Turboedtwo

Do you guys use Synthetic oil in your Foresters? The dealer told me I have until 7500 miles to decide and I'm not really sure what to go with. I ran synthetic in my MR2 but, well....yeah Thanks in advance.

rochcom

Back when regular motor oil did not contain synthetic components, I used synthetic oil because it improved gas mileage by about 10%. However, in one vehicle, I had problems with the synthetic (5W30) being too slippery and getting past the rings and burning off. But now, most regular oils are formulated to save gas and there is very little difference there. As for longevity of the engine, Consumer Reports tested various synthetic and non-synthetic oils in a fleet of New York City taxicabs and found little difference in wear. When I had an engine pulled apart at 125,000 miles that had used only regular oil, there was very little sign of wear and at that point, it was not burning any appreciable amount of oil. My vote is for regular.

FXTIam

Your responses will vary from never waste the money to Always!! Me, I fall into "Always" I use it in my car, truck, lawnmowers, everything.

As to when t start using it, your answers will vary all over the place - from immediately, to 15,000 miles. Me, I change the factory fill at 1,000 miles, and go from there.

I use synthetic because it withstands heat, cold, and abuse much better than dino oil. One less thing I have to worry about.

If you search, you will find scads of these types of threads.

Just switched to Rotella T FULL SYNTHETIC 5w-40

What is the prefered motor oil brand here?

Oil change at every 3,000 or 7,500?

Very first oil change at . . .

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FXTIam
'06 FXT
4EAT
"STi" engine upgrade

sirwilliam

I just changed my oil at 1500. Got Mobil 1 5w-30 in there now w/ an M1-108 filter. I will be changing the oil (keeping w/ synthetic) every 3-4k miles from here on.

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BLUE WASABI

bluesubie

N/A or turbo? How long do you plan to run the oil between changes?

-Dennis

TECH MOD

It Looks like he's got a turbo, I personally perfer syntethic, for some of the reasons mentioned, but i extend my oil changes,have a larger filter and remote filter, you could do a 50/50 blend yourself , i wouldn't buy the blended oil because i don,t think your getting the 50/50 ratio.Too many choices and preferences. You can do a little research : onhttp://theoildrop.server101.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?Cat=0
Bob Is The Oil Guy: Viewing list of forums

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01 Silver LTD MT5/HI-FLO/ 98 S MT5

RocketEyes

Here is more oil info:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=136052

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Meg
2007 WRB XT Sport Auto

guroove

This is true, and I read the report too. One thing to note is that taxicabs very rarely see cold starts. This is one area where synthetics are supposed to be much better than conventional mineral oils. I use synthetic fluids wherever I can, including the diffs, transmission, and power steering pump. Some people will tell you not to use synthetic ATF, but I have been running with synthetic ATF for some time now with no problems. That's a subject for another thread though.

Graham

I think we need an oil choice sticky. It will say something like:

"Your choice of oil is entirely up to you. It should at least meet the standards specified for your vehicle and be changed at least in accordance with your vehicles maintenance schedule. This information can be found in the booklets supplied with your vehicle.

For further information, mis-information and opinions, please use this forum's search function. Be warned that you will mostly likely end up more unsure or confused than you were to start with."

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07 Forester Sports XT 4EAT & 02 WRX wagon 5MT

guroove

That's really strange that he told you that. I have heard of people developing leaks after switching to synthetic on really high mileage cars, but 7500 is way to soon to be the cutoff point. You shouldn't feel any pressure to make a decision about this.

A lot of people will tell you to run synthetic in a turbo engine, especially if you ever do any type of competitive driving. The reason is turbochargers get extremely hot especially when run hard for long periods, and the petroleum oil will be more prone to coking in the oil passages which can starve the turbo of oil and destroy it in seconds.

OTOH, many people do run conventional petroleum oil in their turbo cars without any problems whatsoever.

bluesubie

Oh, missed the screen name.

I run synthetic for 7,500 miles, but I wouldn't necessarily run any synthetic that long.

Probably a more important question is what viscosity to use? Some folks go through quite a bit of oil between changes with typical Energy Conserving xW30, especially when driven hard and in a hot climate.

-Dennis

Turboedtwo

After reading this a bit I think I'll go synthetic when the time comes.

And my screen name is about my MR2....although my Forester is turbo too, I just couldn't come up with a new name since I use this everywhere

TECH MOD

Wow, I thought i new a bit about oil, i learnt some more very well written article, its funny several years ago i was using amsoil synthetic 0w-30 , and everybody told me i was crazy, but i knew that i was using a superior oil it was just hard trying to get thru all the myths.

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01 Silver LTD MT5/HI-FLO/ 98 S MT5

RocketEyes

my husband uses 0w30

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Meg
2007 WRB XT Sport Auto

guroove

I also run 0w-30 in the winter, 5w-30 during spring and fall, and 10w-30 in the summer time. After reading the article Meg posted, I'll probably run 0w-30 year round.