Subaru WRX questions (oil, coolant, etc)

[metroplex]

Anyone that has a 2002-up WRX in the US, can you help me out? I'm considering buying one but need to know what kind of fluids it uses - if I need to go to Subie to get proprietary stuff or if Walmart would carry most of what i'd need.

Redline says to use 5W-30 in the engine, D4 ATF in the tranny, and 75W-90 in the final drive.

Does this sound right?

What about coolant and brake fluid?

Just to re-cap:

Subaru 2002 WRX, 2.0L H4 w/ Turbocharger and engine oil cooler, 4EAT auto tranny, AWD.

 

[metroplex]

ttt

I was originally thinking that it might use 10W-40 in the engine cause of the turbocharger but doesn't 5W-30 seem too thin??

 

[Bogatyr]

metroplex,
I'm not sure if this will help, it's not really an authoritative answer, but my neighbor has a 2002 WRX. I helped her husband do the first oil change and he put Castrol GTX 10w30 in it. IMO there's nothing wrong with that as it's a fine oil, but I'm not sure if that's within what Subie specs for the thing.
If your owner's manual states 5w30, I'd go with that or 10w30 for the summer. With the final drive, make sure you get the right one with or without the LSD additive.
Bogatyr

 

[UberWRX]

Hi, metroplex.

Check out these sites, as they'll be able to answer all your Subie questions:
1) http://www.impreza.net
2) http://www.clubwrx.net

I have a '02 WRX. Once I hit 3K, I switched to Amsoil 0W-30; fortunately, that was during the winter months. (Incidentally, I posted the results of my oil analysis running the Amsoil on this site.) Now I'm running Redline 5W-40, with which I plan to stick.

You'll hear all kinds of advice about what sort of fluids to run in the WRX. I think as long as those fluids meet (and hopefully exceed) Subaru's recommendations, you'll have no problems. As for myself, I'll stick to synthetic motor oil. I plan to stick with the coolant from the dealership, and possibly add Redline's Water Wetter. And once I hit 10K, I'm going to switch my tranny fluids to synthetic also.

I run my car pretty hard, and it's a work in progress; what with spirited daily driving, track racing, and aftermarket mods. So, I believe I can more than justify running the synthetic stuff.

Cheers,
Jeff

[ May 09, 2003, 11:58 AM: Message edited by: UberWRX ]

 

[Steve S]

Metroplex ,go with what Redline recommends. It's expensive may be overkill but you will be getting the best oil to beat the snot out of a car with.