I was lucky enough to see something this last weekend (one prior to New Years) that will make you think twice when its time to change your Oil. I got to visit with a Subaru Master Tech at a Subaru dealership in Hachinohe. He said that Subarus have very tight tolerances between the pistons and cylinder walls (of course). He went on to say if you put cheap oil in your engine and by cheap I mean some crap oil you can destroy your engine you will regret it. His example a 2004 STi engine set-up with some cheap crappy oil in it. He revved the engine to 3k RPM and held it there for approx. 2 mins and BANG and I do mean bang. He said the tight tolerances between the cylinder walls and pistons will break down crappy oil real quick. When it was all said and done=
1xRod broken
1xhole in block
1xpiston destroyed

I just thought I would tell you guys now if you believe it or not is up to you. I am sure most of us do not run crappy oil in our beast. Just a little thought next oil change and your wanting to save a few bucks.

Oh and they are not saying buy the most expensive crap on the market they are just saying use a good well known reliable oil!!!

~Mike

What are the standards of oils you are talking about here? Even the crappiest or cheapest oils here in the US pass certain SAE standards........

You have to be at least slightly specific if you want to warn people about something.

Also, if Subaru has such tight clearances....why all the piston slap? :huh:


Jay Storm

this post was kind of useless

I am glad you think so YaZahz but I was trying to be helpful.
Storm I dunno what he means by cheap oil because I run mobil 1 but I assume it would be the $2 a case type crap they are referring to.

Amazingly enough I run 5W-50 and I have no piston slap in the morning when its sub 0 degrees outside. On newer engines the tolerances are different compared to the older EJ20Gs. I just posted this but I should have said something to the fact of extended hard run. Sorry if you feel this is pointless but I just thought I would let you guys know.

My school of thought (and I've heard plenty of people echo this) is that you should buy inexpensive dino oil and change it frequently, rather than buy expensive synth stuff like Mobil 1 and change it less often.

I've blown up one engine on my Subaru and one engine in my racecar as a result of using synthetic oil. I refuse to run it anymore. Oil needs to be changed regularly, if for some reason you are running synthetic oil and changing it every 3k miles you are pissing away money.

Z

piston to cylinder bore clearance is 0.0004-0.0012 of an inch on most of the subaru engines...tiiiiiggghhhhtttt! :)

Why would he purposely blow up the engine? Wouldn't it blow up when driving at a constant RPM also? I don't get it.

sounds fishy to me..

Why would he purposely blow up the engine? Wouldn't it blow up when driving at a constant RPM also? I don't get it.
To prove a point. It sounds like a dealer demo, engine not in car. It would blow up when driving at a constant RPM, but my motor can cruise at 3800rpm for hours on end (highway driving).

<-- (uses mobil 1 full synth because T-rex's are big & scary).

I forgot to hook my fan up after a radiator swap on my Jeep once and even after getting all of the air out of the system, that sucker ran hot instantly with no airflow to the radiator. And that was just at idle. I'd hate to see someone do the same on a turbocharged car, I can imagine the engine popping rather quickly in that case, especially with crappy oil.

So he blew an STi engine just to prove his point to you? I call B.S.

There is nothing special about how Subaru builds it's engines. Every modern engine has pretty tight tolerances. Even cheap oil has to conform to certain 'good enough' quality specs that will work in a Subaru. Although cheap stuff won't hold up long under heavy abuse (which will only cause excess wear), the only way you'll kill an engine running at a leisurely pace like 3k RPM for two minutes is if there's no oil in it at all.

Uhm.... why was he just sitting there, holding the RPMS at 3K for 2 minutes??? :lol:

I dont believe this one bit, and if it DID happen, it wasn't the oil that did it...

Uhm.... why was he just sitting there, holding the RPMS at 3K for 2 minutes??? :lol:
again, I laugh at a response like this.

It appears as if many people have never driven on the highway. 5th gear, 75mph is about 3600rpm. and being on the highway, it's probably going to be held there for a while (couple hours).

I call B.S. on all the people who cant see why anyone would hold an engine at 3,000 rpm for 2 mins.

However, again, without proper cooling (more than just the stock fans at 0mph), combined with crap oil, and a badly treated motor, it'll blow fairly easily.

maybe the sti was a car brought in to the dealer with an engine noise...which was most likely caused by a irresponsible owner overboosting his brand new engine without the supporting mods usually associated with raising the boost...and maybe the guy was using crappy oil as well...who knows...there is no need to get upset about this post...most of the crap that is typed on the internet has to be taken with a grain of salt.... if you dont know that engines need good oil,and changed often.... you will be paying for a new one sooner then you would like

again, I laugh at a response like this.

It appears as if many people have never driven on the highway. 5th gear, 75mph is about 3600rpm. and being on the highway, it's probably going to be held there for a while (couple hours).

I call B.S. on all the people who cant see why anyone would hold an engine at 3,000 rpm for 2 mins.
Huh? I think you're missing the point. Nobody's saying that running an engine at 3k for a few minutes is abusive in the least... and that's the problem. I think the doubters (like me) have a hard time believing that that would cause a motor to blow. Follow?

BS.

He wasn't by chance trying to talk you into paying extra for synthetic oil when you took the car in for an oil change was he.

There are a lot of techs who actually don't know much about aftermarket parts and tuning. That won't stop them from talking like they do though. Not that oil really has anything to do with that, just saying some techs like to tell bs stories.

:rolleyes: BS :rolleyes:

ROFLMFAO

OK now I tried to be serious and tell you what I saw and what was explained to me. Now I don't go to Subaru for my oil change and I don't use the $150 STI 3L can of oil either. The point he was trying to make was using a crappy oil that is extremely cheap with these engines is not a good idea. Now if you would like to continue to call bs thats fine. I really don't care. I was not the only one there I was brought as a guest with Naramasa Speed. There were several tuners and technitions there to show what things can cause this engine to take a crap!!!! This being one of the big problems with the Japanese people that buys these cars and run them hard!!!

Mods if you dont mind please delete this thread as there are to many people who think they know everything there is to know about the EJ series engines!!!

Like you?

I appreciate the info, Duo.

If you think it's BS, just read it, click the little X in the top right corner, and go about your day.

Well, if you weren't there alone and it was some sort of display then it makes a lot more sense. I was picturing this guy blowing up an engine to prove a point to just you. Unless you were a Subaru engineer I couldn't imagine someone doin that. Makes a lot more sense now.

Why would he purposely blow up the engine? Wouldn't it blow up when driving at a constant RPM also? I don't get it.

I share that thought.. I mean usually when your engine gonna do a little breakage... would think it would give abit more hrm...warning...correct me if I'm wrong but a rod breaking at 3k RPM assuming it is already well lubed is puzzling... hell I hit the rev limit on my care once becuase a person cut 3 lanes right in front of me and hit the breaks and in my rush to shift to a lower gear to go around I held the gas with clutch disengaged * that person got a the glare! :furious:

but I didn't break anything... I mean the needle was jumping on my car with engine cutting ... I was like *oly *hit now I keep the safe space from that mark :p

theres a difference between freewheeling the motor and putting it against load

I'd like to chime in here....

This story is total BS.

Up until last week I was driving my SVX around in 1st and 2nd gear due to my trans losing 3rd and 4th...

I didn't realize I was consuming a great deal of oil due to a stuck PCV and I was making repeated (30+ in a row twice a day) runs to 6500 rpm in order to maintain 80mph... this was for the better part of a week while THREE QUARTS LOW ON OIL.

The motor is fine, runs like a champ. I topped it off with CHEAP convenience store brand 10W40 and it's happy as a clam.


There is NO WAY to blow up an STi motor at 3k RPM as a result of the TYPE OF OIL.

That is pure fantasy, and that guy should lose his job if he told you such utter nonsense.

Obviously his intentions were good by telling us, but i agree this is stupidity.

kthanksbye

I have seen engines run hours without any oil. I have run engines trying to blow them up without oil. It takes alot longer then 2 minutes, with no load. An engine running at 100% load wont last as long without oil. Usally a bearing will wear out, hammer and break a rod but sometimes the bearing will seize and bent/break a rod. Both of those scenarios are WITHOUT any oil. I am not saying this didnt happen but there is more to explain it then bad oil. Maybe a rigged engine. Come on really, engines dont blow up in 2 minutes because of crappy oil.

Nobody would ever waste a EJ207.

Nothing in the story adds up.

Like you?


I wouldn't go to things like this if I knew everything nor did I say I knew everything. You name implies just what you are making ignorant comments like this.

Again take it like you will this is what was explained to me I did not do any test and I didn't build the engine or anything else of the sort.

Oh, please. You started a thread like this, and you think I'm the one who's ignorant? There are lots of other people posting in here telling you you're full of it, so don't start focusing your resentment at me.

Nice comment about my screenname. That really stung. :rolleyes:

OK so let me get this straight I post what I saw and what was explained to me and I am full of BS. Did I say at any one time that I BUILT, RAN, CREATED, OR DEMONSTRATED this test NO. At anytime did I claim that I KNOW EVERYTHING about the EJ series engine NO. Did you come off as a complete smart *** and imply that I did know everything when I sure in the hell didn't say that, yes.

I am sure there are plenty of knowledgeable people here and though you have been here awhile I don't see anything about your car that implies JDM EJ series engine. I don't see anything about you working for Subaru for the past ? of years. And I sure in the hell don't see you at any of the Subaru events over here in Japan. Everyone else can continue to tell me I am full of it but then I didn't see them there.

Again I posted what I saw and what was explained to me.

duo, thanks for the info.....dont sweat it :)

Dent about 2 months ago option magazine did an article called "Stop the Trouble". They also address this issue as well they say that using cheap oil and changing it regularly will work on engines but not on the EJ20. They say it may break some parts and if you have a rough idle or knock its probably to late. Also the GC8 owners bible also addresses this issue. I do not know what all was entailed in causing that engine to blow but I do know the way they explained it was cheap oil.

Again I just report what I saw that is all.

yep i know what you are sayin.. i wish i was in japan ...my suit cases would be filled on the way back to the U.S. ..oh wait,customs department, oh well nevermind.. :rolleyes:

I use good oil in my engine anyway. You don't need to blow one up to convince me. Thanks for the tip though.