'13 WRX: FF 5w30 3,002 mi / Edge OE 5w30 4,048 mi

[WRX12tt]

Hi, I've been lurking for a while and finally have some UOAs to post. First was the factory fill. Then, I started with Castrol Edge OE Professional 5w30 for its shear stability. Paired it with an OEM Subaru filter. 50-75% of a can of Lubro-Moly MOS2 was added to keep moly levels up for break in period (as the factory fill is moly-loaded it seems). I like the oil, but I don't think it fully meets warranty requirements as it's not "Resource Conserving". '11+ WRXs require either GF-4, GF-5, RC SM or RC SN 5w30. As many Subaru owners know, oils seem to shear down to thinner oils quite badly in these engines and the bearings can suffer (as it seems from reading).

Subaru recommends 7,500 mi OCIs, but I'm currently feeling around in different oils with shorter OCIs. Currently in the car is a fill of PP and I have a bottle of PU for the fill after that. My quest is to find the best fully compliant oil for this application that will stay a 30-grade. Any comments, suggestions or advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Edit: not sure why the code field got so messed up. It seemed aligned in the field. I'll have to try and figure out how to fix that. Here's a pic of the UOA in the meantime. Left is the Edge OE and right is Factory fill.

Code:


Oil---------------------- Factory Fill -------- Edge OE 5w30--------------------------- Universal Averages

Miles In Use 3,002 4,048

Miles on Unit 3,002 7,050

Date Changed 2/1/13 5/10/13

Make up Oil Added--------- 0 Qts. ----------------- 0 Qts.



Aluminum--------------------------- 7 ------------------------- 9 ---------------------------------------- 4

Chromium 1 1 1

Iron 34 16 9

Copper 27 9 9

Lead--------------------------------- 0 -------------------------- 0 ---------------------------------------- 3

Tin 4 3 1

Molybdenum 1079 435 72

Nickel 0 0 0

Manganese 2 1 1

Silver-------------------------------- 2 ------------------------- 1 ---------------------------------------- 0

Titanium 0 1 0

Potassium 2 2 2

Boron 198 26 46

Silicon 89 19 11

Sodium------------------------------- 8 ------------------------- 6 --------------------------------------- 28

Calcium 2105 1777 2006

Magnesium 12 6 369

Phosphorous 892 680 810

Zinc------------------------------- 1082 --------------------- 802 960

Barium 2 1 0



SUS Viscosity @ 210F------ 52.4 --------------------- 66.1

cSt Viscosity @ 100C 7.99 11.91

Flashpoint in F 405 435

Fuel
Antifreeze %--------------------- 0.0 0.0

Water %. 0.0 0.0

Insolubles % 0.2 0.3

TBN N/A 2.8

 

[WRX12tt]

I'm generally pretty easy on the car on the street and I drive 75% highway miles. The car sees one or two autocross events a month during the summer.

 

[KHP]

PU is an excellent oil for our engines. I run PU for the full 7,500 mile duration and it does not shear. I'll post a link to my PU UOA's so that you can see how my engine matches with the oil. Your early trend looks close to mine.

*EDIT*
Check out my UOA's HERE.

 

[skyactiv]

I'd definitely use something that wouldn't jeopardize the warranty.

I'm the original owner of an 07' WRX that has 126K on it.
I think WRX bearing issues happens when negligent owners don't check their oil and it gets too low. Whens the last time you've seen someone check their oil? I've used 5W30 Valvoline Synpower more than anything else. I've done a UOA with that oil and it thinned out to a 20W.

If your overly concerned, it seems the only thing you can do is use an unofficial oil viscosity since the WRX/STi is hard on fuel efficient 5W30's.
I wouldn't be scared at all to use Pennzoil Platinum 5W30.

 

[chubbs1]

Where do you get Castrol OE? Is it a dealership oil?

I think you really have a nice engine on your hands. I can't recommend an oil because if you are going to use a major 'Syn" you cant really go wrong with any of them in my book. Just pick what is on sale.

 

[WRX12tt]

Originally Posted By: KHP
PU is an excellent oil for our engines. I run PU for the full 7,500 mile duration and it does not shear. I'll post a link to my PU UOA's so that you can see how my engine matches with the oil. Your early trend looks close to mine.

*EDIT*
Check out my UOA's HERE.

Thanks for the link! PU does seem like a good fit. Seems much better than the M1 in your earlier UOAs. At least from what I can tell from shearing, I'm not too educated on the other aspects of oil yet. The TBN on The PU is the same as my Castrol with 3,500 more miles on it. Seems like there's some good additives in PU.

My main issue is finding PU for future oil changes. All the WalMarts in CO have the PU discontinued. I got one of the last bottles on closeout, now there are no stores that carry it in CO according to their website. Not sure where else I can buy it, the auto parts stores don't seem to carry it.

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
I'd definitely use something that wouldn't jeopardize the warranty.

I'm the original owner of an 07' WRX that has 126K on it.
I think WRX bearing issues happens when negligent owners don't check their oil and it gets too low. Whens the last time you've seen someone check their oil? I've used 5W30 Valvoline Synpower more than anything else. I've done a UOA with that oil and it thinned out to a 20W.

If your overly concerned, it seems the only thing you can do is use an unofficial oil viscosity since the WRX/STi is hard on fuel efficient 5W30's.
I wouldn't be scared at all to use Pennzoil Platinum 5W30.

Good to know, thanks. I'm not overly concerned, I just want to find the best oil that meets warranty requirements. I thought the Castrol OE met requirements, so I used it. In the middle of the OCI I found out it only meets the engine protection requirements of GF-4, not the fuel economy requirements. And even though it's SN, it's not "Resource Conserving". Hence, my switch to PP/PU to see how it does.

Originally Posted By: chubbs1
Where do you get Castrol OE? Is it a dealership oil?

I think you really have a nice engine on your hands. I can't recommend an oil because if you are going to use a major 'Syn" you cant really go wrong with any of them in my book. Just pick what is on sale.

Yeah, I purchased it at a VW dealer. I couldn't find it anywhere else.

Thanks! Yeah, synthetic is required according to the owner's manual. Just want to err on the cautious side and go with the thicker major syn oils.


Also...these UOAs had a lot of winter driving and idling. And it's been in the dry CO climate FWIW. All changes will use the OEM Subaru filter.

 

[randomhero439]

I would say for a high performance synthetic, Pennzoil Ultra is hands down a clear overall winner. When rating quality, avalibility & price. My current fill is 0w-30 with plenty of autocross events on it, i plan on sampling this fill. Im gonna run Ultra 5w-20, again, and see how it holds up to autocross, and compare it to the 0w-30.

Im always curious if i should bump up a grade since i autocross frequently, and my car is co-driven occasionally. I guess this test will find out!

FYI, i had a really good UOA with Ultra earlier.

Ultra UOA

No autocross on this sample. But it did see dyno time and quite a few WOT pulls on top of that.

 

[KHP]

Originally Posted By: WRX12tt
Thanks for the link! PU does seem like a good fit. Seems much better than the M1 in your earlier UOAs. At least from what I can tell from shearing, I'm not too educated on the other aspects of oil yet. The TBN on The PU is the same as my Castrol with 3,500 more miles on it. Seems like there's some good additives in PU.

My main issue is finding PU for future oil changes. All the WalMarts in CO have the PU discontinued. I got one of the last bottles on closeout, now there are no stores that carry it in CO according to their website. Not sure where else I can buy it, the auto parts stores don't seem to carry it.


No problem lol. Yeah unfortunately PU supply is now very limited. You maybe able to purchase them through your local oil distributor or other auto parts chains(like auto zone). Unfortunately they don't come close to matching WM every day price of $21-$27 for 5Qt jug. Most I've seen is +$9/Qt.

I stashed up when I started reading rumors of WM dropping PU. I ended up with about 42Qts at ~$3/qt after rebates. I should good for the next +78,000 miles. What a shame that it's not easily available now.

Please if you get PP SN 5w30 UOA please share it with us as I haven't seen a turbo Subaru run that particular oil yet. Hopefully it's just as shear resistant as PU.

 

[WRX12tt]

Originally Posted By: randomhero439
I would say for a high performance synthetic, Pennzoil Ultra is hands down a clear overall winner. When rating quality, avalibility & price. My current fill is 0w-30 with plenty of autocross events on it, i plan on sampling this fill. Im gonna run Ultra 5w-20, again, and see how it holds up to autocross, and compare it to the 0w-30.

Im always curious if i should bump up a grade since i autocross frequently, and my car is co-driven occasionally. I guess this test will find out!

FYI, i had a really good UOA with Ultra earlier.

Ultra UOA

No autocross on this sample. But it did see dyno time and quite a few WOT pulls on top of that.


IMO, autocross isn't too hard on the engine/oil. But I usually have co-drivers at just about every event also, there's always back to back runs

my reasoning for wanting a "thicker" oil is because Subaru turbo engines are hard on oil, even when not driven hard. In a lot of UOAs I see, the oil shears down to a 20wt from a 30wt. I'm not an oil expert by any means, but I would think if the recommended oil holds weight than it is fine for the application. My previous car saw lots of autocross time and I was using M1 5w20.

Originally Posted By: KHP


No problem lol. Yeah unfortunately PU supply is now very limited. You maybe able to purchase them through your local oil distributor or other auto parts chains(like auto zone). Unfortunately they don't come close to matching WM every day price of $21-$27 for 5Qt jug. Most I've seen is +$9/Qt.

I stashed up when I started reading rumors of WM dropping PU. I ended up with about 42Qts at ~$3/qt after rebates. I should good for the next +78,000 miles. What a shame that it's not easily available now.

Please if you get PP SN 5w30 UOA please share it with us as I haven't seen a turbo Subaru run that particular oil yet. Hopefully it's just as shear resistant as PU.

I'll have to check if any other Autozones carry it, I've checked one and they didn't have it. That's nice you got so much stocked up! That will definitely get you out of the warranty and beyond, then you can run what you want.

I actually have PP in the car right now. I was in a time crunch to change the oil, and I couldn't find PU, so I bought the PP. I was hoping it was the same base oil (with the same shear stability) with only less of a detergent/additive package. I guess we'll see, I'll post it up when I get the results in a couple months. I found the bottle of PU after filling with PP.