First oil change on 17 Forester 2.5 w/ 376 miles

[BalticBob]

Always change the FF before 500 miles, for any type car or engine!
How do I know this for fact?
My brother-in-law had a uncle, and this uncle had a cousin, that knew a guy in his neighborhood, and that guy worked at a major engine re-builder.

So this engine re-builder guy said that every engine they built had metal in it, impossible to flush out, so they always recommended to change oil before 500 miles.
If not done, it would void their warranty, and that warranty was for 1000 miles / 3 months.

So that is proof of doing early oil changes.
Oil is cheaper than a engine!

 

[ARCOgraphite]

If you are jittery, change the filter so any bypass activity doesn't wash out large particulate that was captured in the first couple hours of operation. LEAVE THE FACTORY OIL. I leave the oil now until it "feels" sheared down to the point the engine is clattery or wont run well at the upper torque peak. On a 30 grade spec, New engines will chew KV of 10.5 down to 8.5 - out of spec operating range - in a couple thousand miles.

Does this help compared to early changes? I have no observations on operation post breakin - positive or negative - compared to frequent and early oil changes, other than it's "cheaper" not to do early changes

On another note, would it not be productive to Drain from the drain plug - HOT! to help wash the flotsam (if any) out of the pan? Subaru used to sport a large 17MM plug to this effect.

 

[ryanschillinger]

Right. So I lightened my wallet at worst. I'm not crying about $35. I grabbed 6 oil filters from the dealer when I happened to be nearby. Now the car is about to turn over 1000 miles. No oil consumption noted yet. Been keeping an eye on the dipstick. I've done a number of decent rpm acceleration and engine braking cycles so I would imagine there isn't really much breaking in left to do. Maybe I can finally try the cruise control.

 

[jayg]

Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
If you are jittery, change the filter so any bypass activity doesn't wash out large particulate that was captured in the first couple hours of operation. LEAVE THE FACTORY OIL. I leave the oil now until it "feels" sheared down to the point the engine is clattery or wont run well at the upper torque peak. On a 30 grade spec, New engines will chew KV of 10.5 down to 8.5 - out of spec operating range - in a couple thousand miles.

Does this help compared to early changes? I have no observations on operation post breakin - positive or negative - compared to frequent and early oil changes, other than it's "cheaper" not to do early changes

On another note, would it not be productive to Drain from the drain plug - HOT! to help wash the flotsam (if any) out of the pan? Subaru used to sport a large 17MM plug to this effect.



"Feels sheared down" and "not running well at the upper torque peak"?

Good lord.


Originally Posted By: ryanschillinger
Right. So I lightened my wallet at worst. I'm not crying about $35. I grabbed 6 oil filters from the dealer when I happened to be nearby. Now the car is about to turn over 1000 miles. No oil consumption noted yet. Been keeping an eye on the dipstick. I've done a number of decent rpm acceleration and engine braking cycles so I would imagine there isn't really much breaking in left to do. Maybe I can finally try the cruise control.



Exactly. Didn't hurt anything but didn't help either. If things like that keep you up at night then it was $35 well spent.

 

[raytseng]

You guys better drain the factory fuel out of the tank too. It also probably has particles in it and you don't want those in your fuel filter or injectors.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: raytseng
You guys better drain the factory fuel out of the tank too. It also probably has particles in it and you don't want those in your fuel filter or injectors.



Mine came with a little less than 3 gallons, I decided to leave it and just fill up the tank.

 

[ChrisD46]

As some have stated - new engines today should have better manufacturing processes and cleanliness to prevent metal shaving isues of the past . True , there will be small metal particles and / or grit which I notice in the pan I drain oil into with any vehicle . *I myself am sitting on 750 miles in a new 2017 Hyundai 2.4L GDL engine . The oil level has not dropped at all and no ssmell of fuel delution . The factory oil should be a good thing and the Hyundai oil filters are deemed pretty good . I'm resisting the urge to do anything in the way of draining the factory fill just yet and I would like to think that the oil filter is not only doing it's job but is getting better at filtering every day as well . ) . At 1,000 miles I might change the oil filter but will leave the factory fill in for another 1,000 miles before changing both to a Dexos I approved blend and then at 5,000 miles switch over to a full synthetic oil for the life of the vehicle .

 

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted By: raytseng
You guys better drain the factory fuel out of the tank too. It also probably has particles in it and you don't want those in your fuel filter or injectors.

 

[dblshock]

I dumped my FF at 3,500 then bumped the spec'd 0/20 to Mobil 1 5/30, got the 0/20 creeps with DI fuel dilution, LSPI and Turbo heat.

 

[dblshock]

Castrol has the right mix of Ca/Mg for new engines.

 

[Puckman5]

Interesting. I have a two month old '17 Outback 2.5i with 6.5k mostly highway mi on the factory fill. Oil looks very clean and it doesn't appear to have used a drop. Saturday morning, when the temps dropped below freezing, we headed out to my son's hockey game. No warm up and it sounded like a single cyl diesel tractor when I started up a small hill just outside our development. My wife and son were both like "is that normal?" Local dealer says "it's fine, they all do that when cold" I don't trust Manchester Subaru's service department one bit btw. I may add some 30 wt to the Napa 0w-20 I just bought for this weekends oil change. Engine problem, design issue, or is the beat up 0w-20 to blame. Your post got me thinking - although that usually just leads to a bunch of nothing.

 

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted By: Puckman5
Interesting. I have a two month old '17 Outback 2.5i with 6.5k mostly highway mi on the factory fill. Oil looks very clean and it doesn't appear to have used a drop. Saturday morning, when the temps dropped below freezing, we headed out to my son's hockey game. No warm up and it sounded like a single cyl diesel tractor when I started up a small hill just outside our development. My wife and son were both like "is that normal?" Local dealer says "it's fine, they all do that when cold" I don't trust Manchester Subaru's service department one bit btw. I may add some 30 wt to the Napa 0w-20 I just bought for this weekends oil change. Engine problem, design issue, or is the beat up 0w-20 to blame. Your post got me thinking - although that usually just leads to a bunch of nothing.

Genuine Subaru Piston Slap.

You're also 500 miles past the receommended oil change interval (not that it necessarily has anything to do with the noise).

 

[nascarnation]

Originally Posted By: Ifixyawata
Do your first 4 OCIs at 500mi each and rest easy.


Too lax, change oil with every tank of fuel.

 

[gomes512]

Congrats on the new ride!

Don't be fooled by the factory oil in the diffs, mine came out black at 10k. I think they used a moly/graphite assembly paste on the gears.

 

[Puckman5]

Thanks for the responses. I have some learning to do on piston slap... First Subaru, but so far I mostly like it.

As far as the oil change, I heard if I we're to let it go to 7K miles the engine would explode and Subaru would deny my warranty claim? It must be ture because I read it on the internet.

Seriously, It's getting changed tomorrow at about 7200 miles. I'll change the next one around 4800 mi so it averages 6k. I also read (on the internet of course) that it should heal any damaged caused by the initial extended OCI.

 

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
376 miles? way too early. I would have taken to about 2000-2500 miles. Rings may not seat properly and these engines sometimes are the ones that start to consume some oil. The filter will catch any small particles that occur during manufacturing and break in.
Why won't the rings not properly seat?

 

[ryanschillinger]

I hope they did. That's just what I am to understand can cause oil consumption on these engines. That's why I did many pulls of acceleration to about 4k rpm then engine braking a while during the break in period. I'm now about 1200 miles which is past the 1000 it calls for on break in. I finally got to make sure the cruise control works... Only real complaint I have on this car is the rpm hang mainly noticeable shifting 1-2 gear. Emission stuff I guess.

 

[ryanschillinger]

Well the car has 30k on it now. No noticeable oil consumption but some other people online say theirs have issues. Ours may use a half quart between 6k OCI at the most. I can't comment on the CVT because ours is a 6 speed manual. I've been using full syn 0w20 HM oil and I'm getting ready to change the trans and diff oil next oil change.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Why are you using HM oil on a 30K engine with no consumption issues?

Just because oil geniuses say it's perfectly fine to use HM oil in new vehicles, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. I' mean.... why mess with seals that are perfectly fine and almost still new?

 

[Garak]

Most HM oils these days are SN/GF-5, so I wouldn't worry about seal compatibility issues. Some have even claimed A1 and/or A5 at various times. Personally, in my limited experience, I found that HM ILSAC certified oils did not perform nearly as well in slowing leaks as did non-certified HM oils.