Anyone have any issues switching to synthetic oil in an older Legacy? I put on a ton of miles, over 2000 month, and wanted to switch to synthetic so I can prolong the oil change intervals.

 

I changed to synthetic on one of my GLs(which tend to leak like crazy anyway,they all do) and it leaked a lot faster. I have noticed that my new (new to me) legacy has not leaks at all. It has 109k and just wanted to if anyone has switched and if they have had any issues.

 

Thanks

I switche at 140,000 kilometers and have no issue. I'm now at over 200,000 kilos.

Not from personnal experience but for being a regular reader of what's discussed here, I think you should have at least one oil test made to know for sure if you're not extending the oil change intervals too much. Contaminants getting into the oil are the same be it regular or synth oil.

Originally posted by frag

I switche at 140,000 kilometers and have no issue. I'm now at over 200,000 kilos.

Not from personnal experience but for being a regular reader of what's discussed here, I think you should have at least one oil test made to know for sure if you're not extending the oil change intervals too much. Contaminants getting into the oil are the same be it regular or synth oil.

That is a great point, I just wanted to go to 6 months or 6,000 miles, from what I have been told this should not be a issue with synthetic oil.

Synthetics clean better, so the accumulated junk in your engine is going to be cleaned out by the oil and the oil will get dirty fast. For quite a while the synthetic oil should probably be changed at conventional oil intervals, unless you first use a cleaner.

 

You don't mention how many miles are on your car. It is possible that the syntetic may cause your seals to leak. This is an area of considerable controversy and I really don't know. The seals need to be changed periodically anyway, so I wouldn't let that keep me from using a synthetic.

 

I am a big fan of synthetics. If your car doesn't use much oil I would be tempted to use a PAO synthetic in it.

Originally posted by 99obw

Synthetics clean better, so the accumulated junk in your engine is going to be cleaned out by the oil and the oil will get dirty fast. For quite a while the synthetic oil should probably be changed at conventional oil intervals, unless you first use a cleaner.

 

You don't mention how many miles are on your car. It is possible that the syntetic may cause your seals to leak. This is an area of considerable controversy and I really don't know. The seals need to be changed periodically anyway, so I wouldn't let that keep me from using a synthetic.

 

I am a big fan of synthetics. If your car doesn't use much oil I would be tempted to use a PAO synthetic in it.

 

What is PAO?

BTW car has 109k, I stated that on my 1st post I belive.

 

Thanks for the info.

Oops, yes you did, I missed that. That is pretty low mileage!

 

Poly Alpha Olefin, aka group IV synthetic. Common examples are Mobil 1 or Amsoil.

 

A lot of the over the counter synthetics are group III. Group III's are great oils but don't deserve the synthetic label IMHO. For example Castrol Syntec used to be a group IV, they switched to a group III (cheaper base stock) and kept the synthetic label.

 

I use Pennzoil and Amsoil, depending on how much oil the engine uses.

As I was telling in another thread: in Europe the official oilchange-intervals are at 12.500 km (about 8.000 mls) or every 12 months, whichever comes first. That is on normal plain oil, at least for the Legacy. I use synthetic oil and I change it every 20.000 km (12.500 mls). I don't mean this to be an advise, but here in Holland all goes well. I make quite a lot miles and I am very keen on carefully warming up the engine the first few miles before I push the throttle down through the floorboard.

Originally posted by watjekouw

As I was telling in another thread: in Europe the official oilchange-intervals are at 12.500 km (about 8.000 mls) or every 12 months, whichever comes first. That is on normal plain oil, at least for the Legacy. I use synthetic oil and I change it every 20.000 km (12.500 mls). I don't mean this to be an advise, but here in Holland all goes well. I make quite a lot miles and I am very keen on carefully warming up the engine the first few miles before I push the throttle down through the floorboard.

Yea I kind of think about frequent oil changes as cheap insurance for you vehicle.

I know you can push this mileage more but for me I would rather have the insurance of super clean oil.

I now change dyno oil every 3k but if I goto synthetic I will go to 6,000.

 

Speaking of what kind of filters do you all run?

 

Are the Subaru filters good? I ask this because I know that some filters are bad, like the Nissan Japan ones are great but the ones from US are re-branded Frams.

 

Thanks

so regular pennzoil is good ? what weight ?

Well, I've talked to lots of people, and syn seems the way to go... but as for regular dino oil, check out http://www.amsoil.com they have a comparison chart of all the different types of oils and how they work (in comparison to amsoil) but remember Mobil 1 is really espensive, and Amsoil is harder to obtain, but I don't think it'll be cheaper at all.

What do you guys think of Kendall fully synthetic?

 

Mark

M1, 6k, Sube filters.

i can buy amsoil oil for 5.75 qt and filters for 11.75 ea , a 35 mi trip 1 way , i still do not like changing my oil only 1 time a yr ,

I have 130K on one 97 OBW. I usually change every 5K (easy to remember) but have no problem going to 7 or 8K.

 

Twice I've had oil analysis done by National Tribology (http://www.natrib.com). There doesn't seem to be any reason whatsoever to change more frequently than the recommended 7-8K.

 

But people who change at 3,000 seem to be doing doing it for emotional reasons so they'll never be convinced otherwise.

 

I've started using Castrol GTX High Mileage and the car is noticably quieter on startup, don't notice any other difference so far.

I'm also using a Purolator Pure One oil filter, which has a synthetic element.

I have to agree with Ranger83, oil really doesn't need to be changed at 3k intervals IMO. I change at 10k km and use semi-synthetic and have had NO engine problems. Then again I have a 2.2 .