I have done a search but can't reallly find what I am looking for, quite simply I see a group buy starting for engine oil and I want to know what grade is needed for a MY00 Turbo ?
It's like a minefield out there !!!!
My car is completely standard.

Thanks
Simon

 

Then you'd probably be best going with subaru's recomendation. They spend a lot of money on research for these things.

Personally I use Motul 15w50 fully synth, but wouldn't bother on a standard engine. I don't beleve it offers the same 'cold' protection as a 10w40 would.

Dave

 

on a standard car, i believe its best to use 10w40. i personally use castrol magnatec as it was highly recommended on s.i.d.c. apparently ,the engines dont like the "thinner" oils. have used magnatec for couple of years now and had no problems

 

I wouldn't go near magnatec, for a start I think it's only a semi-synthetic. Also the advertised magnetic thing is actually worse for an engine than normal oil. I don't remember the exact details, but as an engineer I agreed with the findings and was actually quite shocked.

Dave

 

There was actually lots of threads on this subject, a search should pick them up. The good ones ran up to 4or more pages. Here's one

Dave

 

Thanks for that gents, I'll have a good read through that thread Dave

Simon

 

Right this next lot is BS

What's interesting about this is that they all tend to agree on grades pretty much and that unless the there is a non stock requirement like track days or modifications increasing BHP that 5w or 10w is favorites and that SAE 30 or 40 is the preferred range. 15w may be to heavy and sae 50 can be used if you are running high temperatures.


NEVER run a 5 rated oil in a turbocharged impreza, the temp that the turbo runs at means its great on cold but cannot take the heat out of the engine when hot, thus putting engine temps up.
10w40 is the MINIMUM level oil you should use, 10 or 15 rated oils are recommended (40/50/60)
If no one believes me about the 5 rated oil, just read the handbook, its got a BIG warning about using 5 rated oils, especially 5w30, now this applies to ALL years of turbo charged impreza's, it doesnt change as some people who dont own impreza's say, this is from the people who designed the engine, Subaru japan (also states in new handbooks the same thing).

I will also add, ive owned an MY00 turbo, i had the garage i use to use put fully synthetic in, it was a 5w30 rated oil, it came out very shortly afterwards, you can hear the difference, its not a nice noise either!

Tony

 

The handbook for the 99my I had did, as you say, warn against 5/30 for continuous high speed use. The handbook for my current 03 STi (uk) displays no such warning, indeed, it states 5/30 as the preferred grade! The only proviso being the usual recommendation for higher viscosity when towing etc. I have also checked in a handbook with issue date January 2001 (ie "bugeye" models) and this states the same.
Like you I would not use 5/30 but during the winter have used a fully syn. 5/40, currently using Millers CFS 10/40 (3 ester)
JohnD

 

Thanks gents,
I never realised there were so many different grades of oil, it just goes to show how carefull you have to be come servicing time.

Simon

 

Interesting John, my MY03 JDM STi handbook warns about using 5w30 grade oil.
Probably a misprint in the UK handbook.
Shows the same as my MY00 car did, and the engine is advanced more from the older STi engines.....

Tony

 

I always used to use 0-30 halfords fully synthentic , this weekend i put in 0-5-30 castrol magnatex 15 mins later after the change my engine started making a loud knocking noise what could be the be ends gone , Thinking back now i wish i spent a few mins to read the hand book , i put in fully synthetic 0-30 because i thought it was the best oil , but really i should have been using 10-40 , seems i fcuked my engine up and i would recommend putting in that subaru reccomends

Tommy

 

The point here is being missed.

It's not the 5w that the warning is aimed at, that's the cold crank viscosity, it's in fact the sae 30 when the engine is being pushed!

The 5w or indeed 0w allows the oil to flow more rapidly on start up which is better for preventing wear and 80% occurs on start up.

I have always said that sae 40 is the one to go for giving better top end protection when hot, even an sae 50 if the car is running higher temps to prevent the oil from losing too much viscosity with use.

What needs to be understood is that a "shear stable" proper synthetic 5w-40 is thicker at 110degC than a 15w-50 at 140degC see below:

Some Figures.................Pro-S 5W/40...............Typ. 15W/50

Visc. at 100C....................14.9...................... ....18.2

Visc at 110C...................12.06...................... ...14.53

Visc. at 140C....................7.09...................... ....8.25

Hence unless you have an extreme car or it's used on the track and seeing very high oil temps the use of 5w-40 or 10w-40 (decent ones) is fine but once you get above 110 degC then an sae 50 may be more appropriate unless you are using a race spec 5w-40 like Motul 300V or Silkolene PRO S. It can be a 10w-50 or 15w-50 as it's the sae 50 that's important.

If you use these thicker oils when it's not needed then you are wasting power by dragging a thicker oil round the engine than is needed.

Before the "anti oilman" brigade pipe up, yes older scoobs (pre 2000) tend to prefer sae 50 than sae 40.

Cheers
Simon

 

Don't see how anyone could be anti oilman!

As regards to the question: I use Silkolene pro S 10w50 on my MY99 and it seems very happy on it! Wouldn't touch Magnetec, It's not a proper Fully Synth oil as I think Oilman has explained on several occassions.

Best,

NS04

 

I use Silkolene pro S 10w50 on my MY99