so i got a 01 2.5 legacy with 122,000.....just did the head gaskets, water pump, t-belt and tensioner, crank seal, cam seals, blah blah blah got a pretty good deal, cost me $180 for labor. anyway yeah it has the wonderful piston slap that for the most part goes away when warmed. the engine looked like new inside. no sludge or carbon build up of any kind and the cylinders still looked like new. i've in the past and in previous subarus had great results with mobil clean 5000, 5w-30....should i continue with this oil or is there maybe something else out there that may help quiet the piston slap that i could try such as the clean 7500 which is a synthetic blend? any input??? i'm in western pa and spend my winter up in the mountain skiing so i can't go to thick.....

I'd just keep on using that oil if it's treated you well. If you search USMB long enough, you'll find that pretty much *everything* has been used in these cars.

 

- Scott

I'd just keep on using that oil if it's treated you well. If you search USMB long enough, you'll find that pretty much *everything* has been used in these cars.

 

- Scott

oh i've searched around i know, lol...just curious as to see if some others have had better results with a certain brand of oil....i'm going to change it this week and was thinking about maybe trying something different...

its a subaru...just throw some water in there.

that was a good deal getting all that work done for $180 in labor. I am sure that was not work done at a stealership.

 

As far as oil is concerned, I use Wal-Mart brand oil. My cars are high milage over 100K miles on both. In the summer I use their 20w 50 weight. In the winter, I use their 10w 40 weight. It can get pretty cold here in Indiana, and haven't had any trouble starting in the winter. My mechanic was the one who suggested using 20w 50 weight oil in any car with more than 100K miles on the odo in all seasons except for winter.

or is there maybe something else out there that may help quiet the piston slap that i could try

My soobs run quietest on amsoil TRO 20W-50 racing oil. Have run it in Buffalo winters without any issues; a little slow cranking at startup maybe but started up nonetheless.

If you're looking for an oil that will eliminate noises more when you start up, you need to make the first number (the W part, for the viscocity it will behave like when cold) slightly higher. If you've been using 5W-30, give 10W30 a try. They'll both warm up to a 30-weight when they come up to temperature, but the 10W-30 will start out slightly thicker when cold...especially running something synthetic, since they'll hold better pour-ability when really cold.

Oh, and if something says "synthetic blend", that could be 50/50, or could be nearly all conventional, with a couple synthetic portions added. my opinion: go synthetic, or don't. They both (conventional and synthetic) have their purposes and both will treat you great when used correctly.

~Erik~

Oils need only contain ~30% synthetic to label themselves "synthetic blends". So I doubt any have as much as 50%.

so i got a 01 2.5 legacy with 122,000.....just did the head gaskets, water pump, t-belt and tensioner, crank seal, cam seals, blah blah blah got a pretty good deal, cost me $180 for labor. anyway yeah it has the wonderful piston slap that for the most part goes away when warmed. the engine looked like new inside. no sludge or carbon build up of any kind and the cylinders still looked like new. i've in the past and in previous subarus had great results with mobil clean 5000, 5w-30....should i continue with this oil or is there maybe something else out there that may help quiet the piston slap that i could try such as the clean 7500 which is a synthetic blend? any input??? i'm in western pa and spend my winter up in the mountain skiing so i can't go to thick.....

You might give full syn a shot. I run Mobil 1 in my cars and it curred the tick of death on my car.

Ok lemme give you an actual side by side comparison.

 

I had a 97 2.2L legacy auto.

Had piston slap when cold and once warmed to full op temp was nearly(nearly) gone.

It was like this when I bought it.

I changed the oil to Mobil 1 10w30 full syn. and the piston slap was always there.

Never really went away when car had warmed up .

Now remember before , I said piston slap was elimintaed when I was using dino before, once the car was at op temp.

So I drove with the Mobil 1 for 1500 miles and iy never changed.

constant piston slap, just not as bad once warm, but still more pronounce then when I was running dino oil.

I switched back to dino oil using Dello 15w40 and the piston slap was minor .

It was the best its ever been when cold and completly eliminated once at op temp.

Just a thought and it worked for me.

Dello is good oil and decently priced.

Did you know? Just because it says 100% synthetic, dont mean that it is, Highly refined petroleum products are allowed to be classified synthetic. It never ends. ed

When i read the http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ i wanted the Schaeffer oil but no way to get it here in Europe.

I changed oil to 'Kroon Olie' (a proper dutch brand) half synthetic and it stopped the leaking at the filler cap. Engine runs nice and gets to temperature smooth.

On http://verifier.rust.biz/oil.htm are also some hints and tips. On the bottom there is this oil chart. stating you should always get at least ( for the sentence) API SH.

 

Think good oil filter is also very important. Problem again is that i dunno those brands like Fram and purolator, never seen them here. If i get the original from the dealer/stealer it costs me 14 euros (about $$22, uhmm well exhange rate is bit bad)