2011 wrx turbo. GC or Redline 5/30?

[greaso]

I have 3000 miles on the wife's WRX, the car is driven by her very easily during the week, and I drive it occasionally pretty hard on the weekends. Weekday trips are city driving, probably 25 minutes each way. I am not going to do extended drain. I don't mind spending a little more on the Redline and use it in my truck and motorcycle. I am mostly concerned about turbo life, and I really like the squeeky clean engine that Redline provides, but I know GC is a great oil, and it is available locally(as is Redline). Which oil is going to be the best for me?

Edit, I live in a pretty moderate climate, in Portland, Or.

 

[dave1251]

What is best? We would not know you would have to spend some cash with analyst and hire someone to advise that on your results. But I believe either one will help protect your turbo.

 

[gathermewool]

When you say you are not going to extend, what you do you mean - your usual interval or the Subaru-recommended interval?

 

[Rand]

the subaru interval is 3750.

you might consider a 5w40 if you beat on it for longer periods of time (not like a WOT on on ramp)

otherwise of 30wt's redline would most likely hold up very well with the heat of the turbocharger, but its so high I wouldnt run it myself. rotella t 5w40 is half the price.

maybe m1 0w40 thats a great oil and shears to a heavy 30wt in use.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: Rand
the subaru interval is 3750.


Not for later models; however, I would not recommend extending past 3,750 with just any oil. I would be hesitant to (i.e., do so without sending out a sample for analysis to back me up) extend past 5-6kmi, even with something like GC or Redline.

If the OP is planning to stick with 3,750 mile intervals, then Redline or GC, it won't matter. Neither will protect or clean any better than the other at such a short interval, IMO.

 

[Rand]

sorry thats the RECOMMENDED OIL change schedule. for turbo engines.

not the REQUIRED schedule

Under normal driving conditions, the recommended oil and oil filter change interval for turbo vehicles is every 3,750 miles or four months, whichever comes first.

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/maintenance2.html

see chart at bottom.
then see the notes.

 

[oggb]

Plenty of WRXs have lived long and happy lives on Mobil 1/Syntec/Royal Purple/Pennzoil whatever/Synpower 5w30.

Myself and plenty of other WRX owners like Rotella T6 5w-40 (for whatever reason). Seems to work just fine. I don't know if I'd run a track day with it, but for every day use a 10w-30 or 5w-40 HDEO hasn't let me down yet. I drive the snot out my WRX every time I get in it.

 

[LoneRanger]

GC is pretty well regarded among turbo soob owners. It is thick for a 0W30.

 

[virginoil]

What oil brand and grade have been using todate ?
Miles on the vehicle ?
Age of vehicle ?
Usual OCI ?
OEM recommedation ?

 

[Xstang]

My vote goes for the Castrol. Really, which one of the two is cheaper/easier to get for yourself is the question it seems.

 

[DrivinWest]

GC produced nice UOAs on my EJ205. If I still had a Subaru I'd probably still use it.

 

[bluesubie]

I've used both GC and RL 5w30. RL is the only oil that I've used that I've really felt a subjective difference in start-up and engine response and turbo spool up. Not sure if you're concerned about using non-API certified oil, but I have seen emails from SoA saying that RL was fine because it was "recommended for API" applications. I did burn through two quarts in 5k miles but only did one run on it. No uoa's on RL but I had several good ones on GC.

Originally Posted By: Rand
sorry thats the RECOMMENDED OIL change schedule. for turbo engines.

not the REQUIRED schedule

Under normal driving conditions, the recommended oil and oil filter change interval for turbo vehicles is every 3,750 miles or four months, whichever comes first.

http://www.cars101.com/subaru/maintenance2.html

see chart at bottom.
then see the notes.

Joe says:
> Later warranty books: the statement no longer includes All turbo-charges vehicles are considered to be operated under severe driving conditions.
Suggested: do the first oil change by 3mos or 3000 miles and then at least a minimum of every 7500 miles or 7.5 months afterwards. That is as long as you should go and it is strongly recommended to replace it much more frequently.

He then goes on to quote info from a 2008 Drive article:
http://drive2.subaru.com/Sum08/Sum08_Turbo.htm

And this is from the Subaru tech info site:

But I guess this is a moot point since the OP isn't extending the interval anyway.

Personaly, I would probably only feel comfortable doing 7,500 mile intervals on oils with an HTHS of 3.5 or higher like GC or RL.

-Dennis

 

[CATERHAM]

Both GC and especially RL 5w30 are heavier than necessary and neither are approved for your wife's WRX.

The spec' Idemitsu made Subaru 5w30 (doesn't say so but it meets the Honda HTO-06 high temperature spec') would of course be an ideal choice and is less expensive.

 

[DFrost]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Both GC and especially RL 5w30 are heavier than necessary and neither are approved for your wife's WRX.

The spec' Idemitsu made Subaru 5w30 (doesn't say so but it meets the Honda HTO-06 high temperature spec') would of course be an ideal choice and is less expensive.


A few minutes of Googling didn't reveal any Product Data Sheets for the "Idemitsu made Subaru 5w30". Could a BITOGer point towards that information? It sounds like a good product to know about for those of us looking for syn 5w30 oils in turbo applications.

 

[CATERHAM]

Originally Posted By: DFrost
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Both GC and especially RL 5w30 are heavier than necessary and neither are approved for your wife's WRX.

The spec' Idemitsu made Subaru 5w30 (doesn't say so but it meets the Honda HTO-06 high temperature spec') would of course be an ideal choice and is less expensive.


A few minutes of Googling didn't reveal any Product Data Sheets for the "Idemitsu made Subaru 5w30". Could a BITOGer point towards that information? It sounds like a good product to know about for those of us looking for syn 5w30 oils in turbo applications.

I haven't seen a PDS for the Idemitsu 5w30 but I have MSDS for both the GF-5 and GF-4 versions of this oil. I prefer the GF-4 for it'd 175 VI over the 161 VI of the GF-5 version but they both of course meet Subaru's turbo requirements.
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2536495&page=2

 

[Maxima97]

Originally Posted By: greaso
the car is driven by her very easily during the week.


turbo won't work hard if car is driven easily. Use any 0W20 5W20 synthetic on sale.

 

[gpshumway]

Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Both GC and especially RL 5w30 are heavier than necessary and neither are approved for your wife's WRX.

The spec' Idemitsu made Subaru 5w30 (doesn't say so but it meets the Honda HTO-06 high temperature spec') would of course be an ideal choice and is less expensive.


I realize I'm bumping an old thread here, but I found it while looking for something else and figured I'd comment for the benefit of other searchers.

I'm surprised Dennis (bluesubie) didn't comment, but the above is not very good advice. I realize you're just going by Subaru's recommendations, but in this case it's well established that the 5w30 EC requirement is primarily motivated by CAFE, not engine protection. A few minutes of searching in the NASIOC engine forums will turn up many turbo Subarus sent to an early grave by spun main bearings. General consensus in the Subaru community is that EC 5w30 is a substantial contributing factor, thus Dennis' comment about 3.5 HTHS oils above.

Up until 2011 Subaru owners manuals recommended up to 50wt for engine protection in hot conditions. In 2011 Subaru switched to the "use our OEM brand oil and only 5w30" set of requirements in the manual, which has put a lot of knowledgeable owners in a bit of a bind.

My take on the best compromise to preserve warranty yet provide greater safety margin against spun bearings is to use a high HTHS 5w30, of course those are quite rare. Valvoline MaxLife Full Synthetic fits the bill very well, it's ACEA A3, API SN, claims to meet the emission system protection requirements of GF-5 and even says on the PDS that it won't void new engine warranties. It is not resource conserving of course, so if your dealer is looking really hard for a reason to deny warranty coverage they could use that.

Mobil 1 ESP Formula is another good choice, though they make no mention of GF-4 or GF-5. Mobil 1 High mileage would be good except it's API SL.

Redline 5w30 is fantastic oil but is not API certified, though Redline "recommends" it for API SN and ILSAC GF-5 service, and should therefore be fairly low risk from a warranty perspective.

Originally Posted By: Maima97
turbo won't work hard if car is driven easily. Use any 0W20 5W20 synthetic on sale.


Needless to say I think this is very bad advice. After all the OP said he will be driving the car hard on weekends.

 

[shpankey]

Lots of wrx peeps love thr t6 5w40 so thicker is not bad for this engine..

I vote Red Line 5w30 hands down here. I've ran both it & GC. The quicker spooling turbo from using Red Line is particularly noteworthy in my 09 Mazdaspeed 3 2.5l direct injected turbo. So much so after I drained it & went to another oil I did a short change to get back to the Red Line asap. It's ultra low NOACK helps a lot w/ intake valve deposits from the direct injection.

Give it a try, nothing better imo.

 

[PZR2874]

Originally Posted By: shpankey
Lots of wrx peeps love thr t6 5w40 so thicker is not bad for this engine..

I vote Red Line 5w30 hands down here. I've ran both it & GC. The quicker spooling turbo from using Red Line is particularly noteworthy in my 09 Mazdaspeed 3 2.5l direct injected turbo. So much so after I drained it & went to another oil I did a short change to get back to the Red Line asap. It's ultra low NOACK helps a lot w/ intake valve deposits from the direct injection.

Give it a try, nothing better imo.


Problem with going with RL is that you still need to stick to 3K-3500 mile intervals due to fuel dilution and carbon deposits.

So, if $ is not an issue... RL is the right choice for short OCI's IMHO

 

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted By: PZR2874
Originally Posted By: shpankey
Lots of wrx peeps love thr t6 5w40 so thicker is not bad for this engine..

I vote Red Line 5w30 hands down here. I've ran both it & GC. The quicker spooling turbo from using Red Line is particularly noteworthy in my 09 Mazdaspeed 3 2.5l direct injected turbo. So much so after I drained it & went to another oil I did a short change to get back to the Red Line asap. It's ultra low NOACK helps a lot w/ intake valve deposits from the direct injection.

Give it a try, nothing better imo.


Problem with going with RL is that you still need to stick to 3K-3500 mile intervals due to fuel dilution and carbon deposits.

So, if $ is not an issue... RL is the right choice for short OCI's IMHO

Subaru now allows up to 7,500 miles in all turbo's from MY 2011 onwards. IMO, Red Line could handle this oci nicely.

-Dennis