What Oil Do Most Subaru Owners Use?

[jayg]

Originally Posted By: Wheel366
I haven't heard that this engine is a sludge factory like the Audi 1.8t (I have one of those too) where it was a 10k oil change that got knocked down to 5k and a filter change to a filter twice the size and synthetic a requirement (was originally syn or dino) due to engines blowing up.


I don't know many subaru engines that have sludge issues but a LOT of them have burning issues. Since 98% of owners never check their oil, they are just covering their [censored] to have people come in and change early.

 

[Touring5]

I wonder if the reason Subaru calls for 6 month maximum OC's is to minimize Head Gasket deterioration (old oil more acidic?). My outback doesn't burn oil, but has already had HG replacement (105K miles).

And for the record I use PP 5w30 in mine.

 

[DMZ]

My '17 Forester just hit 5,000 miles. I watched the oil level carefully for any indication of consumption. None so far. It will get a jug of Valvoline 0w20 Synthetic next week with a OEM filter and crush gasket.

 

[ryanschillinger]

I caught a lot of flak for changing my 17 forester 2.5 oil at 376 miles. Used castrol gold bottle and fram XG7137. Mine is a 6 speed stick and I've been doing a lot of acceleration followed by engine braking to slow the vehicle to get a good break in. I live in Southern California so these aren't freeway cruising miles. I'll probably wait till the first scheduled change at 6k for the next change when the dealer does it free.
Just a note. Spec is 5.1 quarts. I used 5 and it's right there just under the full mark. Drained about 5.5 or so out of it. Seems to have come a little overfilled from the factory.

 

[dx92beater]

Different Subarus different goals. Forester XT T6 5w-40. Burning oil Tribeca 10w-40 Pennzoil Dino HM.

 

[tojo1968]

I used M1 5w30 in my 06 NA Forester for over 8 years with great results.

 

[crainholio]

My '09 Forester 2.5L used to like Mobil-1 0W-40, very quiet and only used around 1/2 quart between changes at ~6000 miles. Something changed in late 2015...for 3 oil change intervals, it started using oil after the first ~2000 miles after each oil change. No consumption, then an abrupt uptick after around 2K miles were on the oil. I drive it hard on the Interstate at around 1600 miles per month. I also noticed audible valvetrain ticking at hot idle as the oil got older.

Last oil change, I switched to Castrol Edge 0W-40...I have around 1K miles on that fill now, we'll see what happens.

If it starts chewing this brand, I'll swap the PCV valve as the car has around 86K miles on it.

 

[Impatient]

4 pages and no mention of German Castrol 0w30???

Now from Belgium. Don't know for sure it's identical. There may be other versions but this is the European Formula (sold in US). Thicker than typical resource conserving SN 5w30. Seems a little quieter smoother than my former M1. API SL, 3.5 HTHS, 8.3 NOACK, Viscosity at 100c is 12.1, I believe. I just got to the recommended 3750 mi OCI and no appreciable usage (still reads full on dipstick). This in a 2007 ej25 turbo with 113k miles. I thought this stuff was discontinued, but found it last summer; this is my 1st fill with it. I always shied away from Rotella T6 or other 5w40's, though regularly mixed some M1 0w40 with 5w30 hoping to bulk it up a bit for most my OC's.