Turbo + Tropics?

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BlueSE3P

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Ok folks, did the searches, and I'm already aware that there's no best oil! Just looking for opinions on what might be suitable for me.



1. What kind of vehicle you have?
Car is a 2005 WRX. Mileage is circa 60,000 km / 36,000 miles on the odo.

2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well

API SL, GF-4. 10W30 is recommended for the widest temperature range. However, the manual recommends higher viscos for "severe" usage.

3. Where you live
Live in the Caribbean. Ambient temps are 34-36 deg C during hot days.

4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
While I may not reach high top speeds, I do accelerate aggressively with this car. So I would say a "hard" driver.

5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)

Highway driving on mornings, heavy traffic on evenings.

6. Whether your car has any known problems

None as far as I'm aware, other than some oil burn off between oil changes (see below).


Additional notes:

a) Subarus in our country (Trinidad) are often filled with 50W oils by most local mechanics. Earlier on, I believe the dealership also used this viscosity (5W50 syntec is used by many, for example).

b) Oil choice is limited. My local choices are:
- Gulf Oil Synthetic 5W50
- Castrol Syntec 5W50 (No "edge")
- Redline 15W50/20W50
- Amsoil 20W50 (unsure as to exactly which line of Amsoil this is...eg. Series 2000)
- Total Quartz 7000 (*W50)
- Schaeffer's 9000 synth 5W50 Racing Oil
- Castrol GTX 20W50
- Shell Helix *W50
- Royal Purple 20W50 (bleh)
- Quaker State "Q Horsepower" (*W50)
- Castrol Magnatec 20W50

Put the " * "'s where I'm unsure as to what the number is.

c) This WRX, as with others around my country, does burn off some oil between oil changes. Nothing to cause smoke etc....but lets say between 0.5 - 1 qt for many owners.

d) Used 5W50 SYntec on acquisition of this car from prev owner. Added about 0.8 qt between oil change. Switched to Redline 15W50....oil loss is ALOT more. CUrrently 2/3 way thru my OCI and I've already added a quart!

e) I should add that these cars seem finicky. SOme of them like certain oils, and others HATE other ones. A friend's Forester ate up 1.2 qts of RP between Oil CHanges. Switched to Schaeffer's and now consumes less than a qt.



Bottom line - any recommendations?
 
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Total is marketing aggressively where I hang out in the Caribbean (VI). I'd give them a shot, they have very good oils and it seems that the price point is superior to the US majors right now in that market.

Where in the Caribbean are you?
 
As you said there is no best oil. But there could be a "best" for your car. I would not worry a whole lot about the choices you have as none will damage your engine. You still can search around a little more to find what fits best for you. I would stick with the Syntec 5w50 in my own PERSONAL opinion. It is a good oil and you have experience with it. The Schaeffers or Total I would give a chance and Amsoil is always usually very good. Just keep price compared to performance in mind.

Sorry for the broad answer but there are a lot of decent options. At least you can cross RP and RedLine off of your list.
 
Originally Posted By: Doug Hillary
Hi,
IME these engines benefit from using a 5W-40 HDEO (C?/SM)


Hey DG. I've read some of your posts on here....good info most often
smile.gif


Thing is, if I get a slight bit of burn off with a 50W oil, won't a 40W burn off even more? I'm a bit hesitant to move down to a 40W.


Quote:


As you said there is no best oil. But there could be a "best" for your car. I would not worry a whole lot about the choices you have as none will damage your engine. You still can search around a little more to find what fits best for you. I would stick with the Syntec 5w50 in my own PERSONAL opinion. It is a good oil and you have experience with it. The Schaeffers or Total I would give a chance and Amsoil is always usually very good. Just keep price compared to performance in mind


I've been thinking about the Schaeffer's...but what's the deal with this moly biz? Yes I read BITOG's front page doc about "Moly basics"....but doesn't RP use that as well?

And on sites like NASIOC, using RP is almost "taboo" (might be met with "gasps" and "Oh no you didn't!" kinda thing).

Or is that all oils use Moly? Sorry for the noob questions.
 
Quote:
Just keep price compared to performance in mind.



I am. And you'd think that Castrol, being a lower grade synth, would be cheaper than stuff like AMSOIL, right?

Get this......I'm paying only 1.25 USD more per qt for Amsoil 20W50 vs Syntec 5W50. Redline costs only 0.80 USD more. Schaeffer's, about the same!!!

The distributor adds alot of markup to Castrol Oils locally. AMSOIL, not so much.
 
Don't get too hung up on brand problems readng nasioc. There have been a couple of RP 5W-30 uoa's posted there where it sheared to a 20 grade, but there isn't any data, or even many subjective reviews of any other grades. Same goes for a lot of reviews and comments there on Mobil1.

+1 on Doug's HDEO 5W-40 recommendation. I would use a 5W-40 or 10W-40 (if you can get them) but not a 50 grade. Your temps aren't really high enough to run a 50 grade, IMO.

-Dennis
 
^Hey thanks for the reply d00d.

I won't mind using the 40W oil...but then again, how is it that different oils...even at the same visco "group" have different burn off rates?

Reminds me of my older '02 WRX. Used RP 20W50....oil levels were never dropped as much as when I used Amsoil Series 2000. Good grief, that car ate up that AMSOIL like no ones business.

Again, that was also a 20W50.



Another point of interest is "spun bearings". F/I Subaru owners locally have been plagued by spun bearings. Most owners who've experienced this tend to be those who use 30 or 40W oils (but not always...some are just not following proper OCIs etc). How does a 40W factor in with the spun bearing issue?

Also, what about my driving style? I am fairly aggressive with my car. And the car was fed on a diet of 15W50 by the prev owner for the first 30k miles or so (after break in of course)
 
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I don't think you can go wrong with one of the Rotella 40 weights. Even the triple T holds up in my turbo motorcycle.
 
Originally Posted By: BlueSE3P

Another point of interest is "spun bearings". F/I Subaru owners locally have been plagued by spun bearings. Most owners who've experienced this tend to be those who use 30 or 40W oils (but not always...some are just not following proper OCIs etc). How does a 40W factor in with the spun bearing issue?

Also, what about my driving style? I am fairly aggressive with my car. And the car was fed on a diet of 15W50 by the prev owner for the first 30k miles or so (after break in of course)

While there have been a few spun bearings on 40 grades, most of them happen on Energy Conserving 5W-30's. Of course, you'll never know the full story. How was the tune? When was the oil last changed? Was the level full? Was the proper oil for the application used? No oil can fix the nut behind the wheel.
smile.gif


There is an old uoa in the Motorsport forum at nasioc where a tracked WRX had less uoa wear on a 40 grade than with a 50 grade. Also, the thinner the oil the cooler it will run. Have a look in the uoa forum at all of the WRX uoa's. Most WRX owners in the U.S. only go with 50 grades on built engines. Even some built engine owners run 30 and 40 grades.

Even the UK guys at Scoobynet, which have long used 50 and 60 grades, are using 30's and 40's more commonly now. I'm currently using 5W-30, but one that is on the high range of the 30 grade scale (close to a 40). It also has a high High Temp High Shear so it behaves similarly to some 40 grades.

-Dennis
 
^^Hey Dennis, thanks a mil for the reply man. I see that folks seem to be glossing over my question about the oil loss.

Basically within the 50W bracket that I've been using, I've found that different brands burn off at different rates. Surprising I think.

Redline 15W50 burnt off noticeably, Castrol Syntec 5W50, not that much.

Is this typical? I would have expected Redline to be more stable! Doesn't RL use a higher grade basestock?


At this point, Im looking to minimise oil loss as far as possible. And I'm not sure a 40W, which it might be sufficient at lubrication, would burn off less than, say Castrol Syntec 5w50 (0.8 qt per OCI).

To that end, it looks like I'm going to have to do some experimentation with different types/brands and possibly viscos, to see what yields the best results. In terms of blowby, I'm looking to changeout my PCV valve soon (360000 miles might be a bit early, no?) and install a catch can.
 
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Consumption can be from a variety of reasons, and changing oil brands a lot can actually increase it. I burned through two qts of Red Line 5W-30 in 5k miles, but that isn't that unusual with the first run on Red Line.

Also, thicker does not necessarily mean you'll have less consumption. A 10W-40 may consume less than a 5W-50 because the 5W-50 could be more volatile.

-Dennis
 
Originally Posted By: BlueSE3P
Basically within the 50W bracket that I've been using, I've found that different brands burn off at different rates. Surprising I think.

Redline 15W50 burnt off noticeably, Castrol Syntec 5W50, not that much.

Is this typical? I would have expected Redline to be more stable! Doesn't RL use a higher grade basestock?

At this point, Im looking to minimise oil loss as far as possible. And I'm not sure a 40W, which it might be sufficient at lubrication, would burn off less than, say Castrol Syntec 5w50 (0.8 qt per OCI)..

Oil consumption is a mysterious thing. Few rules are fail-safe. You are right to experiment. I had an oil-burning young Subaru engine in a 2002 Impreza. It burned Red Line 10W-30 at twice the rate of all other oils I used (synthetic and mineral). That was almost 1 qt/1000 miles. Stability of the basestocks is not the issue nor is volatility.
 
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