Different kind of crickets...
 

You know, the kind you get when you ask a clueless person a question they have no answer to.

So, I spent the morning calling a couple dealerships looking for the "old" Subaru oil. This would be the SM rated stuff made prior to 9/12 that's high in moly.

To make a long story short, no one has a clue what I'm going on about. Answers ranged from; "don't believe the Internet", "we would have gotten a bulletin if anything was wrong with our oil", and "I think you're looking too much into it." :lol:

Maybe I am, but for those that know/care/actually purchased the SM rated oil in the last month, can you give me some pointers on how you found it? Are there ANY distinctions between the bottles if I were to go in person? Am I looking into it too much?!

Thanks!

Why do you want, specifically, SM rated subaru branded oil?

Well, to make a long story short, some would claim it to be better.

To make the story a bit longer, there seems to be two different forumulations by Idemitsu (the manufacturer of Subaru oil) of 0W-20. One is a "*factory fill", that came in our cars, and the other is a "service fill" that you can buy at the dealer. The difference between the two formulations, are the additional additives included in the factory fill, specifically Molybdanum, aka, "Moly".

Molybdanum is a friction reducing agent that sorta binds to engine parts and creates a protective coating, so to speak. Because of this additive, there are some who feel that draining the factory oil too early can actually be detrimental to an engine, while others feel that doing it within 1K is the ideal choice to eliminate any sheering metals in the oil.

Before September 2012, the stuff you could buy at the dealer was much closer to the factory fill and had higher moly content. All oil made after 9/12, in order to be in compliance with the new API guidlines has changed the formulation of the service fill which includes a severe drop in these additives. I was wanting to pick up a few quarts of the older SM rated oil in order to have the best of both worlds, ie high moly and less metals. It's not a life or death situation. Chances are it means very little in the long run, but if I could just pick it up locally, why not, right?

*Some feel that "factory fill" oil is just a myth and that the oil itself isn't responsible for the additional moly numbers. Assembly lube, being high in the additive, mixing with the first oil fill is what's creating these higher numbers. Again, this is the reasoning as to why some of us feel that draining the oil that came with the car too soon is not optimal.

Still, factory fill notwithstanding, the older Scooby 0W-20 service fill has higher moly content than the newer 0W-20 service fill.

i think youre on a witch hunt. any high moly content oil will do IMHO.

heres a good thread:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=2815673

Yeah, I would not put a lot of faith in the fluids that came in the car from the factory. Remember when they manufacturer a car they are looking for the components that will meet their criteria but are also the least expensive. A bean counter somewhere makes his annual bonus based on how many pennies they save per unit.

I would look at getting a quality fluid such as Motul or Amsoil to replace the Subaru stuff and call it a day.

-Mike Paisan

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11+ Years Maintaining, Modifying and Educating TriState Subaru Enthusiasts.
Call directly as We carry almost every manufacturer now, so before you buy parts call us.
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The oil that comes in the car is synthetic an is certainly not the least expensive oil they could have used. For a car holding 5.8 quarts the price difference between a cheap oil and a so called expensive oil would not be that significant considering the volume that the manufacturer would use. I am certainly confident of the engineers that defined which oil to use. However, people should use whatever oil they feel comfortable.

I figured as much. I wasn't going to go out of my way, really, just figured if someone had a visual way to distinguish the "good" stuff, I'd drop by a few of the local dealers and see if they had any. If not, the search would have ended there.

I had heard the Mazda oil was a good option as well. Thanks for the link.


I'll probably go with Amsoil in the end. Motul, although it seems there's two schools on this as well, seems a bit too aggressive for my mostly DD granny shifting ways. ;)

Still...

Agreed. Numerous Blackstone tests have proven the Idemitsu oil to be quite solid. Especially this "unicorn" variant which I seek...

From our tests in Subies over the past 10 or so years, the Amsoil Signature Series comes out above the Motul 8100 series in our test on Extended OCIs.

-Mike Paisan

http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/91072632.jpg http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/14...8/original.jpg http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/133406601.jpg http://www.whiteline.com.au/images/logos/perf1.jpg
11+ Years Maintaining, Modifying and Educating TriState Subaru Enthusiasts.
Call directly as We carry almost every manufacturer now, so before you buy parts call us.
Like us on Facebook! | E-mail: sales@azpinstalls.com | 725 Fairfield Ave | Kenilworth, NJ 07033 | 908.248.AZP1 (2971) | T-1 Certified Amsoil Direct Jobber |AIM: AZP Installs
"Race Tested, Enthusiast Approved!"

Sorry but you are not very familiar with how the auto industry works then. Every part on a car is made to shave pennies off the price per unit when they are building it. Let's be honest here, we aren't talking about supercars or hand built units when we are talking about a mass produced car priced in the 20k range...

-Mike Paisan

http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/91072632.jpg http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/14...8/original.jpg http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/133406601.jpg http://www.whiteline.com.au/images/logos/perf1.jpg
11+ Years Maintaining, Modifying and Educating TriState Subaru Enthusiasts.
Call directly as We carry almost every manufacturer now, so before you buy parts call us.
Like us on Facebook! | E-mail: sales@azpinstalls.com | 725 Fairfield Ave | Kenilworth, NJ 07033 | 908.248.AZP1 (2971) | T-1 Certified Amsoil Direct Jobber |AIM: AZP Installs
"Race Tested, Enthusiast Approved!"

If Toyota/Subaru was truly that cheap there would be Dino oil in the car not synthetic. Synthetic is not cheap, as I am quite sure you are aware based on your unfortunate self advertisement.

Popped a moly, I'm revving whoop!

I lol'd

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

I didn't say they used the cheapest materials. I said they use the cheapest materials that will get the job done. Therefore in order to get a 7500 mile oci out of a high revving motor synthetic is needed but I am sure the quality of the initial fill is not the highest quality out there. More to the point, I think the OP is over thinking this and giving the folks answering the phones at dealers way too much credit. Don't forget those folks answering the phones are not necessarily the highest trained or paid individuals. Read up on here as to which oils would be best suitable for your driving style and climate and you will be in good shape.


-Mike Paisan

http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/91072632.jpg http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/14...8/original.jpg http://www.pbase.com/paisan/image/133406601.jpg http://www.whiteline.com.au/images/logos/perf1.jpg
11+ Years Maintaining, Modifying and Educating TriState Subaru Enthusiasts.
Call directly as We carry almost every manufacturer now, so before you buy parts call us.
Like us on Facebook! | E-mail: sales@azpinstalls.com | 725 Fairfield Ave | Kenilworth, NJ 07033 | 908.248.AZP1 (2971) | T-1 Certified Amsoil Direct Jobber |AIM: AZP Installs
"Race Tested, Enthusiast Approved!"