I will get my MY99 in a few days. What engine oil is used at delivery? Is it running-in oil or what. Is it OK to immedieately change to a quality synthetic oil (Mobil 1)?

Anyone planning to come watch the rally in february?
You are all welcome!

Jonas, Gothenburg, SWEDEN

 

Jonas, dont change the oil until after the first service.
Yes I am going on the rally. I work at Volvo Aero Corp in Trollhättan so I will be there on Saturday and Sunday.
Is there a Subaru dealer in Göteborg ?
I couldn't find one in the telephone book.

 

Guys
We have had great discussion on this on the IWOC ...my investation have shown ..do not put MOBIL 1 ( 0-30 ) in the boxer engine . It is too thin ie. below 10SAE which is the min recommended by Subaru . Mobil 1 motor sport is a high viscosity 10-50 and is ok . Subaru UK and France only approve and recommend Shell Helix Semi ( 10-40 ).My local dealer will not put Mobil 1 in, with out a Warranty warning ie you want have one ....
PS : I use and will keep using Shell Semi but its up to you .See the handbook and the workshop manuals non approve of anything less than 10.
MY97

 

Conflicting views here i'm afraid.My subaru main dealer when i asked about mobil 1 said that they only use mobil 1 which iwas pretty pleased about.If you access the mobil oils website there is an interesting piece on a 1 million mile BMW only running on mobil 1 which when stripped down was still within the manufacturers tolerances,ie; hardly any wear. Draw your own conclusions.

 

I spoke with graham goode racing recently and was told the same , that is, 0w40 mobil 1 is too thin and would give you a noisey engine, this seems to be born out in the owners manual where the min .recommended viscosity is 10w40.
There is however a mobil 1 motorsport oil which I believe is o.k.

 

GREAT!!!!

Changed my engine oil 5 days ago to guess what......

Sounds like, Noble Gone....


Is it a bad enough situation to warrant changing again to Mobil 1 Motorsport oil or should I be O.K. until the next service? (MY93 WRX with estimated 300 BHP)

 

So the conclusion is ......Mobil 1 0-40 "non motorsport spec" is TOO thin .........who has designed,builds,maintains and "warrenties" the boxer engine for over 18years ...yes Subaru...not Mobil, all their warranty is for is that the oil falls out of the can. Go back to them in 2 years time when the main bearings are shot, and see what they say .............
For a dealer to put Mobil 1 0-40 in is actual not conforming to Subaru's spec engine spec. I see it is a complete marketing con. £30 for a can that is not correct for the engine, just because it says "It's the world best oil" and has a BMW on it, I think not, Mobil 1 Motorsport might be thou. This is still labeled as MOBIL 1 so be carefull how you read the marketing bumf. I have heard that for same reason Mobil 1 0-40 is released in the UK but not in countries like USA or Australia ...why?
I have seen letters from Subaru UK saying you can use Mobil 1, as long as it confirms to the recommended SPEC ...it doesn't thou....only MOBIL 1 Motorsport does ..but its not available in garages ..only Halford/Les Smith's etc .

Still using Shell Helix semi (Subaru Approved)

 

very Interesting, on my 7500 mile service some time ago, my dealer said that they only use Magnatec so I went along with this. Next month I will be having my 15000 mile servcice, Is it best to switch back to the recommended? I thought Magnatec was supposed to be the bollox? Anyone else use it?

 

Hi,

I too would be interested in finding out some more on the Magnatec stuff, as I was considering filling my pride and joy with it at the next service.

 

Ian,

My collection of the discussion on IWOC was that Subaru were behind the times on this issue. From a technical perspective what most people seem to have forgotten judging by the comments in this thread is that a 0W-40 or a 10W-40 oil has the same viscosity once the engine is warm. So therefore the discussion must centre around whether a slightly thinner oil is better or worse for the first few minutes after an engine is switched on - when much of the engine wear occurs. As the viscosity of an SAE 0 oil at cold start is allegedly HIGHER than the viscosity of an SAE 40 oil when hot, then my conclusion is that Mobil 1 0W-40 must be a better oil for the Impreza (and most other cars). I would be happy to change my opinion but only when someone can offer a decent technical explanation of why 10W-40 is better for the boxer engine. So far all I have heard is "because the manual says so" or "because it's out of spec"... hardly a convincing argument. Subaru have no reason to bother changing their manuals/oil recommendations - 10W-40 works fine so why bother changing? The fact that 0W-40 is probably better is almost irrelevant to them.

An excerpt from a letter from Mobil, copied to IWOC in December 1998, referring to the Impreza:

"0W merely means that the lubricant is of a lower viscosity at cold start than equivalent 5W or 10W oils. The viscosity at cold start is far higher than when all oils are hot. So why the concern about an oil which will circulate quicker, give good fuel economy (particularly in the cold phase when the engine is inefficient anyway) and reduces emissions. It is unfortunate that the handbook does not go down to 5W or 0W. I do not believe it is because it is not suitable, rather, it is unheard of in Japan."

Finally I have no connection with Mobil or any other relevant parties. Just interested to find the truth. One other thing - I think Magnetec is a pretty good oil too - although perhaps less proven than the original fully synthetics.

 

Hi

I spoke to IM who told me that Mobil 1 will void the engine warranty!
Magnatec is fine, but I use Castrol RS which IMHO is a better oil than Mobil 1 (& is approved by IM).

 

A bit of a minefield this motor oil business. I re-contacted my dealer re: mobil 1, spoke to someone different and was told that they use mobil super semi-synthetic 10w-40. Curiousness now has the better of me.I am not too familiar with engine oils so i accessed the mobil hotline and as far as i can see mobil 1 15w-50 seems to be the recommended oil for high reving performance engines.(especially turbocharged)

Can anyone give a performance comparison between the following;MOBIL 1 15W-50
CASTROL RS
MAGNATEC
MILLERS XFS
MOTUL COMPETITION

I also spoke to someone at technical services at SUBARU UK and was told that although 0w-30 was below recommended specs that it would not void the warranty, can anyone shed light on this as someone else on the threads has been told differently.

 

Colin

There has obviously been some leg work by yourself on this subject, keep it up, this is exactly the sort of help/information that I hoped I might be able to tap into.

As opposed to some of the other, ... lets just say questionable crap that I have felt obliged to reply to in recent threads.

Can I sleep safely at night with Mobil 1?
(Perhaps I should re-phrase that).

By the way I paid £3.75 per litre for my Mobil 1 which made it a pleasurable experience in itself.

Mike.

[This message has been edited by Mike Tuckwood (edited 03-02-99).]

 

I have spoken recently to Barretts Motorsport who run Group N Rally Impreza's regarding oil. They are dealers for Castrol and Mobil motor oils but they use Mobil 1 in all their cars.

 

Let us in on where you got your Moby 1 at that price - a lot of places seem to be more than twice that price.

 

My friend owns a local garage and I took the liberty of ordering some for him direct from a wholesale oil supplier, made sure I was there when the delivery came and paid cash for it.

Mike.

 

Another source of Mobil 1 at a lower price is Cite Europe in Calais (the biggest Hypermarket there). 179 FFr for four litres is about 20 pounds. I picked up 20 litres last time I was coming back from France.

 

thanks guys

 

Guys
Thank god for democracy.....we all have the choice as to which oil we put into our big boys toys .... You put bla bla????? I use shell Helix 100% Subaru approved , who owns the engine warranty !!!.
One thing this thread has shown, is certian tuners out there ( who perhaps know what they are talking about GGR etc ..ie does Barrats or are they useing MOBIL MOTORSPORT!!! ) do not recommend the thinner oil .

Ian
Ps the thread is now starting backup on IWOC.....HELP...

 

I just want what is best for the car....

What's this warranty lark?

Mike

 

Logically its just a matter of tolerance....or so i would think e.g tolerance between rings and piston wall relates to compression. If the oil isnt thick enough it may not seal the "gap". I got white smoke from the exhaust when using thin oils possibly indicating incomplete combustion but it stopped after i changed to 10W/20W-X oils.

In general it may be best to use thicker oil in summer and thinner oil in winter.

Mike...why worry..its synthetic its the best...the rest is marketing.

 

MOTUL (competition) is the best you can get - period.

Autosportif only use Motul & so do I.

 

ALEX; why is motul(competition) the best you can get? have you any information on it,and where do you get it?

 

Have just inflicted a 1000 mile service on our MY99 turbo (£46.75 inc vat)and after discussions with the dealer I too have been told Subaru sent a memo stating that dealers cease in the use of Mobil 1 as further usage MAY invalidate warranties.
This particular dealer is miffed as he has a few HUNDRED litres of Mobil 1 in his stock tank he is trying to palm off back to Mobil!
He is now using Mobil Super S (semi synth 10w/40)This is fine apart from the fact it is not that readily available on forecourts therefore a trip to a dealer with an empty can may be called for, for topping up purposes.

Interestingly Shell Helix used to be used by this franchise, but was stopped, as problems with increased tappet noise was being reported in turbos at higher revs.

Mobil Japan have been trying,with no success,to sort this out with Subaru since December- it is affecting them wordwide!

The situation seems stupid, and is narking off alot of people, take my mate £29 for some oil to top up with and he can't use it after his next service.

Maybe Subaru can do a first and shock us all by giving a discount, at least, on the replacement oil some of us will have to buy.
(Since there's never much chance of any on a UK car!!!!!!)

 

I have spoken to IM about this situation and they also confirmed that they have had a fax from Subaru Japan telling them to inform all dealers to stop using Mobil1. It appears that whilst IM cannot say there is actually any problems with the oil (and considering the number of people who use it I doubt there is) it is just a case that Subaru Japan have not carried out tests on this oil (0w40) and as such cannot warranty it. The testing process can be as long as 2 years!
So perhaps hang onto your Mobil1 until then.
In my case I had just had a service with Mobil1 before all this came to light - I aked what the situation would be if I neeeded a warranty claim before the next service and I was informed that I would be OK as long as the oil was changed at the next service (and before you ask they won't consider replacing the Mobil1 for free).

 

I am wondering eaht grade of oil to use in hot countries like Malaysia?

10w/40 ok?
15w/50ok?

pls advise.

 

Most manufacturers specify a similar oil viscosity at normal operating temperatures because most engines run at similar temperatures with similar clearances between bearings & journals, pistons & bores etc.

Where most differences lie is when the engine is cold (different metallurgies mean differing thermal expansion rates, not to mention manufacturing tolerances), and selecting a different viscosity oil than the engine was originally designed for is not a good idea.

You might think it a good idea to use a thicker oil to "take up slack" clearances when the engine is cold, but this might add extra load on the oil pump as pressure losses are higher with higher viscosity oils. You might then think that a thinner oil would be better as it is easier to pump when cold, but this might mean incorrect running clerances or an oil pump not priming properly.

Don't forget that the oil is an integral part of the engine's design from the start and the viscosity has been chosen deliberately at both ends of the temperature range. Subaru nor anyone else invests millions in engine development with thousands of engineers and then throws it all away by not bothering to specify the oil correctly.

The aim of the game is to maximise engine life and performance - the most expensive oil is peanuts in comparison with the money lost in warranty claims.

I'm lucky enough to run a Lotus Esprit SE and a MY99 and I use Mobil 1 in the Lotus and Helix in the Subaru.

Mobil 1 is excellent oil, but so is the Shell Helix specified by Subaru.

 

ooooops didn't spot the previous stuff 'til now.

so what's the decisiona mongst you impreza old timers - mobil 1 (thick) or helix?

s'pose the only way to know is to count the numbers of peeps with knackered engines either way, and assume that driving style does not correlate with choice of engine oil..

 

What the .... is going on here.It would seem that colin is on the right track,thinner when cold is better,but remaining thicker at normal operating temps(MOBIL1 0W40).I have spoken to someone in IM's tech services he says nothing less than 10w40 or more than 10w50.Ihave also spoken to tech services at PRODRIVE who said that the WRC's run on,wait for it.....MOBIL1 0W40!!!!!.As said at the begining what the .... is going on?.

 

TC.

I try to make it policy to agree with as few people as possible, as often as possible, however I agree with your conclusion also.

You will see that I joined this subject the same day you did and out of all the OPINIONS expressed on this matter Colins appears to hold the most water.