got home to my 03 wrx, checked all of the fluids low and behold the engine oil is low so i take the corsa down to, motormania and i ask for full sinthetic oil for a 03 scooby wrx the sales guy said yep you need, 05,30w oil so i take it home top up the oil, today take the scooby down for a rolling road the guy notices the exhaust is kicking out a lot of black smoke i show him the oil, his reply was well you where sold the wrong type cos 05,30w is to thin i need 10,50w so i now have the correct oil and new oil filter, goin to the garage on monday for the oil change, also after the rolling road driving back down to southampton the engine management light comes on oh great i think this is all i need, the engine seems to be running fine apart from the wrong oil, if anyone has had the same problem as im having can you advise me on what i should do as now i hope cos of the wrong oil i hope it hasnt caused any problems to the engine you thoughts are greatly appreciated cheers

 

Well I run a 5w40 fully synth in my MY03 STI, amazingly on the rolling road that pushed out black smoke, so its nothing to worry about, its just the car running a little rich
You can run 5w30 in your car, not advisable on classics though a 5w40 is probably a more suitable oil if you want to change back, your car probably had a 10w40 semi synthetic in originally

Tony

 

im guessing to the engine management light has come on prob because the lambda sensor could be completely covered in gunk would that be the cause or not?

 

could be due to clogged up lambda or depending whether the oil pressure sensor runs through the check engine light it may be the oil pressure's too low as you're using a thin oil.

can you check the error codes on the bug/blob wrx's as you would on a classic?

 

thanks for your info guy's will get the car's engine oil changed and on a diagnostic check and see what comes up, hopefully there is no damage been done to the engine