August 11, 20232 yr 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.
August 11, 20232 yr On my 2002 5MT Forester, I just use 80W90 non-synth, whichever brand is cheapest. Never had a problem with the gearbox.
August 11, 20232 yr 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.
August 11, 20232 yr Author 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!
August 14, 20232 yr Author 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!
August 15, 20232 yr 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.
August 15, 20232 yr Author 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.
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