Oil Recommendation for '06-'07 NonTurbo 2.5 Subaru

[Islandvic]

I may buy an '07-'07 Subaru Legacy 2.5 Non-Turbo. Who here has the 2.5 and what do yall use for engine oil and filter? I live in South Texas. No snow, ice or cold weather. No hills or mountains either. Crummy roads and lots of sand at the beach though! Thanks!

 

[Titan]

I use Pennzoil Platinum 5-30 (with Terry Dyson's blessings), and buy it 6 quarts at a time every time I see it for 1.99 per quart. I now have 24 quarts. I run it the full 7500 miles between changes. All looks good. Then again, the 2.5's usually look good, no matter what you put in them!

 

[Titan]

Oh, and I use Wix filters, I like the pressure relief design as well as the filtering ratings. Wix 51365...you can get them less than 5.00 each from Filter1.com

 

[Old Mustang Guy]

My brother has that motor in a 06 Forester. His dealer uses Motorcraft 5W30 (they have the same ownership as a Ford dealer). I think MC is an excellent choice but I concur with Pennzoil Platinum if you want to go the full 7500 OCI. By the way, he loves that vehicle and I was impressed with it when we took a little road trip in it.

 

[yannis]

According to a greek subaru owner that i met on-line , his 06' manual recommends 5W20! Actually i encourged him to try it....am i all right doc? Of course he had already read Dr AeHaas "lectures" and went for it.

 

[Titan]

There's a fellow on the UOA section that is getting fine results with 5-20. I wouldn't be scared of it. I ran some in one of my Subaru's in the past with no complaints...but, I did not do a UOA.

 

[TooSlick]

Subaru allows the use of 5w-30 to 20w-50 grades, depending on ambient temps and loads. For very hot weather and trailer towing for example, you can even use a straight SAE 30wt or 40wt - imagine that! The owners manual actually looks like it was written by engineers (woohoo!) TS

 

[buster]

Quote:

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The owners manual actually looks like it was written by engineers (woohoo!)

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Yeah, 90 year old engineers.

 

[Thatwouldbegreat]

Quote:

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Subaru allows the use of 5w-30 to 20w-50 grades, depending on ambient temps and loads. For very hot weather and trailer towing for example, you can even use a straight SAE 30wt or 40wt - imagine that! The owners manual actually looks like it was written by engineers (woohoo!) TS

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I agree with TS! Subaru's owners manual has an oil chart that makes sense. I don't know if the oil chart is a bit dated and is more relevant to older spec dino oil...since I would assume that full synthetic or SM rated convenional oil might have a wider range. But I certainly think it makes more sense than the 'one size fits all' oil charts in the owner's manuals of many vehicles sold in the US. I don't think that conventional 5W-30 year round for all temps is the ideal oil despite many owner's manuals listing it as the only choice. If I was driving in Las Vegas or Southern Florida during the Summer and it was 100 degrees +... I'd rather use an xW-40 oil. I run both of our 2005 Subaru Outback 2.5i's at 7K OCI's on GC 0W-30 as our year round fill. And I think I have adequate protection during 100 degree days. But if the temps got really high or I was towing, I think I switch to a 5W-40 or 10W-40 full synthetic. I ran 5W-40 Redline in our 2003 Outback 2.5 NA and it worked very well during 100+ desert driving.

 

[Thatwouldbegreat]

As far as driving in Southern Texas with lots of sand I think I consider a conventional 10W-40 oil like Chevron/ Havoline /Trop Arctic/ Castrol GTX / Pennzoil. If Cheveron was on sale at $0.59 / qt... I'd run that. I'd use the oil the dealer use at less than 3750 mile intervals during the first 10K to protect the warranty , and then I'd switch to a 10w-40 and drain it at 2500 mile to 3750 miles depending on how much dust and sand the car was exposed to during each interval. I'd also look for a deal on air filters and change them every 10K to 15K. Even though I am a true believer when it comes to synthetic oil, any oil will protect the engine fairly well. I'd be more concerned about the sand and dust, and would want more frequent oil changes. As far as oil filters ...I use Purolator Pure One. But if you could get a deal on the OEM filter from the dealer that would be fine too. The anti drain back valve is the big thing.

 

[Eddie]

Since Subarus' come from the factory with dino oil I assume that the viscosity vs temperature chart is for dino oil. I have 111,000+ miles on my 2000 Forester S. I switched to Mobil 1 5w30 at 2,000 miles together with OEM or PureOne oil filters. I see 90+ degree F. temps for 8 months here in SW Florida. Blackstone UOA on my oil suggest my 5,000 mile OCI could be extended to 6-7,000 next time. Only if I pulled a 1500 + pound trailer on long highway trips would I use anything heaver than my 30wt based on my excellent UOA>