Original Factory Fill Oil 2006 Subaru WRX STI 2080 miles

[Dtech]

This is the report from my first oil change done at 2,080 miles to remove the factory fill oil. Original Subaru oil filter (AA100) was removed and replaced with the same filter. Oil used for refill was Castrol GTX 10W30 conventional.

Interestingly enough, even though the TBN indicates plenty of additive left in the oil, the SUS shows that even at just over 2,000 miles, the oil has broken down to just below 5W/30 to a high 20 weight oil. Oil was in the vehicle for 3 months.

This vehicle is driven moderately with only occasional "exuberance", but in a relatively hot climate year round down here in South Florida.

[ June 22, 2006, 02:31 PM: Message edited by: Dtech ]

 

[Winston]

Look at all that moly.

 

[TomJones76]

Dtech,

Any way you could supplement your post with a text version? It stinks when your hosting is gone and we want to see your results.

Healthy dose of boron in that oil.
Anyone know what they use at the factory?
I don't like the 7 PPM of sodium, but it COULD be an additive, but usually the additives that show up as sodium show HIGHER levels of sodium.
Oil thinned out of grade, but not by much, and not atypical for an energy-conserving modern 5W30.
I would expect TBN to be a *little* higher at 2000 miles, but it's still decent.
Hard to read much into a first-drain UOA. Be sure to sample your next drain to make sure that sodium isn't a hint of antifreeze contamination.

 

[Dtech]

I have a permanent hosting site for my pics, and plan to be active on these forums, but here are the text values as requested:

EQUIPMENT MAKE: Subaru OIL USE INTERVAL: 2,080 Miles
EQUIPMENT MODEL: 2.5L 4-cyl Turbo OIL TYPE & GRADE: 5W/30 (gas)
FUEL TYPE: Gasoline (Unleaded) MAKE-UP OIL ADDED: 0
ADDITIONAL INFO: 2006 STI

MI/HR ON OIL 2080 Unit / Universal
MI/HR ON UNIT 2080 Location Averages
SAMPLE DATE 6/9/2006 Averages

ALUMINUM 15 15 4
CHROMIUM 1 1 1
IRON 15 15 9
COPPER 59 59 8
LEAD 8 8 3
TIN 2 2 1
MOLYBDENUM 876 876 71
NICKEL 0 0 0
MANGANESE 2 2 1
SILVER 0 0 0
TITANIUM 0 0 0
POTASSIUM 0 0 1
BORON 140 140 47
SILICON 172 172 13
SODIUM 7 7 9
CALCIUM 1556 1556 2272
MAGNESIUM 10 10 101
PHOSPHORUS 732 732 726
ZINC 877 877 854
BARIUM 2 2 0

SUS FLASHPOINT FUEL ANTIFREEZE WATER INSOLUBLES
VISCOSITY IN º % % % %
@ 210 ºF

Should be 54-61 >365 Values were 52.9 415 - 0 0 0.2

 

[427Z06]

52.9 SUS = 8.15 cSt, well into typical 0/5w-20 territory.

 

[Santo Fontana]

A guy who builds the motors at one of the factories in the US posted on nasioc.com and said that they use regular oil for prelube, and initial fill. That doesnt explain the high additive levels, so the factory fill oil subaru provides to their factories must be special.

quote:

---

Originally posted by TomJones76:
Dtech,

Any way you could supplement your post with a text version? It stinks when your hosting is gone and we want to see your results.

Healthy dose of boron in that oil.
Anyone know what they use at the factory?
I don't like the 7 PPM of sodium, but it COULD be an additive, but usually the additives that show up as sodium show HIGHER levels of sodium.
Oil thinned out of grade, but not by much, and not atypical for an energy-conserving modern 5W30.
I would expect TBN to be a *little* higher at 2000 miles, but it's still decent.
Hard to read much into a first-drain UOA. Be sure to sample your next drain to make sure that sodium isn't a hint of antifreeze contamination.

---

 

[IslaVistaMan]

Special factory fill? Very unlikely with those moly counts.

The "regular" oil that is supposedly used during assembly is probably heavily dosed with molybdenum disulfide paste -- which is exactly what Honda does to make their own assembly lube, to compare.

The final factory fill was almost certainly a standard bulk dino oil.

OP: Lots of break-in going on there. Blackstone's change interval recommendation is to be regarded highly, to be sure. If it were my vehicle, I'd change the oil again no more than 1,500 miles out, and then go to a synthetic at 5,000 miles.

 

[Dtech]

Isla Vista makes a good point about the moly, but part of the moly can also be because of wear in. The pistons on the STI are moly coated so I'm not really alarmed about it.

You read my mind about next oil drain interval. I'm going to run 1500 to 2000 miles and then change out the oil again at around 4000 miles or so. I still haven't decided if I'll stick with conventional for one more change or not. If I do, it will be only for another 1500-2000 miles (~6000 mile change) and then go to synthetic. Then again, I may just go to synthetic for the next change.

 

[AndyH]

Dtech: Interesting report, thanks for posting. I ran conventional oil and semi-synthetic oil on 2,500 intervals for the first 10,000 miles on my 2005 STi, finally making the switch to synthetic (Castrol Syntec 0W-30 ["German Castrol" or "GC"]) at that time. Here are my UOA's on everything but the factory fill:
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=003237

I never sheared any of the oils as badly as you sheared your factory fill, but then again I never tested my factory fill (with approx. 2,500 miles on it) so it may have sheared in a similar fashion to your factory fill.

Also,

to BITOG!

 

[Dtech]

Thanks for the welcome Andy. Glad to be here and to be able to share my reports.

Nice results on your STI! I see there are a number of Subaru and "Saabaru" guys on here so it will be interesting to compare how my engine progresses. The next UOA should give me more useful info on how my engine is truely doing, but I wanted to have the factory fill baseline to see the initial wear and the downward trend from the very beginning.

I have seen how well GC has performed on a number of occasions and have used Mobil 1 in some of my previous vehicles, but believe it or not, I'm probably going to give Valvoline Synpower 10W-30 a try for my first switch to synthetic. Data sheet looks very good compared to others with only GC being as impressive / a little thicker. I may also consider Penzoil Platinum given some of the UOAs I've seen vs. the price. Redline, Amsoil, and RP are not really that attractive to me for the kind of money they cost and the drain intervals I intend to run. (4,000-5,000)

 

[Al]

Thanks for the report and welcome. I would go with synthetic the next change. Also I wouldn't bother with another sample until you do a run on synthetic. That's just me though.