2016 Outback just purchased with 205 miles...so 5w30 then?

Joined
Nov 1, 2013
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2
Location
RI
No this title wasn’t written five years ago. I just picked up a 2016 Outback with an in service date of 12/23/2015 with 205 miles on the clock. It was part of an estate and parked in the garage for all that time. I threw a new (larger) battery in it, added some star tron and seafoam to the tank and it fired right up on what must be original fuel. Topped it up immediately with some 93 and then when I got home topped it up again with some 93 to dilute whatever is left. Tried to vary speeds and put under some acceleration and deceleration load with the paddle shifters because here I am breaking in a five year old car.

Any-who I believe it must still be on the ff which looked clean and full before I fired it up. It now has 425 miles on it after nearly 58 months (!) in service. I’ll be changing the oil shortly. It seems that a lot of recommendations from my reading here on the FB engines say to use the factory 0w20 while under warranty but that these motors should really have 5w30. Seeing as I’ll be running out of powertrain warranty with maybe a thousand miles on the clock in the next two months this can’t be a concern for me. I live in RI and this car will probably see at most 5k miles per year. So PP 5w30?
 
PP 5W30 is a good choice. I'd get the oil good and hot and change it. I'd also get a UOA, reason being I'd want to be sure there isn't excess fuel or coolant in the oil. Wear metals will probably be high as a result of break in, so no worries there. But my concern would be with the fuel injectors possibly sticking, or a bad head gasket.
 
My Subarus didn't like Pennzoil Platinum. Drank through it like nuts. They don't like Mobil either. I would run a good 0W20. Subaru Genuine is good. I would go by engine noise for any "oil weight "management". By that I mean, if it is Quiet on the 0W20 - stick with it.
I have had two FB25 already and a FB20 currently. One was an oil burner, the other one had sticky timing chain tensioner issues.

My advice would be to run one litre Subaru 5W30 Synthetic ( moly loaded oil) and the other 4 litres of Subaru 0W20 )

In the Summer you may want to run 2 litres of Subaru 5W30 and 3 litres of the 0W20.

These engines have tiny stationary hydraulic lash adjusters and over 6 feet of timing chains with various tensioners and guides.
They also have low tension rings and very short (almost none!) piston skirts which make them noisy on the harmonic cycle when they change direction and cock ( yes even with the offset piston pin to even up side loading)

Good luck. the outback is a VERY comfortable and ROOMY Subaru. Just about all the car anybody would need,

I Just bought a used 2011 Outback with 6M myself from the as-is lot down the street, and I am sorting through it now.

Our Family is on our 10th subaru since 1990! I have a fair amount of experience on the care and feeding of these.
-Ken
 
It seems that a lot of recommendations from my reading here on the FB engines say to use the factory 0w20 while under warranty but that these motors should really have 5w30. Seeing as I’ll be running out of powertrain warranty with maybe a thousand miles on the clock in the next two months this can’t be a concern for me. I live in RI and this car will probably see at most 5k miles per year. So PP 5w30?

Hi there, I run SubaruOutback.org and own a 2018 Outback with the same engine. I have used 0w20, 5w20, and 5w30 in this engine and will ONLY use 0w20 going forward. The other two oil viscosities caused my engine to run like crap.

I have no idea what you have been reading that suggests anything other than 0w20 should be used in the FB25B engine but doing so is completely unnecessary especially if you are in a cold weather state like Rhode Island.

I think that there are many people, especially on BITOG, that have developed a bias against using lightweight oils like 0w20 but I can assure you that at least in this engine the suggestion to use something else is nonsense.
 
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I wouldn't go out of my way to run 0w-20 if you have 5w-20 or 5w-30 available (i.e. already in your stash); If you have to buy oil, then, yes, might as well use 0w-20.

RI is not a cold weather state where any temps would warrant a 0w oil. I have run 10w-30 all winter in CT;
 
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