Hello,
Long time lurker, first time poster. We just bought a slightly used 2018 Subaru Forester XT Touring that has the FA20DIT engine. Bought it at 7k miles from a dealer who used it as a loaner car. They did the first oil change around 6k miles per maintenance schedule. We just got back from a 2500 mile road trip from out home in Oakland, CA to various locations in Orgeon and back. Now, at almost 10k miles I would like to do an oil change and use a proper oil brand and grade better suited to the engine and service conditions than the Subaru oil.
The trip included what I would consider severe conditions such as almost daily spirited driving on paved backroads as well as over 150 miles on dirt and gravel forest service roads and even 15 miles on the beach. We plan to keep this car for at least 10 years and this will be the normal use for this car. I have the Cobb Access Port coming in the mail and will be flashing over to their 91 octane stage 1 map with plans to get a downpipe/j-pipe and go stage 2 by the end of the year. For next year I am also considering other mods to the engine such as TGV/EGR deletes, upgraded intake and turbo inlet hose, charge pipe, larger top-mount-intercooler, electronic boost control solenoid, and probably other things the shop might recommend. All of these other things would need to be accompanied with a custom "pro" tune. I am also going to do other suspension and chassis mods including slightly-larger-diameter and slightly-heavier all terrain tires, but I don't know if those will affect oil choice or OCI.
After that long preamble, what oil should I use and how often should I change it? I would prefer to stick with readily available walmart oils for convenience and to save money, but I would consider the better oils like RP, Reline, Amsoil, etc if you guys think they will actually make the engine last longer. From what I read about oil filters, only the Subaru ones are recommended for these cars because of the high bypass spec that is difficult or impossible to find in the aftermarket.
Also, do you guys have any recommendations on the CVT and rear end oils?
Thank you,
Long time lurker, first time poster. We just bought a slightly used 2018 Subaru Forester XT Touring that has the FA20DIT engine. Bought it at 7k miles from a dealer who used it as a loaner car. They did the first oil change around 6k miles per maintenance schedule. We just got back from a 2500 mile road trip from out home in Oakland, CA to various locations in Orgeon and back. Now, at almost 10k miles I would like to do an oil change and use a proper oil brand and grade better suited to the engine and service conditions than the Subaru oil.
The trip included what I would consider severe conditions such as almost daily spirited driving on paved backroads as well as over 150 miles on dirt and gravel forest service roads and even 15 miles on the beach. We plan to keep this car for at least 10 years and this will be the normal use for this car. I have the Cobb Access Port coming in the mail and will be flashing over to their 91 octane stage 1 map with plans to get a downpipe/j-pipe and go stage 2 by the end of the year. For next year I am also considering other mods to the engine such as TGV/EGR deletes, upgraded intake and turbo inlet hose, charge pipe, larger top-mount-intercooler, electronic boost control solenoid, and probably other things the shop might recommend. All of these other things would need to be accompanied with a custom "pro" tune. I am also going to do other suspension and chassis mods including slightly-larger-diameter and slightly-heavier all terrain tires, but I don't know if those will affect oil choice or OCI.
After that long preamble, what oil should I use and how often should I change it? I would prefer to stick with readily available walmart oils for convenience and to save money, but I would consider the better oils like RP, Reline, Amsoil, etc if you guys think they will actually make the engine last longer. From what I read about oil filters, only the Subaru ones are recommended for these cars because of the high bypass spec that is difficult or impossible to find in the aftermarket.
Also, do you guys have any recommendations on the CVT and rear end oils?
Thank you,