Switching to 5w30

[Fa24wrx]

Guess we all have different ways of introducing ourselves to a new community.

I understand your point. If you see any of my other posts, I'm always amicable until start getting trolled for trying to learn

 

[kschachn]

I mean, we get below freezing temps every winter. I'm still looking for a solid 0W30 with several certs. I think Mobil 1 may have it. I know valvoline has one too.

You're the first I've seen say you don't care for the German/euro certs. I think they have their place but maybe the reliability thing is more of a complexity issue rather than an oiling issue.

How far below freezing? The difference between an oil with a 0W winter rating and one with a 5W does not become apparent until about -30.

 

[Fa24wrx]

How far below freezing? The difference between an oil with a 0W winter rating and one with a 5W does not become apparent until about -30.

Not that far. We get in the teens a few times. I get called in to the hospital for emergencies in the middle of the night amd it gets in the low teens but I don't remember seeing single digits.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Sorry for the late join.

I spent 1/2 hour skimming this thread as I am a longtime subaru caretaker and somewhat interested in a new BRZ or GR86.

Has the OP picked and installed a eurospec 30 grade lubricant yet?
You can hand-ring all day long - try one!

p.s: as @kschachn pointed out, you don't need a 0W. Irrelevant. And sometime the 0W makes a compromise elsewhere.

p.p.s: I would also endoscope the oil pickup for form-a-gasket blockage, if you can get there on that engine

Enjoy the car!

final thought. You know what, I bet the Genuine Idemitsu Subaru 5W30 would be all you need - and how could they complain!

 

[stwremains]

API licenses are irrelevant to the manufacturer approvals you're referring to. Different goals, different requirements and different applications.

Yes I understand that, API and ACEA ratings are more generic also. I brought them up because I’ve seen some who claim any euro spec ACEA variant is better than the API rated oils.

I still believe Dexos from GM has more credibility than euro manufacturers…. GM has proven reliability especially in LS engines, and has a right to purport that the Dexos approval seal denotes an oil that would meet their standards of quality oil to protect their engines. VW doing something similar means little to me when their product is not reliable, yet they are dictating an optimum oil that will protect the engines they’ve made. Seems illegitimate to me.

 

[kschachn]

Yes I understand that, API and ACEA ratings are more generic also. I brought them up because I’ve seen some who claim any euro spec ACEA variant is better than the API rated oils.

I still believe Dexos from GM has more credibility than euro manufacturers…. GM has proven reliability especially in LS engines, and has a right to purport that the Dexos approval seal denotes an oil that would meet their standards of quality oil to protect their engines. VW doing something similar means little to me when their product is not reliable, yet they are dictating an optimum oil that will protect the engines they’ve made. Seems illegitimate to me.

Reliability has much more to do with the engine design than the oil. Just like a UOA is far more descriptive of the operating conditions and engine design rather than the oil. You can't fix a material or design defect with an oil. Nor will a great oil make an "unreliable" engine reliable.

If GM has more reliable engines than VAG then it's because of their engineers and assembly plants. But that doesn't mean that VW 504 00 isn’t a demanding approval, just as is Porsche C30 and BMW Longlife-04.

 

[Fa24wrx]

Sorry for the late join.

I spent 1/2 hour skimming this thread as I am a longtime subaru caretaker and somewhat interested in a new BRZ or GR86.

Has the OP picked and installed a eurospec 30 grade lubricant yet?
You can hand-ring all day long - try one!

p.s: as @kschachn pointed out, you don't need a 0W. Irrelevant. And sometime the 0W makes a compromise elsewhere.

p.p.s: I would also endoscope the oil pickup for form-a-gasket blockage, if you can get there on that engine

Enjoy the car!

final thought. You know what, I bet the Genuine Idemitsu Subaru 5W30 would be all you need - and how could they complain!

The wrx doesn't have the same (although over blown) rtv pick up issues the BRZ has. They're a completely different build regarding oiling systems. I looked at the 5w30 idemitsu. It's a relatively thin 30 grade. k
KV100 <10 and HTHS wasn't impressive.

Do you have a euro 30 grade recommendation? I'm currently running valvoline R&P 5W30. I'm interested in their euro formula as well as Mobil 1.

 

[OVERKILL]

Yes I understand that, API and ACEA ratings are more generic also. I brought them up because I’ve seen some who claim any euro spec ACEA variant is better than the API rated oils.

Historically, even the basic ACEA sequences have had a considerably higher bar than the API ones. This has improved in recent years, really since SN, as there has been some overlap, in particular related to LSPI for example.

I still believe Dexos from GM has more credibility than euro manufacturers…. GM has proven reliability especially in LS engines, and has a right to purport that the Dexos approval seal denotes an oil that would meet their standards of quality oil to protect their engines. VW doing something similar means little to me when their product is not reliable, yet they are dictating an optimum oil that will protect the engines they’ve made. Seems illegitimate to me.

You'll have to explain this thought process.

Limits and tests are exactly that, if Porsche/Mercedes/BMW/VW have more difficult tests with stricter limits, that means that those approvals are more difficult to obtain; require a more robustly formulated lubricant to meet those requirements.

It doesn't matter which company you've had better experiences with, that's immaterial to this process/evaluation.

Furthermore, if you look at the Dexos testing protocol, many of the tests are not run on GM engines:

 

[stwremains]

Reliability has much more to do with the engine design than the oil. Just like a UOA is far more descriptive of the operating conditions and engine design rather than the oil. You can't fix a material or design defect with an oil. Nor will a great oil make an "unreliable" engine reliable.

If GM has more reliable engines than VAG then it's because of their engineers and assembly plants. But that doesn't mean that VW 504 00 is a very demanding approval, just as is Porsche C30 and BMW Longlife-04.

I guess I’m not articulating well.. yes I agree that the reliability is much more a referendum on the engine itself than the oil… I’m saying that I believe a company has more credibility in being picky and choosy with a standard for oils that it approves for use in its engines, seeing as they are actually good at designing an engine that has proven reliability!

For a less proven reliable manufacturer to set an approval standard for an engine oil, I just don’t value that as much. Is that still not making sense?

At any rate this poor thread has derailed catastrophically so I’ll bow out on the approvals issue.

 

[Fa24wrx]

This is the valvoline I'm considering. Has pretty solid approvals, HTHS 3.5 and KV100 of 12.1

 

[stwremains]

This is the valvoline I'm considering. Has pretty solid approvals, HTHS 3.5 and KV100 of 12.1View attachment 216915View attachment 216916

It’s a solid oil. I’m on the road with work and can’t do much on the phone, could you post the same spec sheet for the Valvoline Extended Protection 5W30?

 

[Fa24wrx]

It’s a solid oil. I’m on the road with work and can’t do much on the phone, could you post the same spec sheet for the Valvoline Extended Protection 5W30?

they're both solid. The EP meets more of the US requirements and may give less warranty hassle (if that's a concern).

 

[ARCOgraphite]

The wrx doesn't have the same (although over blown) rtv pick up issues the BRZ has. They're a completely different build regarding oiling systems. I looked at the 5w30 idemitsu. It's a relatively thin 30 grade. k
KV100 <10 and HTHS wasn't impressive.

Do you have a euro 30 grade recommendation? I'm currently running valvoline R&P 5W30. I'm interested in their euro formula as well as Mobil 1.

The Idemitsu Subaru 5W30 HTHS is a step up from 0W20 - the spec oil viscosity for your engine. KV100 of ~10cSt is pretty much irrelevant. It was also formulated to help keep the old STi EJ's in action - or at the very least meet current ILSAC

Does your DIC allow an oil temp readout? If not might you install an auxiliary gauge or acquire OBDii data?

Any feed back on the Valvoline? Engine responsiveness or power changes? An interesting choice to say the least.

I would defer to other users and those with high performance VAG's to suggest a euro lube.

- Arco

 

[Fa24wrx]

The Idemitsu Subaru 5W30 HTHS is a step up from 0W20 - the spec oil viscosity for your engine. KV100 of ~10cSt is pretty much irrelevant. It was also formulated top help keep the old STi EJ's in action - or at the very least meet current ILSAC

Does your DIC allow an oil temp readout? If not might you install an auxiliary gauge or acquire OBDii data?

Any feed back on the Valvoline? Engine responsiveness or power changes? An interesting choice to say the least.

I would defer to other users and those with high performance VAG's to suggest a euro lube.

- Arco

I have the 22 premium with the 11.6 inch screen that does tell me oil temp read out. I regularly see oil temp at 212f and when it's warm out and I'm going 75mph on the intestate, 217f is common. I recently got to 221f when doing spirited drives.

The engine seems quieter on the Valvoline. I ran this Valvoline with 0w20 and it also seemed quieter/smoother. So not sure what it is. There's a guy who's very knowledgeable and also in the industry with a vb wrx who builds motors/tests oils and also knows the CTO of Valvoline. He also runs the Restore and protect 5w30.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Somewhat "quieter and smoother" is often noted when jumping a grade.
How about reporting responsiveness and turbo spool-up differences? Is this a CVT or MT?

A few years ago, I had a lease VW turbo with 6 speed MT and the dealer put in 5W40 instead of 0W20 and the engine became a complete dog, ran hot and smelly around town and the turbo whine got very loud.
Only on the highway at high power high RPM did the 40 shine. Not a good choice.

If the R&P seems adequate I would run that for a couple OCI and for a good interval - and not be inclined to try every candy in the candy store.

Enjoy.

 

[Fa24wrx]

Somewhat "quieter and smoother" is often noted when jumping a grade.
How about reporting responsiveness and turbo spool-up differences? Is this a CVT or MT?

A few years ago, I had a lease VW turbo with 6 speed MT and the dealer put in 5W40 instead of 0W20 and the engine became a complete dog, ran hot and smelly around town and the turbo whine got very loud.
Only on the highway at high power high RPM did the 40 shine. Not a good choice.

If the R&P seems adequate I would run that for a couple OCI and for a good interval - and not be inclined to try every candy in the candy store.

Enjoy.

Manual transmission. As I noted above, it seemed to do the same when I went from motul 0w20 to valvoline 0w20. Then less smooth when I went to pup 0w20. It seems more or less the same in terms of response and performance. Every market outside of USA calls for 5w30 for this car so I'm sure it's fine. Plus, the subaru specialty shop near me really recommends 5w30 for this motor. And they're excellent.

 

[stwremains]

View attachment 216919they're both solid. The EP meets more of the US requirements and may give less warranty hassle (if that's a concern).

Thanks for posting this. I have a 21 Crosstrek with the 2.0 and I am under warranty for a few more years. I was debating the Euro spec you posted, in 5W30 for my summer oil, but ultimately they’re similar enough (on the surface anyway from what we can tell with the info we have) that I chose to stick with the highly USA Spec approved Extended Protection. It’s also been a very well acclaimed oil in many applications - I put my trust in it to protect my engine.

 

[stwremains]

Manual transmission. As I noted above, it seemed to do the same when I went from motul 0w20 to valvoline 0w20. Then less smooth when I went to pup 0w20. It seems more or less the same in terms of response and performance. Every market outside of USA calls for 5w30 for this car so I'm sure it's fine. Plus, the subaru specialty shop near me really recommends 5w30 for this motor. And they're excellent.

Valvoline uses a high quality and high quantity of molybdenum in the EP and Advanced and R&P oils, which has been noted to improve quiet and smooth feel. I believe that is a large part of the difference you’re feeling, as I noticed it immediately also upon using 0W20 Valvoline Extended Protection after my first and only free dealership oil change. The rest of the feeling difference is likely the jump to the proper 5W30 this engine “needs” and deserves as you noted, it gets 5W30 almost everywhere but here in North America.

 

[Fa24wrx]

Thanks for posting this. I have a 21 Crosstrek with the 2.0 and I am under warranty for a few more years. I was debating the Euro spec you posted, in 5W30 for my summer oil, but ultimately they’re similar enough (on the surface anyway from what we can tell with the info we have) that I chose to stick with the highly USA Spec approved Extended Protection. It’s also been a very well acclaimed oil in many applications - I put my trust in it to protect my engine.

Yea I wouldn't have any issue running any of these offerings. I will stick with r&p for a while and do a uoa some time soon

 

[kschachn]

I think that sometimes people value confirmation over reality or entertainment over truth.