Synthetic oil or not?

Say What? (some dealer or lube lab has scammed you.) zero

I'm getting ready to by a 2004 Forester XS. I will be installing the following as far as lubricants and filtration after about 2000 miles.

Automatic Trans:

Differentials: (I'm assuming they are not sealed) Engine:

Air Filter:

I assume that I will get a significant improvement in fuel economy as I did with out 98 Dodge Intrepid. 31 to 32 MPG's HWY over stickered

28 or 29 MPG's (Can't remember)

I'm excited to own my first Subaru. Been test driving Honda's CRV and Forester and the Forester wins hands down!

Regards,

David Reid

Living in Ottawa. I've used synthetic for the past 5 years in my last car and now my subaru. Makes a noticeable difference in -30degrees Celcius cold starts.

Don't notice any other benefits, but that alone is enough for me to bear the extra cost.

HTH

Hi,

Over the years I've tried Amsoil, Mobil 1 and Castrol Syntec. They all have their benefits over dino oil. Fuel savings of a "significant" amount were not one of them. Best I saw was about 2.5% on long trips. On a 25 mpg vehicle, that's all of ~0.6 mpg. "Normal" driving returned from

0% to maybe 1%. Any of these numbers are well within the range I see with weather changes and other variables, so I never put much stock in the claims of better mileage.

But... this is where YMMV originated! Every engine, every driver, and all our driving conditions vary, so you MAY see much better results. Please let us know!

Rick

Cold climate operation strikes me as the most compelling reason to go synthetic. My only reservation is that now, with my turbo, will synthetic prolong engine (especially turbo) life? If so, is the savings from prolonged life greater than the extra cost of synthetic? HW

Re: Cold climate operation - I agree! - I can't stand the sound of an engine struggling to turn over. Makes my teeth ache.

As far as prolonging life... Don't really know if there is an answer to this one. My last car (86 Honda Accord) - was running strong at 365000kms - The majority of that was dino oil.... I changed to synth late in engine life - and no, I had no problems with leaks, as can occur when changing to synthetic in a high mileage engine.

There's also lots of people out there with extremely high mileage engines who have always run dino oil only. And of course, same goes for synthetic oil users...

My personal opinion: Regular maintenance and oil changes are the secret for long engine life. Use Dino oil or use Synthetic. Just change it regularly (I change my synthetic every 5-6000 kms).

As far as your turbo is concerned, I'm fairly sure my dealership recommends synthetic oil for the wrx... don't know what the owner's manual says though, and don't know the reasoning behind it...

:)

HTH

There is a huge difference in the winters in different parts of Canada. What are your other cold weather plans...screw in block heater? Unless the conditions are extreme I think the synthetic would be a waste. TG

I would like to see this, I think it is not legal for synthetic motor oil to be required...do you have a document you could post please? TG

That's better than my 0.0 TG

TG, would be dealing with average lows of about -17C for Jan and Feb. Have a block heater, but I have had times in the past when I have come out only to find the plug had not made proper contact and had not come on (extension cord female plug gets stiff in cold making it difficult to push male in -and yes its a winter rated cord).

Also the car is not a daily driver so it gets used a bit more on the spur of the moment, so the block heater isn't used a great deal of the time.

F.Plant

OK, that's not too cold but still Synthetic would help. I am not a believer in synthetic for the average driver, especially if you still change it often. The extended drain intervals of some of the 100% synthetics is the only advantage I really see. I do use synthetic in one vehicle and change it every 35,000 miles (about 9 months). I recommend the AMSOIL Series 2000 Synthetic 0W-30 Motor Oil.

snip One of the problems I have moving to synthetic is that for me, for 3/4 of the year it will be overkill. Since I'm under warranty I assume Subaru will still require the standard oil change schedule. Any idea of the downside of using regular oil for the off season oil changes and synthetic for only the winter?

F. Plant

The STi comes with synthetic oil and Subaru Canada recommends MOTUL. However, it is certainly not required for the warranty here. However, since they do reccommed it for the car, I am using it.

I switch back and forth all the time. Spring a slight leak now and then but don't believe that's the oil. TG

Why?

Sometimes I'm due for an oilchange and the dealer is out of the synthetic I use (Amsoil), sometimes Castrol or something is so cheap at Walmart I just buy it. TG

If you are parking outside and you are in any part of Canada where hell freezes over in the winter, you will find it turns over and starts easier with synthetic. Try a quick test. Put the same amount of 5W30 dino and some 5W30 synthetic in two small containers in your freezer. Leave it for a few hours, then pour both out and see how long each takes to pour. You should see a big difference on how the synthetic flows vs. dino at -20C. Brian