Bought a 2005 Subaru Baja (non-Turbo) need rec's

[toolhead]

Hi folks, I've lurked here in the past when I was looking for info on my old Jeep Wrangler.

I'm delurking to get some opinions on this Subaru Baja I just purchased.

Stats: ~70,000 miles. Manual transmission. EXCELLENT condition (as far as I can tell). Looks like it HAD to be garaged most of the time -- paint is perfect, not even a shopping cart ding. The engine is clean as a whistle. The dealer told me the previous owner used to tow it behind his RV so who knows how many of those miles are "legit" miles. The paperwork I found in the glovebox shows it had a recommended 60K maintainance tune-up (non-dealership). It seems the last oil change was about 3000 miles ago at some Jiffy Lube type of place.

I live in South Florida (read: freaking HOT), and my daily commute is only about a mile each way, so most of my driving will be short trips, apart from slightly longer trips on the weekend. I don't do much long-distance driving these days.

Of course, I'm wondering what all is going on in the engine, and for peace of mind, I'd like to do whatever I can to get it in tip-top shape. It seems that many people recommend Rotella T(6?) for the Subies. I wonder if PP or PU would be suitable as well...?

What I'm thinking: throw some MMO in there for 500 miles, then use a gentle Amsoil engine flush when in comes time for the oil change. Fill with Rotella (5w-40?). I have some leftover AutoRX (original forumula) from my previous Jeep, so I was thinking of using that for the recommended cycles/miles. Then, Amsoil engine flush again, and refill with a good synthetic (PP)?


I'm by no means a mechanic so feel free to pick this apart.

As far as the oil filter, the threads here seem to indicate there is no good aftermarket option -- that the blue Honeywell/Fram OEM filter is the way to go.

For the differential, the manual recommends the standard GL5 75w90 or straight 90. I'm thinking of using Redline, since Redline treated me well in my Jeep.

Where I'm a little confused is in the choice of (manual) transmission fluid. Again, the manual recommends a GL5 75w90, but I read something on this forum about the GL5's with the LSD additives being problematic. Could use some help on that one.

Thanks,

Eric

 

[Quattro Pete]

Congrats!

Pictures?

 

[toolhead]

Pete, I'll put some up tomorrow. But I'm a horrible photographer just so you know.

 

[expat]

Personally, I would not use the additives unless I had a reason to think I need to fix something.

I say this having used MMO

And ArX

.

 

[artificialist]

You should ask questions about your gear oil and transmission fluid here:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=postlist&Board=16&page=1

 

[sxg6]

I've run a number of different 75w-90 gear oils in my 2009 2.5L non-turbo legacy with a manual transmission. About 3-4 weeks ago I put in red line 75w-90NS, and so far it has been great. The first two days were very, very weird. The shifting was slow and notchy, but ever since then it has been great, I don't know how to explain what happened but everything is fine now. If you do change the fluid, I would be sure to add less than what the manual says the first time. I believe my legacy takes around 3.7 quarts of fluid for the front diff and transmission, but after changing the fluid numerous times I've found .5qt's of fluid must hide somewhere because adding 3.7qt's would overfill. So I would start off with a tiny bit over 3 quarts and go from there, it's easier to add fluid than it is to remove too much.

If you have 70k on the clock, I'd keep an eye on the clutch. It's common on legacys for the clutch release bearing to wear out before the disc itself wears out. I have no idea if this is true or not for baja's, but I would imagine it probably is. I got lucky in that my clutch lasted 98k before the release bearing went bad, which is pretty darn good when compared to some other subaru owners. The noise also isn't something you want to ignore, because again if the baja is like the legacy, when the bearing starts to go it could do damage to the transmission snout, and possibly destroy the transmission. So if your car starts to make a funky sound that goes away when you touch the clutch pedal, it might be the TOB, see the video below for an example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdVJ5vnO6Jg

I pesonally use oem subaru oil filters, but wix/napa gold filters are pretty good too and they have the 23psi bypass valve opening pressure.

I would say that around 85% of my 2.5L non-turbo legacy oil changes have been with conventional oil, the other 15% being with synthetic oil that was basically free after a mail in rebate. When I went to change my valve cover gasket and spark plug tube seals a few months ago at 126k, my valvetrain looked spotless (pictures below). From looking at my valvetrain, and seeing a number of uoa's for the 2.5L non-turbo motor, I don't think these cars need synthetic. With that said you can't go wrong with rotella or any other synthetic, I've personally avoided HDEO's since my car burns 1-2 quarts over a 4k-5k oci and I don't want to do extra damage to the catalytic converters.


Disregard the different spark plug tube gaskets in the second picture, the old style gasket is on the right, and the new redesigned gasket is on the left.

 

[Bandito440]

Any 5w-30 syn will do well. PU is a fine choice. I'd probably run it to 7,500 and get a UOA. Rotella T6 is great for the turbo models, but not really needed in yours.

Either Wix or Subaru oil filters. I got a stock of Wix for mine.

I'm going to use Valvoline 75w-90 in the front transaxle and rear differential when it comes time. Avoiding anything with LSD additive is a good call. I believe it can mess with the synchros.

 

[Trav]

I use 5w30 PU or PP in and old 2.2 ej with about 100K on the car and it performs well.
A lot of people use 40w oils in an attempt to quieten piston slap in these engines and it does to some extent but the loss of power although slight is noticeable from my own experience.

The piston slap is harmless and doesn't require any additives, these engines can be noisy its the nature of the beast.
Don't believe all this about Subaru only filters AFAIK they are Purolator manufactured and is vertically mounted.
Any good brand name will work fine.

Dont use any additives in these engines. With their two piece aluminum crankcase design they use a lot of different sealing materials that may be effected by some additives.
I have no idea which ones may or may not be detrimental but I'm not into experimenting either, resealing these engines is a major project.
Good quality oil and a good filter is all they need to run for many years. Get use to turning up the radio when your hear knocking, ticking, rattling, and so on it all part of the H engines character.

 

[bluesubie]

Engine oil doesn't really matter so much in an n/a Baja IMO. There are conventional uoa's here on this engine with over 7,500 miles. My n/a Subies have always gotten Max Life or Pennzoil High Mileage conventional 5W-30 or 10W-30. Go at least 7,500 miles on the OCI if you run synthetic.

Agreed on sticking with the OEM filter although my n/a Subarus (currently a 2000 RS) gets whatever free filter comes with a sale. Rear diff fluid doesn't matter, as long as its GL5, and I'm currently running Mobil Delvac 75W-90 (no limited slip additives) in the front/tranny. Extra-S would probably work well for you. I liked the feel of Extra-S after it warmed up, but it just took too long for it to warm up for me. With Delvac, I just hop in the car and go when it's below freezing out.

-Dennis

 

[05LGTLtd]

Congrats on your new to you Baja! A few notes. First on oil, PU 10-30 would be a great choice for you. As would the often mentioned M1 0w-40 or the castrol 0w-30 (GC). Running a little thicker than 5w-30 has no real disadvantage for you. Look at your owners manual and you will see what grades are approved per temps. Synthetic 7.5k and dino 5k intervals are my personal guidelines in a NA subie. A light wash with MMO for 500 mile won't hurt anything. Unless you have strong reaon to, I'd skip the amsoil flush and let quality oil do its thing after the MMO.

I really like Subaru Extra-S in subaru gearboxes and diffs. It's dealer only, but FredBeansParts sells quarts.

Your coolant was speced with the subaru factory blue bottle coolant. That's what I'd run, or Peak Global Lifetime. There is also a small bottle of additive your can get at the dealer you should run to "protect the headgaskets".

I'd flush the Power Steering system if it has not been done. Just based on age.

The Oil filter debate rages on. Do some reading and decide which side your on. Billions of miles have been logged with the wrong bypass spec on subaru engines. But if your a stickler for detail, then Subaru, Wix, or Mazda Roki RX-8 filters are your friend.

Join a baja forum, get your Chase subaru card and try to support the subaru community when buying parts:

http://www.knsbrakes.com/
http://www.fredbeansparts.com/
http://www2.kartboy.com/x4/
http://turninconcepts.com/index.php?cPath=1
http://www.grimmspeed.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=60

You will have to become a bit knowledgeable about the Baja linage when part shopping. Although it's a 2005, it's based on the previous generation (3rd) legacy for the most part.

 

[cptbarkey]

any 5w30 SM or SN, 5k changes, call it a day.

 

[dvancleve]

The Fram PH9715 is the same as the blue filters from the dealer. There is also a Beck-Arnley filter that may be the same as the much loved Tokyo Roki black ones the dealers used to sell. Pretty much any 5w30 should be fine, I would go with dino for shorter OCIs and synthetic if you want to go longer. Subaru Extra S is highly regarded for turbo transaxle use, not sure if there is anything that would make it less well suited for an NA car...

Doug

Originally Posted By: Bandito440
Any 5w-30 syn will do well. PU is a fine choice. I'd probably run it to 7,500 and get a UOA. Rotella T6 is great for the turbo models, but not really needed in yours.

Either Wix or Subaru oil filters. I got a stock of Wix for mine.

I'm going to use Valvoline 75w-90 in the front transaxle and rear differential when it comes time. Avoiding anything with LSD additive is a good call. I believe it can mess with the synchros.

 

[Thermo1223]

Use any 5w30 and adjust the OCI whether synthetic or not.

By a Wix/OEM filer and call it a day.

 

[toolhead]

Pictures, as promised:

 

[toolhead]

Originally Posted By: sxg6
If you have 70k on the clock, I'd keep an eye on the clutch. It's common on legacys for the clutch release bearing to wear out before the disc itself wears out. I have no idea if this is true or not for baja's, but I would imagine it probably is. I got lucky in that my clutch lasted 98k before the release bearing went bad, which is pretty darn good when compared to some other subaru owners. The noise also isn't something you want to ignore, because again if the baja is like the legacy, when the bearing starts to go it could do damage to the transmission snout, and possibly destroy the transmission. So if your car starts to make a funky sound that goes away when you touch the clutch pedal, it might be the TOB, see the video below for an example.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdVJ5vnO6Jg



I definitely don't have that sort of noise, but it's funny you mention the clutch. The only thing "off" with the car that I've noticed so far is a creaking/squeaking noise when the clutch pedal travels within an inch of full travel (to the floor, in other words). I hear it every time I change gears. Everything shifts fine, and it sound more like a mechanical noise. But when I stuck my head under the hood while a friend pumped the clutch pedal back and forth about an inch from the floor, there is definitely a loud squeak coming from the engine compartment like something needs to be lubricated or something. I hope it's not serious.

Nice valvetrain pics, BTW. I hope I'm so lucky.

 

[toolhead]

Originally Posted By: 05LGTLtd
Congrats on your new to you Baja! A few notes. First on oil, PU 10-30 would be a great choice for you. As would the often mentioned M1 0w-40 or the castrol 0w-30 (GC). Running a little thicker than 5w-30 has no real disadvantage for you. Look at your owners manual and you will see what grades are approved per temps.


Yes, it seems that all the recommendations I read about Rotella 5w40 were meant for Turbos.

But the thing is, the manual makes no mention of 5w30. For my operating temperatures, it only lists 10w30, yet there seems to be quite a few people on this thread and elsewhere recommending 5w30. Is the difference significant?

One last consideration: as I said, my daily commute is one mile each way. This means I can't go by mileage for my OCI's. I have to go by time since I put so few miles on it. Does this fact have any implications? More frequent oil changes? Dino or Syno?


To everyone else: thanks for all the responses guys. I think I'm going to be using the OEM filter and the Extra S for my gear oil. Maybe Redline in the rear diff, but it seems that's not critical.

 

[Dominic]

Amsoil Severe Gear 75W-90 or Subaru Extra S is perfect for the transmission.

I like the longer PL14610 Purolator filter or comparable WIX 1356

Any good 5W30 is all you need, no need for 40-wt on the non-turbo motor.

Keep an eye out for a head gasket leak. If you ever need a good shop to redo your gaskets send me a PM. It's not a bad job and the new aftermarket multi layer steel gaskets by six-star are amazing.