Should I change oil on infrequent driven Subie?

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Garyd

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I have a 2003 Subaru Legacy L wagon that has been driven very infrequently in the last 2 to 3 years. It was my Dad's and it would up sitting in the garage undriven for months at a time. It currently has about 36,500 miles on it and it's last oil change was in January of 2014 at 35,391 at a Subaru dealer with Subaru conventional oil and filter. So it's been about 2 years and 8 months and about only 1,109 miles since the last oil change.

I am going to start driving it as a daily driver. Should I change it with fresh, new oil or is it OK to drive it another 2k, 3k or 4k miles before the next oil change?

PS. In a 2003 Legacy L with only 36.5k miles on it, what oil and filter would you recommend and should I switch to synthetic? Thanks
 
I would change it out so that you don't have to possibly circulate any water condensate but you have kept it in the garage. I would drop the all the fluids. Brake fluid likes to suck up water and that's real bad for the caliper pistons.
 
I'd change it out since it's been 2.5 years on conventional. I'd prob stick to a conventional, semi-syn or a High Mileage oil which may help condition any dried out seals and do some extra cleaning.
 
Welcome to BITOG.

I'd take it on an 80-100 mile highway trip. Give it an old Italian tuneup. Then do the oil change with conventional or syn blend oil. Subie filters at the dealer are $4.50 to $6.00, or try a premium filter like a Fram Ultra XG3593A.

Then focus on your other fluid changes and the condition of the timing belt, tires and brake components.
 
Definately change it -- I had a similar situation with my parents' Toyota. When i did change it after 3+ years I sent it to Blackstone for UOA. Came back real bad as I remember, not wear metals, but cSt and TBN were in the toilet
As far as what to use, any name brand 5-20 or 5-30 oil and filter available at Walmart will do the trick
Steve
 
Originally Posted By: NormanBuntz
Welcome to BITOG.

I'd take it on an 80-100 mile highway trip. Give it an old Italian tuneup. Then do the oil change with conventional or syn blend oil. Subie filters at the dealer are $4.50 to $6.00, or try a premium filter like a Fram Ultra XG3593A.

Then focus on your other fluid changes and the condition of the timing belt, tires and brake components.


x2

OEM filter and a high mileage blend 5w30 would serve you well. Make sure the rest of the maintenance is up to speed before a dry rotted belt ruins your day.
 
How handy are you on cars? Do you do your own repairs?

If you are real handy, change it and at the same time look over all the obvious trouble spots. If you are a newby to car maintenance work, I'd take it to the local good independent Subie shop and have them do a change and 36,000 mile service.

Get it solid for sure before doing the daily driver thang. It's a nice car, but time can do things to rubber and even oil ...
 
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Thanks all for all the replies so far. My Dad found and bought this 2003 Legacy wagon in early 2010 with only 10,000 miles on it! My Dad drove it daily and did all the maintenance on it until he got sick in 2011. He then drove it at least a couple times a week and continued the maintenance on it. After 2013 it was then driven a couple times or more a month until February 2015 when he couldn't drive any more. He had put 25k miles on it in that 5 year period. I've driven it a handful of times since then but just haven't had time to deal with it. So it's been mostly idle, in a garage for the last 20 months with an occasional drive here and there. I am planning on brake fluid flush, coolant change, fuel filter change and whatever else is required for the 30k service. I had just wondered how quickly I needed to change the oil since it only had 1,110 miles on it but had been 2.5 years since it was last changed.

I live in a suburb of Denver so I think i may do the "Italian tune up" with a trip up I-70 in the mountains and then dump the oil. So if I can get some good Synthetic cheap with some rebates, would it be good to go with it or better to go with a conventional "high mileage" oil as some have suggested?
 
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Originally Posted By: BrocLuno
Go get on a Subie forum. You'll find that Subie's like what they like, and it may not be what you think ...


So, could you tell me what they like?

We have all the records for the car so we know that it has had all of it's oil changes done at Subaru dealerships. So it's had only Subie conventional oil (whoever makes that?) and Subie filters (whoever makes those?). I'm planning on doing the oil changes myself from now on.
 
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A lot of Subarus like a 40 wt oil to help with consumption. Personally, I'd go high mileage 5w30 thats on the thicker side like a Maxlife syn blend. If you want a full synthetic high mileage oil, M1 5w30 HM is great. Low mileage but almost 14 years old means some seals may have starting shrinking and need conditioning from little use and being dry.



I'd do new belts and tires , brake fluid and coolant flush at least in addition to the oil change.

Subaru's like leaking headgaskets much sooner than other engine that are inline but you should be good for a while.
 
No need for synthetic in this application IMO. I'd just use Pennzoil High Mileage conventional. Maybe do a short interval of 3k miles and extend it up to the factory recommended interval of 7,500 miles after that.
 
Ok. First, thanks for all the replies and advice. I found out that my Dad had a free oil change coming from the Subie dealer he goes to this morning, so after a quick "Italian tune up", I took it to the dealer for the free oil change this afternoon. I got home about 2 hours ago and I just went out to check the dipstick and I think they way overfilled the oil! Maybe someone with Subie knowledge can help me but the oil line is way above the top fill hole and past the notch, about an inch into the curved part of the dipstick! The car has been sitting for 2 hours but I will check it again later and first thing in the morning but it seems way to high even for a warmed up engine.
 
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I will be doing that but in checking it in the past and checking it the last several days, when the engine is cold, the oil line was at or close to the full hole. When the engine is hot, the oil line was close to or at the notch above the full hole. Where the oil line is now is almost twice as high as the full hole!
 
While most people here who know what a Subie is, I'd avoid the use of acronyms here. I have had mostly great responses here but I have also had a few painful ones from those who don't understand what a Boxer motor is. I'd probably put the engine type and proper model in the subject if it isn't too late.
 
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