Scoobaroo

As long as an oil meets SL/SM specs, there really isn't much difference between them. Use the weight of oil that works best for you. A few parts per million more or less of a particular additive per quart isn't going to mean squat over the 10 to 20 year life of a car. On paper, synthetics are clearly better than dino oils, but they're not worth an extra $3 to $4 per quart unless you can stomach extending your drain intervals 3 or 4 times longer; 15 to 20k miles. Consumers are suckers for labels. "4X4" oils. "Truck and SUV oils" "High Mileage Oils" "Cold Start Oils". (LOL) Of course, you pay a premium for slick marketing, and a "specialized" additive package vs. a high quality, generic, off the shelf additive package. Each brand of dino oil is as good as another within about 1%. With conventional oils, the difference between an .88 cent quart of house brand SL/SM oil and a $1.88 quart of major brand oil likely goes to quarterly executive bonuses and TV/Magazine advertising, not beneficial additives.

The sealant is for phase II 2.5's that have external head gasket seepage. It won't help a phase I with internal head gasket issues. (A '96 is a Phase I)

Look here. http://www.scuderiaciriani.com/rx7/oil_filter_study/ Scroll down to the Fram pictures. I've cut open a few used Frams also. Glue and cardboard construction that can easily fail allowing dirty oil to circulate constantly. Plastic Bypass spring valve for God's sake. Cheesy, ineffective anti-drainback valve. I'm not saying that your engine will fail with a Fram filter, but they really are the worst out there. The higher end Frams appear to be decent, but the basic $3 ones are total crap. Beware of other filter brands that are merely re-badged Frams. (Penzoil, I believe and others).

Use an ABF oil filter (A.nything B.ut F.ram). Purolator is probably the best aftermarket filter. I'm hooked on the $2 WalMart brand filters; a decent performing filter made by Champion Labs at 1/6th the cost of a genuine Subaru filter. Our '02 is still on the original drain washer. No leaks. Just don't overtighten the drain plug and you won't split the washer. The drain washer is just an excuse to add $1.50 to the cost of your oil change at the dealer.

Some WD-40 would probably stop the noise. If the ball and socket joint is tight, I'd smear some white lithium grease into the socket for long lasting lubrication, then replace the boot.

Fixing cars is not hard. It's greasy, dirty work, but it's not rocket science. $100 worth of mid-quality Chinese tools and a little common sense will get one through 95% of repairs on a Subaru. Puying a few hundred $$ more in speciality tools will have one able to repair 100% of the car if one has mechanical aptitude. Subaru Techs learn by "Osmosis"; rarely from training or gifted insight. They see the same problems over and over again; week after week, month after month. It's not as if they need to diagnose your problem from scratch each time that you show up for repairs. Chances are they've seen the problem that your car is having hundreds of times. Prices are set by greedy management. Mom and Pop dealships are being gobbled up by "MegaPlex" dealerships. Of course the "MegaPlex" management seeks to recoup the cost of buying smaller dealerships by taking the money out of somebodys (the customer's) hide. Customers keep paying, so management keeps raking in the dough. Upper management usually isn't intelligent enough to think of new and innovative ways to increase earnings, so they simply shove their greed down the "totem pole" to the lower managers and technicians and threaten their jobs if they fail to adopt their greedy, crooked ways.

Not likely. Did the '04's that you listened to have less mileage on them than your '03? Due to the design of the 2.5, it already has about the longest piston skirts that it is able to have. As for fitting them to closer tolerances, you can only fit a brand new piston in a brand new bore so tightly before you risk piston seizure as the cold piston expands. The majority of 2.5's will have cold piston noise as the miles rack up. (Unless one lives in Miami.) The 2.5 is kind of a flawed design; too much displacement in too small of a crankcase. Head gasket sealing is compromised greatly. Bore and stroke dimensions are past practical limits. They make good horsepower, but the same amount of HP could have been gotten from the 2.2 design with careful fuel management and more aggressive valve/cam profiles. I'd still rather have a "flawed design" 2.5 than a "well designed" Chevy.

How old is your o2 sensor? They can get lazy without setting a code. For them to set a code, they have to be really bad. (unresponsive, flatline, etc.)

It might be a good idea to pull the cam cover and check the valve lash. You may simply have an exhaust valve with zero (or minus zero) clearance. If it's been in this condition for any length of time, though, there's a chance that it may be burned anyway. What was the result of the compression test? Subies usually don't have valve issues.

I agree. Especially in San Fran's climate. The coldest temps you'll encounter are probably low 50's; fine for 15w50 in an engine with some miles on it. Our '02 likes Wally World 5w-30 Dino. Probably has an extra dose of moly or something. Minor slapping for a few moments when cold started. I really don't stress about the slap. It's minor, really. I'm interested in it from an engineering standpoint. My '87 Toyota pickup had piston slap that would make you run for cover on a cold morning. I accept piston slap as part of owning a Japaneese enginered car. Almost all of them have one pesky engine noise or another. Noises are rarely fatal with Japaneese engines. Keep us updated, Cookie, huh??

Shortened piston skirts are only part of the problem. In newer engines, the wrist pins and piston ring packs are located higher on the pistons in an effort to reduce emissions by eliminating unburned gasses that used to hide between the piston crown and the top piston ring. Higher wrist pins and piston rings = less stability of the piston skirt in the bore. Inadequate cooling in #4(?) cylinder may contribute to slight piston skirt collapse (Smaller diameter piston not due to wear). This is all becoming very complicated because of government mandated emission requirements and fuel economy standards. "Building them like they used to" is not an option anymore. Reducing internal friction and rotating mass is the only way that car makers can meet emissions standards. Something has to give. Changing weights / types of oil really won't help much. Cookie lives in San Francisco with a very constant, moderate climate. 15w-50 could actually cause engine damage elsewhere in below zero temps. Subaru oil pumps are designed to pump 5w-30 or 10w-30 at a certain rate and volume. Using heavy weight oils could cause an oil filter to remain in bypass mode too long resulting in unfiltered oil. It's probably best to stick with 5w-30 and tolerate a few moments of slapping.

10 thousanths is WAAAAY loose. Subie piston-to-wall clearance is in the 2 thousanths range when new. 3 or 4 thousanths will give you "the slap" with a short skirt design. 2.5 piston skirts are coated with a black moly / polymer coating a few thousanths thick. My guess is that when the coating gets scuffed off of the skirts, the slap begins.

2.5's are susceptible to "the slap" due to ridiculously short piston skirts. The shorter a piston is from crown to skirt, the less likely it is to ride squarely in the bore; especially when a few thousanths of an inch has worn off of the skirts and they are contracted. (i.e. cold) In fact, so many 2.5's have the slap, that it could be considered a design characteristic of the engine. A 2.5 is not a 2.2. It's a different animal. If your 2.2 had hydraulic valve lash adjusters and they were noisy, I would agree that an oil pump might be to blame. Subaru has admitted that piston slap is a problem on 2.5's. That's why they designed "countermeasure" pistons to combat "the slap" and issued a bulletin about the issue. People are often reluctant to believe that the major rotating parts in the bowels of their low mileage engines are to blame for noises even though it's often true as we endure this engineering frenzy to cut internal rotating mass and friction in engines.

Slight valve clicking is normal. Boddi speaks of the infamous cold knock or tap associated with cold, short skirted pistons on 2.5 engines. Do a search for "Subaru 2.5 cold piston slap". Be prepared for hours of reading.

Sounds like piston slap. Get used to it, my friend. Once it starts, it's there to stay. In my experience, trying different brands of expensive synthetic oil will only drain your wallet. Our '02 OB gets the cheapest store brand SL/SM rated dino oil that I can find. Mobile 1 5w30 made it sound like a piston skirt was ready to hammer through the cylinder wall. Cheap-azz dino oil = (almost) quiet at cold start. Expensive, hyped-up synthetics= unspeakably loud engine when cold. You could always buy a 1000watt block heater or crank the thermostat up to 80 degrees in your garage. (Mail the utility bills to Subaru)

15W50 will perhaps cling to the piston skirts a bit better when you shut the engine off and it cools down. Thus, there may be a wee bit more oil on the skirts and cylinder walls at the next cold start. 15W50 is not an option during Wyoming winters, though. 15W50 is 100% (or more) thicker than 5w30 or 10W30. Your engine's oil pump has to work overtime to pump that thick "goop" through your engine. Oil is a coolant, also. Thicker 50 weight oils are much more resistant to flow than thinner ones. The less quarts that flow through your engine per minute, the less potential it has to remove heat from bearings, camshafts, etc. Your fuel mileage will drop a bit, too. Use what works best for you, but i'll stick with 5W30. My engine is quietest on Wally World "SuperTech" 5W30 than any other kind of oil. Paying $4.68 for 5 quarts and $2.00 for a "SuperTech" oil filter does my heart good, too.

A mixture of used engine oil and grease will freeze rust in suspended animation. Just dab it onto the rust and into the body cavities with an old paint brush. In Europe and Canada, spraying the underbodies and oiling body cavities with used engine oil is/was common practice. Messy at first, but after a while it attracts a thin layer of road dust. Impossible for rust to start. Used engine oil will "wick" its way into welded seams that are otherwise impossible to get to. We don't have rust here in Wy. Ranchers still drive trucks from the 1950's. I grew up in NJ, though. Different story there with the salt air.

Here in the rockies, Subies outnumber every other type of vehicle. I think Colorado is thier #1 market. If one can tolerate a little piston slap, the new 2.5's are as bulletproof as any older subie engine. (They don't seem to leak oil anymore, either.) Our Outback is a solid car. Impressive, tight unibody construction. I can't imagine it ever rusting in our semi-arid climate. The new Ford 500 AWD is a POS Volvo (Ford-Vo?) crossover platform. It'll never catch on like Outback wagons have. Soccer moms around here are DIEHARD subie fanatics. Peaked? No I don't think so. Depends on what area of the Country you're talking about, though.

Every Subaru 2.5 with piston slap "needs" new pistons. (I never heard one that doesn't slap unless it spends it's whole life in Miami). "Countermeasure" pistons are designed to reduce or eliminate the problem. This is a known issue. By saying that his engine needs new pistons, he doesn't mean that it blew up. Car companies have entered into a Holy War to see who can engineer the shortest skirted, noisiest pistons; all in the name of squeeking out .00023 more horsepower. God forbid that we should want our engines quiet and to last a long time.

It's not. It's rebadged major brand oil without the added costs of hype, middle men and advertising.

[quote name= that walmart oil is most likely a rebadged oil, who knows maybe its mobil.[/quote] As a side note (not trying to hijack the thread) the "Super Tech" oil at my local Walmart has a tiny "WPP" (Warren Performance Packaging AKA Warren Distribution) on the bottom of the bottle. This is the old Warren Oil Company in business since 1922. I use this stuff with total confidence. It carries a "SL /SM" rating. When you use name brand dino oil, you're paying for TV commercials. http://www.wd-wpp.com/wd_info.html

LOL......"fill 'er up with oil and check the gas"........ Jags start with a leaking rear main seal the day you take delivery of the car and it's all downhill from there. Old British cars are the demon seed. Pretty to look at as long as you don't have to get somewhere at a certain time. Many electrical gremlins. Wierd, frightening rust in an unbelievably short time. Strange "witworth" bolt head sizes. Parts prices that make one's jaw drop. Even a late 70's Chrysler product is more reliable.

Personal opinion only. I avoid Fram like the plague. Glue and cardboard construction. Worthless anti-drainback valve. I've been using Super Tech filters at Wally World. $2 bucks each. Re-badged Champions. Steel construction. USA made. Best deal in town. Never had a problem with them or the Super Tech oil. ($4.88 for 5 quarts.) You gotta love a $6.25 D.I.Y. oil and filter change. Brand loyality, over-spending and anal retentiveness with regard to engine oil and filters rarely pays off during the average lifespan of a Subaru. Use what ever is cheapest (except a Fram.) Change it every 3 to 5k and don't sweat it.

They couldn't figure out how to incorporate the cancer rust, either.