I have an 02 STI. I have had the car six months and foolishly never checked the oil. When i did eventually check i could not detect any oil on the dip stick. The oil warning light never came on and i got a local garage to relplace the oil immediately. The used a fully synth Magnitech oil 5/30 i think. The guy at the garage said his mate has a Subaru and it uses oil. He recommended that i check the oil every month or every 1000 mile and stated that it would most likely need topping up with a few pints due to the fact the type of engine used oil.

Can someone tell me if this is fact and what oil should i use. The car has 84,000 mile on it and is not used for track days. I have never noticed any oil leaks so not sure what the problem is if indeed there is a problem.

Cheer.

 

Its not unusual for a scooby to use a little oil, especially if it has a little piston slap. I check mine every week.

 

Most specialists don't recommend Magnatec in the EJ engine. It's allegedly not suitable. There's been some anecdotal 'evidence' of big end failures soon after people having used this oil.

The correct oil for your car is a 5W-30 or 5W-40 I believe. Shell Helix semi synth is the OEM recommendation, but there are other 'better' fully synth blends e.g. Millers, Silkolene, Motul, etc...

 

hmm ive just topped mine up with that 5w-40

 

It could be bollox, it could have some truth. But there was a specialist post the other day that it's not good in the EJ engine, regardless......

 

i know joz i look on tech a lot and have seen that myself in the past need a oil change anyway ive told my mechanic to disconnect that so called crank sensor and turn it over till the oil light goes out

 

Yeah defo do THAT!

Not worth taking a risk - whether real or imagined - for only two minutes of someones time!

 

I've allways used mobil1 motorsport in my 94 classic, seems to run fine on that tbh.

 

Forget the Crank Sensor disconnect - it's poppycock!! You risk far more damage messing with the connector than any imagined benefit .... indeed, churning the engine over at starter motor speed is very probably worse than just starting!!

Anyway, the Oil is 10W-40 ... nothing else.

Mine is 10 years old and has 98,000 miles under its belt - doesn't use a drop of oil between 6 monthly changes.

 

Personally think (as do many) that 5w-40 especially in the newer Impreza's is a better bet. 10w-40 will take longer to heat up in colder weather.

Either way you should be fine with either 5w or 10w 40.

 

Ignore this 'advice' if you like to keep your big-end shells intact.

Prime the oil filter, and crank the motor with the cam+crank sensors unplugged (if it's a classic) Or, with the ignition off run a wire from the battery +ve to the starter trigger terminal if it's a newage (so that it doesn't display a CEL and record a fault code)

If you want to make a proper job out of it, you can also take the plugs out before cranking, to take the load off the bigend shells during cranking

 

I'm all for doing it fiestaboy's way!

What does the cam sensor tell the ECU to do? Is it essential to disconnect cam one aswell then?!

(I know the crank one tells it to fuel/spark).

 

I would use a 5w-40 synthetic and you will find those through the link below.

5w-40, 5w-40 oil, 5w40, 5w/40

Out of those, the best ones are the Silkolene Pro S, Millers CFS, Motul 300V, Redline and Gulf Competition. The Motul 8100 X-Cess, Gulf Formula G, Fuchs Supersyn and Mobil Synt S are good, cheaper alternatives.

Cheers

Tim