a new wrx owner here.

i was wondering how often you guys change your oil and what kind of oil you use. thanks

-p

 

Every 3000 miles and I use Mobile1, almost time for it's second oil change.

 

after the second oil-change and now change it every five to six thousand miles. Both my dealership and the guy at KwikKar told me the synthetic should be good out to about 10K. That makes me a bit nervous, so I'm doing it at 5-6K.

BTW -- I've only changed it once at this interval, and I asked the guy who did it how the oil looked. He said it looked really clean -- not sludgey at all and was surprised that I was changing it so early. that's nice, but any more than 5-6K will make me too nervous...

 

I remember reading a Consumer Reports article where they conducted an oil test. They could find no difference between engines that had the oil changed every 3000 mi. vs. ones changed every 6000 mi. This test was for conventional oils, not even synthetics! Doesn't the Subie manual reccommend changes every 7500 miles? Depending on your driving style, I think 5000 miles is nothing on todays oils for us low mileage guys. You highway guys can get away with more.

 

yeah, the manual says 7500 miles or 7 1/2 months. thanks for all the input. time for an oil change now.

so most of you guys went mobil one and then synthetic after?

 

I change my motor oil every six thousand miles to either Redline or Mobil one and I'm not nervous at all. The engine's performance/noise level does not change from the first mile to the six thousand. While your at it, I recomend you go with synthetic gear oil for your manual tranny and rear diff.

 

Having broken in several bikes, I'm familiar with the different approaches to proper break in of an engine. I'm just about to finish my 1000 miles with my new WRX. I stayed under 4000 for the first 500 miles although I wasn't always shy about using high engine loading between 3000 and 4000rpms, since then I been taking it up to 4500 and occationally 5000. Most of this is just an FYI for the rest of you.

My question is, on bikes, the oil is changed and the valves are checked after the initial break in period, usually about 600 miles. While today's cars typically don't require the valve check, I find it curious that Subaru doesn't recommend an early initial oil change to rid the engine of the metal particulate that tends to accumulate in the oil during break in. Although I'll probably do it anyway, just to make myself feel better, I'm curious what y'all think of the idea of changing the oil and filter after the first 1000-1200 miles. Thoughts?