Oil for an Altima and Legacy 3.6

[Chris_V]

Hello,
Newb here. I've been stalking the shadows a bit here and also researching oil info on the subie forums. I'd like some advice on oil & filter choice for my cars:

I live in St. Louis
Wife's car:
2009 Nissan Altima 2.5 cvt, 23k miles
Manual says 5w30, don't know any certifications
She's a teacher & just started summer break. During the school year she teaches about 5 miles away from our house, so lots of short trips (10-15 min of city driving). She's a very conservative driver. We also use this car for trips cause it gets ~29 mpg on the highway. No mechanical issues. I'd prefer to go 5-6k between oil changes.

My car:
2011 Subaru Legacy 3.6 ltd, 55 miles. Yes 55 miles, I picked it up last night

. My daily commute is 35 miles each way; 3/4 divided highway and 1/4 city. I drive faster than average.
Manual says 5w30 synthetic API SN/SM or ILSAC GF-4/GF-5 oil. Manual says 1st oil change at 3k, then 7.5k & then every 7.5k after that.

The impreza folks seem to like Rotella oil and PureOne filters.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Welcome!

For the Altima, at 5K OCI, I would expect any name brand 5w30 mineral oil will work, such as PYB (Pennzoil Yellow Bottle) for example.

The the Legacy, I'm not really familiar with that engine, but if the manual calls for 5w30, then Rotella T 5w-40 is probably too thick. If you don't care about fuel economy, go ahead and use it. Otherwise, something like M1 5w30 or any other off the shelf synthetic 5w30 would be OK, I think.

 

[Hollow]

For the Legacy, I'd use any good 5w30 while under warranty, Quaker State Ultimate Durability can be found at Wal-Mart for under $20 for the jug, and it hard to beat for the price. Or for a few bucks more I'd use Pennzoil Platinum.

For filters, no aftermarket filter has the Subaru OEM bypass spec of 23PSI. Whether or not that actually means anything relevant has been debated for dozens of pages.

I like the PureOne filter as it is closest to the bypass spec at 20PSI, and only lacks the ADV of the OEM filter, which I think makes little difference due to the orientation of the filter.

 

[barlowc]

Originally Posted By: Chris_V
Wife's car:
2009 Nissan Altima 2.5 cvt, 23k miles
Manual says 5w30, don't know any certifications

It calls for API SM 5w30.

In mine I've run...

- Two 6000 mile intervals with Valvoline SynPower
- Two 6000 mile intervals with Castrol EDGE
- And I am early in the second 7500 mile fill of Pennzoil Ultra

It's liked them all and a UOA of the second fill of Castrol EDGE showed good results. Here's the link:

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/castrol-edge-5w30-6k-miles-08-nissan-qr25de.140902/

The spec filter is a "shorty" such as the Mobil 1 M1-108, PureONE PL14612, etc. I've been using DENSO 150-1010 filters which are a little bit longer and equivalent in size to the M1-110, PL14610, etc. Many Nissan owners use the longer filter which is the size that Nissan spec'd a few years back.

 

[fdcg27]

A 3.6 Legacy?
That should be pretty quick!
Anyway, Subaru used to spec a filter size equivalent to the Fram PH3593a for the flat six.
The older flat fours used this filter size as well.
I know that stock bypass pressure is really high for the flat fours.
I don't know that the six requires this.
I do know that I, as well as one of the mods, run any number of non-OEM filters in our Subarus, as do many owners, with no ill effects to report.
FWIU, the later flat fours, at least, have some insane oil flow rate.
Anyway, both of your cars should be just fine on any decent 5w30.
Since you have a long commute, and you use the Altima for long trips, in addition to the short-tripping, I think a 6K-7K+ OCI is appropriate for both cars.
You could use a Grp III syn, although you probably don't really need to. Still, if you amortize the marginal cost over 7K or so, the difference per mile isn't really all that much.
I will note that GC really seems to quiet the Subaru music in our Forester, but it will be going to something thinner for its next change, just to see whether the seeming quiet is simply my imagination.
The flat six is of course a much smoother engine than the flat four, since a flat six can have perfect primary balance, while no four cylinder can.

 

[steve20]

Hey Chris, Welcome Aboard!

I'd either use the PYB like a previous poster mentioned, or QSUD in both, as it is inexpensive enough. Happy you clarified the 55 miles-thought it may have been 55K at first. I would use OEM filters in the Subie and Puro Classic in the Nissan

 

[HTSS_TR]

Both cars use the same grade 5W30 so that is easy for you to stock up dino/syn whenever you can find it on sale.

Since the Altima sees mostly short trips and few long trips a year I would change oil with time interval of 6 months or 5-6k miles whichever is first.

The Legacy should has dino oil the first 2 OCI at 3750 and 7500 miles, after that you should use synthetic if you want to do 7500 miles OCI. After warranty expired you may want to extend OCI to 9-10k miles, because your 35 miles commute each way is very easy on oil.

PureOne oil filter is good for both cars.

 

[oggb]

Us Impreza folks do indeed seem to like Rotella and PureOne filters. I like HDEO and Subaru OEM or PureOne filters because both are high quality and cheap.

If I owned a Legacy 3.6 and "daily drove" it and drove my car like a normal sane person I'd definitely just use 5w30 synthetic and Subaru OEM or PureOne filters.

Don't use a filter besides PureOnes as someone pointed out - the bypass spec on the OEMs is 23 psi - a PureOne is 20 psi. No idea if that makes any difference at all.

Summary:

Use 5w30 synthetic and Subaru OEM or PureOne filters. It'll be dandy.

 

[Chris_V]

Thanks for all the info!

The legacy is definitely quick. I wanted a faster car, but not a stick & have to buy premium; so the GT wasn't an option. GT's are also more expensive than the 3.6s for some reason...? I'm still well within the break-in period (180/1000 miles), so I've been conservative with the skinny pedal. It definitely has some pick up, though, and has no problem getting up to 85 off the highway entrance ramps!

I got my 1st and 5th (???) oil changes comp'd by the dealer. I think I'll just stock up on 5w30 syn and use it on both cars. Is there any websites where I can get the oil filters for cheap? I have several Autozone, Advance and even O'Reilly's in my area, but they don't stock many Pure One filters from what I remember - Mostly AC Delco and Fram...

 

[Chris_V]

Oops, forgot to add:

What about aftermarket air filters? Are there any that are worth the price or should I just stay with stock on both cars?

 

[HTSS_TR]

Oil filter online for cheap: Rockauto.com or Amazon.com. If you have Advance Auto Parts nearby they usually have oil filter on sale once in a while, with discount code(s) Pure 1 can be bought for around $3.

Air filter: OEM is one of the best in filtering efficient.

 

[addyguy]

Does the Legary REQUIRE synthetic oil only?

 

[WagonBoss]

No working knowledge of the Nissan. For the Legacy I'd recommend following the manual on the synthetic 5w30 because of the chain tensioners. The best filter for the six is the factory OEM filter which you can probably get a fair deal on a case of dozen from many on-line Subaru parts houses. Maybe your dealer will cut you a deal. For Subaru there is not much comparison between the OEM filter and aftermarket. Finding the part number on hand is hard enough, but you won't get as good a filter as just getting one at the dealer (or an online parts source).