I just bought a 1995 Subaru Legacy..have some ?'s

[Foch]

Hi,
I just bought a 1995 Subaru Legacy AWD with 167,085 miles on her. First Subaru! For the last 60K it's been going to a 'quickie oil' place, other than that service history is unknown. As I live in Maine, I'd like to switch over to a synthetic oil to help with cold starts. I was thinking one of the Mobil 1 High Mileage oils? Would it be crazy to switch over to a synthetic at this point?

Also, any suggestions for a gear oil and ATF?

TIA

 

[Eddie]

One of the very best Subaru sites is www.NASIOC.com I just sold my 2000 Forester that had 126,000 trouble free miles. I always used Mobil 1 5w30 & PureOne or OEM oil filters every 6,000 miles. UOA suggested to extend the OCI to 7,500 miles but, I didn't. Gear oil was Valvoline Durablend changed every 30,000 and the AT got a pan drain of Pennzoil Dex 3, every 25-30,000 miles. Mobil 1 HM sounds like a good idea in the 5w30 viscosity. Ed

 

[ThirdeYe]

I don't think it's crazy to switch to synthetic. Is there any oil consumption or leaks? If not, then I think it would be safe to switch it. But I personally think you can do better than M1 High Mileage.. As for ATF, try Amsoil's ATF, it's great stuff.

 

[Thorn]

I have a 1997 Legacy (2.2L) with 236K miles. I used to run various dinos and blends in it with no oil consumption up until sometime last year. Then when Pennzoil Platinum began running their BOGO offers every so often, I switched the Subaru over to synthetic. I wanted the syn mostly for my newer vehicle, but buying cases of one oil just made my life easier.

After running the PP, at some point I began to notice oil consumption - probably about 1/2 quart in 5k miles. I chalked this up to the engine getting old and tired. However, for my last two changes (~ 12k miles), I haven't had any consumption.

The moral to my long-winded story is that if you do switch to synthetic, don't be surprised to experience some increased consumption, but there is a good chance it will subside once the syn has been in use for a while. This seems to be consistent with stuff I've read here about switching over to synthetic.

 

[Vaca]

I would stick with a good conventional 5w30 like Pennzoil or Havoline or similar.

Those flat 4 engines can run forever, I wouldn't worry too much about cold starts if you have a good 5w30 in there.

 

[SilverGGA]

fellow Subaru owner.

Mobil 1 HM 10w30 will be great for your application. Its -54C pour point, which is better than most 5w30 synthetic oil, will give you great cold start performance in Maine! I think you've made a great choice!

 

[Solo2driver]

I started running Motul 300V 5w-40 in my Impreza 2.2L at 150K miles, now at 190K with about 1/2-qt consumption per 5K miles. Go ahead and switch if you'd like, the Subaru engines are tough but can stand a little extra protection....I race mine with the SCCA and travel very long trips of 1600+ miles (one-way), my car has liked the Motul so far.

Here is an interesting teardown of one of our engines -- http://www.fixedbygary.com/SubaruDOHC/SubaruDOHC.html