznboxez]

if a 30 weight is what you have your heart set on, i would try seeking out one that has the ACEA A3 euro standard meaning it has a high temp/high sheer (HTHS) rating of more than 3, so your likes of German Castrol, Redline and a few others

this should keep you more than out of trouble with that weight of oil

 

[Xstang]

Really though, any off the shelf 5w-30 synthetic is going to be pretty thin. Take your pick - Castrol, Mobil, Pennzoil, they're all going to be on the thin side anyway, and cost a lot less.

My other concern is that a lot of older EJ22-EJ25's start to develop a little bit of blow by after the 150k marker. Not a lot really, maybe a quart or so an OCI. Could see a 0w-20 make that worse. Also, Redline is overflowing with zinc, so that could (at least potentially) cause problems with your catalytic converters. My vote would go for German Castrol IMHO.

Coolant conditioner? It's more of a leak sealer than anything-if the coolant was last done at a dealer, it already has it. Otherwise, it's best to put it in when the coolant is fresh. If you know what you're doing (and you're actually worried about the cold weather, this is what you should actually do), just do a drain/refill of the coolant using some from the dealer, along with the conditioner.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: GearheadTool

I want to put in a thin 30. I want to put in Redline 0W-20, which in reality is a very thin 30-weight oil. Would I see any problems by doing this? Thank you!

No problems if you don't mind the cost and the ester based RL should be quite aggressive at cleaning out whatever sludge may be in the engine.

 

[bar1]

I had one of those. Great car/engine when head gasket issue was fixed.
Recommended weight was xW40 when that car/engine was sold in Europe.

 

[Thax]

Havoline 5w-30 is a thin conventional oil , while PP 5w-30 is a thin syn. Both are inexpensive and can be found readily.