2012 Subaru Legacy GT, Castrol 0w-40 A3/B4, 7000km

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Any thoughts on this UOA?

2012 Subaru Legacy GT (EJ255 , low-mount turbo)

About 50/50 city, highway. All mileage numbers are in kilometers.

This is 0w-40 Belgian Castrol A3/B4. No oil consumption. Subaru blue filter. Previous UOA were on subsequent changes. The previous fill was with Shell Rotella T6 0w-40 , before that it was Subaru (Idemitsu) 5w-30 synthetic.

RU-20150902%2BRedacted.jpg


I made no mechanical changes to the motor over this time, however I did replace the OEM turbo bypass valve with an aftermarket (full recirculating) one, that is made of what looked like aluminum alloys. I would expect it to have shed some wear metals possibly.

Magnesium coming from the oil itself? I've seen high magnesium in German Castrol as well, so just asking.

I extract my samples good and hot using a vacuum pump via the dipstick tube.

I have heard, anecdotally, that Subaru turbo motors tend to get random spikes of copper resulting from oxidation in the oil cooler. What I am wondering, is if my increased Tin level (from 0 to 5 ppm) is significant enough to signal something other than just oil cooler oxidation.

Thanks for any input
 
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Looks like the oil held up better than the previous oils.. nothing really to cause the copper spike.

Sometimes the first change with a different oil can produce odd readings as well.
 
I'm hoping the Sn and Cu are coming from the brass piston in my bypass valve wearing in.... rather than say... rod bearings.
 
I can never tell what crank or rod bearing material is used in which application. Lead Pb, tin Sn, copper Cu, alum Al, or a subset of those in the contact surface.
If you just replaced that bypass valve, you are probably right, just from that.
 
You are using some of the best oil around. Thats the recent cousin of the famous german castrol popular last decade and its certain to be great.
 
I believe Subaru switched to silver (from lead) around 2008/2009 and bearing problems usually show high silver. Maybe the tin is from the pistons.
 
Originally Posted By: camrydriver111
The oil is holding up great. Looks like it could handle extended OCI no problem.


Yes, I thought so too - it's holding up notably better than the Rotella T6 that preceded it. The viscosity numbers are quite impressive I think. I won't go back to Rotella.

By the way, when running on the Rotella, my engine consumed a full quart of it in 6000 km. It wasn't low enough that I topped it up so the test results are not influenced by fresh oil. On the Subaru oil, on PP, on BC 0w40, not a drop gets consumed.

One thing I have been contemplating is whether Subaru's oil has a tonne of moly in it for a good reason.

All of this car's life (except these last three OCIs) it has had alternating fills of Subaru Synth (~4000 km) with PP (at first) or more recently BC 0w40 for the latter 6000KM. The under-warrenty service interval is 10,000km.

I figured this was letting the Subaru oil give my bearings a coating of moly, then dumped the oil since it wouldn't hold up well for long. The first fill on my Blackstone report above is for longer than 4000k, and that was so i could compare apples-to-apples against other oils.



Does anyone know if there is a VOA for the Belgian Castrol floating around?

I see references to "Castrol 0w-40 Syntec Titanium" from various americans, and I think that oil is totally different, according to what I can find, but could be mistaken.

THis is what I am using:

IMG_20150720_175039.jpg

IMG_20150720_175134.jpg
 
The Subaru oil has a decent amount of moly, but no longer the high amount that it had before the switch to SN/GF5 (unless you're referring to FF).

Edge 0W40 now has titanium. Interesting that your consumption varies like that between oil brands. I usually consume 2 qts with a 6k OCI on any oil. Maybe it will be less with the Castrol, but I won't hold my breath.
smile.gif
 
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Originally Posted By: bluesubie
Edge 0W40 now has titanium.


There is zero titanium in my UAO. When did the formulation change? I would have bought this oil 6 months ago, ish.
 
Looks good vs the previous data.
If you are going to stick with this oil you could extend the interval substantially. Even 10000kms is doable. It's only 6000 miles.

I've got 5 or 6 of that exact product. I really liked it in my charger vs m1 0w-40. It made the engine less noisy however the engine free revved faster with m1 0w-40.
It's a great oil and can be found on sale 3-4 times a year for 30 a jug.
I'm surprised the engine consumed rotella however noack iirc is higher than the castrol and castrol scored the best in the teost testing we've seen posted.
If possible I'd stick with this oil,or M1 0w-40 depending on which is on sale at the time.
Don't get caught up believing you can judge wear based on a cheap used oil analysis. You can't. And you don't have enough data yet to determine if wear metals on any of your analysis can be considered high.
Stay the course. Keep developing trends and extend the interval to get the best value for your dollar.
if you aren't going to use the data you're paying for why bother acquiring the data. Just hard cap at a specific mileage and call er done.
 
Update. A new fill, same oil (in theory - though it looks like I have gotten some of the new formula in here since there is now some titanium.

Copper way down. Other bearing metals look good with Iron at an all time low. I'm going to attribute the copper spike in the last one to either some brass from my Fumoto valve or the oil cooler.

I haven't changed the oil since this sample. I'm leaving it in until 80,000KM when I go in for my next major service. I'll sample it again at 79,000 to see how it held up.

2015-11-12 UOA
 
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