Oil for 2010 Forester?

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AZjeff

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Today our young engineer came to me looking for some 5w-30 oil for his Forester. Seems on the way home last night it was making some noise while driving home on the highway from the shop at 3300 feet to his place at 7000 feet up near Flagstaff. He actually checked the oil today and none is showing on the dipstick. There's a parts store nearby, he was going there after work and buy 5w-30 quarts until he gets it up to full. Turned down my offer of a quart of 15w-40 to get by with. I think he mentioned it seemed to use some oil a while ago. Pretty sure it's the 4 cylinder. I've read about Subie oil burning here but don't remember what the preferred grade is for this engine. Hoping he didn't hurt it. thanks
 
When you have a car that "Burns some oil" I can't believe your not checking once a week. I didn't get that low in a week. But my guess is he's going to have a new fresh engine of a new car now.
 
If an engine is making noise it’s not supposed to and there’s no oil pressure, that is the sound of damage occurring. He may not have wrecked the engine completely, but no oil pressure will cause significant internal damage. Poor subie.
 
you should ground him for at least a week
smile.gif
 
Thanks, I'll be sure to scold him severely but that doesn't answer my question.

If any Subaru owners see this what oil are you running in your original or replacement engine?
 
The EJ253 engine is not an oil burner by any measure, his car must have been abused or neglected pretty bad to even start consuming. That engine is notorious for not using oil and also accepting any dino 5W30 just fine.
 
RT6 is fine in this, my EJ251 ran fine on it. PP 5w30 or even PYB 5w30 is fine in the non-turbo EJs. Maxlife would be totally sufficient as well.

If he tops it up with the right amount of oil and the noise goes away, tell him to change the PCV.
 
Originally Posted By: BJD78
I have a 2010 Forester 2.5 with 4EAT. The OM clearly states that 5w30 is the preferred oil.

Did Subaru recommend synthetic back then?
 
Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
Originally Posted By: BJD78
I have a 2010 Forester 2.5 with 4EAT. The OM clearly states that 5w30 is the preferred oil.

Did Subaru recommend synthetic back then?

No.
 
The OM for my forester states this verbatim from the OM pg 11-11: "Synthetic oil You can use synthetic engine oil that meets the same requirements given for conventional engine oil. When using synthetic oil, you must use oil of the same classification, viscosity and grade shown in this Owner’s Manual, and must follow the oil and filter changing intervals shown in the maintenance schedule."
OM does no recommend it , it just says that you "can" use synthetic. I have copied pdf files before and posted them but am unable to or do not recall how to anymore. A quick search will bring up the 2010 Forester OM in PDF format. I have always just used regular 5w30 and have only owned it long enough for 2 changes. I use TSC Travelers 5w30 with the cheapest filter a Purolator as a recall. Subaru are pretty durable engines and as long as that oil level is between the add and full marks an changed.my maintenance manual for Forester states every 7,500 or 5,000. I prefer to do OCI between 5 and 6K.
 
It sounds like this engine doesn't have the rep that some Subies do for oil burning. Good to know but it sounds like this one does. He uses 5w-30 per the manual and declined the 15w-40 make-up since it wasn't spec oil. I thought I read discussions here that Subaru owners like to go a bit heavier than spec but maybe not. He's not here today so it either blew up or he took the day off.
 
Originally Posted By: BJD78
I have a 2010 Forester 2.5 with 4EAT. The OM clearly states that 5w30 is the preferred oil.
Do you know what "preferred oil" statement REALLY means?

The Ej can run on a 40 or 50 in the heat though it is not usually needed.

Per Manual. IIRC the capacity is 4.2 LITRES which is a bit over 4.5 QTS.

Topping with a 10w30 FLEET oil ( Like Rotella Tripe protect DINO 10w30 or a 10w40 Mobil Clean is good.

This engine has a TSB on oil burning due to a improperly machined valve guide pilot holes.
The CNC drilled a hole and then drilled a hole and reamed it just less than 1 cm away making a "B" shaped hole.
Whoops .. Good QC at the engine plant
smile.gif
Gotta ship $$ dollars $$ or the mafg manager gets no bonus - or worse!

My wife had one of those and the thing ate oil and smoked out the tail pipes.

LoneRanger has a good one. This is a GOOD car and engine. Better than the newer ones.
 
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Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
[
This engine has a TSB on oil burning due to a improperly machined valve guide pilot holes.
The CNC drilled a hole and then drilled a hole and reamed it just less than 1 cm away making a "B" shaped hole.
Whoops .. Good QC at the engine plant
smile.gif
Gotta ship $$ dollars $$ or the mafg manager gets no bonus - or worse!

My wife had one of those and the thing ate oil and smoked out the tail pipes.


So this can be an oil burner. Thanks for the accurate info.
 
My son uses M1 0/40 FS in his '11 Subaru Outback. I think it came with 0/20 and after the first 300 miles he couldn't stand the noise so he went with 5/30 for a couple of years. He switched to 0/40 after a trip to Colorado and more than 7 summits over 12,000 feet, the noise came back on the long steep up-hill grades(he had to slow down). He thinks the oil thinned out because of to much heat. The 0/40 is just a little heavier than the 5/30 he was using and on a return trip to Colorado no noises on that trip. He has used M1 0/40 ever since(5 years).

ROD
 
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
The EJ253 engine is not an oil burner by any measure, his car must have been abused or neglected pretty bad to even start consuming. That engine is notorious for not using oil and also accepting any dino 5W30 just fine.

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Originally Posted By: BJD78
The OM for my forester states this verbatim from the OM pg 11-11: "Synthetic oil You can use synthetic engine oil that meets the same requirements given for conventional engine oil. When using synthetic oil, you must use oil of the same classification, viscosity and grade shown in this Owner’s Manual, and must follow the oil and filter changing intervals shown in the maintenance schedule."
OM does no recommend it , it just says that you "can" use synthetic. I have copied pdf files before and posted them but am unable to or do not recall how to anymore. A quick search will bring up the 2010 Forester OM in PDF format. I have always just used regular 5w30 and have only owned it long enough for 2 changes. I use TSC Travelers 5w30 with the cheapest filter a Purolator as a recall. Subaru are pretty durable engines and as long as that oil level is between the add and full marks an changed.my maintenance manual for Forester states every 7,500 or 5,000. I prefer to do OCI between 5 and 6K.

Thanks. I was in a rush with my one word answer.
smile.gif


https://stis.subaru.com/proxy/69510/pdf/ownerManual/069510_2010_Forester/MSA5M1003BSTIS_18.pdf

I usually ran Max Life or Pennzoil HM xW-30 in older n/a EJ Subies that specced 5W-30. I used 10W-40 to try to quieten the ‘99 Outback’s Genuine Subaru Piston Slap but it didn’t make any difference.
 
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