Question about synthetic oil and stiff steering

[bluebird]

I bought a 2011 outback with 75,000 miles, has 78,000 now, about two months ago.  It is time to change the oil, I usually do every 3000.  the dealer we bought the car from had changed the oil right before purchase and used synthetic.  I have never used synthetic in any of my Subarus in the past.  Do I have to stick with the synthetic now that it is in there or can I go back to regular oil?  And is there a good reason to stick with the synthetic? 

 

Next question, the steering seems stiff to me, by that I mean the wheel is harder to turn than I'm used to on past Subarus or my other car which is a Corolla.  It isn't so stiff that it is work but just feels a bit stiff. At first I thought there might be a setting to change this but I don't see that there is. Is the consistent with this year and model or am I looking a trouble down the road?

[wtdash]

HI,

There is lots of info online about this topic. A good resource may be http://bobistheoilguy.com/....and there are many opinions....

 

My .02:

 

Synthetic is added insurance and extends your Oil Change Interval (OIC). But with stop and go, hot/cold, hard, or severe driving, (and a Turbocharged engine) replace every 3,000 miles or 3 months whichever comes first - it's considered Severe Use (I think it's called) in the Owner's Manual.

 

If you don't fall under the Severe Use category, 3K OIC's are a waste of $$...yes, I stated it out loud, even w/NON-synthetic oil changes. The 3K OIC is a good $$ for the oil change industry, though.

 

IMHO, one of the main issues w/Subarus is ensuring your oil level is FULL, due to the vagaries of oil consumptin due to head gasket (HG) failure, internal engine failure (see FB25 oil consumption issues), etc. Running low on oil in any vehicle is a death knell, but Subarus 'have a history'.

 

Steering wheel: I believe the Owner's Manual also notes that most/all Subars since mid-90's have 'proportional steering' where the steering effort varies -  Subaru-speak: "Power rack & pinion with engine speed sensing variable assist". I dont' know if this is electric or hydraulic on your '11. 

 

GL,

Td

Edited August 31, 2016 by wtdash

[idosubaru]

Oil choice doesn't matter on average daily driver non-turbo Subarus - follow the owners manual. cars101 has all the maintenance information or get an owners manual, it would be good to have for other things as well - fluid types, capacities, tires, fuse locations, etc. Just follow the guidelines there, though they may "recommend" synthetic it's by no means required. Even on newer FB engines I wouldn't be all that compelled to run synthetic even if it's required.

 

Heavy towing, racing, turbos' - use synthetic and never deviate.

Synthetic oil is excellent stuff - but that's only part of the equation. Excellent properties - and whether those properties actually do anything in an average car are two different questions. Most people do a really terrible job making that distinction - they just choose one side or the other and stick to it like politics.

 

There are two beneifts to synthetic oil in an average daily driver Subaru - one is practical the other far fetched.

The practical benefit to synthetic is longer change intervals which you're not doing if you stay at every 3,000.

 

The other benefit of synthetic is the "extra protection". But just saying something is true doesn't mean it carries any weight. I could argue that "waxing your car every day and inflating tires an extra 5 pounds makes engines last longer - less resistance, less drag, less work on the engine, less wear - and just based on facts and physics that statement could carry some weight. but otherwise it's meaningless. synthetic oil benefits reltaing to reliabiity and longevity often fall pretty close in line with that kind of argument. True but an inaccurate depiction of reality.

 

Subaru's routinely run 300,000 on whatever is on sale, so there's no extra protection needed. There's enormous decades of hundreds of thousands of subarus/vehicles that bear that out.

 

Let's describe an instance where it's "better properties" would help:

 

The car randomly runs out of oil with no drips, no smokes, no noises, no smells, NO symptoms, no warnings, and all that happens immediately and quick enough to do engine damage....but....you happen to stop the engine in the 34 millisecond magical range after conventional oil would have failed to protect the bearings...but before they would have failed anyway with synthetic oil.

 

so if you want to mitigate 0.00008% risks then yes buy synthetic, replace your tires yearly, make as many right turns in life as you can, and replace your timing belt every 50,000 miles.

 

The "my synthetic oil car will last longer than yours" type people tend to congregate at bobistheoilguy and subaruoutback forums if you'd like to see some information convincing you of the prowess and superiority of synthetic oil.

 

Steering: I think Subaru's in general do seem tight, but not sure if you have an issue or just normal.

Edited August 31, 2016 by grossgary

[jp98]

If you are changing your oil every 3000 miles you are just wasting money.  Most dino oils today can go 5000 miles with no problems and synthetics can go 8000+ between complete oil changes. 

 

What you need to do to see if you oil need to be changed is to have a analysis done to it.  There are a number of companies that will do this for you for a charge.  I use Blackstone Labs on my diesel truck and have streatched the oil changes out to 6,000 miles running conventional dino oil. 

[Fairtax4me]

Newer Subaru engines with the variable cam timing need synthetic oil for proper operation of the cam timing mechanisms. If you use conventional oil you better change it at 3,000 miles or it will cause varnish buildup in the cam timing parts and cause problems. The modern engines are much less forgiving of dirty oil, even though conventional oil is better now than it ever has been in the past. 

 

 

I've noticed the steering on the newer models tends to be a little stiffer. If you think there's a problem see if changing the steering fluid helps. 

[idosubaru]

Newer Subaru engines with the variable cam timing need synthetic oil f

so you'd recommend it for all 2005+ stuff with variable timing components?

[golucky66]

Well, if your car has the new engine (FB25) it requires 0w20, which is synthetic. If it's still the EJ series non synthetic is perfectly fine. 

[idosubaru]

Well, if your car has the new engine (FB25) it requires 0w20, which is synthetic. If it's still the EJ series non synthetic is perfectly fine. 

2011 outback if EJ25, not the newer FB engines. 

[GaryRI]

You should check your owners manual. My new to me 2010 Outback's owners manual doesn't spec synthetic fuel. 

[Fairtax4me]

so you'd recommend it for all 2005+ stuff with variable timing components?

I would for at least the 2012+ cars.

Ive read a few reports online where people had trouble with the variable timing solenoids from using conventional oil. They were having DTCs set within maybe 1,000 miles of an oil change.

Have also talked to a few mechanics at the local dealer who have seen issues with the newer variable timing systems due to lack of oil changes when using conventional oil. 

 

That's not to say that it just can't be used. But it does break down faster than synthetic, and can cause problems, so frequent changes are a must IMO.