New guy, doing a bit of research.

[Ammadien]

Hey all!

Been doing some research about oils.

I've got my dream car(2005 subaru STI), and ran into some financial issues this past year and put it in storage the last 6 months. Found a job, can now afford maintain it properly blah blah...

Ok on to the fun stuff.

1. What kind of vehicle you have - 05 Subaru STI
2. What your owner's manual says -- 5w30, API service sl or ILSAC GF-3 , 7,500mi OCI's per manual
3. Where you live - Michigan
4. How you drive - On the commutes I take it easy. But occasionally a more fun romp.
5. What your daily drive is like - The drive is about 50/50 of 45mph and 55mph. about 100 miles round trip daily.
6. Whether your car has any known problems - Nope
7. I'm not particular synthetic vs dino. I'd prefer to order it online as it's a pita crawling store to store trying to find exactly what I'm looking for. Intervals - I was keeping them tight(~3k miles) but due to how far I drive everyday it's getting tiresome. 5k would be nice, would give me about 2.5 months per change then.

This site is fantastic, so much information to look through! Thanks for any help/advice from you all!

Nate

 

[Johnny]

Hi Nate,

to BITOG

Well, since you like to order online and have things delivered to you, I would suggest you hook up with one of our fine Amsoil sponsors here for some of their fine products. Personally if it were mine, I would run their 10W-40 in the STI and change it between 7.5K-10K.

This product:

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/amo.aspx

 

[Oregoonian]

O'Reillys has PP on sale for $3.99 a quart (until 9/30)

With your driving situation, I think Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 would work great...and you can streach out your OCI's easily to 7,500 miles. You can use the 5w30 year round.

Use a Purolator PureOne filter and you'll be in business.

Congrats on getting your dream car!
__________________________________________
2003 Ford Focus (2.3) / 88K
Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5w20 / OCI: 1 year or 10,000 +/-
Filter: Mobil 1 Extended Performance

 

[chubbs1]

You are a perfect candidate for a syn oil. The way you drive you could get easy 5K's with the oil of your choice, all the top name brands are good, Remember oils are retro rated so the SM GF-4 and coming october 1 the "great" SN GF-5 oils are coming out. I would start getting some of the deals now If you pick the Quaker State Ultimate Durability at Walmart and print the coupon for $10 off you can bag it for 8 bucks! Also the Pennzoil syns (PP, PU) are great the Mobil line and Valvoline are all good. Pick one and stick to it. In 5w30 of course.

 

[chubbs1]

Originally Posted By: Johnny
Hi Nate,

to BITOG

Well, since you like to order online and have things delivered to you, I would suggest you hook up with one of our fine Amsoil sponsors here for some of their fine products. Personally if it were mine, I would run their 10W-40 in the STI and change it between 7.5K-10K.

This product:

http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/amo.aspx


That is a great oil! But If it were me I would probably get the Euro 5w40 for the cold MI winters. Amsoil products are great The 0w30 would be Awesome too. Probably better that both those mentioned!

 

[HTSS_TR]

The daily drive of 100 miles round trip at easy speed of less than 80-90 MPH can use any dino for an OCI 6-7k/6mo or syn with 10-12k/12mo OCI. Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 at $4/qt is a good buy now.

 

[Johnny]

If the OP had not said this "I'd prefer to order it online as it's a pita crawling store to store trying to find exactly what I'm looking for" I might have made a different recommendation. But he will be hard pressed to find a better oil for his application than the one I recommended.

 

[rclint]

Your online options are unlimited so to speak. I don't know much about the engine/car you are talking about, however I will agree with Johnny in that if you choose to purchase oil online I would be looking at the Amsoil site sponsors which are here if you have any questions... and they have been around long enough that you know they are not scam artist...

That said I like picking a oil up local, if your engine consumes oil you will need to order enough online to substitute this, however when purchasing local you can just drop by the store.

Synthetic/conventional war stories abound here, choose whichever you want. Not every story is a perfect candidate for synthetic, but you can watch sales local giving you synthetic oil at conventional prices which it becomes a no brainier at that point. I don't think you are in any severe service from reading your information, you could run conventional out further if you so wish, and conventional oil will hold up to your task if that's what's recommended in your owners manual (it looks that you posted that info).

Good luck, and welcome to BITOG, we are here to help you sink lower into the big oil questions.. which one/ones, how long, how much... and which one taste better.... lets not get started on filters LOL

 

[sicko]

Personally, I'd probably use Shell Rotella T6 5w-40, or maybe Mobil 1 0w-40. Subarus seem to like thicker oils.

BTW, little tip, let your car idle for 30 seconds before turning it off. The oil will help cool your turbo before you shut off the engine.

 

[barlowc]

Originally Posted By: chubbs1
I would start getting some of the deals now If you pick the Quaker State Ultimate Durability at Walmart and print the coupon for $10 off you can bag it for 8 bucks!

Despite the stated online buying preference, I second this recommendation. Quaker State Ultimate Durability Q Horsepower full synthetic runs $20.14 (with MI 6% sales tax) at Walmart. Go to http://www.quakerstate.com/#/diy-rebate, print out your $10 rebate form, and send it in. You get 5-quarts of name brand synthetic for $10 and change. If you have friends/family whose address you can use, buy a few jugs and send it multiple rebates.

 

[jstutz]

Dont the Subaru subaru STI engines tear up the oil pretty quick, or is it just the turbo version. Sorry i dont know much about Subarus.

 

[Ammadien]

Wow thanks for all the replies, I found the PP for 3.99 a quart at o'reily's...went to pick some up and they only had 4 quarts at the store, but could order more...*sigh* Gonna give it a couple days to see if they get some more in. Which is my problem with picking it up locally. Gonna check out the Amsoil vendors as well.

Thanks very much for the replies!

Nate

 

[Gary Allan]

You've got the screen clogging turbo. I imagine the service bulletin was more a result of spec'ing conventional coupled with some American consumer neglect ..but..

Any of the Amsoil 30 weights would work for you. I'd like to say try out 6 month as a "training OCI" in Amsoil terms, but that wild card factor with your turbo screens has me in an uncomfortable place ...anything conservative in the (non)conventional sense.

This could be a somewhat ideal (if one could call the need for it "ideal") situation to use Amsoil's engine flush at the end of a decent length drain.

 

[Pablo]

You are on the right track. I would save some cash and run a good hearty synthetic:

Amsoil ACD 10w30

For a few more dollars pick one:

AMSOIL Signature Series 0w30

Amsoil HDD 5w30

 

[rclint]

See Pablo thinks like a true American, and I do the same for a few more dollars.. and to me it's well worth it. SSO from my reading on this board is the Amsoil flagship oil with outstanding qualities. Also while I was at it, this is me now mind you the 0w30 would be the cats meow, ordering oil online does have some drawbacks, however it also comes with much advantage by picking EXACTLY what you want if the vendor carries a variety of oils which these two Amsoil guys do... Enjoy the information for Amsoil dealers which is non biased to a point here a rarity in this forum in any oil much less a boutique online oil.

 

[Pablo]

Subies can do quite well on XW-40 as well. Here's a couple more options:

Amsoil AMO 10W-40

Amsoil DEO 5W-40

 

[bodeh6]

German Castrol 0w30 is usually a good choice for Turbo Subbies.

 

[Ben99GT]

+1 on the HDD recommendation, Red Line 5w30 is another to look at.

 

[yaris0128]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
The daily drive of 100 miles round trip at easy speed of less than 80-90 MPH can use any dino for an OCI 6-7k/6mo or syn with 10-12k/12mo OCI. Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 at $4/qt is a good buy now.

+1
Yes sir you cant beat $3.99 PP. Just gotta remember to stock up a few bottles before the end of the month. But they do have PP and Synpower on sale most months for $3.99. Always a good buy.

 

[Ammadien]

Originally Posted By: yaris0128
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
The daily drive of 100 miles round trip at easy speed of less than 80-90 MPH can use any dino for an OCI 6-7k/6mo or syn with 10-12k/12mo OCI. Pennzoil Platinum 5w30 at $4/qt is a good buy now.

+1
Yes sir you cant beat $3.99 PP. Just gotta remember to stock up a few bottles before the end of the month. But they do have PP and Synpower on sale most months for $3.99. Always a good buy.

Tracking down more than a few quarts is proving problematic, but it is quite the deal, and you're right about having til the end of the month. I figure if I can get a couple cases I should be good for a bit.

Amsoil seems like a quality product(haven't found anything but positive recommendations), but at 10 bucks a quart it is expensive. Any recommendations for bulk pricing to get the cost down a bit? - BUT! it's only about 25% more expensive than regular priced synthetics...

Have to look into redline as well...so many choices. Thanks so much for your input everyone!

Nate