Hey guys,
Long time lurker on here, but I wanted to post this question because I couldn't find any info for a Subie STi, unless I totally f'd-up the search! Please steer me to any posts I've missed regarding my car, but if not - here's my info and question;
Background: I've got a 2010 Subaru Impreza STi and I've owned it since new. I've been running Motul 8100 Xcess (the newer, SM rated stuff, as I have a bottle in my garage that is SL-rated strangely enough) since I drained the factory dino fill at 3750 miles. I babied it during that break-in period and afterwards installed Cobb's Stage 1/91 octane off-the-shelf map (no bolt-on mods) and it's been running like a Swiss watch with ZERO oil consumption. My OCI's are between 3K and 3750 miles, only because I know how important frequent OCI's are with turbo cars and my dealer offers the Motul with filter and complete "Service A" for $150 CAD. OEM Subaru blue filter used always.
Question: Should I be using Motul's X-Lite due to the ester-based nature of the oil over the PAO 8100 Xcess? Or... is there another oil that someone with an '08+ STi has used with great results? I'm watching the issue of cracked ring-lands on the '08+ STi's with great attention and would like to use the best possible oil for both, my turbo application, as well as this cracked ring-land issue.
Sorry if this has been flogged to death, but I honestly couldn't find anything STi related on this forum.
Thanks guys!
2010 Subaru Impreza STi...
- Thread starter dantheman762
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Will keep you busy for a month!Ditch the OEM blue Subaru filter. The old black ones were the good ones with metal endcaps and plates and very large surface area. The new blue ones are made by Honeywell and share a lot of design traits as Fram filters. They're not terrible, but for the price you pay for OEM filters you can get a very decent aftermarket filter such as Bosch (Purolator Classic design) or a Purolator PureONE which has a lot more surface area, and a better internal construction. Many times if you get it with the engine oil specials at Autozone they are much cheaper than OEM.
Turbo Subaru motors do well with HDEO's and European grade oils. I have personally seen stellar UOA results using German Castrol 0w-30 and Shell Rotella T6, and only seen moderate results using Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30. Many people have gotten good UOA's on Pennzoil Platinum European 5w-40, but it's extremely difficult to find in the States, not sure about how easy it is to find in Canada. It also does well with Mobil 1 0w-40.
I can't offer any input on Motul oils, but your oil change interval is certainly much more often than necessary. It's not going to hurt anything by changing the oil often and if it makes you feel better, why the [censored] not.
Personally with Shell Rotella T6, the UOA lab has told me that the oil should be good for 10k miles according to TBN and viscosity but I usually chicken out by 8000 miles. My driving style is "drive it like you stole it" with multiple trips to redline at least a few times a day.
i recommended shell rotella 5w-40 with pureone filter for my friends 11 sti. runs awesome........
this oil is made for extended drains so dont be scared to go 5k+ with this oil
The search function is a little strange here, but there are new Subaru threads every other week. 
If you stick with Subaru's recommendation of 3,750 miles, I would probably go with GC. If you extend it a bit farther, or just want to use an ester based oil, then go with X-lite. Although X-cess is also a very good oil. I recently did a uoa on X-lite and it held up well and I hope my recent pcv valve replacement and valve cover gasket replacement should help my consumption.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2377438
And stick with the OEM Honeywells. I've been running them in three Subaru's from day one and they're fine. You'll find negative comments or pictures of cut up filters, but you won't find much DATA that they are an inferior oil filter. I used to suffer from Framaphobia like some people.
-DennisWhat bluesubie said! 
Originally Posted By: pengc99
Ditch the OEM blue Subaru filter... Purolator PureONE... German Castrol 0w-30... Pennzoil Platinum European 5w-40
Originally Posted By: DrivinWest
The Subaru blue filter is OEM in North America and made by Honeywell Canada. It's not the best unit, especially for the price.
Heck, the only reason I'm runnIng Honeywell is because I'm waiting for it to explode or something. In fact, the only time I had a problem (turbo failure) is when I didn't run OEM.
-DennisOriginally Posted By: bluesubie
Originally Posted By: DrivinWest
The Subaru blue filter is OEM in North America and made by Honeywell Canada. It's not the best unit, especially for the price.
Heck, the only reason I'm runnIng Honeywell is because I'm waiting for it to explode or something. In fact, the only time I had a problem (turbo failure) is when I didn't run OEM.
-DennisWould going down from a 40 to a 30 oil negatively affect the protection level for the turbo? Am I correct in thinking that since the 0w-30 is ester-based, it should perform like a 40 at high temps/thermal break-down?
Thanks guys!
Originally Posted By: bluesubie
The search function is a little strange here, but there are new Subaru threads every other week.
If you stick with Subaru's recommendation of 3,750 miles, I would probably go with GC. If you extend it a bit farther, or just want to use an ester based oil, then go with X-lite. Although X-cess is also a very good oil. I recently did a uoa on X-lite and it held up well and I hope my recent pcv valve replacement and valve cover gasket replacement should help my consumption.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2377438
And stick with the OEM Honeywells. I've been running them in three Subaru's from day one and they're fine. You'll find negative comments or pictures of cut up filters, but you won't find much DATA that they are an inferior oil filter. I used to suffer from Framaphobia like some people.
-Dennis The search function is a bit of a pain so no worries. I just spent 15 minutes looking for an Outback uoa and couldn't find it. Then I went into google and found it in two seconds.
Dropping down to a 30 won't affect your protection level IMO. X-lite is a very robust oil with a high kinematic viscosity and high HTHS (close to a 40 grade). There are lots of people running Resource Conserving 5W-30 that has sheared to a 20 grade. And for the record, 300V does have enough detergents for a safe 5-6k run on the street despite what you may have read.
There's actually a long uoa thread at iwsti entitled uoa's: find an oil that works (or somehing like that).
-Dennis
Perfect, I will find it, thanks!
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