Which motor oil for EJ22

[Rochus]

Hello! Can you give me an answer which motor oil is very good for the Legacy 2.2 (136 HP). The car is '91, and has 360.000 km (220.000 miles). Here in Slovenia we have pretty hot summers and sometimes cold but sometimes mild winters. The car is not driven hard (city and highway). Here are my suggestions: Shell Helix Plus 5W-40 and Fuchs Supersyn 5W - 40. Is this okay or should i get something better? I just want the best for the car, I change the oil and filters every 12.000 km (7.000 miles).

Thanks

[SubaruNation]

Amsoil or Royal Purple

[Rochus]

I don't think I can get those marks here Which viscosity do you recommend? 5W-40, 10W-40, 5W-30?

[evolutionmovement]

I always use synthetic 5W-30 (Mobil 1) with cold winters, hot summers, and hard driving with lots of traffic changed between every 12.000-16.000 km. Engine internals looked brand new after about 400.000 km. I think with the mild conditions you describe, any of those will do fine.

[Legacy777]

Owner's manual calls for 10w30 for most conditions. It recommends not using 5w30 for sustained high speed driving.

[dzx]

I use 20-50 race oil during the summer and 10w-30 during the winter.

[altron23]

delo 400 15w 40 year round

[Imprezive]

We use Delo to break in the Spec Miata engines at work.

Just about any 10/30 weight would work. Try to stay away from low grade oils though, stick with the brand names like Mobil 1, pennzoil, quaker state, castrol etc...

[jamal]

yeah it doesn't matter all that much. Hard driving, summer, track days etc, you'll want something a little thicker. I have valvolene 10-40 in the car because it was $10 for 5qts and a filter at pep-boys

[skid542]

When I change my oil I usually do 3 quarts of 10W-40 and then top it off with 10W-30. In the winter I'll do more of an even mix of the two.

As far as brands, I used to run the Valvoline high mileage stuff but now it only comes (or atleast all I can find) in a synthetic blend so I've switched over to Pennzoil high mileage as they still have it in the traditional dino form.

[n2x4]

10w30.

[GeneralDisorder]

10w-30. I use Chevron because their quality is high and the price is right at Costco.

I would never recommend a higher viscosity oil in the Subaru engines unless you were running baja in the Gobi desert. The clearances are extremely tight (less than .001") and higher viscosity oil will not flow well in tolerances that tight. Doesn't matter what the mileage is. I've torn down blocks with 200k miles on them and the tolerances were still VERY tight. Running things like 10w-40 or 20w-50 is likely to shorten the life of the bearings in a big way. Stick with the recommended lubricants and intervals for the life of the engine.

Tear down a block and mic. out the journals if you don't believe me. These aren't GM products boys.

GD

[Brat4by4]

See, I am torn on this issue. I see all the shops that race turbo Subaru engines recommend high oil grades. The higher heat from the turbo, which holds it very close to the heads thins out the oil, IIRC. Many of them run 20w50 on a motor that's racing.

Of course, you don't do the same thing to an engine daily driving in traffic. I stick with 10w40, but I am more than open to input if thicker oils have been shown to cause additional wear on the EJ22T.

[asc_up]

I use Fully Synthetic Mobil 1 10w-30.

[Buffman]

Owner's manual calls for 10w30 for most conditions. It recommends not using 5w30 for sustained high speed driving.

you sure the owners manual recommends that? A 5w30 and a 10w30 are both a 30 weight range oil. The 5w and 10w are just startup thickness and are of no concern to warmed up temps...



Remember you can have a thin and thick 30 weight oil. numbers are a representation of a range of viscosity. viscosity range for a 30 weight oil is 9.30-12.49 CST @100C. You'll find most mobil 1 5/10w30 oils are on the thinner side, while something like a 0w30 Castrol Syntec (German Made flavor) is thicker at 12.1 CST.


I'm in the process of doing an auto-rx treatment on my EJ22. Once that's complete I'm going to try a few flavors of oils and do some Used Oil analysis's on them to see what's going to perform the best.

For my gf's 2.2L OHV cavalier, on UOA i've found Mobil Clean 5000 10w30 works great. Low wear numbers, low if any fuel dilution, good amount of additives left in at the time of change. Typically take it to 6000-6500 miles no problem. Based on some of my UOAs comparing others with the same motor, my UOAs for that car were better than someone running Mobil 1 for LESS miles...

Not one Oil is perfect for all engines

[kimokalihi]

We use Delo to break in the Spec Miata engines at work.

Just about any 10/30 weight would work. Try to stay away from low grade oils though, stick with the brand names like Mobil 1, pennzoil, quaker state, castrol etc...

I was told by my auto tech instrutctor never to use penzoil because they just buy the cheapest oil they can find so it's never the same.

I run Amsoil full synthetic in my subaru.

[Buffman]

We use Delo to break in the Spec Miata engines at work.

Just about any 10/30 weight would work. Try to stay away from low grade oils though, stick with the brand names like Mobil 1, pennzoil, quaker state, castrol etc...

I was told by my auto tech instrutctor never to use penzoil because they just buy the cheapest oil they can find so it's never the same.

I run Amsoil full synthetic in my subaru.

that pennzoil thing is a hogwash full of shit. Some people fail to realize in order to have that API cert on the back, they have to meet certain specifications. You don't just throw an oil together and start selling it. So for it never to be the same is stupid. All of their motor oils have formulations. While the formulation may be changed, it usually isn't changed all that much.

Most hate from Pennzoil comes from back in the day with the Parafin Wax Myths.

Today any API SM rated OIL will be fine for use even in older cars as long as they don't have flat tappet cams.

[Legacy777]

you sure the owners manual recommends that? A 5w30 and a 10w30 are both a 30 weight range oil. The 5w and 10w are just startup thickness and are of no concern to warmed up temps...

I don't disagree with you, but yes it does say that

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... ns/097.jpg

[Buffman]

Josh interesting that they'd say that. More or less I'm surprised they didn't mention for high speeed driving a conventional oil is not recommended...

[juice91si]

hmmm. by the looks of that chart, my winter calls for 5w30.

[Legacy777]

The other thing to keep in mind is that oil performance has come a ways since 1990. So today's 5w30 may be just fine at "sustained high speeds"

[evolutionmovement]

What even qualifies as sustained high speeds and where would one partake of this? I've sustained over 100 through Nebraska in the summer using Mobil 1 5/30 and, as I said, upon engine tear down later, the internals looked new. I really think the oil debate for a road car is made into a much bigger deal than it really is.

[Buffman]

guess it depends on who you talk to. If you're just going to change your oil every 3000 miles and don't have some high performance engine, any current SM rated oil will do just fine. However, when looking for reduced wear numbers, longer change intervals, and better protection against thermal breakdown, then it pays to research what oils will work better in a given engine.

[evolutionmovement]

I think the real life difference between synthetics is negligible outside of a racetrack and no marketing department lit will convince me otherwise. Maybe Royal Purple or whatever's the best, but with how my engine looked with Mobil 1 changed every 7500-10,000 miles I don't see an advantage. And I don't necessarily think the results would've been much different with any other synthetic. Were I ever rich and stupid enough to buy something gay like a Bugatti Veyron to drive in heavy summer traffic, I might care about the differences then, but this isn't the first thread on this topic and how far it's gone is ridiculous (I recognize my contributing to it). We're talking about a pretty unstressed 2.2 engine, here. I only bother with the synthetic for the longer change intervals.

[PhyrraM]

Today any API SM rated OIL will be fine for use even in older cars as long as they don't have flat tappet cams.

Care to explain this? Many-many OHC and DOHC engines still use a sliding metal, non-hydraulic valve opening mechanism. Including Subaru. They don't call it flat-tappet anymore (we call it shim-over-bucket), but functionally it's still the same.