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Should i run a dif oil? Suggestions??


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My 97 LGT is just about to turn over 184K miles. I am the second owner and know the complete history of the car. That being said its gotten 5W30 synthetic(Mobil 1 etc) since it was new. I know that oil is kinda thin. I was wondering if there might be a better choice for a higher mileage car? Would it hurt anything switching to a thicker oil since the car has always had synthetic in it? If i should run something dif any suggestions? Keep the same weight oil?
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5w 30 is not recommended for hotter climates. i doubt PA qualifies as a hotter climate.

10w30 is recommended for most climates EXCEPT extremely hot or cold. i would run 10w30 since that is the factory spec. but seeing as how the engine has made it this far on the 5w i doubt it makes a difference.

 

but more important than the type of oil is the fact that you change it. i don't think 180k is a significant mileage for selecting a different oil. but oil is one of those things where everyone has an opinion and everyone has a favorite. and we all have a reason it.

 

happy motoring.

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interesting write up. it is so extreme i do not know if i can believe it. but i thought you would enjoy the read.

 

 

Well, I worked for Mobil Oil when Mobil 1 was developed. We used two test fleets.... Took the engines apart in each fleet and measured all engine tolerances related to oil wear affected parts before the beginning of the test. Both fleets of cars were driven for 100,000 miles. The Mobil 1 test fleet did NOT have the oil changed for 100,000 miles, BUT the filter was changed every 3,000 miles and the filter oil loss was added. The other test fleet of cars with conventional oil had the oil and filter changed every 3,000 miles. Every 3,000 miles the engines in both test fleets were torn down and measured. After 100,000 miles the Mobil 1 fleet showed less wear than the conventional oil fleet showed after 3,000 miles.

 

Since the mid 70's I have only used synthetic oil in my cars. I have never had an engine problem. I have always changed to synthetic at 3,000 miles and then followed the car company interval which ranges from 3,000 miles to 15,000 miles (BMW). Subaru has gone to synthetic oil in the 2013 Outback. On a new Outback they want the oil and filter changed at 3,000 miles and then 7,500 mile intervals. With synthetic oil one can go beyond the change interval without too much worry. Note that the filter size on the new 2013 Outback is fairly small, which is why I would not extend out the interval. If you ever saw a BMW oil filter you would recognize why they are able to push out the interval to 15,000 miles.

 

I would not recommend synthetic oil on an older car where conventional oil has been used for multiple years.... The engine wear is already done. Synthetic oil will have little benefit and if anything may show up as leaks in the gasket areas etc....

 

My 2 cents worth... I hope this helps...

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How expensive is the Rotella T6 oil?

Also what oil filters do you guys run?

 

21$ for a gallon at tractor suppply co

 

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

About the same at Walmart. Quarts run about $6.50.

 

Dang... It cost $14 for a 5 quart container at the Walmart by me...

 

I run this oil until it starts to get cold. Then I switch to 10W-40. Then when it starts getting really cold I switch to 5W-30.

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SO is there a weight thats safe to run year round here in SE PA? Sorry for all these noob sounding questions, but just trying to go with what will make my car LAST and be happy! I change the oil at regular intervals so no worries there
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SO is there a weight thats safe to run year round here in SE PA? Sorry for all these noob sounding questions, but just trying to go with what will make my car LAST and be happy! I change the oil at regular intervals so no worries there

 

Just run rotella 5w-40. It's readily available, cheap, and known to play nicely with our cars.

"Bullet-proof" your OEM TMIC! <<Buy your kit here>>

 

Not currently in stock :(

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anyone with a turbo Ej engine loves rotella t6, good to hear it runs just as well in the N/A subaru's. From wrx owners perspectives if they even ran mobil 1 5w-30 in their cars it would degrade quickly and burn and leave lots of residue. Because it is a parrafin based oil(which really can't handle the temperature a turbo puts out) where as rotella t6 is not.

 

Old motorcycles cannot use the garbage oil produced for them in this day and age, but they all love rotella! so do Semis, generators and tanks. where as VW has agreements with motul and castrol on their oil preference, all the service guys quietly dump rotella into their engine, it is seriously the best bang for your buck in an engine oil.

 

 

I run straight t6 in my ej20, It had recieved motul prior to that as a superior oil but I wouldn't pay for motul on a daily driver.

 

Even my tercel gets 50/50 Rotella T6 / Pnzoil Platinum Basically 2 shell synthetic oils with the same base packages that I blended together to attain 5w-30 , that thing gets the oil changed every 6500k miles and still looks clean.

 

Also on my tercel I run a oil filter for a Camry, it allows the same oil pressure through it but holds an extra .3 Litres of oil which takes my tercel from 2.9L to 3.2L. More oil means that the oil will take longer to become dirty and will dissipate heat better, as well as the larger filter being able to capture more before having its bypass fail and all your oil circulate and do whatever the hell it wants. I don't know if anyone has done this on a Subie, but the results would not be as dramatic because ej25 holds upwards of 4 litres to begin with I think??? my ej20 takes 4.8 nearly a full jug of rotella.

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What I am trying to get at though is if your paying for synthetic oil, you should not be changing your oil every 3k miles. If you are your wasting money and time.

 

 

I worked as a lube tech for 6 months last year and another tip I have for you is after all the oil has drained out of your car pour .2l of new oil in and watch it flush another .5L of crappy oil out of your engine. We never did this or even allowed it to fully drip dry doing 15 minute oil changes all day long and after having the customer start there vehicle you could see the colour of the oil already degrade. If your engine is contaminated with shit when you put the oil in it will dirty up way faster. and while you throw out the .2L of fresh oil it should make up for the difference in keeping the oil clean and in the engine longer,

 

Just things I have noticed. I drive 27k miles a year and have done over 1000 oil changes (lamest job ever.)

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Also on my tercel I run a oil filter for a Camry, it allows the same oil pressure through it but holds an extra .3 Litres of oil which takes my tercel from 2.9L to 3.2L. More oil means that the oil will take longer to become dirty and will dissipate heat better, as well as the larger filter being able to capture more before having its bypass fail and all your oil circulate and do whatever the hell it wants. I don't know if anyone has done this on a Subie, but the results would not be as dramatic because ej25 holds upwards of 4 litres to begin with I think??? my ej20 takes 4.8 nearly a full jug of rotella

 

Not to jack this thread but I have a question.

Considering that I have a hybrid (25D top-end/22E bottom-end), does this mean that my oil capacity has increased from the stock 22E?

I would imagine so because of the bigger heads but I would like that verified because if that's true, that would mean I would probably have to run a slightly larger filter than the Subaru blue or the Mobil 1 to compensate for that increased oil capacity.

Any word on this would be appreciated :)

I started using the conventional stuff to wear the heads & block in together but switched to 50% Rotella T6/50% semi-synthetic Valvoline after a cam seal leak incident.

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Not to jack this thread but I have a question.

Considering that I have a hybrid (25D top-end/22E bottom-end), does this mean that my oil capacity has increased from the stock 22E?

I would imagine so because of the bigger heads but I would like that verified because if that's true, that would mean I would probably have to run a slightly larger filter than the Subaru blue or the Mobil 1 to compensate for that increased oil capacity.

Any word on this would be appreciated :)

I started using the conventional stuff to wear the heads & block in together but switched to 50% Rotella T6/50% semi-synthetic Valvoline after a cam seal leak incident.

 

 

I am really not sure on this as it depends on the clearance or amount of oil that flows through the top end while your engine is in operation. you would assume bigger heads have more oil flowing around them so in theory your oil capacity would have increased slightly. so your oil pump could be working harder to keep your oil pressure up if it is low on oil. you wont need to change oil filters however your dipstick may not give a 100% accurate representation of whats going on.

 

If things were 50/50 and 22e is 4.0L and a 25D is 4.5 you would be .25L short running it at 4.0l. I am not saying they are though Boxer engines don't mind being overfilled a little bit anyways. if it were my car I might top it up to 4.1 but I would continue to search for answer hopefully someone else can chime in

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i'm not sure how much more oil the 25D heads will use. but i do know the ej25D has a larger oil pan. so for safety sake i i would probably use the larger oil pan and the more oil that requires.

 

i don't think you want to over fill the 22E oil pan since at some point it may reach the crank and rods which could cause it to aerate the oil making it foamy.

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