Subadozer

Yes, I think here is at least one place the Amsoil bias enters in here and there's nothing a 3rd party can do to fix that. At least there's full disclosure on the apples to oranges comparison. When I switched to the European Formula from Amsoil OEM (which I was getting cheaper than Rotella T6) I wanted to extend beyond the 3,750 OCI I had been following but refused to do so without UOA's. I went just under and just over 8,000 on the 2 changes before switching to their Signature Series, which is the same price (pay $20 a year and you get wholesale prices on everything, gallons of the SS/European are $30.65). My first UOA of the SS plus over-advance CEL's about the same time is what resulted in my long-awaited installation of my BNR 16g, IP&T oil line, etc. I'll be very curious to see the UOA upcoming in about 1k miles, now that I don't have a VF-40 with a stuck waste gate and the turbine wearing away at the housing. If I can get my OCI up to a consistent 8-10,000 confirmed by UOA then I will be satisfied.

Because it's on the Amsoil site you might find this report on testing of 10 different oils to be biased but the testing was done by a "3rd party" lab. I found it interesting none the less because of what it showed about the various aspects of synthetic oil. http://www.amsoil.com/lit/g3115.pdf I've only got about 4,000 miles on my 16g so am no help on the longevity issue. However the kind of customer service that Bryan provides is top notch and to me that is worth a lot.

It's probably one of those things that there are so many things to line up that a fraction of a degree off on something dominoes to other alignments, which might also be really difficult to get 100% spot-on. I know Bryan disliked the hassles of the core system but I wonder if he's willing to still do rebuilds if the price is right (...he says with an available core for sale ). I suspect one of the advantages of the new castings is that his milling time is reduced or eliminated.

When I first owned mine I asked a dealer service writer about it. She seemed to be quite knowledgeable on the topic but said it was an expensive job to have done and that she didn't think the risk was worth the money. (that dealer had serviced the car for a good share of its life up through the 60,000 mile service...it was at 90k at that point) She said they usually only did it as part of turbo service.

I looked at the 16g as reliability insurance and the upgrade feature was icing on the cake. I'm just thankful I got the old one out before it caused serious damage.

I'm sure it's much better for all involved and I'm truly glad that you've been so successful to be able to do this. Unfortunately I waited too long to get my rebuilt version in and now the bottom has dropped out of the used VF-40 market.

It would appear that the DS one is less prone to getting clogged. When I pulled mine that one was still about 75% clear but the turbo one was only 50%. It's been replaced with the IP&T filtered oil line. I put a new filtered bolt back in on the DS but ground off the nipple so it can be more easily removed for inspection.

Spotted 2 LGT sedans within 10 minutes of each other in western CT. The first was a silver headed up Nob Hill Rd toward Weir Farm National Park at 5:00. The other was a medium blue headed south on route 7 toward Branchville at about 5:10. I was driving a silver work van so it's unlikely you would have noticed me.

It's easy to reverse them. I considered doing this when I did mine this past winter but the flow through the bolt and filter is reversed so it's not a good idea. I think that the protocol is that the bolts with the raised section have filters and the ones that are flat do not. Looks like somebody may have done the switch with yours, thinking that it would be easier to service the filter. Using Mike's directions you should be able to switch them back without the added hassle of grinding off the nub while the bolt is installed down behind the timing system cover.

Timing belt should be done about this mileage. It's not an inexpensive job to hire done but gives you easier access to the left side filtered AVCS bolt. Ideally it should be replaced with a filtered bolt with the nipple ground off the top. No I used the Hammer Down method.

As a guide on how much might it be worth to access the driver's side filter, I recently pulled both (~156k with only partially known previous OCI history). The turbo side was blocked about 50% and the driver side was still clear by about 75%. Obviously your car might be different. I replaced the turbo side with the IP&T filtered oil line and the other side with a new filtered bolt with the nipple on the top ground off to make it easier to remove if there's a next time.

The GRP has been gone for a few weeks. Probably went to auction. No chance of seeing you today as I'm down in VA for work. Although the car's still up home so there's a chance you could see that.

From the looks of your pictures there's been some significant design changes between the 4th and 5th gen as relates to the accessibility of some of the turbo fittings such as the oil return line. Even though not applicable to my situation I found your information interesting and I'm sure the 5th gen folks will find it very helpful.

Yesterday mid-afternoon: light (silver or white) LGT sedan in the parking lot of Sidney, NY Price Chopper. Obviously didn't get a close look but appeared to be a woman driving. Likely DD and not on here.

I just finished doing mine. Had over-advance CEL's and dealer wanted $1,000 +/- $200 depending on if they could replace the banjo bolt w/o removing the turbo. That was for 2 new OCV's and replacement of the d/s AVCS filtered banjo and the turbo banjo. I didn't want to put this on a CC and didn't have the money so tore into it since I had the IP&T oil line sitting in a drawer. I was so close to the turbo I decided I better drop the DP and check it and it was bad enough that I decided it was time to install the 16g and the STi UP that have been on my shelf for 2 years. Hope it makes you feel better, it took me about 6 partial days to finally get it all back together and then messing around with the results of a coolant leak and forgetting to fully tighten the fittings onto the new in-line oil filter. I figured I saved +/- $2k and you've confirmed that.