2017 Subaru 2.5 0w20 oil.

[bluesubie]

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

Originally Posted By: Boss302fan

Its weird that Subaru uses 0W20 in the new 2.5's and in my new 2018 Outback 3.6R they recommend a 5W30. All these engines seem to be very durable and we all should follow what Subie says... LOL. I will most likely stick to the recommended 6K OCI in my 3.6...

Subaru also says right on their web site 5w-30 has 3 times less wear than 0w-20.

Hopefully that wasn't written by the same person that put "5W40 conventional" in the owner's manual. Do you have a link? I can't find it. Thanks.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: bluesubie

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

Originally Posted By: Boss302fan

Its weird that Subaru uses 0W20 in the new 2.5's and in my new 2018 Outback 3.6R they recommend a 5W30. All these engines seem to be very durable and we all should follow what Subie says... LOL. I will most likely stick to the recommended 6K OCI in my 3.6...

Subaru also says right on their web site 5w-30 has 3 times less wear than 0w-20.

Hopefully that wasn't written by the same person that put "5W40 conventional" in the owner's manual. Do you have a link? I can't find it. Thanks.

I'd love to see a source for that, as well. To say that the best 0W-20, with group IV or V basestocks and the most advances additive package, will cause 3X more wear than the worst 5W-30, even if "fully synthetic" is ridiculous.

 

[SR5]

Originally Posted By: bluesubie

Originally Posted By: Boss302fan

For the cost of oil, syn is a no brainer.

Good point. The Aussie's probably get tired of people complaining about "expensive" oil at $30 -$35 for 5 quarts.

I'm OK with it, but yes you would pay more in Oz. For a 2017 2.5 L Forester we are allowed to use either 0W20 or 5W30 and the choice is ours to make. A mate runs 5W30 in his 2.5 L Forester and his oil consumption appears to be fine.

Originally Posted By: Seventh

do keep an eye on the oil level, some like to drink it. My wife's '14 2.5L Forester Ran the 0w20 idemitsu for the first few changes, it would drink about a quart in 7k, then started using the BMW 0w20 and it used only a half quart. Last oci I mixed in one quart BMW 5w30 (LL01) and it has yet to burn a drop in 5k miles.

 

[demarpaint]

My father owns a 2013 Impreza, and had it dealer serviced. They suggested he use 0W30 synthetic, last time he had it in. I can't prove that that's actually what they used though, I'm not going to send the oil out for analysis. I took over maintaining it. Next OCI I'll use 0W30 AFE and an Ultra filter, instead of an OE filter. His was starting to use a bit of oil at about 30K miles. I told him the move to 0W30 was a good one. There's some kind of warranty campaign on that year for oil consumption issues I believe. The 0W30 helped reduce/stop it so far. I consulted a few people who know Subaru a lot better than I do and they agreed that 0W30 was a better choice for my father's car. It works for me.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Originally Posted By: T-Stick

I've decided to run 5w30 syn in my Crosstrek in the summer. Our Legacy and Tribeca get semi-syn 5w30 at 5k OCIs.

Why?

Because even on the Subaru site they tell you 5w-30 protects against wear 3 times more than 0w-20.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Originally Posted By: T-Stick

I've decided to run 5w30 syn in my Crosstrek in the summer. Our Legacy and Tribeca get semi-syn 5w30 at 5k OCIs.

Why?

Because even on the Subaru site they tell you 5w-30 protects against wear 3 times more than 0w-20.

JohnnyJohnson, do you have a link for that, so we're on the same page?

 

[tig1]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Originally Posted By: T-Stick

I've decided to run 5w30 syn in my Crosstrek in the summer. Our Legacy and Tribeca get semi-syn 5w30 at 5k OCIs.

Why?

Because even on the Subaru site they tell you 5w-30 protects against wear 3 times more than 0w-20.

JohnnyJohnson, do you have a link for that, so we're on the same page?

+1. Without pics it didn't happen.

 

[John_VT]

X2

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

Originally Posted By: gathermewool

Originally Posted By: T-Stick

I've decided to run 5w30 syn in my Crosstrek in the summer. Our Legacy and Tribeca get semi-syn 5w30 at 5k OCIs.

Why?

Because even on the Subaru site they tell you 5w-30 protects against wear 3 times more than 0w-20.

JohnnyJohnson, do you have a link for that, so we're on the same page?

I found this information in more than one place but this is the first one I found this morning browse down the page until you hit the blue Semi Synthetic in light blue. http://www.patriotsubaru.com/synthetic-oil.htm

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

Because even on the Subaru site they tell you 5w-30 protects against wear 3 times more than 0w-20.

Originally Posted By: JohnnyJohnson

I found this information in more than one place but this is the first one I found this morning browse down the page until you hit the blue Semi Synthetic in light blue. http://www.patriotsubaru.com/synthetic-oil.htm

1. The characteristics for fully synthetic (gray-highlighted), semi-synthetic (light-blue-highlighted) and mineral (dark-blue-highlighted) are generic, and describe the differences between oil base stocks, not specific weights. 2. The next section then goes on to describe which they chose for each application (turbo and non-turbo) and why. The only thing I can infer from this, is that my turbo Subaru engine might exhibit more wear if I chose to use 0W-20 instead of the required 5W-30. I cannot infer then that my non-turbo Subaru engine will exhibit less wear using 5W-30 instead of the required 0W-20. A heavier weight very well may provide better protection, but this statement cannot be made generically. 3. This is a dealer website. Their goal is to sell you something. They're savvy enough to pretend they're educating you, so that they can gain your trust. On that same page they wrongly show that the first oil change is due at 3k miles. I wouldn't be surprised if they offered other upsell-type services that are not in your factory service manual. 4. Where did you get the, "...5W-30 protects against wear 3 times more than 0W-20", specifically?

 

[oil_film_movies]

In some engines, YES, the wear on the piston rings will go up by a factor of 3. Notice the 2.6 HTHS lower limit for low-wear can be reduced with a little fuel dilution down to 2.4 HTHS. Again, engine rings are different, but this engineering study should serve as a warning to not go below a lower HTHS threshold, and you need some margin with fuel dilution a possibility. Of course for any specific engine, we rely on the engine designers to tell us what they think will be lowest possible viscosity that will work fine. If towing or tracking, I'd definitely use a slightly higher visc oil.

 

[John_VT]

But Pennzoil says 0w20 does everything better than 5w30.

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: John_VT

But Pennzoil says 0w20 does everything better than 5w30.

UNLESS...that's on every single bottle of PPPP, irrespective of weight. What does the back of the 5W-30 look like? Update: you're right, I just googled and the back of the 5W-30 bottle's notes state: "almost as good as the 0W-20. If you're reading this, put the bottle down and buy the far superior 0W-20. Just kidding, we know people who buy Pennzoil products can't read! Bwahahahaha!"

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted By: John_VT

But Pennzoil says 0w20 does everything better than 5w30.

If you read the asterisked info on the bottle you pictured, all the statments on the back of the 0w20 were actually based on 5w30 data.

 

[kschachn]

Originally Posted By: John_VT

But Pennzoil says 0w20 does everything better than 5w30.

Compared to "a" 5W-30, not the equivalent Pennzoil product in that grade.

 

[SR5]

Originally Posted By: oil_film_movies

Originally Posted By: John_VT

But Pennzoil says 0w20 does everything better than 5w30.

If you read the asterisked info on the bottle you pictured, all the statments on the back of the 0w20 were actually based on 5w30 data.

Yep, need to read the fine print. PP 0W-20 with "unsurpassed wear protection (3)" (3) = "based on sequence IVA wear test using SAE 5W-30". Looks like PP 0W20 justify their wear protection by leaning on the results from PP 5W30. But we all knew it was advertising blurb anyway. Just like we know stepping it up a grade, with an equivalent quality oil, does create a larger min oil film thickness to keep the metal parts apart. In high temp and high stress applications this can reduce wear. But once the metal parts are not touching, then moving them further away offers not further wear advantage. But it does offer a safety margin, at a minor fuel economy cost ( ~1%), if that is important to you. Roof racks and correct tyre inflation probably have a bigger effect on fuel economy. I have a few mates who race / track WRX with the turbo boost turned up to 22 psi, they run 15W40 HDEO (mineral Delvac) with no spun bearing issues. They say those who use a thin 30 grade can have bearing issues. Your car, your choice. It's a free world (sort of).

 

[John_VT]

Yes I agree marketing nonsense. I just posted it to try further the discussion. You have 1 person saying that 5-30 is 3 times better and you have pennzoil saying 0-20 does bettter than 5w30. So which is it. Probably depends on the application. I'd put 5-30 in the Subaru. I doubt I'll ever put 0-20 in my suburban, if I had to, to top off, no other choice I would cause just about any oil is better than none

 

[gathermewool]

Originally Posted By: John_VT

Yes I agree marketing nonsense. I just posted it to try further the discussion. You have 1 person saying that 5-30 is 3 times better and you have pennzoil saying 0-20 does bettter than 5w30. So which is it. Probably depends on the application. I'd put 5-30 in the Subaru. I doubt I'll ever put 0-20 in my suburban, if I had to, to top off, no other choice I would cause just about any oil is better than none

That's the thing; Pennzoil did NOT say that. Read the thread again, brother; it's a generic ad on the bottle that's probably the same on both the 5W-30 and OW-20 bottle.

 

[John_VT]

I guess maybe I read it wrong or interpreted it wrong. Why if they are trying to sell you product A why use product B data? I guess some of it is for the pure plus technology. Marketing. Either way I was in for the "Subaru says three times less wear" knowing that is was going to come from a dealer site and not SOA Bottom line I'm no expert and don't claim to be here to learn some.

 

[gathermewool]

I believe the bottles are touting their GTL synthetics. Marketing is made up truths vague or ambiguous enough to never never beirrefutable (legally). The marketing leads you to believe that whatever you’re after you’ll get. This oil is less than or equal to the cost of that oil, but 5% more of this and 3% morning of that - compared to the competition? “Sure”. Great, which brand? “Uh, 5W-30!?” Think of car commercials that advertise a new model that offers “up to 35 MPG” and an “available 300HP”, with advanced safety tech available; all starting at $21500. You may get very few of the listed or shown features for the starting price.