Oil for WRX autocross

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I've been a Rotella T6 5w-40 user for the last 5 years. Paired it with a WIX/Napa gold filter with the proper bypass pressure. Car's been a daily driver for 4 of those years, with heavy autocross usage in the last 2-3. Now it's sits in the garage 6 days out of the week. 25-30 events per year. Turboback, exhaust, tune. Stock was 230 crank, now around 280. ~220whp. 2004 EJ20 to be exact.

I'm now out of the old Rotella. The switch to CK-4 concerns me as additives and such have changed and I see some people on here dislike it. The more and more I think about it, it is marketed as diesel oil.

This post was especially concerning:
http://www.chevelles.com/forums/13-performance/958417-rotella-ck4-warning.html

I'd like to change and narrowed it down to a few choices. Price isn't a huge issue, but I'm really looking for protection with 135k on the car. I would like to stick with a 40 weight. I only burn a hair of oil over 3-4k. I will be sticking with 3k mile changes as I only put about 6k on the car total, mostly racing and traveling to these races. I'm on 4k for this change, but there's some slight valvetrain tap when the oil is warming up. Goes away when hot and always with fresh oil.

1. Castrol Edge 0w-40
Seems likeable here. Hadn't really though of going down to a 0 weight. Any issues there? Priced at ~$25 per 5 quarts, this is actually cheaper than Rotella gallons and buying an extra quart. I see a lot of reviews for German cars, but nearly no one using this for Subarus.

2. Motul 8100 X-Cess 5w-40
Pricey, but only $38 on Amazon. I'd have to always order online and prices have been jumping up to even $50. Mostly positive reviews. for the price though, I could change with Castrol or Rotella twice. Appears to be a solid oil however.

3. Stick with Rotella 5w-40
Some have said Rotella is still godly and just use it, all oil is the same. Still concerned with the new standards for autox use or the long run.

I've batted around Liqui Moly and a few others, but that's my current list. Which would you go with for my application?
 
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What are your oil temps at these events? What kind of cooling system/upgrades do you have?
 
Originally Posted By: Rand
What are your oil temps at these events? What kind of cooling system/upgrades do you have?


The only cooling 'upgrades' I have have a new Koyo radiator and Samco silicone hoses. Fresh Subaru coolant. Stock intercooler.

Cooling has never been an issue. I do not have any additional gauges to report oil temp. I've never 'tracked' the car (ie road courses) and the autox events are only 45-60 second courses at most, but with much of that in the higher RPM range.
 
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If you want to stick with 5w-40, you have options... Delo 400LE 5w-40, cheap and available. Castrol Edge 5w-40, frequently on sale at O'Reilly 5qts with Wix filter for like $34.
 
The Rotella CK-4 still has to protect HD diesel engines adequately.

Everytime there is an oil update tons of myths pop up.
For years we heard how the new Mobil 1 was terrible blah blah.

I would continue with the Rotella T6 for your usage out of the options you listed.

Maybe you could source a few old stock bottles and not worry about it for a couple more years if it bothers you.
 
Originally Posted By: cmiovino
.... that's my current list. Which would you go with for my application?

Castrol Edge 0w40, but any 0w40 on the shelf at Walmart is good. They all meet a ton of tough specs. Generally 0w40 is too thick for most applications, but autocrossing might elevate oil temps a bit.
 
I would choose any 0W40 from Wal Mart because these oils meet the toughest specs in the industry, not because of internet fearmongering about the new RT6.

OTOH, for Auto-X I would also consider a high HTHS, thinner viscosity @ 100C, highly friction modified 5W30 like Red Line or Motul 300V. 5-6k mile intervals with either would be no problem IMO. With your short intervals, I would probably stick with a Wal Mart 0W40.
 
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Originally Posted By: dogememe
If you want to stick with 5w-40, you have options... Delo 400LE 5w-40, cheap and available. Castrol Edge 5w-40, frequently on sale at O'Reilly 5qts with Wix filter for like $34.


Delo 400 XLE 5w-40 also hasn't gone CK-4 yet...it's still CJ-4 with plenty of Zinc. Castrol Edge 0w-40 has the thickest KV100 and highest HTHS 3.5-3.6 of the current crop of walmart-available 0w-40's. My 911 ran much better on the Castrol 0w-40 than either M1 or PP Euro 0w-40.
 
I know the car runs well on 5w-40, but how different is 0w-40? General temp ranges of cold starts are from 40-60 degrees F the mornings of races, usually garage kept.

It's sounding more and more like I should go to this Castrol Edge 0w-40 for $25 and just keep it changed out every 2.5-3k... which is about 6-9 months for me. I talked with a guy on a built Subaru engine who races with us and he's running the 0w-30 version. States the 0w-40 is "too thick" for his engine's tolerences.

It appears the 0w-30 is a thicker 30 weight and the 0w-40 is a thinner 40 weight. Both within spec, but I don't see anything to justify more than double the price for the 0w-30 ($50/5 quarts), vs $25 for the 40.
 
I owned an 07' WRX I bought new and sold it with 136K on it. If you read older Subaru Owners manual, it will state the use of a heavier viscosity is required under
certain operating conditions.

I put a stage II Perrin downpipe and custom Perrin map on an AccessPort at 60K and did a 13.6 1/4 mile.
I never stuck with any one oil religiously, but used Valvoline 5W40 in it more than anything else. Any oil regardless of viscosity that meets the Porsche A40
spec will provide all the protection you need. Castrol 0W40 and Pennzoil 0W40 fits the bill cheap in 5 QT jugs at Wal-Mart and Pennzoil also makes a 5W40 Porsche approved A40 oil you can find at some Advanced Auto locations but it's not cheap. Castrol 0W30 and 0W40 is actually made in Belgium and digging into the MSDS indicates they contain a better base oil mix than the typical group III base oil used in most other synthetics.
 
Where is your UOA? You are guessing without proper data.

There are much better choices than the ones you listed. I would drop down to a 30 weight and pick a solid oil that matches your needs based on your data.. A 40 is only going to cause friction and more needless wear.
 
Originally Posted By: danielLD
Where is your UOA? You are guessing without proper data.

There are much better choices than the ones you listed. I would drop down to a 30 weight and pick a solid oil that matches your needs based on your data.. A 40 is only going to cause friction and more needless wear.


To say someone is guessing without proper data, then type what you typed...

Can you show some "proper data" where upping the viscosity for racing applications has caused more friction and needless wear? Because I've owned a WRX and I've seen a ton of WRX UOA on popular wrx forums and they tend to go towards 40 grades with excellent results.

Anyways, I have seen a recent VOA of the Rotella CK and some have said that it appears to lack the more desirable additives that the CJ version had. Whether this will equate to anything worse in operation, who knows. With Castrol Edge 0W40 being $25, I'd try it out if it's cheaper.

And whoever said the 0W30 is better because the 0W40 is too thick for their tight clearances, is probably drunk or misinformed, or both.
 
Originally Posted By: KL31
And whoever said the 0W30 is better because the 0W40 is too thick for their tight clearances, is probably drunk or misinformed, or both.

Not to mention that there's not a whole lot of difference in viscosity between Castrol 0W30 and 0W40 at operating temp. and I see that the OP has already discovered that.

There's a LOT of misinformation out there about oil choice for Subaru's and some of it comes from builders. When builders first started working on the BRZ, a lot of "well respected builders" proclaimed anything thicker than 0W20 was too thick because the of the tight bearing clearances. Meanwhile, Subaru Japan allows 5W40 in all turbos, the H6, and even the BRZ
 
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Originally Posted By: danielLD
A 40 is only going to cause friction and more needless wear.

Please educate us on the bold....... vis-a-vis an xW30.
blush.gif

Btw, what is wear ?
 
Originally Posted By: KL31
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And whoever said the 0W30 is better because the 0W40 is too thick for their tight clearances, is probably drunk or misinformed, or both.


Agreed. There is very little difference between the Castol 0W30 and 0W40. They are pretty much interchangeable.
 
KL31, I'm going to venture not one of those UOA is a either a Dyson Analysis or a Lucas Dynamics, eh?

IF you have an oil that has a high viscosity index(oil's ability to stay in grade as temp rises) then you don't need to go to a thicker weight. Here's the problem, the off the shelves formulas aren't suited for the cars that are pushed more, so people go to thicker weights because it ends up where they want it to be AFTER it's diluted and sheared. Those oils don't hold up under your kind of usage so of course, going to a 40 weight works. But it's a band-aid for what is really happening.
 
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