Greetings! I am new to this site, and am looking for advice on what synthetic oil would be best for my 2008 Subaru Tribeca which I purchased used with 35K on the odometer and know it was abused by the previous owner. I have read that the design of boxer engines really stresses oil, and that a poor quality oil will drastically reduce the life of the engine. I have always used Mobil 1 5w-30, however after reading many of the posts in this forum, have lost faith that I was using the best. In the past, I have used Redline oil, but am open to all opinions since obviously your folks are much more knowledgeable in this area that I am. My goal, is to have the engine last at the very least 250K. Thanks in advance for your input.
08 Tribeca Recommendations
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Originally Posted By: Tribeca
Greetings! I am new to this site, and am looking for advice on what synthetic oil would be best for my 2008 Subaru Tribeca which I purchased used with 35K on the odometer and know it was abused by the previous owner. I have read that the design of boxer engines really stresses oil, and that a poor quality oil will drastically reduce the life of the engine. I have always used Mobil 1 5w-30, however after reading many of the posts in this forum, have lost faith that I was using the best. In the past, I have used Redline oil, but am open to all opinions since obviously your folks are much more knowledgeable in this area that I am. My goal, is to have the engine last at the very least 250K. Thanks in advance for your input.
Hi,
First of all
2nd the Boxer engine is EASY on the oil as far as ANY engine is. Prob the easiest of any modern motor.
Before we can come up with a oil or recommended OCI, we need to know what type of use. City? Hwy? How long is the average trip?
In my Subaru so far the best oil I've used is Halvoline DS 5w-30. It is driven super short trips and I change it every 3-4 months. I did a longer OCI with PP 5w-30 and it was NOT good.
ANY SM rated oil (conventional or Syn) your boxer motor will make 250k with no problems at factory OCIs.
Remember that you do have a 60k or 5 year power train warranty.
Take care, Bill
Greetings! I am new to this site, and am looking for advice on what synthetic oil would be best for my 2008 Subaru Tribeca which I purchased used with 35K on the odometer and know it was abused by the previous owner. I have read that the design of boxer engines really stresses oil, and that a poor quality oil will drastically reduce the life of the engine. I have always used Mobil 1 5w-30, however after reading many of the posts in this forum, have lost faith that I was using the best. In the past, I have used Redline oil, but am open to all opinions since obviously your folks are much more knowledgeable in this area that I am. My goal, is to have the engine last at the very least 250K. Thanks in advance for your input.
Hi,
First of all
2nd the Boxer engine is EASY on the oil as far as ANY engine is. Prob the easiest of any modern motor.
Before we can come up with a oil or recommended OCI, we need to know what type of use. City? Hwy? How long is the average trip?
In my Subaru so far the best oil I've used is Halvoline DS 5w-30. It is driven super short trips and I change it every 3-4 months. I did a longer OCI with PP 5w-30 and it was NOT good.
ANY SM rated oil (conventional or Syn) your boxer motor will make 250k with no problems at factory OCIs.
Remember that you do have a 60k or 5 year power train warranty.
Take care, Bill
Pennzoil Platinum or Valvoline Synpower 5W-30 would be my choices
My moms 2002 Outback has the 3 liter H6, and recommends 7500 on conventional under normal conditions. I would bet that the Tribeca recommends the same.
There have been some UOA's posted well beyond 7,500 miles that looked fine.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pyN_TwC_S5exEIcwPtRPlBA
Unfortunately, it's hard to tell which of those are the 6 cylinder versions.
The 2008 has the larger 3.6 liter lower compression engine and shouldn't be very hard on oil.
Run it 5K-6K and get a UOA.
There have been some UOA's posted well beyond 7,500 miles that looked fine.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pyN_TwC_S5exEIcwPtRPlBA
Unfortunately, it's hard to tell which of those are the 6 cylinder versions.
The 2008 has the larger 3.6 liter lower compression engine and shouldn't be very hard on oil.
Run it 5K-6K and get a UOA.
Howdy. I use PP 5w-40 in my 2009 2.5i Outback. Congrads on the Tribeca!! Ihave had her 6.5 months and already have 18,4** miles. I do ALOT of driving. 100+ miles daily for work and then the weekend jaunts. No complaints.
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
Originally Posted By: Tribeca
Greetings! I am new to this site, and am looking for advice on what synthetic oil would be best for my 2008 Subaru Tribeca which I purchased used with 35K on the odometer and know it was abused by the previous owner. I have read that the design of boxer engines really stresses oil, and that a poor quality oil will drastically reduce the life of the engine. I have always used Mobil 1 5w-30, however after reading many of the posts in this forum, have lost faith that I was using the best. In the past, I have used Redline oil, but am open to all opinions since obviously your folks are much more knowledgeable in this area that I am. My goal, is to have the engine last at the very least 250K. Thanks in advance for your input.
Hi,
First of all
2nd the Boxer engine is EASY on the oil as far as ANY engine is. Prob the easiest of any modern motor.
Before we can come up with a oil or recommended OCI, we need to know what type of use. City? Hwy? How long is the average trip?
In my Subaru so far the best oil I've used is Halvoline DS 5w-30. It is driven super short trips and I change it every 3-4 months. I did a longer OCI with PP 5w-30 and it was NOT good.
ANY SM rated oil (conventional or Syn) your boxer motor will make 250k with no problems at factory OCIs.
Remember that you do have a 60k or 5 year power train warranty.
Take care, Bill
What kind of issues did you have with PP?
Originally Posted By: Tribeca
Greetings! I am new to this site, and am looking for advice on what synthetic oil would be best for my 2008 Subaru Tribeca which I purchased used with 35K on the odometer and know it was abused by the previous owner. I have read that the design of boxer engines really stresses oil, and that a poor quality oil will drastically reduce the life of the engine. I have always used Mobil 1 5w-30, however after reading many of the posts in this forum, have lost faith that I was using the best. In the past, I have used Redline oil, but am open to all opinions since obviously your folks are much more knowledgeable in this area that I am. My goal, is to have the engine last at the very least 250K. Thanks in advance for your input.
Hi,
First of all
2nd the Boxer engine is EASY on the oil as far as ANY engine is. Prob the easiest of any modern motor.
Before we can come up with a oil or recommended OCI, we need to know what type of use. City? Hwy? How long is the average trip?
In my Subaru so far the best oil I've used is Halvoline DS 5w-30. It is driven super short trips and I change it every 3-4 months. I did a longer OCI with PP 5w-30 and it was NOT good.
ANY SM rated oil (conventional or Syn) your boxer motor will make 250k with no problems at factory OCIs.
Remember that you do have a 60k or 5 year power train warranty.
Take care, Bill
What kind of issues did you have with PP?
The UOA was not as good as the Halvoline DS even though the Halvoline was run on a newer motor. Both were run for close to the same OCI but the PP was run longer in time (more trips).
Bottom line for me is it does not matter what oil you use or type if you are doing short trips, CHANGE the oil like the MFG says (Subaru says 3.5 months)
Got to get the garbage out of the sump. It does not matter what type of oil you run, the byproducts and water will still be in there.
My Subaru will be using Halvoline DS or Pennzoil 5w-30 with Supertech filters.
My 3 cents.
Bill
Bottom line for me is it does not matter what oil you use or type if you are doing short trips, CHANGE the oil like the MFG says (Subaru says 3.5 months)
Got to get the garbage out of the sump. It does not matter what type of oil you run, the byproducts and water will still be in there.
My Subaru will be using Halvoline DS or Pennzoil 5w-30 with Supertech filters.
My 3 cents.
Bill
Thanks for the advice/opinions. I live in Colorado, where it can be -20 degrees in winter, and 100 degrees in Summer. I use my Tribeca as a daily driver, probably 20 miles of freeway driving each way with an occasional weekend trip to the mountains. My biggest concern is the abuse it received being a rental car, 24K miles in 10 months! I am assuming it must be mostly freeway, so want to keep the engine clean and well protected from further wear. Being a sucker for oil ads, I have thought about using Valvoline to get the "4x better protection."
Originally Posted By: Tribeca
Thanks for the advice/opinions. I live in Colorado, where it can be -20 degrees in winter, and 100 degrees in Summer. I use my Tribeca as a daily driver, probably 20 miles of freeway driving each way with an occasional weekend trip to the mountains. My biggest concern is the abuse it received being a rental car, 24K miles in 10 months! I am assuming it must be mostly freeway, so want to keep the engine clean and well protected from further wear. Being a sucker for oil ads, I have thought about using Valvoline to get the "4x better protection."
I live next door in Utah and the same weather plus going down to Las Vegas and beyond gets the temps well above 110 degrees..
I've done 200k with many motors on yesterdays oils. Today's conventional oils are better than yesterdays syns IMO.
Any SM oil is going to keep the engine clean and protected. Don't fall for the ads and marketing.
If you follow the recommended OCI in the manual you'll be fine with a good oil like Valvoline conventional, Pennzoil YB, Halvoline Ds or any other the other great oils.
As far as it being a rental. I'll be it is cleaner inside than if the normal owner had it. As far as wear, the engine is prob ok and since it is AWD, the power train is better off than the average FWD.
I'd be more concerned with doing a drain, replace the spin on filter on the Automatic. Also get some 75w-110 AMsoil gear lube in the transfer case and rear diff.
Also, when you get to 30k you'll have to replace the coolant, make sure you put in the stop leak from Subaru (they call it a conditioner) as the boxer motors are pretty complex and leak coolant. My 2007 with 24k does.
Take care, Bill
Thanks for the advice/opinions. I live in Colorado, where it can be -20 degrees in winter, and 100 degrees in Summer. I use my Tribeca as a daily driver, probably 20 miles of freeway driving each way with an occasional weekend trip to the mountains. My biggest concern is the abuse it received being a rental car, 24K miles in 10 months! I am assuming it must be mostly freeway, so want to keep the engine clean and well protected from further wear. Being a sucker for oil ads, I have thought about using Valvoline to get the "4x better protection."
I live next door in Utah and the same weather plus going down to Las Vegas and beyond gets the temps well above 110 degrees..
I've done 200k with many motors on yesterdays oils. Today's conventional oils are better than yesterdays syns IMO.
Any SM oil is going to keep the engine clean and protected. Don't fall for the ads and marketing.
As far as it being a rental. I'll be it is cleaner inside than if the normal owner had it. As far as wear, the engine is prob ok and since it is AWD, the power train is better off than the average FWD.
I'd be more concerned with doing a drain, replace the spin on filter on the Automatic. Also get some 75w-110 AMsoil gear lube in the transfer case and rear diff.
Also, when you get to 30k you'll have to replace the coolant, make sure you put in the stop leak from Subaru (they call it a conditioner) as the boxer motors are pretty complex and leak coolant. My 2007 with 24k does.
Take care, Bill
Rental cars are best, because they are REQUIRED to change oil according the severe duty, which is 3750 miles, instead of a leased car which is 7500 miles. So the oil has been changed a lot, and the people who rent know that if the car is damaged, they have to pay, so usually they are sensible. anyone who will rent a Tribeca is probably a sensible driver, because they are familiar with Subaru, and generally more intelligent people make this choice, families, etc., so they will drive it sensibly.
The flat four, normal aspiration, non-turbo, is very easy on oil.
For winter use i mix 50:50 synthetic 5w20:5w30, or just use synthetic 5w30, in summer depending on how hard you drive, use synthetic 5w30 for hard driving, or dino 5w30 for regular style driving. buy the cheapest oil, even SuperTech is fine. for mixing ur 5w25, u can use motorcraft 5w20 mixed with supertech 5w30, if you cannot find a cheap synthetic 5w20, motorcraft is semisynthetic, and just as good.
The flat four, normal aspiration, non-turbo, is very easy on oil.
For winter use i mix 50:50 synthetic 5w20:5w30, or just use synthetic 5w30, in summer depending on how hard you drive, use synthetic 5w30 for hard driving, or dino 5w30 for regular style driving. buy the cheapest oil, even SuperTech is fine. for mixing ur 5w25, u can use motorcraft 5w20 mixed with supertech 5w30, if you cannot find a cheap synthetic 5w20, motorcraft is semisynthetic, and just as good.
The Tribeca has a flat 6.
My Hertz rent a car had 3 oil changes in 21k miles when I bought it. (one at 6700, and 15k and 20k) While it required head gaskets twice before 108k who knows if the reason was due to it being a rental?
No need for all the mixing with any engine. Just keep it simple and follow the manual and he will be fine.
The newer Tribeca is a very nice car.
Bill
My Hertz rent a car had 3 oil changes in 21k miles when I bought it. (one at 6700, and 15k and 20k) While it required head gaskets twice before 108k who knows if the reason was due to it being a rental?
No need for all the mixing with any engine. Just keep it simple and follow the manual and he will be fine.
The newer Tribeca is a very nice car.
Bill
It's been covered but I wanted to mention it anyways. The non-turbo Subaru engines are easy on oil. It's the turbo Subarus, like on any car with a turbo, that stress the oil more. But the naturally aspirated Subaru engines are very easy on oil.
I have a '09 Forester and Bill was very helpful with me when I was discussing oils with him.
Granted my Forester is a 4-cylinder so I plan on going conventional b/c the engine is easy on oil and I'll be changing it every 4k miles to maintain the warranty. But I had my last Forester for 9+ years using whatever bulk oil the shop would put in it (OCI was anywhere from 3-6k miles), and I never had any real engine issues with it. Now the Tribeca is a 6-cylinder, but I honesty believe you'll be fine with whatever quality oil you decide to put in there.
Also, I wouldn't lose much sleep about the potential abuse the car took as a rental. The Subaru 6 cylinder engines is one of the most reliable engines Subaru put out (and Subarus are known for being reliable). It seriously comes close to being bullet proof.
The only thing that sucks about the 6 cylinders is changing the spark plugs. I don't know how it is on the Tribeca, but it's an all-day thing for people who try to do it on their 6-cyl Outbacks. Also, the oil filter is sideways on them, so you can't really pre-fill the filter.
Lastly, double check what the owner's manual says about the coolant. I want to say it was '08ish when Subaru switched to their blue coolant which they say doesn't need to be touched for something like 10 years or 100k miles.
Oh and if you haven't already, check out my.subaru.com it's a nice little place for looking stuff up, keeping track of your maintenance, etc
-sicko
I have a '09 Forester and Bill was very helpful with me when I was discussing oils with him.
Granted my Forester is a 4-cylinder so I plan on going conventional b/c the engine is easy on oil and I'll be changing it every 4k miles to maintain the warranty. But I had my last Forester for 9+ years using whatever bulk oil the shop would put in it (OCI was anywhere from 3-6k miles), and I never had any real engine issues with it. Now the Tribeca is a 6-cylinder, but I honesty believe you'll be fine with whatever quality oil you decide to put in there.
Also, I wouldn't lose much sleep about the potential abuse the car took as a rental. The Subaru 6 cylinder engines is one of the most reliable engines Subaru put out (and Subarus are known for being reliable). It seriously comes close to being bullet proof.
The only thing that sucks about the 6 cylinders is changing the spark plugs. I don't know how it is on the Tribeca, but it's an all-day thing for people who try to do it on their 6-cyl Outbacks. Also, the oil filter is sideways on them, so you can't really pre-fill the filter.
Lastly, double check what the owner's manual says about the coolant. I want to say it was '08ish when Subaru switched to their blue coolant which they say doesn't need to be touched for something like 10 years or 100k miles.
Oh and if you haven't already, check out my.subaru.com it's a nice little place for looking stuff up, keeping track of your maintenance, etc
-sicko
Originally Posted By: sicko
It's been covered but I wanted to mention it anyways. The non-turbo Subaru engines are easy on oil. It's the turbo Subarus, like on any car with a turbo, that stress the oil more. But the naturally aspirated Subaru engines are very easy on oil.
I have a '09 Forester and Bill was very helpful with me when I was discussing oils with him.
Granted my Forester is a 4-cylinder so I plan on going conventional b/c the engine is easy on oil and I'll be changing it every 4k miles to maintain the warranty. But I had my last Forester for 9+ years using whatever bulk oil the shop would put in it (OCI was anywhere from 3-6k miles), and I never had any real engine issues with it. Now the Tribeca is a 6-cylinder, but I honesty believe you'll be fine with whatever quality oil you decide to put in there.
Also, I wouldn't lose much sleep about the potential abuse the car took as a rental. The Subaru 6 cylinder engines is one of the most reliable engines Subaru put out (and Subarus are known for being reliable). It seriously comes close to being bullet proof.
The only thing that sucks about the 6 cylinders is changing the spark plugs. I don't know how it is on the Tribeca, but it's an all-day thing for people who try to do it on their 6-cyl Outbacks. Also, the oil filter is sideways on them, so you can't really pre-fill the filter.
Lastly, double check what the owner's manual says about the coolant. I want to say it was '08ish when Subaru switched to their blue coolant which they say doesn't need to be touched for something like 10 years or 100k miles.
Oh and if you haven't already, check out my.subaru.com it's a nice little place for looking stuff up, keeping track of your maintenance, etc
-sicko
+2 What sicko said!!
It's been covered but I wanted to mention it anyways. The non-turbo Subaru engines are easy on oil. It's the turbo Subarus, like on any car with a turbo, that stress the oil more. But the naturally aspirated Subaru engines are very easy on oil.
I have a '09 Forester and Bill was very helpful with me when I was discussing oils with him.
Granted my Forester is a 4-cylinder so I plan on going conventional b/c the engine is easy on oil and I'll be changing it every 4k miles to maintain the warranty. But I had my last Forester for 9+ years using whatever bulk oil the shop would put in it (OCI was anywhere from 3-6k miles), and I never had any real engine issues with it. Now the Tribeca is a 6-cylinder, but I honesty believe you'll be fine with whatever quality oil you decide to put in there.
Also, I wouldn't lose much sleep about the potential abuse the car took as a rental. The Subaru 6 cylinder engines is one of the most reliable engines Subaru put out (and Subarus are known for being reliable). It seriously comes close to being bullet proof.
The only thing that sucks about the 6 cylinders is changing the spark plugs. I don't know how it is on the Tribeca, but it's an all-day thing for people who try to do it on their 6-cyl Outbacks. Also, the oil filter is sideways on them, so you can't really pre-fill the filter.
Lastly, double check what the owner's manual says about the coolant. I want to say it was '08ish when Subaru switched to their blue coolant which they say doesn't need to be touched for something like 10 years or 100k miles.
Oh and if you haven't already, check out my.subaru.com it's a nice little place for looking stuff up, keeping track of your maintenance, etc
-sicko
+2 What sicko said!!
Originally Posted By: Bill in Utah
The Tribeca has a flat 6.
My Hertz rent a car had 3 oil changes in 21k miles when I bought it. (one at 6700, and 15k and 20k) While it required head gaskets twice before 108k who knows if the reason was due to it being a rental?
No need for all the mixing with any engine. Just keep it simple and follow the manual and he will be fine.
The newer Tribeca is a very nice car.
Bill
The head gasket failures were probably not caused by the car being a rental. Many people have had non-turbo Subaru 4 cylinder engines, and they have also had early head gasket failures.
I wonder if Fel-Pro has developed a "Problem Solver" series of gasket that has been built tougher than the OE gasket.
I have never done much to subarus, because in Florida, the regular ones are not popular, due to the high cost of AWD. However, the WRX is very popular because the AWD makes it a better sports car.
The Tribeca has a flat 6.
My Hertz rent a car had 3 oil changes in 21k miles when I bought it. (one at 6700, and 15k and 20k) While it required head gaskets twice before 108k who knows if the reason was due to it being a rental?
No need for all the mixing with any engine. Just keep it simple and follow the manual and he will be fine.
The newer Tribeca is a very nice car.
Bill
The head gasket failures were probably not caused by the car being a rental. Many people have had non-turbo Subaru 4 cylinder engines, and they have also had early head gasket failures.
I wonder if Fel-Pro has developed a "Problem Solver" series of gasket that has been built tougher than the OE gasket.
I have never done much to subarus, because in Florida, the regular ones are not popular, due to the high cost of AWD. However, the WRX is very popular because the AWD makes it a better sports car.
I need to clear up that the rental that I owned that needed head gaskets twice (61k and 108k) was NOT a Subaru.
It was a Ford.
Sadly, my 2007 Subaru Outback 2.5 H4 NA has a external coolant leak on one of the heads @ 21k. We are going through the tests and stop leak to see what is next.
Bill
It was a Ford.
Sadly, my 2007 Subaru Outback 2.5 H4 NA has a external coolant leak on one of the heads @ 21k. We are going through the tests and stop leak to see what is next.
Bill
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