dDigitalPimp Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 i have a 99 legacy gt with 79k miles on it and i am thinking of switching to synthetic oil. i have been using 5w30 for a while but i believe the viscosity(sp) starts to break down fast after about 2k miles. i searched for a while but could not find any good answers on the board about which type of oil to use. in the past ive used 5w30 and 10w30 both with about half a bottle of lucas oil treatment. i live in PA and the winter is on its way out so i do not see any -20degree F mornings anymore if that is a factor at all. what im looking for is some advice on what rating of oil i should try for my car. ive seen posts with people running 5w30 to 15w40 synthetic and im a lil confused on where to go. any help would be great. thanks in advance for any replies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strakes Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Asking opinions on oil is like asking people who you should vote for. My 2 cents: You can't go wrong with Mobil-1. It's good stuff. I use it in 5W40 or 15W50 summertime in my 2002 Legacy. I used Mobil-1 in my previous Volvos. I use non-synthetic Chevron Delo 15W40 in my 1993 Legacy. Have you been using a particular brand of 5W30 consistently in the past? Then I'd say stick with that brand and go up to a 10W30 non-synthetic or 5W30/40/50 synthetic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rweddy Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 i have a 99 legacy gt with 79k miles on it and i am thinking of switching to synthetic oil. i have been using 5w30 for a while but i believe the viscosity(sp) starts to break down fast after about 2k miles. i searched for a while but could not find any good answers on the board about which type of oil to use. in the past ive used 5w30 and 10w30 both with about half a bottle of lucas oil treatment. i live in PA and the winter is on its way out so i do not see any -20degree F mornings anymore if that is a factor at all. what im looking for is some advice on what rating of oil i should try for my car. ive seen posts with people running 5w30 to 15w40 synthetic and im a lil confused on where to go. any help would be great. thanks in advance for any replies. I used mobil1 10w30 in all my subaru's year round. Gets me approx 2mpg more and then I change it every 5k. Also no noise at start up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dDigitalPimp Posted March 7, 2005 Author Share Posted March 7, 2005 i think the last 5w30 i was using was max life. i called my local subaru dealer and the guy i spoke with in the service dept. said that they use 10w30 snythetic blend on all subies there and change at 3k. he didnt really give me a brand name on the oil tho. i priced some synthetic blend brands online compared to straight synthetic and the blends tend to be right around $3 a quart while the synthetics can be up to $5. my friend gets a mad discount at advance auto so hopefully i can buy a case a lil cheaper than $3 a quart. i guess ill give the blend a try. so which brand is the best??? ha ha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sedanlegacygt Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 i have a 99 legacy gt with 79k miles on it and i am thinking of switching to synthetic oil. i have been using 5w30 for a while but i believe the viscosity(sp) starts to break down fast after about 2k miles. i searched for a while but could not find any good answers on the board about which type of oil to use. in the past ive used 5w30 and 10w30 both with about half a bottle of lucas oil treatment. i live in PA and the winter is on its way out so i do not see any -20degree F mornings anymore if that is a factor at all. what im looking for is some advice on what rating of oil i should try for my car. ive seen posts with people running 5w30 to 15w40 synthetic and im a lil confused on where to go. any help would be great. thanks in advance for any replies. I have a 98 sedan GT and was using a sythetic blend. I took it to a dealer for a recall and oil change and they said that subaru doesn't "recommend" synthetic oil. 5W30 was the way to go they said, however what brand is kind of up to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 My vote is for Mobil 1, too. 5W-40 (or 0W-40 in winter.) And NO additives in the oil please! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowman Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Something I've been wondering about with the synthetic oils with ratings of 5w40 or 0w40 is if they have the same problems that 10w40 dino oil supposedly does (namely, it tends to break down and gel over time since it takes a bunch of additives to get that viscosity range out of it). Anybody know much about that? BTW: I've had excellent luck with Mobil1 10w30 year round and we have temperatures from -30 to 90 degrees here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frag Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I use Mobil 1 10-30 from April to December and Mobil 1 5-30 from December to the end of Mach. 5-30 gives me easier starts when it's -20C° and lower. Car seems to like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfcrane Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I have a new 05 Forester XT and will soon change out the break-in oil. I plan on using Valvoline Synblend only because I have 10 qts of the stuff I got for free. I really think a turbo should be using real (PAO or Ester) synthetic but I change on frequency, not miles so it probably doesn't matter all that much. If you want the real low down on oils, visit bobistheoilguy.com. More than you ever wanted to know, including used oil analysis on Subarus of various ages and styles. From what I gather, the Subaru engine does well on most oils, with low wear metal content in analysis. Luckily, it appears most of the head gasket problem described on this site result in external coolant leaks, unlike GM vehicles. Coolant is probably the greatest engine killer of all time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballitch Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 i use delo 400 multigrade 15w-40 also in my older subie,even though it has a 96 'preza motor in it, i trust delo, and use 5w-50 castrol fully synthetic in my 98 legacy L sedan, dont know if breaks down faster because of the spread or viscosity, but syn. oil uses stric base stocks to make up their oils, every brand has there own little "niche-like" additive they put in to "beat the other guy" but for the most part, you WILL NOT get an un-biased opinion on oil suggestions from us. but if the car is used to a certain type of oil, try not to change it, keep it real, just go syn. blend or fully syn. with same brand to call it safe. ~Josh~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
later, Peter Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 I use Mobile One 10 -30 in both OBWs (96 & 99)... started with lower viscosity but am sticking with the 10- 30 I think. Costco @ $4/qt. in 6 packs... or WalMart (my less than favorite place) in a gallon jug... same price but MUCH harder to figure out the 4.7 qts for the oil change. Later, Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted March 8, 2005 Share Posted March 8, 2005 If I haven't said it before, I will repeat it now: Bobistheoilguy is useless. The tests are irrelevant, and the conclusions are often biased. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dDigitalPimp Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 I use Mobile One 10 -30 in both OBWs (96 & 99)... started with lower viscosity but am sticking with the 10- 30 I think.Costco @ $4/qt. in 6 packs... or WalMart (my less than favorite place) in a gallon jug... same price but MUCH harder to figure out the 4.7 qts for the oil change. Later, Peter 4.7??? the book w/ the car says 4 qts. im confused. should i add half a quart?? btw i went with castrol blend 10w30 it was on sale for $2.50 a qt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
later, Peter Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 4.7??? the book w/ the car says 4 qts. im confused. should i add half a quart?? btw i went with castrol blend 10w30 it was on sale for $2.50 a qt. Imperial & US measurements are not equal... This engine requires 4.7 quarts US... that is 4 complete & almost one more quart container of oil... I believe this includes the filter being changed out as well... Have you checked your oil level lately? Are you 1/2 quart short? I have always used Castrol prior to reading the recommendations on this board for the Mobile 1. total dino or total synthetic... that's my route. Later, Peter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lothar34 Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 Watch for leaks in the crank and cam seals when you switch to sythetic. I got a crank seal leak after I switched and I've read about a few others having those problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slo5oh Posted March 9, 2005 Share Posted March 9, 2005 I bought mine with about 50k on the clock. First oil change I did was with 5-30 (may have been 5-50) wt. Redline. Serious start up noise followed. Sounded like a tin can tied under the car until it got warmed up. After a couple weeks I changed it out with 5-30 mobile 1 (hearing it's a little thicker) and no more noise. At 110k I decided to try the thicker 10-30 wt. mobile 1 and my noise came back. I've since drained that and went back to 5-30, but the noise is still there. I ran some Mobile 1 0-30 wt. oil (found on clearance at wally world for $1/qt) over a year ago and there was no noise with that weight oil either. I would think the thicker oil would quiet the piston vibration better, but it seems the thinner oil did a better job. Anyone else have a similar experience???? I'm going to try some thinner oil to see if the start up noises go away... I don't understand it... but then I'm no engineer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pappy Posted March 23, 2005 Share Posted March 23, 2005 Best of both worlds: use half & half synthetic and refined. When polymers in the refined oil break down, the synthetics still carry the load. You can get the increased MPG and not pay for 4.5 qt of synthetic. Prob should not exceed 5-7K mi between changes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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