Daskuppler Posted August 11, 2023 Share Posted August 11, 2023 Hello Everyone, Does anyone have any strong preferences for any oil beyond OEM gear oil for the 5MT? I know synthetics don't work as well and most are pretty expensive in comparison to the Subaru gear oil. I used to run Castrol Syntrax for most of my gear oil applications, but it's pretty much unavailable anymore. I know there's Scotty's Cocktail or something like that, but that's a rediculous amount of work to source everything. I have about 35k on the current gear oil so it's definitely time to change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forester2002s Posted August 11, 2023 Share Posted August 11, 2023 On my 2002 5MT Forester, I just use 80W90 non-synth, whichever brand is cheapest. Never had a problem with the gearbox. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted August 11, 2023 Share Posted August 11, 2023 look for walmart (supertech ?) synthetic BLEND . Some folks say it's great for the money, and evidently the synchros still play nice with it. The cocktail is pricey/fiddly to put together though it does work for most folks. gd is fond of amsoil severe gear. That 's what my shop put in my trans but I don't like it as much as straight Redline shockproof. that's also pricey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daskuppler Posted August 11, 2023 Author Share Posted August 11, 2023 3 hours ago, 1 Lucky Texan said: look for walmart (supertech ?) synthetic BLEND . Some folks say it's great for the money, and evidently the synchros still play nice with it. The cocktail is pricey/fiddly to put together though it does work for most folks. gd is fond of amsoil severe gear. That 's what my shop put in my trans but I don't like it as much as straight Redline shockproof. that's also pricey. I've seen super tech recommended a few times. I've seen complaints against the cocktail causing premature gear wear, and Amsoil. Seems to be hit and miss (some love it, some hate it). Valvoline conventional and e Supertech seem to be the most readily available conventional oils so I'll likely go with one of those. Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daskuppler Posted August 14, 2023 Author Share Posted August 14, 2023 I ended up going to the dealership to get some of their gear oil since it is usually pretty affordable and I could not locate Valvoline's conventional oil unless it was 80w-90 which won't work in Colorado winters. The first dealership didn't have any, that was a surprise. I ended up paying almost $17/qt for Subaru's conventional oil...that stuff got expensive for not being synthetic! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted August 15, 2023 Share Posted August 15, 2023 12 hours ago, Daskuppler said: I ended up going to the dealership to get some of their gear oil since it is usually pretty affordable and I could not locate Valvoline's conventional oil unless it was 80w-90 which won't work in Colorado winters. The first dealership didn't have any, that was a surprise. I ended up paying almost $17/qt for Subaru's conventional oil...that stuff got expensive for not being synthetic! Was that the Extra S fluid? I think that’s supposed to be very good fluid but a little pricey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daskuppler Posted August 15, 2023 Author Share Posted August 15, 2023 18 minutes ago, idosubaru said: Was that the Extra S fluid? I think that’s supposed to be very good fluid but a little pricey. I got the High Performance Gear Oil, it was the only gear oil they sold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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