Which engine oil for Subaru Crosstrek?

[N3OO]

Hello all,

I have a question and didn't know where to post it so here goes.
My son just purchased a darn near mint Subaru Crosstrek with 130k miles on it with the boxer engine: I know, throw your dice take your chances. I don't know anything more about it.
I see it calls for 0w20, which oil would you feel safer with? Mobil 1, Pennzoil Platinum or another?

Thanks for any insight,

Bob

 

[Adkcedarman]

No, it should all be engaged with no slippage, except the TC, which is just churning fluid. It is loading the CVT belt with zero movement, but that should be fine too? Lots of subarus climb some hills in AZ in 110F+ and then sit in D for a couple minutes at a light?
You wouldn't want to forget to release the parking brake though, as inputting high torque from the TC when the pulleys and belt are still quite cold is exactly what should be avoided.
Maybe not much transmission fluid is exchanged between the TC and rest of the transmission unless there is movement? In that case then maybe its not a good idea? Subaru decided that making the TC slip while driving is a good warmup strategy though.

I guess realistically, with good oil/trans fluid OCI's, almost any warm up strategy or no warm up at all is fine to get your car to 250+k miles, unless you see lower than -30C often?

Interesting, i never thought of it this way, thanks for explaining! I’m thinking of the operation on other transmission i suppose, maybe on the Subaru CVT it wont cause any unnecessary damage/wear, it just feels wrong to me to have a vehicle in gear but not moving unless its in regular traffic. Idk.

Ironically the Subaru prioritizes heating up the CVT, but this is dramatically slower if the cabin has the heat turned on. So you can either have a warmed up CVT in a few minutes but an ice cold non defrosted cabin, or a warm ish defrosted cabin and a ice cold CVT, lol.

 

[tired]

I have a couple kits for OilAnalyzers that I recently bought

Good plan.

That Valvoline barely held the 20 grade by the skin of its teeth at 4500 miles. Not trying to beat a dead horse, but I'd forego your 20 grade oil plans in the winter. But to each his own.

 

[Adkcedarman]

Good plan.

That Valvoline barely held the 20 grade by the skin of its teeth at 4500 miles. Not trying to beat a dead horse, but I'd forego your 20 grade oil plans in the winter. But to each his own.

Exactly why im interested in ESP 0W30 or if i am content with how 5W30 VRP performs in the winter, just run it permanently! I was not impressed that a highly rated oil like Valvoline Extend Protection could thin out so easily. TBN was lower than id like as well. The 5W30 Valvoline Advanced performed a bit better, but not as well as expected either.

 

[IndyIan]

Interesting, i never thought of it this way, thanks for explaining! I’m thinking of the operation on other transmission i suppose, maybe on the Subaru CVT it wont cause any unnecessary damage/wear, it just feels wrong to me to have a vehicle in gear but not moving unless its in regular traffic. Idk.

Ironically the Subaru prioritizes heating up the CVT, but this is dramatically slower if the cabin has the heat turned on. So you can either have a warmed up CVT in a few minutes but an ice cold non defrosted cabin, or a warm ish defrosted cabin and a ice cold CVT, lol.

I find our Outback actually unlocks the TC and raises the rpms if we ask for maximum heat in the first few miles, of a "get in and go" start on a cold day, so it tries to do both! My 2016 Impreza seems to keep the rpms higher for the first mile or two on almost every cold start, unless its like +20C. It does a few things that reduce efficiency compared to our Outback, and feels much less peppy than the comparable power to weight figures would imply.