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Comments
Using a good synthetic like Mobil 1 will not hurt your engine in any way and is one of the best ways to protect your high-performance turbo investment. I put Mobil 1 in our WRX wagon after 640 miles (yes, you read that correctly), and after 11.5K miles on the odo, the engine drives beautifully, has very little vibration at idle, and is using almost no oil between changes-- which shows the rings have seated themselves nicely. The often quoted notion of waiting 8-10,000 mi. to switch to synthetic is simply not true anymore with today's close manufacturing tolerances on new engines.
Synthetic oil is far superior to dino, mainly because it has no wax or other natural contaminants that are always found in regular (read cheap) conventional oils. These contaminants
gum up your engine and create deposits that will lead to an engine and turbo re-build much sooner than if you use synthetic. If you just bought your WRX, the first order of business should be getting that crappy conventional oil out of your engine after the first one thousand miles or so. I kid you not. Your engine will last much, much longer with the synthetic and your turbo will be much less susceptible to coking after a hard run.
Other advantages of using a good synthetic:
1) You can legitimately go twice as long before changing the oil and filter. This means if you change 4X a year or every 3000 mi., with synthetic you can change 2X a year or 6000 mi. and not hurt your engine one iota.
2) You will get 3-4 extra horsepower from the WRX engine. OK, that doesn't sound like much but every bit helps, especially in summer when you have the A/C going.
3) You will get about 1 percent better gas mileage throughout the year.
4) With the savings in fewer oil filters, better gas mileage, and going twice as long between engine rebuilds, using the synthetic is actually
cheaper to use in the long run (assuming you keep your car a good 7-10 years) than using the conventional oil.
Finally, if you change the synthetic oil yourself (which is good practice to make sure you are getting the real McCoy) your nominal up-front cost will be little more than if you take it to the dealer or a quick-lube place for a conventional oil change, and you will have peace of mind that you are performing the single best service you can do for your Rex engine.
My Rex has 22,000 miles, uses no oil and has had regular changes (4000mi.) since 1100 miles. I'm a little OCD and changing it myself gives me a chance to wipe down the underside !
or has no one else besides me swapped cams in the last decade? ;-)
640 miles is enough, not to mention I'm sure that engine was run-in on the assembly line. heck, an hour of running time is enough.
-Colin
snead_c--thanks for the tip on the Pure 1. I'll check it out. Bosch also makes an excellent filter for the WRX and I'm hoping to see the Mobil One synthetic filter become available for the Rex. Last I heard, they only make one for the Outback 6-cyl.
Mobil 1 with SuperSyn™ can offer the advantages of:
Better low-temperature performance.
Better lubrication at high engine-operating temperatures.
Better wear protection, especially during start-up.
Long-term wear protection.
Outstanding protection from deposits and sludge.
Simply put, synthetic oil will provide superior protection in extreme conditions, and extend engine life. Whether or not the improvement over conventional oil is meaningful for vehicles driven in typical environments is debatable. The other benefits rexaroo alleges, however, seem pretty unlikely, IMHO. Seems to me that if their product could lead to higher horsepower, better fuel efficiency, and cost savings, the Mobil folks would mention it.
Under the heading, "Myths about Synthetics", they have this to say:
Myth: You don't have to change the oil as often when using Mobil 1.
Reality: While Mobil 1 has given excellent results in extended oil drain tests, ExxonMobil prefers to remain conservative with oil drain recommendations. ExxonMobil engineers recommend that you can go all the way to the maximum mileage or time frame shown in your owner's manual for oil changes when using Mobil 1 with SuperSyn™.
Myth: Mobil 1 requires a special oil filter.
Reality: While ExxonMobil recommends that you use a high-quality filter, you can use the same type of oil filter that you would normally use with conventional oil.
So much for clearing up misinformation...
1. frequent short trips. if the oil doesn't reach a self-cleaning temperature somewhere over 180 degrees, water and other contaminants will break it down and reduce the lubricative and rust-proofing properties. this happens *faster* to mineral oil than synthetics, but most definitely affect both.
2. oil filter life. after 10,000 normal miles (without repeated short trips) Mobil1 and other quality full synthetics are probably chemically fine. however, the filter is in need of replacement. most vehicles do not have a way in which you can change the filter easily without loosing an indeterminant amount of oil, so generally you change the oil everytime you change the filter.
-Colin
computer guy at an energy company
Mobil has conducted a lot of private tests on their synthetic, some of which they have made public, such as the famous million mile test, where they drove a new Beemer 1 million miles with synthetic, and when they took the engine apart, it was still within new car specs. On that test, they used 5W-30 and changed the oil and filter every 7500 mi., so it would seem 10,000 miles would be quite possible with synthetic.
IMO, the reason Mobil doesn't advertise the very slight gains in horsepower and fuel efficiency is because it would open up a legal can of worms with people saying they didn't see the gains when they switched. A jump from 227 to 230 hp simply can't be detected by your average driver in day to day driving. Heck, you'd even be hard pressed to get that to show up on a dynamometer test. The reason engineers know the gains are there is because they found you get about an 8 horsepower gain with a 500 hp. engine, a figure that can be accurately measured in the laboratory.
Also, with fuel mileage, if you're getting 20 mpg, a 1% gain in fuel mileage translates to 20.2 mpg under ideal driving conditions. Most of us would never know the difference because daily driving has too many variables for the difference to consistently show up.
-dennis
Thanks for the great synthetic oil info. When I get my WRX (or whatever my wife and I decide on) I'll be sure to get Mobil 1 in it right away.
Somewhat off topic but... I've got a Honda Civic with nearly 90k on it. Would it be OK to put synthetic in it now?
Thanks,
-Ian
-Dave
Inquiring minds want to know!
Putting synthetic into an older car like the 90k
Honda Civic seems to me a tough call. At that high mileage, a lot of engine wear that you're trying to prevent has already taken place, and like bluesubie pointed out, the synthetic can start loosening up deposits around gaskets and seals caused by years of conventional oil use, and you could end up having some oil leaks. If you've always changed your oil religiously at 3000 mi. and have no present oil leaks, you might give it a try using the 10W30 synthetic that Mobil recommends for high mileage vehicles.
the flash and coking points do not compare.
-Colin
How much can I pay??
Any suggestions? Your opinions and advices will be very appreciated
-Dennis
TWRX
-Dennis
-mike
the cargo tray/liner etc. are now a Dave's [djasonw] place in L.I.
and... I've got dibs on them
I'll be picking them up this week, lastest this weekend.
-Dave
-mike
Will give you a call Thursday to make arrange the weekend meet.
-Dave
I asked around i-club and apparently the Subie alarm can be made passive by connecting two wires together that can be found inside the driver's door -- I was told it's documented in the owner's manual, but I didn't get the upgrade so I don't know if there is a separate manual for the alarm.
I suppose it's fair to charge MSRP for a DIO, but I didn't like how he implied they would install a different alarm system.
I knew it wasn't a separate unit.
What transpired between the finance guy and me thereafter... I'll leave that as between him and me.
MHO, the passive is not worth it. You got to first lock the doors in order for the passive to work [in one minute]. Duh, I might as well active arm.
The Clifford I had with the '98 OB and '99 OBS will arm and lock the doors in 25sec. [no locking of doors first needed].
I'll be "upgrading" my alarm system to an aftermarket soon.
-Dave
Anyone know if it will be introduced at the Detroit auto show later this month?
I plan to be at the Detroit auto show so I will be excited to see it in person.
I just love my 2002 WRX!
Personally I like the round headlights better from the pics. An improved interior on the 04 is of interest to me. It appears the 04s have the M3 inspired "pommel" on the front driver's seat and slightly improved interior bits.
Have you all seen the specs for the STi coming to the states next year?
300hp
300torque
2.5l turbo
fully adjustable diff
all this for a (mere) $32,000 or so...
If only they had a wagon version...
(for WRC that is... but who cares about Group N anyway?)
-Colin
http://impreza.subaru.com/microsites/impreza/main.jsp
Ken
(PS I won't be holding my breath for a 2.5l turbo from Subaru.
WAAAAAHOOOOOOO!!!!
-Jason
-Jason