On my EA82T. 54,000 miles. Been sitting for a while (Couple years..2?) Anyway, Me, Hocrest and Dennis are doing new timing belts, cam seals, oil pump and I will probably do new water pump, tune-up etc later on but I was curious what the general concensus says. Should I start using synthetic or should I use regular oil? What weight do you guys recommend? 20W50? Clue me in. Boz

Tim, is it because the rings haven't seated yet due to the lack of friction? CCR makes a fine product, I am surprised that it is having this problem. Keep us posted, thanks.

I'm a fan of Valvoline Durablend (10w30 for my GL). My '86 Chev Suburban has 300k miles on the original motor (ya it's getting tired) and has run Durablend since Valvoline came out with it in about 1990. My 87 GL wagon has about 120K on a Jap replacement engine (assuming 50K on it when I got it) and runs like a top, uses zero oil, no smoke, etc. Durablend is a petroleum/synthetic blend and in my mind provides the best of both. I used to use Castrol and I know a lot of people like it, but back in the mid 80s I got a Kawasaki dealer bulletin stating not to use it in the 900 Ninjas because they were having problems with cam lobe wear. I have not used it since. That was a lot of years ago.... probably not an issue now.

 

Tim, have you talked to CCR about your issue. I've always been under the impression that synthetic shoud not be used in a new motor because of the ring seat problem. Frugil is a good thing but I wouldn't take the chance that the synthetic might cause a long term problem by not allowing the correct initial wear patterns in the motor. Kiss your $22 good by and go get some dino oil.

I like Castrol GTX 20w50 High mileage with some MMO in it. Made my engine sound the quietest and leaked the least. (I didn't really seal my valve covers or oil pan gasket as good as I could have, but at least it doesn't leak much. Maybe a couple small drops a night.)

subarus use a chrome top piston ring...never , never use a synthetic oil for the brake-in (however long that may be)??

OK, Since I didn't do a rebuild, I am assuming the general concensus says it is safe to use synthetic. The motor is already broken in. Anyone care to challenge this? If not I think I may try it. Boz

if you can afford the synthetic oil..go for it..it really depends if your driving is in the extreme ranges of very cold or very hot weather...remember, oil still gets dirty, so the filter interval change must remain the same....mobil oil did the million mile challenge with regular dino on a contast driving machine with very little wear on the rings etc....my own experience with highway driving on my 86 has 250,000mi./compression 165lb/cyl...oil/ filter changed every 3000 mi. with 10/30 castrol all year long....the heads have recently been rebuilt ..take care

I wonder how long break-in really is for a new subaru engine...???

 

I use Mobil 1 synth 10w30 in my GL-10. The RX will have that soon.