First Oil Change at 600 miles - What I Found

[willbur]

There are some here who would suggest it will need three head gaskets by 100K.

So which is it?

IIRC, that head gasket business was remedied long ago. Not an issue anymore...

 

[PF52]

IIRC, that head gasket business was remedied long ago. Not an issue anymore...

I agree, but there's just no pleasing some people. "A friend of my uncle's barber had a Subaru and it blew its head gasket and the engine locked up solid as a rock..."

 

[TheOilWizard]

Or, maybe they wouldn't because they know it could extend the life of your engine past warranty! (kidding of course.....maybe.)

I think it's more of a customer satisfaction issue. The average customer nowadays would be offput by needing to bring the car back early for an oil change.

Then you have the competitive advantage side of things.. So as an example, say Manufacture A wants you back for an oil change after the first 1,000 miles but Manufacture B says you don't need to. That could potentially hurt Manufacture A sales or at minimum give their competition an advantage even if the early oil change is advantageous long term (PS, I'm not saying it is or isn't.)

 

[notharry]

Have a 2008 Subaru with the EJ25 and on my third head gasket set one @ 70000 one at 126000. The last one is the updated Multi Layer Steel. (MLS) some MLS gaskets are steel but the best ones are stainless steel. which was the last one I did myself with My Daughter. We Pulled the engine and resealed everything at that time. No oil leaks. 195000 miles. It too had lots of metal on break in. I changed the oil @ 500 miles 2000 miles and then between 4 5000 miles after that. Yes is odd the filter does not catch it all. If i had to guess the filter is bypassing some small debris. Yes most will settle to the bottom of the oil pan. Yes it probably just cylinder and ring break in but man its alot, and to leave it in there for the recommended manufacturer interval? Surprising there are not massive engine failures all the time. But there isn't many...

 

[scoot]

I had a 23 Subaru Forester. And I changed the oil at 100 miles and it was dirty full of metal shine, Grit, pieces of unknown at the bottom of the waste pan. Yes I do believe the filter should have picked up all that as well but they don't. Changed it again at 500 miles, still saw a lot of glitter and crap. Then did another change at 1500 miles. Very minimal glitter and crap at that point. Then at 2500 got rear-ended!
Oh the joys of car ownership!

Ditto for me with a 24 Hybrid CRV . Minor damage but I traded it in . Never like a vehicle that has had body damage repaired .

 

[Hohn]

Why aren't the oil filters trapping this " glitter " ?

Filter can only catch what the pump picks up.

 

[f355spider]

I'm on a couple of BMW forums. There are some horror stories of how an aftermarket oil filter collapsed in the oil filter housing. I use only MANN filters.

Over the past 20+ years I have been on the BMW forums, I see a lot of issues with the o-rings provided with American made filters for BMW...Fram and STP come to mind in particular. The o-rings causing leaks or being over sized so the filter housing simply won't fit. I've never risked using them.

Hengst, Mann and Mahle are all interchangeably great to use and I use whatever is least expensive. I think all three are oem to BMW...depending on the application.
When I get M62TU filters from BMW they are Hengst in the BMW box. For my M63TU2, it is a Mahle.

 

[zeroptzero]

I went back under the car to drain off just under 1/2 quart today, I overfilled it the other day, but many people tell you to overfill these cars. I prefer to keep it at the full mark, not overfilled for street driving. I also tossed on a magnetic drain bolt while I was at it.

I still got some metal grit draining out just in that small amount of oil that came out, it was gritty enough to feel with my fingers, nothing large but lots of gritty small metal. Still glad I have drained it sooner than later. I suspect this will go on longer but the majority should be out by now. This has to be metal sitting in the bottom of the pan, not stuff that would have passed through the oil filter. No signs of loose RTV which was good.

 

[pbm]

I wonder if the fact that Subaru oil filters are on top of the engine (rather than on the underside) has anything to do with why the 'glitter' wasn't trapped by the filter?

 

[ecotourist]

I’ve had the same experience several times. First change between 500-1500 miles for me on new cars.

At one point in my career I had access to a small fleet of "company cars". We got a nice new one for our fleet and I had the oil changed at about 1000 km. The finance people gave me a really hard time about that - like that was wasting the government's money. I said (speaking as a mechanical engineer) it was good practice but it was pretty clear they didn't believe me.

Sometimes you can't win.

 

[tiger862]

I just changed the oil in my Frontier with new engine at 1000 miles on the engine and it was full of debris as well.

 

[crashz]

I changed the oil in my 2023 GMC Canyon a little later than I wanted at about 2000 miles. Nothing but clean oil from the pan and on the filter element. I was oddly disappointed.

 

[KrisZ]

Many of us have been saying this for years. All new engines will have some break in materials in the oil, it’s always a good idea to get rid of them.

The filter will not catch it all because they're in the bypass mode quite a lot.

 

[zeroptzero]

I think a lot of it is shed off the cylinders by piston rings very early in the break-in process - first 100 miles ? - and it gets pushed downwards into the oil sump, and then settles to the bottom of the pan. I don't think it gets circulated through the motor enough to get to the oil filter. Having checked my oil filter there was no metal at all, not a speck, but definitely some in the oil pan - 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon amount approx.

 

[Donald]

I agree, but there's just no pleasing some people. "A friend of my uncle's barber had a Subaru and it blew its head gasket and the engine locked up solid as a rock..."

My grandfather went to the same barber. So he knows the story also. After the engine was replaced the CVT blew in less than 200 miles. Along with the radio. It was then listed of Craigslist "Subaru for sale, doesn't run but probably a simple fix".

 

[4wd]

No way to prove early changes - but, I always have after a conservative break-in - never had an oil burner - and once found two bolts missing from the transmission/motor flange …

 

[sw99]

Grab a pack of these magnets. I use them on our subi filters and they definitely grab the grit.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/193669070302?_skw=rare+earth+magnets&itmmeta=01KA6JRJY7WBXF6PGJ63J9S9ES&hash=item2d17937dde:g:xgwAAOSwibddHDG6&itmprp=enc:AQAKAAAA8FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1eLYZV0dYWA4RJor6A0frstD8owHU983gHDgjLtE5/IP5ppRlzZmwVCkwkeYDogLoSGy/qyezSRPSPIOvlWmW2/TJDz7LLV4nVsTuXKtMIQ8kMLeIaZkoqNni51fyMc+oR69GFeWduKtRsHHkeIZb5rx6Igx88cPlqBZNQNUEmgarHsO3pew2zEsNGyTwaRBnFceba1hUggyX5arExaHEY6g2tUdAFVebjPj6vim9B3d/dvRrpAhwENtOwEBhGSn++YNGO9l+kVdAwfYNSyX4f02UOtxH4ulZ+lPMsMBQRGDA==|tkp:Bk9SR8qv4tLRZg

 

[D60]

One of the few vehicles I bought new was an '05 Canyon I5/5sp

At the time I was working 40/week about 25 mi one way. My commute was VERY consistent and being a manual, I drove it very consistently. I knew what gear I'd be in on every hill on my mostly-rural commute.

I tracked mileage by hand religiously and for the first ~6 tanks it went up about 1mpg every tank. It was actually really fun to see efficiency increase as the motor broke in.

But as the motor broke in and loosened up, surely there were tiny amounts of metal being "shaved" off.

 

[Carlostrece]

So usually I just let my cars go long distances on the first factory oil fill, and change at the recommended mileage. On my new 2024 Subaru I just dumped the factory oil at 600 miles. I flushed the oil pan with a bit of fresh oil as well since I had some extra older oil sitting around not being used.

I switched the oil from the drain container I used as I will be dumping the used oil at a recycling location. It is a nice sunny day today and I could see all of the glitter in the oil as I transferred it between a couple of containers. I was surprised by the amount of actual metal sitting at the bottom of the containers, there was glitter being suspended in the oil which I expected, but quite a bit of metal that settled to the bottom of the container. I suspect it was mostly sitting in the bottom of the oil pan, as the oil filter did not pick it up. I went back and ran my finger through the glittery stuff, you could certainly feel it and rub it between your fingers, gritty feeling for sure.

I found about 3 pieces of metal that were a bit larger than grains of salt/sand , the rest of the material was much smaller, but very glittery. I am kind of glad that I got that metal out of the engine, it may not have harmed anything leaving it in there, but it was good to see how much metal comes out of these modern engines.

Not just modern engines. All engines AFAIK. I like to put a pair of Filtermag magnets on oil filter, especially if it's a new car or rebuilt engine.

The magnets remove most metal from the oil as it passes through oil filter, including removing smaller particles that the filtration material alone can't remove.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

There are some here who would suggest it will need three head gaskets by 100K.

So which is it?

Obviously not the answer of people with their head stuck in the sand for at least the past 16-18 years, hanging on to the only true black eye that was a Subaru-only issue. All the other complaints are ones ubiquitous across pretty much all manufacturers.