Andyjo Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I use Mobil 1 10w-30 Synth. I drive crazy highway miles, and short 1 mile trips from my house to campus... it works great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_Aramchek_ Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 I use Mobil 1 10w-30 Synth. I drive crazy highway miles, and short 1 mile trips from my house to campus... it works great So,a question then?,what oil do you guys think I should be using in my 2.2 OBW? I drive it hard and it regularly goes up near the rev limiter (because it pulls so nice ),I drive a mix of highway and high speed backroads...what should I use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmmctighe Posted February 11, 2006 Share Posted February 11, 2006 My '95 manual states to use 10W-30 or use 5W-30 in colder climates...also says not to use 5W30 if you do high speed driving for prolonged periods of time. So what about me where I live in MA (cold winters) and drive 40 miles to work on the highway (80mph)? So scew it, I run castrol 10W-30 from April to Novemeber, Castrol Synth Blend 5W-30 from Nov thru March. 175K to date, runs fine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 If you're concerned and willing to spend the money, the best way to go is use a PAO-based synthetic oil, such as Amsoil and Mobil 1. Castrol Syntec is Type III petroleum based oil. It's good, but not as good as Type IV PAO-based oil. Do some research on synthetic motor oils on the 'net. It will amaze you. There are 0w30/40 and 5w40/50 synthetics available that offer both cold starting and high speed viscosity protection. Personally, I don't have vehicles that I'm willing to spend that kind of money on for oil, although I probably should. But for those who are willing to pay for the best, the best is available. I've considered synth, but have heard that many people with older vehicles who have switched found they start leaking a bit of oil. Perhaps a coincidence for most, but it scared me off it. Buying synth would be nice too because I'd appreciate the longer change intervals considering I put on 3500 kilometers a month. Crap! Just spent 15 minutes typing to get kicked out! So here is the condensed version. I would switch to 10w30, if you are worried go with a synthetic. I live about an hour from you, and yeah we have had a pretty mild winter so far. I'm sure living in Toronto highway driving is probably pretty normal. The owners manual does seem pretty specific that 5w30 should not be used for extended highway driving. I have been using 10w30 for the last 2 winters with no ill effects that I know of. The 1st version was much better, sorry got to go. Beezer Hey, another canuck around here. We seem a rare breed. I now live actually in Peterborough, but it's not much cooler here than in Toronto. Going down to -20°C tonight though! I usually run 10w30 during spring/summer/fall, and go with 5w30 winter. Mind you, I'm originally from Winnipeg, so it makes more sense there. I think I'm either switching to some 5w40 synthetic or at the least a 10w30. I need to do a bit more research on synths though. I think Crappy tire has mobil 1 on sale right now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dxrflyboy Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I've considered synth, but have heard that many people with older vehicles who have switched found they start leaking a bit of oil. Perhaps a coincidence for most, but it scared me off it. Buying synth would be nice too because I'd appreciate the longer change intervals considering I put on 3500 kilometers a month. I've only heard one story of this sort. It was many years ago involving a British car. Mind you, British cars are notorious for leaking oil! Many of them used rawhide oil seals back then, and early synthetics weren't compatible. There are no rawhide seals in a Subaru. I don't think you have any cause for concern. Granted, if there is any varnish and sludge in the engine that is currently preventing it from leaking, using an oil with superior detergency will tend to clean it away, allowing weak gaskets/seals to leak. While sludge and varnish may prevent leaks in your engine right now, it will also cause lubrication problems, which is especially evident if you have a Phase I EJ22 with hydraulic lash adjusters. As always, you have to take the good with the bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olnick Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Personally, I love synthetic oil. Switched over to Mobil-1 10w-30 when my '95 Legacy 2.2 had 90k miles. Noticed a drop or two of leakage at first but that soon quit. Never have had any excessive oil consumption. The thrill comes when I change oil. Synth comes out smooth as silk--the old dino juice used to look like dirty dish water! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 Personally, I love synthetic oil. Switched over to Mobil-1 10w-30 when my '95 Legacy 2.2 had 90k miles. Noticed a drop or two of leakage at first but that soon quit. Never have had any excessive oil consumption. The thrill comes when I change oil. Synth comes out smooth as silk--the old dino juice used to look like dirty dish water! Yeah, the dino oil gets dirty rather quickly I find. I lose about a litre of oil between changes as is. Some leaking from gasket covers, but I think it must be burning for the most part as I never have stains under my car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frag Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I can only talk about my experience here and my experience is with Mobil 1 10-30 during the summer and 5-30 during the winter (roughly between december and the end of march). I have an oil pressure gauge and I see no real difference in pressure at operating temperature and even after long highway drives between the two. I cannot speak for regular oil, but synthetic 5-30 seems to cause no problems whatsoever (viscosity wise) for long and relatively fast highway drives. But there is a real difference when it's real cold at startup between 10-30 and 5-30. Last year I was late replacing the summer oil with winter oil and, one morning, I had to start the car at minus 32° C. It started no problem but the unhappy noises the engine made while it got to operating temp almost broke my heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkster58 Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 5w-30 castrol in my 93' wagon..every 3k...... The "H2" runs like a champ ......spark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Posted February 12, 2006 Share Posted February 12, 2006 I can only talk about my experience here and my experience is with Mobil 1 10-30 during the summer and 5-30 during the winter (roughly between december and the end of march).I have an oil pressure gauge and I see no real difference in pressure at operating temperature and even after long highway drives between the two. I cannot speak for regular oil, but synthetic 5-30 seems to cause no problems whatsoever (viscosity wise) for long and relatively fast highway drives. But there is a real difference when it's real cold at startup between 10-30 and 5-30. Last year I was late replacing the summer oil with winter oil and, one morning, I had to start the car at minus 32° C. It started no problem but the unhappy noises the engine made while it got to operating temp almost broke my heart. This is good to know. This is why I've always used 5w30, quite worried about those initial startups. Can be hell on an engine. I had my soob parked for a week in Ottawa during X-mas at about -15 to -20, and trying to start my soob was a PITA. I was also having problems with my starter at the time, and an intermittent issue with starting that I think involves too much gas, but still... glad I had 5w30 in. Might never have started until it warmed up otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hogweed Posted February 13, 2006 Share Posted February 13, 2006 That's actually true. I 'spose if it weren't for the fact that I'm also a geek with almost zero social skills I'd probably take-off and fly straight up my awn rump roast. :-\ it takes virtually no social skils to fly up one's own rump roast. i apologize for my insensitive, blanket remark about 10w40 oils...but i still aint gonna use it:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly_jacek Posted February 14, 2006 Share Posted February 14, 2006 So let me ask the crowd here then for a recommendation. I live in a climate where winters are sub-zero for the most part, although it's been unusually mild this year. Still, hitting -15 to -20 °C is not uncommon overnight. So 5W30 seems a good choice for winter. But, I also travel highway extensively (at least 2 hours daily). Does the 30 weight fall short of what I should use? Should I be using 10w40, or even 5w40 (if it exists)? I don't mind spending a couple of extra bucks to ensure I've got good protection in my EJ22. I'm not as smart as blitz but will give you my 2 cents. It is also my dilema as my wife does stop and go cold engine city driving and then I pull a boat on weekends (at least some weekends). Initially I used 5W40 rotella synthetic for summers as a compromise even though it is group 3 fluid (group 3 is almost as good as group 4 except for arctic conditions). However it is still thickish at room temp (175 cSt at 70F). This season I will try german castrol 0W30 as it is group 4 (the only true synthetic castrol in US), behaves as 5w30 at room temp and is high-30, almost 40 viscosity at 212F. If you don't want to go synth route, 5W30 winter and 10W30 summer will do IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanski06 Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 you guys are prolly getting sick of this discussion.....but i have an 1.8 and i deliver food on weekends so i put on about 80 miles in 3 hours some trips are less then a mile to where some i drive 3-5 miles away to give someone there delicious chinese food. when im not working i sometimes do drive far but rarely at highway speeds mostly just on and off 55 going through town roads....i have 141,000 miles and am currently using 10w30 i need to change my oil what do u think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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