sprintman

Get some Auto-Rx and follow instructions on their web site. Ground breaking product available all over the world now.

get some Auto-Rx and use with dino oil. Follow instructions on the RX web site

My 00 OB does same in cold weather. Hard to drive till idle returns to normal after a minute or so after cold start.

99obw Valvoline tend to have lower anti-wear additive treats compared to most oils and don't do well across the board in UOA analysis with a few exceptions. There are better oils for same or lower price IMO eg. Mobil 1 Supersyn good UOA's in nearly all engines and is readily available but 30W's are on the thin side. Mobil have new M1 SUV 5W40 in the US now and should be good for an outback. I run BP Visco 5000 5W40 in my 00 Outback FWIW.

Tks blitz. BITOG is a sickness but I have learned so much there.

I have access to a Timken and it has proved very useful in looking at anti-wear properties of oils. Also we have purchased some 5 cases of Auto-Rx at approx A$600 per case and multiple testing in cars, trucks, and a lot of forklifts in particular shows what it can do. Nearly every UOA I've seen with a K & N air filter has high Silicon and users usually revert to OEM paper. There is a huge amount of info on BITOG but more importantly the industry people who participate particularly those such as Blackstone Analysis, GeorgeCLS (certified lubricants specialist), Molakule an chemist of high repute etc. Like any web site you need to read between the lines and make up your own mind.

I think you need a decent lawyer!!

Oil analysis will show if you have a head gasket problem. Presence of Potassium or Sodium if I remember correctly in the oil is a sure sign of coolant leakage. Oil analysis is pretty cheap too.

Fram have cardboard end caps, crap anti-drainback valves etc. Not something you want on your Sube under any circumstance IMO.

How do I tell for sure if my engine has shims or hydraulic adjusters. OB with 2.5 Gen III built Dec 99 sold March 00? Tks...s

I use OEM Sube (Purolator?) on my 00 OB and after final Auto-Rx rinse phase with Castrol Formula R 5W30 will change to BP Visco 5000 5W40 with RX maintenance dose. Would use Redline again if I could afford it (I use RL gear oils only) but times are tough!

Redline 75W90NS fixed mine. RL 75W90 (not NS) in the diff, D4ATF in the p/s too. Not cheap but worth it IMO.

UOA's are the only real way to see how an oil performs in any particular engine or application. testa above show some useful info but you must read between the lines. M1 SS, Pennzoil Purebase etc show excellent UOA's and BITOG has a good UOA section. Search there for oil type or engine to see what performs best in yours.

I have NGK Iridiums in my 00 OB and really impressed. Use them in a Mazda turbo as well and as good as when they were installed. If there are better plugs than these then I want to know about it?

Commuter is correct, first refine the question. And oil filters anything but Fram (cardboard end caps, they gotta be kidding). Spend some time on BITOG and you will learn heaps as I have.

It was an OK oil then they reformulated it and bye bye moly. Ordinary additive package now and the basestiock is nothing to write home about. You can buy far better oil for same or cheaper. Search for Valvoline on BITOG for more info.

Chip ditch the K & N air filter. If you look at UOA's on BITOG in the Used Oil Analysis section you can guarantee that when you see high Si they will have a K & N fitted. Race cars yes, street cars you want to use OEM or similar.

setright I use RL exactly as you posted. Best change ever for my Outback.

Redline 75W90NS GL5 in trans anf Redline 75W90 GL5 in diff. Big improvement over factory fill rubbish especially cold shifting.

Anybody able to post the TSB on 0W30 oil?

99obw is spot on. M1 is a thin 30W. Try the M1 0W40 maybe or any 30/40W oil thats 12+ cSt @ 100C (on every oils spec sheet on the web)

You can change from syn to dino and back as often as you want to. That you can't is one of the top ten synthetic fables. I think there is a list of all ten on the BITOG web site.

Dealer replaced clutch free 6mths after warranty (3yrs) expired. Just did slave cylinder free 9mths after warranty expired. Lean on them hard!!

Outback 36 psi all round on Yokohama Geolandars (OEM tyre) with Nitrogen fill. I run 38-40 psi in the Mazda turbo also Nitrogen fill.

UCL = upper cylinder lubricant. A must use with unleaded fuel. FPC = Fule performance Catalyst OEM = Original Equipment Manufacture And I forgot to mention never buy fuel with Ethanol in it.