Oil recommendation format as stated in the sticky thread.
1. What kind of vehicle you have
A 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback Limited wagon, 5-speed manual. Engine and car currently have about 107,000 miles.
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
5W-30 and 10W-30/10W-40 viscosities recommended.
Severe duty oil viscosities listed are: 30, 40, 10W-50, 20W-40, 20W-50
Pretty sure that API SJ/SH is outdated/obsolete now so I'm sure an API SM will do the job fine.
OCI is about 3,700 severe service (such as short trips, stop-and-go, etc), so I'll religiously go by that (or shorter).
The 7,000 mile-ish OCI only applies to easy driving (such as freeway driving), so that's mostly irrelevant.
3. Where you live
San Francisco Bay Area (NOT in SF itself, around the San Jose area).
I do intend to adventure around California once in a while though.
As for stop-and-go, we got a good amount of that as well.
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
With the engine still cold and not up to operating temperature, I drive very easy. Then I drive "normal", moderately easy until engine warms up to a good operating temperature where high-revs are allowed.
I typically drive moderately fast (legal-type of fast), then bursts of very heavy driving/acceleration.
Sometimes I do drive slow, but for the most part, I accelerate to the engine's full potential where it may be necessary (such as merging onto freeways)
Driving near redline is an addiction I try to suppress (but I try not to hit the rev limiter). Also, once in a while I have off-road excursions.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
For now, mostly short trips that by the time I get to my destination, the temp gauge reads around the middle, safe for high-revs.
Medium-length trips around town occur moderately (meaning about 20 min driving minimum).
6. Whether your car has any known problems
The EJ25D Phase I has been known to blow head gaskets badly. Thankfully for me, I check under my hood quite often and caught the problem immediately, and got it fixed. It happened around 85,000 miles.
Also, this engine is known to have moderate to pretty bad piston slap, almost sounds like a diesel engine in the colder months! I've heard using a thicker oil might cure it, but I'm not sure.
As of now, intend to run 5W-30 for colder months, 10W-30 for warmer months.
I'm considering the severe duty oils listed since I "drive it like I stole it", but am not sure since I do have a decent amount of short-trips.
And I do have a brand bias. I would prefer Castrol or Chevron/Texaco products (don't ask why, it won't make sense), but curious as to what you experts here at BITOG have to say.
1. What kind of vehicle you have
A 1999 Subaru Legacy Outback Limited wagon, 5-speed manual. Engine and car currently have about 107,000 miles.
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
5W-30 and 10W-30/10W-40 viscosities recommended.
Severe duty oil viscosities listed are: 30, 40, 10W-50, 20W-40, 20W-50
Pretty sure that API SJ/SH is outdated/obsolete now so I'm sure an API SM will do the job fine.
OCI is about 3,700 severe service (such as short trips, stop-and-go, etc), so I'll religiously go by that (or shorter).
The 7,000 mile-ish OCI only applies to easy driving (such as freeway driving), so that's mostly irrelevant.
3. Where you live
San Francisco Bay Area (NOT in SF itself, around the San Jose area).
I do intend to adventure around California once in a while though.
As for stop-and-go, we got a good amount of that as well.
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
With the engine still cold and not up to operating temperature, I drive very easy. Then I drive "normal", moderately easy until engine warms up to a good operating temperature where high-revs are allowed.
I typically drive moderately fast (legal-type of fast), then bursts of very heavy driving/acceleration.
Sometimes I do drive slow, but for the most part, I accelerate to the engine's full potential where it may be necessary (such as merging onto freeways)
Driving near redline is an addiction I try to suppress (but I try not to hit the rev limiter). Also, once in a while I have off-road excursions.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
For now, mostly short trips that by the time I get to my destination, the temp gauge reads around the middle, safe for high-revs.
Medium-length trips around town occur moderately (meaning about 20 min driving minimum).
6. Whether your car has any known problems
The EJ25D Phase I has been known to blow head gaskets badly. Thankfully for me, I check under my hood quite often and caught the problem immediately, and got it fixed. It happened around 85,000 miles.
Also, this engine is known to have moderate to pretty bad piston slap, almost sounds like a diesel engine in the colder months! I've heard using a thicker oil might cure it, but I'm not sure.
As of now, intend to run 5W-30 for colder months, 10W-30 for warmer months.
I'm considering the severe duty oils listed since I "drive it like I stole it", but am not sure since I do have a decent amount of short-trips.
And I do have a brand bias. I would prefer Castrol or Chevron/Texaco products (don't ask why, it won't make sense), but curious as to what you experts here at BITOG have to say.