1998 Outback,Synthetic Oil?

My personal opinion:

If the oil seals have not been changed and it's not leaking oil - DON'T CHANGE ANYTHING

If the oil seals have been replaced, just dump in Mobil 1 10W30 at the next change.

Reply to
Jim Stewart
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Hi, I have a 1998 Outback that I just recently purchased. I am getting ready to change the oil and would like to switch to a synthetic oil. Do I have to do anything special to make this happen ,and I am open to pros and cons on going to synthetics. Please let me know your thoughts. Thanks. Larry

Reply to
Larry

I also have a 98 Outback that has had Mobil 1 since its first oil change. Oil was regularly changed at 6K increments. At 84K miles it now has leaking front seals and spills oil on the exhaust.. I'm going to have the timing belt, water pump, and cam/chrank and oil pump seals changed but I'm going back to dino oil cause I think maybe the synthetic oil was to blame for the early seal failure.

Reply to
cocoon

Scooby's are known for seal problems, none of which can be attributed to the use of synthetic oils.

Reply to
Skweezieweezie

Original Synth Oil had a bad rep for getting past seals, but they now have seal conditioners in them to prevent this.

What you might do is change over gradually, out of four quarts replace one with the synth, and so one until you are changed over.

(The reason some have trouble is the old gunk in the motor can get cleaned out and with such a sudden purging small holes may get clogged. Gradual change over might be a good idea.) Same thing with other types of cleaners like MMO. Gradual is good.

Heck, just go with synth, what ever weight matches your outside temps.

The main things are:

- does the oil you choose meet or exceed the values set aside by the car manufacturers?

- does the oil viscosity range meet your environmental conditions (look in the owner's manual)?

Go for it.

If you need new seals (after five years?) then get new seals.

TBerk

Reply to
T

My *opinion* still stands. If the seals haven't been changed and it's not leaking, don't change anything. In fact, I'd say you'd be a fool to change anything, oilwise.

You are welcome to your opinion.

Reply to
Jim Stewart

I have a 1998 Outback Sport. I've put synthetic oil in it since I bought it, four years and sixty thousand miles ago. No special preparation is required to make the switch to synthetic -- just be sure you use the same weight of oil that the owner's manual recommends. (5/30 for the OBS -- might be different for the Legacy Outback.)

Reply to
Catherine Hampton

I had a truck that I switched to synthetic when I bought it; w/in 2000 miles the seals started leaking -- i've heard & read similar -- switching to synth sometimes "encourages" the seals to leak.

If you've got more than 50K I'd not switch...

of course, this is not "scientific" just my experience.

Reply to
Josh Assing

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