Oil and coolant queries
 

Hi All,

I'd like to stress now I'm not a mechanic and I haven't done much servicing on cars before.

This on a 57 plate hatchback 2.5t wrx.

Recently ran low on coolant, was in a bit of a rush so bought some of the universal stuff thinking I'll sort it out later. Anyway been doing some reading and its coming back saying that they should only run green coolant?

Which I've never come across, is this the waterless stuff?


Also, as seems to be a common problem with these, it does seem to burn a fair bit of oil, I've been topping it up regularly and it had a full change a couple of months back. What grade oil would people recommend? The engine is completely standard but the car only gets used for short journeys mainly - I drive 3 miles to work and back each day.


Please excuse my lack of technical ability!

Thanks in advance
Ewen

First off, how did it "run short of coolant"???? The cooling system is a closed, pressurised system, so first question is, where did it go and why? You REALLY need to sort that.

Secondly, unless it was only down a little, topping up is a dangerous game unless done via the turbo hose at the rear of the header tank...pull it off and stuff a funnel down it, or run the risk of airlocks, which you cannot bleed out.

Thirdly, all this stuff about coolant colour is just silly. The colour is just a dye. There are two types, but yours is almost certainly filled with the commoner glycol based stuff, so any from a decent motor factors, suitable for an alloy engine should be fine. Dilute 50% with water.

Lastly, your manual will give you oil recommendations, or wait for someone else who runs a 2.5 on here to tell you.
HTH

Thanks for the help!

It wasnt really low it had just gone under low marker on the bottle so there shouldnt of been any air getting in just from topping it back up to the full.

To be honest Im not sure if Id checked it since buying the car. Slowly getting on top of how much more checking up on these cars need than my old golf!

I know there are some problems with these engines so I didnt know if there was anything people have found thats better than what Subaru recomend.


Again thanks for your help!
Ewen

sounds like you checked the "overflow" bottle on the back of the radiator - you really need to check the actual levels in the radiator itself and also the header tank (bolted to the RH side of the inlet manifold as you look at the car)

Subscribed:)

This^^^
The overflow bottle is just that, and it's level does change according to engine temp.

For oil
Seeing as you are in Kent....

Stick some of this Silverline stuff in.
I run it in my track car. It is pretty well much the best stuff you stick in - end of.

https://www.facebook.com/Silverlineukltd/

Ray is in Dover and is huge Subaru Enthusiast. I think he has about 10 of them lol...and he happens to sell pretty well much the best oil going for Subarus.

Cheers
Steve

Cheers Steve l'll check this out!

I'd probably use a 5w-40 or 10w-50, depending on how much oil it's burning (if more than a litre per 1000 miles, use the 10w-50, 5w-40 otherwise). These are all top end oils.

http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-953-ester-synthetic.aspx

Cheers

Tim