[KiR DieseL]

Every 3K miles end of story!

Doesnt hurt anything to change it early

[polyol]

Originally Posted by Pre

You do that then. I have my oil analyzed by a lab on every car I own so I'm not wasting time, money, and energy changing oil and filters when it doesn't need to be changed. These threads are always the same on any enthusiast site (car/bike). A bunch of people say I do this or I do that, with no real data to back up any of it. Real data is having the lab analyze your oil. You do it a couple of times and you figure out when it needs to be changed rather than hunches.

So you have you oil checked on a dynamic rheometer? Could you post some of your temp-ramps and speed-vars to show us how you analyize your oil retains? I have a dynamic rheometer at my lab...should I check my oil ever 3000mi or just change my oil...probably faster to just change my oil and whats $20.00.

[Rootus]

Originally Posted by Pre

I have my oil analyzed by a lab on every car I own so I'm not wasting time, money, and energy changing oil and filters when it doesn't need to be changed.

Not a bad idea. That's how I ended up changing my interval to 2500 miles.

[redbread]

Originally Posted by chmura

This is why I would never keep a BMW past 100k miles if the owner followed the "recommended 15k oil intervals".

My dad mechanic and owns a BMW/Mercedes shop. Been in business for 20 years and he has seen sooooo many bmw's come doing with sluge problems. He opens up the valve cover and there is sluge everywhere. To bad I dont have the pics anymore. He couldnt even take out the oil filer out of the canister because it was caked in sludge. He had to cut the oil filter in pieces to get it out.

Of course 15k intervals are fine up until you hit 50k+ or so miles. This is when BMW's warranty is over and they want your $$$ to fix the issue.

Weird, mine's at 100k miles and still looks like new, the oil filter area still looks like new and I had the valve cover off to replace the gasket not long ago and there certainly wasn't any sludge. I follow the service light, which is based on fuel consumption and not tied to a specific mileage, and therefore gets greatly accelerated with track events. I know plenty of people with 200k+ miles who do the same with no sludge problems.

I'd guess two things are possible for your dad's story. The people are either running low oil levels and the resulting higher oil temps are leading to sludge (when running conventional oil only), and I have an oil temp guage and check the level at most gas fill ups. The other possibility, and it's a long shot, is that people are having oil changes done with a relatively cold motor, say the shop leaves it in back and lets the oil cool, and they're not getting a full drain. I drive like crazy, a gear or two low before getting an oil change for this reason.

At the same time, with a turbo charged engine, I'd be more inclined to do more frequent changes. Both for the increased odds of running low on oil between changes and due to the higher underhood temps. I would not be very keen on running conventional oil in any car, and a turbo charged car with conventional oil just doesn't seem like a good idea.

[holycow]

Originally Posted by Pre

You do that then. I have my oil analyzed by a lab on every car I own so I'm not wasting time, money, and energy changing oil and filters when it doesn't need to be changed. These threads are always the same on any enthusiast site (car/bike). A bunch of people say I do this or I do that, with no real data to back up any of it. Real data is having the lab analyze your oil. You do it a couple of times and you figure out when it needs to be changed rather than hunches.

It's not a matter of need, its a matter of complying with subarus maintance schedule to keep your warranty (if you are inside of it). You may be right that the 5,000 mile interval is a tad short in reality... but what if you go 7,500 and you encounter an internal problem. Your records will tell subaru that you haven't been changing your oil per subaru's maintainance schedule, and vuala.. warranty work denied... regardless of whether or not the oil had 2,500 more miles left before it actually broke down.

Hint to the new guys who may not know better, rule of thumb is follow your recommended intervals.

[Pre]

Originally Posted by holycow

It's not a matter of need, its a matter of complying with subarus maintance schedule to keep your warranty (if you are inside of it). You may be right that the 5,000 mile interval is a tad short in reality... but what if you go 7,500 and you encounter an internal problem. Your records will tell subaru that you haven't been changing your oil per subaru's maintainance schedule, and vuala.. warranty work denied... regardless of whether or not the oil had 2,500 more miles left before it actually broke down.

Hint to the new guys who may not know better, rule of thumb is follow your recommended intervals.

Subaru would lose as that would fall under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. Oil and filters need changing when they need changing. Factories recommend all sorts of things that people don't follow. Ever seen the shift points in an owners manual?

[DGMSTIenroute]

I was debating about whether to proceed with synthetic or dino on my first change and this is what the service manager at my local Subaru said:

Per a fairly recent bulletin from Suburu Corp., They recommend changes at no later than 3,750 for turbo cars, and recommend the use of Synthetic (this one's on their dime) for all 08 STI's using the same weight 5w-30.

He also indicated that you can go back and forth from Synthetic and regular oil and it makes no difference (in terms of any negative affect on the car) if price becomes an issue later.

I've always been under the impression that an engine likes to continue to break-in (after the initial period) and continue to age with the same kind of material in it's guts (for consistency of viscosity, etc.) but don't know.

Anybody who does, please enlighten me.

[WRXGuyInUSA]

I changed to Royal Purple in my '08 at 2000 miles...

[Nativepenguin]

According to my maint. book, on my 09 forester i dont have to change mine till 7,500 and after that one it moves to 3000 miles. It also says for a 3.0 H6 it would be 3000 instead of 7,500. I think if you stay with the book then you should be set, you just have to read all the notes like change before and after race events or harsh driving.

[Garrett]

OK, if your semi-precautious... follow this Oil Maintenance procedure.


Since when you first get the car, the engine isn't broke-in and any amount of idling or loading, will slowly wear in the rings, heads, walls, etc. It is recommended that your first oil change is at 1,000 miles.

Your second one should be at 3,000 miles.

Your third oil change should be at 5,000 miles. But switching to 100% Synthetic (if it doesn't come with it). The intervals should then be 4,000 ~ 5,000 miles between oil changed depending on your driving style.


What this does is protect your engine when it is the most vulnerable, by removing the metal shaving and production debris from the system. By the time you get to the third Oil Change (about 5,000 ODO) your engine should be broke-in. The move to synthetic helps protect the engine better and since you will now have normal wear, changing the oil is no longer based solely on dirt/debris, but the actual break-down of the lubricant, Which synthetic won't actually do. (Though, it is still removing debris, but nothing like it was when the engine wasn't broken-in)

Lastly, I don't see ANYONE mentioning flushing of their engines. During the first 2 oil changes (make sure the engine is hot before you change the oil)... FLUSH 2 quarts threw the system or remove the oil pan and clean it out.

Most engines loosen up around 10,000 miles and you start to see increased fuel efficiency and HP.




I'm not saying, my way is "da best", but it's highly logical and I really do have a lot of people thank me. It doesn't cost much and if your oil is "dirty" it has already compromised your engine. If you have any comments or suggestion, please chime in.






-Garrett

[waktasz]

Good luck with that.

[Elkwood]

Man that is something else on all the oil stuff.

My last car was a rsx type s which i put 104k miles on it in 3 years and 3 months. Sort of didn't drive it as much as my last car.

It had 94k miles in 2 years.

I drove it like i stole it for the most part and changed the oil about every 10k miles. With dino oil.

Its going to be hard for me to change oil every 3k miles. I have never changed oil that often in anything i have owned(car that is). Maybe 5k miles i can do. I'll be checking it often though just in case its burning any.

Warranty stuff doesn't matter to me. Since ill be out of it with in the first year anyway.

In some ways i think it is plan silly for any modern car to need oil changes before 10k miles.

[SLY STi]

I change mine every 2,500 miles. In my car, and in my bike.

[SLY STi]

Originally Posted by Elkwood

Man that is something else on all the oil stuff.

My last car was a rsx type s which i put 104k miles on it in 3 years and 3 months. Sort of didn't drive it as much as my last car.

It had 94k miles in 2 years.

I drove it like i stole it for the most part and changed the oil about every 10k miles. With dino oil.

Its going to be hard for me to change oil every 3k miles. I have never changed oil that often in anything i have owned(car that is). Maybe 5k miles i can do. I'll be checking it often though just in case its burning any.

Warranty stuff doesn't matter to me. Since ill be out of it with in the first year anyway.

In some ways i think it is plan silly for any modern car to need oil changes before 10k miles.

LMAO !

[torquemada]

Originally Posted by Elkwood

In some ways i think it is plan silly for any modern car to need oil changes before 10k miles.

Same opinion here.

It´s only to make money