Happyness is a car that...
 

Doesn't burn of leak a drop of oil. I re-sealed and switched to full synthetic AMSOIL back in August. Replaced the oil pan while I was at it. 2 months and 2000 miles on, the oil is still bang on the dot on the dipstick, and still as gold as the day I put it in. I'm serious, it looks like I stuck the dipstick in a container of brand new oil. It's looking to be damn worth the $135 I paid for 16 guarts of it. They guarantee it for 25,000 miles. I don't think I'll push it that far, but possibly 6000 between changes.

Prior to this my car would go through 2 quarts between 3000 miles oil changes, mostly out the valve cover gaskets.

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

Good on ya!!:)

Tom

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

you said u re sealed and changed to ams full synthetic that sound like something i should do , how much will that set me back

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

I changed mine to Amsoil about 8 months ago. I only plan on changing the oil once a year now regardless of the miles driven - I don't drive it all that much. It's only 3 miles to work. It's hard to build up a lot of miles that way. I have no leaks and it looks as clean as when I first put it in. I also put it in the tranny and differentials.

I also put the new rainX winshield wipers on. they're awesome.

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

Dude, I covered my entire car in rainx. Water glides off like nothing, lol.

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

Syth oil is nothing more than a waste of money for normal street cars driven in normal conditions. A good modern Japanese engine will far outlast the rest of the cars life span running on the cheapest oil you can buy provided it is changed by the manufacturer's specs. Now if you drive 2 miles each way to work in winter that's a different story but reality is you're just throwing your money at the oil companies!

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

Always believed that myself. Didn't want to contradict the experts though. I just change it when it starts looking dirty, or every 6 months.
Gene

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

I don't doubt the advantages of syth. Don't fault anybody who can justify the huge dif. in pricing in their budget for using it but I just can't see the added expense of it for normal driving. I do use it in my wife's 03 Legacy which she drives less than 4 miles a day to and from work usually. To date it has less than 33k on the odo. Syth does have a much better flow at cold so it does create less where but when a modern engine that is maintained properly can go upwards of 300k without a rebuild the body and other bits are usually long gone by the time the average owner gets to that point.

Even with her car which I change every 6 months the Mobil 1 Full Synth. looks well used. That's with usually 2k-2.5k on the odo.

Crazy, I'm not knocking ya at all for the switch BTW. Congrats on the leak free engine bay. May it last longer than my reseal did! I have those valve covers.

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

I did a pile of work all at once: Valve cover gaskets, cam seals, front main seal, water pump, timing belt, spark plugs, new oil pan, and the oil. All together I probably spent $700+ in parts. ($250 for the reseal kit from subaruparts.com, $250-ish for the timing belt+water pump from Ebay, $100 for the oil pan, $60 for the plugs, and $135 for 16 liters of oil). I did it all myself, so no labour costs.

I thought about putting it in the trans and diff, but I'm not too confident in the state of my front trans seal, and I really don't want the trans leaking into the diff and vice versa. Those RainX wipers are definitely awesome.

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

Sorry to say that I disagree Benebob. I use it for the main characteristic that water doesn't bond with synthetic as well as it does with regular oil. That's why you can run it so much longer in your car. And if you drive a lot, you don't have to change it for 25K. I do that with our Honda Accord. It's got 140k on it now and still purring like a kitten (due for an oil change in another 10k). The hardest part is not changing it every 5k. So, going with the amsoil, I skip 4 oil changes saving what, 24 quarts of oil for every 25k that I drive? I think that if you add up all that oil, the filters, and your time under the car you'll find that I'm coming out ahead with the Amsoil. And Hey, I'm not a rep or dealer, I just use the stuff. Also, I'm kind of lazy so I don't want to spend all that time under the car if I can be driving instead.

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

Hop, Check out my last post. My wifes 03 Legacy gets driven probably similar to your commute. When I change it every 2-2.5k or 6 months it looks as nasty as the 3k regular fluid in my old world F-250, as nasty as the oil in my old world cb175 and much worse than the 6 month change my SVX gets. I wouldn't go a year per change with that commute if I were you! The engine doesn't reach operating temps and thus lots of water is floating around in there.

I'd suspect a well mantained Honda Accord with 140k on the odo would per with a kitten had the owner used recycled oil in it and always ran a quart low to boot. Remember even Quaker State offers a 300k engine warranty if you use it based on the manufactures recommended oil change intervals.

As I said, I'm not knocking anyone for using the stuff, I just don't see the economic sense in keeping an engine going beyond what the rest of the car can safely go. There is something to the frequency of changes but last time I checked Subaru recommends every 6 months or 7.5k on all their vehicles (granted that is 3.75k if you are considered heavy driving but I think they still say 6 months).

I just wish I could come up with a nice cheap reliable source for real good non-detergent oil for my filterless CB175. I hate running suspended metal through it!:D

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

Thats nice and all but I bet the inside of your filter looks like hell. I would change it a little more frequent and then top off the oil. Something ever happens and you plug the filter your motor is going to be gone before you know it cause you are not maintaining it.

I'm not knocking syn oil at all though.. I use it in the baja and go 5-6k on my changes with genuine subaru filters.

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

A couple years ago, a guy showed up at out Labor day run with a pontiac. He ran it for an hour at idle with his oil in it. Then he pulled (4) bolts and dropped the oilpan to the ground and ran it at 'idle' for 5 HOURS!! NO oil!!

There could be something to this 'Synthetic' oil thing!!!

Sorry, Ben!! I SAW it!!

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

And he could have run 4 hours and 45 had it been non sythetic just like the snake oil Slick 50 boys do. The pressed roller bearings in engines can last for quite some time without oil esp ones that were recently lubed.

Sorry Jerry, reality is engines are made much better today and have a great chance of outliving the rest of the unibody frame around 'em.

Re: Happyness is a car that...
 

Very good points.... of all the maintenance and repairs I've done in the last couple of years (besides oil changes) the only part even connected to the engines was the coolant temperature sensor on the VR6. Engines are well engineered and only getting better in the last couple of decades .... body corrosion itself will make it a moot point.

However, I do find that my VR6 especially is more responsive when I use full synthetic. I am mostly in it for the performance gains but budget wise you do come out ahead..... not to mention I have a unique oil filter so the high performance version is no more expensive than the regular one :)