Hey Everyone,
Great forum you've got here. I've just registered as I'm trying to decide what oil to run in my freshly swapped car. I'm just about finished my swap. Its a V7 2.0L STI Motor (EJ207). When I received the front clip and pulled the motor, I drained it and the oil was definitely very sludge-like but Im not an expert in oil by any means so it could have been that it was just because it was sitting in a yard for a couple of years.
I've read the "What oil should I use sticky" so here goes:
1. What kind of vehicle you have
As I said, its a Subaru Impreza WRX STI from Japan. Turbocharged, revs to 8250. I will be running a full turbo-back 3" exhaust and an electronic boost control solenoid.
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
The service manual says to use 4.5L of 5w30 and to make sure it has API classification.
3. Where you live
I live in Alberta, Canada. The weather can go from -50*C in the winter to about +35*C in the summer but can be quite variable day to day.
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
I would say that I dont bag on the motor but I have been known to drive hard and fast. The car will see the odd track and autocross day and while I have no problem changing the fluids before and after those, I dont really want to be switching to a different fluid just for a track day.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
My daily drive is quite short and the majority of my drives will be less than 15-20mins.
6. Whether your car has any known problems
No known problems right now, but that's because I haven't started it up yet.
As far as preferences, I prefer synthetic and would like it to be available locally. I'm good at changing the oil very regularly at whatever interval is required so there's no issue there.
So far, I've been looking at three oils. My regular shop does its changes with Amsoil and Eneos. On my old motor I was running the Amsoil 5w30 and had no issues, right up until I blew the head gasket. My local Subaru club is going nuts over the Eneos stuff (first time i've heard about it) but its mostly seat-of-the-pants: "I did a change to Eneos and now my car runs much better" and Im looking for something more when Im making my decision.
The third one was recommended to me by a member of that club who has the same motor and its the Shell Rotella-T. He says he got the recommendation from this forum but I can't find that thread.
All three oils are readily available. I mention that my local shop has Amsoil and Eneos available because, as much as I like to do my own oil changes, sometimes I just dont have the time and need to get it changed before a road trip. They would have no problem with me bringing in another brand of oil though. If there is definitely another brand that I should go with, I can probably get ahold of it as well.
Also, my plan is to get the car running and then after about 2-300km do an oil change to try to get most of the old oil and sludge out of the motor. If there's any other suggestions with respect to that, I would appreciate them as well.
Thanks in advance,
- Z
Great forum you've got here. I've just registered as I'm trying to decide what oil to run in my freshly swapped car. I'm just about finished my swap. Its a V7 2.0L STI Motor (EJ207). When I received the front clip and pulled the motor, I drained it and the oil was definitely very sludge-like but Im not an expert in oil by any means so it could have been that it was just because it was sitting in a yard for a couple of years.
I've read the "What oil should I use sticky" so here goes:
1. What kind of vehicle you have
As I said, its a Subaru Impreza WRX STI from Japan. Turbocharged, revs to 8250. I will be running a full turbo-back 3" exhaust and an electronic boost control solenoid.
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
The service manual says to use 4.5L of 5w30 and to make sure it has API classification.
3. Where you live
I live in Alberta, Canada. The weather can go from -50*C in the winter to about +35*C in the summer but can be quite variable day to day.
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
I would say that I dont bag on the motor but I have been known to drive hard and fast. The car will see the odd track and autocross day and while I have no problem changing the fluids before and after those, I dont really want to be switching to a different fluid just for a track day.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
My daily drive is quite short and the majority of my drives will be less than 15-20mins.
6. Whether your car has any known problems
No known problems right now, but that's because I haven't started it up yet.
As far as preferences, I prefer synthetic and would like it to be available locally. I'm good at changing the oil very regularly at whatever interval is required so there's no issue there.
So far, I've been looking at three oils. My regular shop does its changes with Amsoil and Eneos. On my old motor I was running the Amsoil 5w30 and had no issues, right up until I blew the head gasket. My local Subaru club is going nuts over the Eneos stuff (first time i've heard about it) but its mostly seat-of-the-pants: "I did a change to Eneos and now my car runs much better" and Im looking for something more when Im making my decision.
The third one was recommended to me by a member of that club who has the same motor and its the Shell Rotella-T. He says he got the recommendation from this forum but I can't find that thread.
All three oils are readily available. I mention that my local shop has Amsoil and Eneos available because, as much as I like to do my own oil changes, sometimes I just dont have the time and need to get it changed before a road trip. They would have no problem with me bringing in another brand of oil though. If there is definitely another brand that I should go with, I can probably get ahold of it as well.
Also, my plan is to get the car running and then after about 2-300km do an oil change to try to get most of the old oil and sludge out of the motor. If there's any other suggestions with respect to that, I would appreciate them as well.
Thanks in advance,
- Z
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