Factory Fill, 09 Subaru Legacy 2.5i SE, 2377 Miles

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I sent this in just for grins. The engine is a non-turbo motor.

I was surprised at how weak the factory fill oil was. I refilled the car with Rotella T Syn 5w-40. I'll run that for 5,000 miles and see how it does.

09Legacy-1.jpg
 
Wear metal #'s look really good, especially for a factory-fill.

Is it possible that the dealership changed out the FF and replaced with a weak "bulk" prior to your purchase?
 
Can't imagine why they would do that. The car had 70 miles on it when I took delivery. Most of that was transporting it for a trade between dealerships.
 
wow... As I posted previously, the wife's best friend recently got an 09 impreza hatch... Given this UOA, which I assume will be identical to the oil that we will drain from her car, I will make haste to change over to some havoline. This will provide a stronger set of adds and a nice dose of moly.

Thanks for posting this!
 
How can you call an oil "weak" when the wear numbers look so good for a new engine? Another example of judgment before results. There just may be more to a good or great oil than a $20 analysis shows.
 
Good wear numbers are very evident, but counter to what we would expect to see on most any new engine break-in oil. IMO, this is kind of a flag. Si is high and to be expected, and perhaps on the basis of only being used 2377 miles, the Fe, Cu, Al, Pb numbers are commensurate with what would be expected. However, also by 2377 miles, we will be seeing effects of combustion, byproducts of the oil, etc. present in the oil, and an oil that comes so weak in analysis is flagged.

Its not like we have any assurances with THIS oil that there are great things in there that we wont see. Instead, Subaru recommends to do the first change early - so reading between the lines of what appears to be a slightly weak additive package and a manufacturer's recommendation to do change one early, it seems like a smart move.

I still personally like to get a good deal of moly in there early in the game. From VOAs, it seems that havoline is the best bet for that.
 
Originally Posted By: SubLGT
I wonder if Subaru is using 5W-20 as factory fill on some of the non-turbo motors.

Yes, according to information posted on nasioc gathered in May-ish 2007 (I think) when SoA first decided to go to a 3,750 mile OCI in turbos beginning MY 2008.

-Dennis
 
found this in the May 2007 issue of Subaru Tech Tips:

".......Currently the FHI/SIA factory fill oil is 0W-20 mineral oil for the H4 SOHC(w/o VVL) and 5W-30 mineral oil for all others. The oil is designated as SM and GF-4 and is manufactured by Shin-Nihon Petroleum (FHI) and Shell (SIA)........."
 
The OP's car has i-AVLS, or intelligent active valve lift system. So his car probably had 5W-30 as factory fill, and it has sheared down to a 5W-20.

I personally do not see the need for Rotella 5W-40 in a Subaru non-turbo motor.
 
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