Its getting close for me to make my first oil change. The manual doesnt mention synthetic oils. First will they void the warrenty? and second what are the advantages? (less oil changes, better performance??)

 

I went personally with regular oil at 1,000 mile oil change until the 6,000 mile oil change. After that I went synthetic. Most people change to synthetic at 10,000 miles. I think that you should still let all the gaskets and stuff still break in and then change to synthetic. One thing that I felt was that the car was smoother. I use Mobil 1 5w-30.

 

cool thanks man, I didnt know that the oil had to be changed at 1000 miles though Atleast i didnt see it in the 2003 manual, I was thinking the first oil change was at 3000??? But you diffenently wouldnt go to synthetic until 10,000? After going to synthetic how often do you have to change your oil?

 

Well, many people do an early flush at 1,000 miles to get all the stuff that gets deposited becuase of your new engine and how it is breaking in. After I went synthetic, I am going to change it every 3,500 miles. When I was using regular dyno oil, I changed it every 3,000 and did it myself.

 

I agree. Some oils can be changed later like Aimsoil at 4,000 or 5,000 miles. Changing at 3,000 will never cause a problem. Only when you change it much later is where the problem starts.

 

yeah, subarus really like to have their oil changed. every 3k is the best bet. even on synth. if you have never change the oil yourself, then you don't know how black and nasty it gets after only 4-5k. the thing w/ synth. is that it keeps doing what it should for longer. so even though it comes out very very black, it's still working. i have run mobil 1 10/30 in my talon tsi (turbo) for about 15k so far, and it actually uses less oil. the lifter tick i had went away 10 mins after putting in the synth. i am a believer in fake oil!!

by the way, has anyone had a noticable ticking/knocking just after starting on a cooler day?? i saw a lot of that when they first came out, just wondering if they were still having the prob. subaru blamed it on shortened pistons not up to temp. so the in a sense rattled in the cylinder walls. no big deal they said though...



-PJ

 

yeah i always regularly changed my oil in my older car and my bike every 3000, but i had never used synthetic and didnt know if it would extend the time between oil changes. I still dont know weather to go synthetic or just the oil recommended in the manual. But i have 700 more miles before i get to 3000 to figure it out.

 

I have the same thing in the morning. It goes away after a while, after the car has warmed up.