End of break in period
 

I have 1575 km on the clock which is almost 1000 miles. Would appreciate your thoughts on the following three:


1) Does this mean i can start driving this thing the way it is meant to be driven?

2) Would you recommend doing an oil change at this point in time? My next scheduled regular oil change is in 2 months (I walk to work.. only 1000 miles in 4 months since bought the car)

How about gear box oil and rear differential? I know sound crazy doing these at 1k miles but the logic says since this is a branf new car, the components are breaking in and lots of free metal particles are likely (I have 5 quarts of Genuine OEM Subaru 75W-90 Gear Oil - 4 Quarts (Bottles) (SOA427V1700) which should be sufficient).

3) I know i am not very smart but i often shift at pretty high RPM (like 5-6k) and drive my cars in a pretty spirited manner. (I actually bought the car as wanted something lil and sporty. I plan doing some occasional auto-x.) I am a bit worried about the 0w20 recommended oil. Can/shall I just switch to 5w30? I normally buy pennzoil platinum ultra.

Thank you all!!

Well, hello, TOLM and welcome to driving your broken in machine.

1. I wouldn't start slamming off the rev limiter all the time right away; maybe take er up to only about 6000 rpms for the next few thousand miles. The main thing to remember is to get the engine good and warm before you wind it up tight.

2. For average driving, I would suggest you follow the owners manual for the frequency of oil changes. Back-in-the-day, we used to change the oil after the first few hundreds of miles ..... to dump all the metal shavings out of the crankcase ....... not necessary these days.

As far as the gear box and differential ...... no need to change those fluids now ..... there ain't no combustion going on in there.

3. I reckon a good quality full synthetic 0w20 is just fine for this car under average driving conditions. Now, if your car lived near red line, on a track, in the desert,..... maybe a heavier oil might be beneficial.

There ya have it from the old, non racing, humfrz

I did a harder break-in anyways so I'd say you're good to go wild by now.

All this ^. Nothing more. Nothing less.
/Thread

1- Drive it... Once the engine warm, let her rip, red line a few times a day is good.

2 - Some do, some don't I waited, no ill effects. 50k km. We don't live in Texas with crazy heat, I would not worry.

3 - I changed my diff at 30k, it was dirty, maybe at 10k it would have been changed, but again, how anal do you want to be? Still did not do my trany oil & I bought it at same time as the diff oil.

4- Drive safe, only do shit at autoX & lapping, not worth it on public roads. Don't drink & drive, & don't smoke & drive.

I mashed out of the dealership back in 2012 and never looked back. You're good to go!


OP, just make sure the "Broke-it" period does not follow the "break-in" period.

:burnrubber:

1. yes
2. no
2a. no
3. no

I followed break in, car appears to be in good kit after 66k miles, lots of autox, over 5x track days, regular factory suggested change intervals (7.5k on oil), mostly 0w-20, I tried 5w-30 and the oil reports noticed some reduced wear but I believe that's the engine still settling, we'll see if my next change of 0w-20 shows increased wear or maintains the trend, I may reverse my opinion and go back to the 5w-30 if I show increased wear on the 0w-20 in a few weeks.

However your cooler climate will benefit more from the 0w-20 than mine, the 5w-30 will be thicker in the cooler temps and may hurt oiling performance unless you spend more time at the track than idling along in commute traffic in the cold.

I did differential and transmission fluid at 30k and then again at 60k because of the hpde and autox usage, factory recommended is 60k iirc, unless you're driving more than "spiritedly" quite frequently I don't see much reason to shorten any intervals on the car nor change away from factory fluid specs.


If flushing the factory fluids out before the first specified interval had any value it would be in the procedure. Toyobaru doesn't want to sell a car that goes to shit in a short amount of time if that can be prevented with ~$100 of fluid maintenance in the first few months of service, that'd be chump change in comparison to the outrage and brand damage caused by accusations of poorly made cars.

I changed the oil right after break-in. I knew it wasn't necessary, but for 75 bucks, why the hell not?

Because of 75 bucks ...... ??

:popcorn:


humfrz

What kind of oil are we using here that it required $75.00 to have an oil change done? (assuming you did it yourself)

Dealership threw in a free break-in oil change when I bought mine.

What dealership did you buy your car from ....... :eyebulge:


humfrz

Carlsen Subaru in Redwood City.

It must have been very old and very rare ...... :iono:


humfrz