Best dino for me!!!

[Flexy]

Hello everyone. I drive Subaru Impreza RS.
55 000km so far. I been using M1 for 1 year, but didn't like it. It burned lots and engine smelled like burned all the time, I guess it was starting to penetrate seals or something. So i transfered to Castrol GTX with pretty good results. No oil burning, well very little and so far no problems. The question I have which dino oil I can use which is better then GTX?? Also I live in Canada, it gets to -30C sometimes here. Most of the times it's not that cold. Thanks you.

 

[Patman]

I would recommend Pennzoil dino oil, as it's got probably the best cold weather performance of all the dino oils we can find here in Toronto. It's certainly got better cold weather specs than GTX.

 

[sbc350gearhead]

I think that pennzoil has better cold temp properties.

 

[vvk]

I drive a 1998 Impreza 2.5RS, currently at about 83k miles. I have been using Mobil 1 since the start. I did an AutoRx treatment this summer using Castrol GTX 10W-30. Right now I am on my post-treatment dino run. I must say that the engine is by far the smoothest and the quietest it has ever been. It sure seems to like Castrol GTX 10W-30 a lot.

 

[Flexy]

I'll just keep on using Castrol GTX. It's a fine product.

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Flexy:
I'll just keep on using Castrol GTX. It's a fine product.

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It definitely has shown some good UOAs, at least in warm weather. If your car is parked outside, just plug in the block heater in order to give it that extra edge. Even though I'm running a 0w30 now, I still plan on plugging in my block heater every day this winter, since my car is parked outside. I might as well do as much as I can to allow the oil flow to be better on a cold morning.

Besides, we couldn't possibly get two brutally cold winters in a row in Toronto could we?

 

[userfriendly]

Cold winter in Hog Town

Patman,you live 6 locks from the Pet-Can refinery and your pluggn' Pennzoil?
I suppose you know who blew-up half of the lube plant after the black-out.
The old saying out here is let the East freeze in the dark.

 

[Patman]

Toronto usually doesn't get super cold winters, the norm is for 0C highs and -10C lows. But we had a couple of days where it hit -25C overnight and didn't go above -20C all day! BRRR!

For this reason, and because I was not happy with my UOA last winter, I've decided to do two things which should significantly reduce my engine wear. Number one is using the block heater, and number two is paying extra to use the underground (heated) parking garage near my work. It'll cost me extra for a little while ($8 per day, vs my current parking of $80 per month), but soon enough I'll reach the top of the waiting list for the underground parking in the building where I work anyways (which is $95 per month). So this winter my engine will never have to see a true cold start.

 

[vvk]

Valvoline All-Climate looks to be the weakest brand name oil currently on the market. By all accounts they still use Group I base and their additive package is weak.

Running synthetic with good low temp specs is beneficial in cold weather. If it gets below -20 C your car will thank you. Also, it makes a lot of sense if you change your oil less often. Going beyond 5000 km using a non-synthetic oil is asking for trouble. With a good synthetic you will be able to go 10k-15k between changes. If this appeals to you (less work, less environmental impact,) then by all means switch. As far as Subaru being incompatible with synthetics, that was the position several years ago. Subaru issued an official Service Bulletin warning against using synthetic oil. Several years later they backed off and a new Service Bulletin allows for use of synthetics but warns against extending service intervals.

 

[pscholte]

Flexy,

If you are committed to dino, I would ordinarily recommended Pennzoil for your climate and application, but if your car likes the GTX, and since vvk's seems to as well, then I say continue with what works. I do have two recommendations: (1) do a UOA to see if what you "sense" is supported by what your engine is REALLY doing inside; (2) use 5W30 GTX from Dec - Feb.

 

[Flexy]

Ok thanks guys. I will just use 5w30 during winter and 10w30 during summer, that's all. Thanks again.

 

[sprintman]

Patman I can't get my head around your weather. Block heaters and heated car parks. Does a block heater run constantly or say off a time switch?

 

[johnsha]

Originally posted by vvk:
[QB] Valvoline All-Climate looks to be the weakest brand name oil currently on the market. By all accounts they still use Group I base and their additive package is weak.

I recently noticed on a bottle of Valvoline All-Climate "New Formulation" Has any one done any UOA on this "New Formulation"?

 

[Flexy]

Synthetics not needed in that situation for me. I don't think it will prolong my car's life. Subaru engines known to go very long time, till the car starting to fall apart. I think dino oil will just do fine as long as changed every 5000km.
Also is Valvoline better then GTX??? You guys think I could benefit from synthetic??? Also couple of mechanics at Subaru dealerships told me not to use syn in the boxter engines, cause it collects dirt around rings, cause valves are lying down instead of V design....

 

[Patman]

quote:

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Originally posted by sprintman:
Patman I can't get my head around your weather. Block heaters and heated car parks. Does a block heater run constantly or say off a time switch?

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I have a timer that I'm going to use for it, and will set it to switch on about 3-4 hours before my planned departure time. Otherwise if I plugged the heater in directly to the outlet, it would be on constantly, and would use a lot of electricity plus it would wear out the heater much sooner too.

It's not like Toronto has extreme winters, last one was bad but rare. We've had some winters where we had quite a few 10C days. February 1997 comes to mind, almost every single day was sunny and between 5-10C. Nice!