I must agree with Setright, 3k is way too short on a regular basis.

I love a good oil arguement. I run canola oil.

I just use the 5w30 conventional oil at 3750 miles in my new WRX. That is all Subaru recommends so it hopefully its safe even with Turbo. I really meet parameters for the normal schedule of 7500 miles however I am presuming that NH may meet the cold parameter. What is cold???? NH is in comparison to South however not to Northern Canada?

Ok i must correct myself Mobil one every 7K.....not 3K....sparkster

Pugelly, cold is mainly a concern on starting. If you do a lot of short journeys, like only a few miles, and leave the car for more than hour between drives, you are cold starting often and a colder climate will cause more condensation in your engine. If you run long journeys, outside temp is not a big issue.

Pugelly, cold is mainly a concern on starting. If you do a lot of short journeys, like only a few miles, and leave the car for more than hour between drives, you are cold starting often and a colder climate will cause more condensation in your engine. If you run long journeys, outside temp is not a big issue.

Actually thank you for the answer. The nearest anything that I would even stop at is about 10 minutes away and I get up to highway speed within three minutes of leaving my house typically so car is fully warmed quickly. So I guess I don't fall into the cold category.

I would tend to agree with most comments on this report.

 

But I can say that with synthetic oil I get 2-3 more mpg and no noise at start up no matter how cold or how many days since the car was driven.

 

Have you ever done the math to see how many miles you would have to do to get a return on your investment ?..(the added cost of Synth vs 2-3 mpg).

I just about break even using Amsoil oil and filters out to 7500 miles vs. using Pennzoil and Napa Gold filters every 3000 miles.

 

Lets say over a 15k miles span. Costs are estimated but should be pretty close.

 

Amsoil

 

Oil 5 qts x $4.50 x 2 oil changes = $45.00

Filter $8.50 x 2 oil changes = $17.00

 

Total = $62.00

 

Pennzoil

 

Oil 5 qts x $1.20 x 5 oil changes = $30.00

Filter $5.00 x 5 oil changes = $25.00

 

Total = $55.00

 

Add in my time savings (3 fewer oil changes) and even at minimum wage it's a financial no-brainer. That's why I chose 7500 mile intervals, I feel it's safe and is pretty close to break even. I am not even counting the slight fuel economy benefit.

Yeah and when you stretch it out to 10 or 15K the savings are even more.

I love a good oil arguement. I run canola oil.

I run KY in my subaru!

 

Gotta love the 'what kind of oil' threads. Wonder how many are archived on the USMB...

i notice when i use KY the hornet it seems to slip and slide more than often..ahhahah:lol:

My gawd people. I've been reading for so long I forgot who even asked the question or what it was about. Anyways, my .02 cents on oil. I used to run valvoline. My buddy from wyotech told me they were taught that the best oils were #1 shell, #2 walmart store brand. (weird eh.) Anyways after installing an oil pressure gauge on one of my cars a while back and running a different brand of oil on every oil change. From my experience halvoline and shell had the most constant oil pressure. The other oils always seemed to fluxuate (sp). I'll never run valvoline or penzoil again. Never did check out modile 1 or castrol though.

My one and only experience with synthetic. Dropped it into an engine with 132k miles. (non subaru engine) Drove for about 500 miles. Rear main seal leaked so un gawdly bad. So then stupid me. (this was the younger years) I bought a mechanic in a bottle called cr2 or something like that. Was supposed to cause swelling of the seals to make them stop leaking. Oh yeah they swelled alright. Instead of just a rear main seal, I needed the front seal, cam shaft seals, valve cover gasket, and oil pan gasket. I can't beleive I actually paid 3 dollars to have my engine become super leaky.

Anyways I usually just run shell 10w40 or 5w40 when I can find it. And the usually fram oil filter. Mobile 1 and K&N oil filters are only about 15 microns absolute, and if I recal the frams are 22 microns. Don't qoute me on this cause I can remember. But it's really not too much of a difference.

I've got over 285,000 miles on my '83..engine has never had any major surgery. I asked the original (and only previous) owner about oil, and she used "whatever the mechanic used". I have used whatever brand was on sale (anything except Pennz), with usually OEM Subaru and sometimes Amsoil brand filters. I've experienced absolutely no oil-related (or any, for that matter) engine problems or leaks. My change interval has been 4500-5000 miles.

 

I'd rather not extend the change interval, figuring oil change day is also a good time to have a look around under the car, and every 5000 miles or so has worked for me.

 

Just my 2 bucks