Originally Posted by y_p_w
Originally Posted by kaesees
If it's of any use, I've got two UOAs from my '18 Crosstrek, which I factory ordered as you did with your '19:
#1 (factory fill, factory Tokyo Roki filter)
#2 (Zepro AM, blue Subaru filter)
So far the FB20D seems like it's pretty easy on the oil, but then again I'm only going 6k miles between changes for warranty purposes. I've got D1G2 Zepro in there now, and will stick with it for a while because UOAs are more useful when you're consistent and because I was able to buy a few jugs cheaply. I may eventually switch to regular Idemitsu 0w-20 (which I picked up 4 jugs of for $14 apiece) or some other D1G2 0w-20 depending on how quickly I go through the Idemitsu in my wife's van and how cheap D1G2 oils become in the intervening two years or so between now and when I'll probably deplete my hoard of oils.
I'm not quite sure why 6k miles is the OCI. And apparently halved for "severe service" although I'm kind of skeptical that it isn't too conservative since 0W-20 is the standard oil. I'm guessing that 6 months/6k miles (or the metric equivalent) are all that warranty claims can really insist on since they won't know the type of driving. I guess they could be taking fuel dilution into account since all Subarus now have some sort of direct injection.
And there's the one model (the BRZ/86/FR-S) where the Toyota/Scion equivalent lists a 7500 mile normal OCI. Not sure exactly what the deal is there since it's pretty much the same car.
I agree that the 6k figure is likely very conservative. Earlier Subarus like my '01 Outback Sport (engine was EJ222) had 7,500 mile OCIs. If memory serves, Subaru stuck with 7.5k even for the first few years of FB25 and FB20. What I suspect happened is that the oil consumption issues that plagued the early FB engine caused Subaru to reduce the OCI just so that they'd have fewer of them running dry between oil changes. The switch happened before direct injection was introduced, although you are probably right that fuel dilution from DI even on an NA engine tilts the field towards sticking with a shorter OCI from the manufacturer's perspective.
Obviously reducing the interval is not a real fix for engines burning excessive amounts of oil, just like adding seal swellers to the coolant was not a real fix to the early/mid EJ25's head gasket issues, but it certainly reduces the number of warranty repair fights they end up with. Thankfully, with the FB and FA they have instituted an oil consumption test that the dealer can perform and seem to be following through on fixing engines that fail it by replacing the short block.
I just stick with the maintenance schedule despite how conservative it seems to be because the lifetime cost of doing so it pretty low compared to the potential cost of getting a claim rejected down the road. I figure $28 per oil change between the oil and the filter, which comes to $252 over the initial 60,000 mile powertrain period with a 6k OCI vs $196 going with 7.5k. My car came with a lifetime powertrain warranty from the dealer beyond the 60k powertrain warranty from the factory, so if we call the service life of the car 15 years and 180,000 miles those figures become $812 and $644, a difference of $168. Not worth chancing it for me, even if the odds of an engine failure followed by a rejected warranty claim for not following the maintenance schedule are quite slim. Besides, driving the car right about 12,000 miles/year doing two changes per year is convenient for me.
Originally Posted by kaesees
If it's of any use, I've got two UOAs from my '18 Crosstrek, which I factory ordered as you did with your '19:
#1 (factory fill, factory Tokyo Roki filter)
#2 (Zepro AM, blue Subaru filter)
So far the FB20D seems like it's pretty easy on the oil, but then again I'm only going 6k miles between changes for warranty purposes. I've got D1G2 Zepro in there now, and will stick with it for a while because UOAs are more useful when you're consistent and because I was able to buy a few jugs cheaply. I may eventually switch to regular Idemitsu 0w-20 (which I picked up 4 jugs of for $14 apiece) or some other D1G2 0w-20 depending on how quickly I go through the Idemitsu in my wife's van and how cheap D1G2 oils become in the intervening two years or so between now and when I'll probably deplete my hoard of oils.
I'm not quite sure why 6k miles is the OCI. And apparently halved for "severe service" although I'm kind of skeptical that it isn't too conservative since 0W-20 is the standard oil. I'm guessing that 6 months/6k miles (or the metric equivalent) are all that warranty claims can really insist on since they won't know the type of driving. I guess they could be taking fuel dilution into account since all Subarus now have some sort of direct injection.
And there's the one model (the BRZ/86/FR-S) where the Toyota/Scion equivalent lists a 7500 mile normal OCI. Not sure exactly what the deal is there since it's pretty much the same car.
I agree that the 6k figure is likely very conservative. Earlier Subarus like my '01 Outback Sport (engine was EJ222) had 7,500 mile OCIs. If memory serves, Subaru stuck with 7.5k even for the first few years of FB25 and FB20. What I suspect happened is that the oil consumption issues that plagued the early FB engine caused Subaru to reduce the OCI just so that they'd have fewer of them running dry between oil changes. The switch happened before direct injection was introduced, although you are probably right that fuel dilution from DI even on an NA engine tilts the field towards sticking with a shorter OCI from the manufacturer's perspective.
Obviously reducing the interval is not a real fix for engines burning excessive amounts of oil, just like adding seal swellers to the coolant was not a real fix to the early/mid EJ25's head gasket issues, but it certainly reduces the number of warranty repair fights they end up with. Thankfully, with the FB and FA they have instituted an oil consumption test that the dealer can perform and seem to be following through on fixing engines that fail it by replacing the short block.
I just stick with the maintenance schedule despite how conservative it seems to be because the lifetime cost of doing so it pretty low compared to the potential cost of getting a claim rejected down the road. I figure $28 per oil change between the oil and the filter, which comes to $252 over the initial 60,000 mile powertrain period with a 6k OCI vs $196 going with 7.5k. My car came with a lifetime powertrain warranty from the dealer beyond the 60k powertrain warranty from the factory, so if we call the service life of the car 15 years and 180,000 miles those figures become $812 and $644, a difference of $168. Not worth chancing it for me, even if the odds of an engine failure followed by a rejected warranty claim for not following the maintenance schedule are quite slim. Besides, driving the car right about 12,000 miles/year doing two changes per year is convenient for me.
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