Happyness is a car that...

[Crazy_pilot]

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.

[TomsSVX]

Good on ya!!

Tom

[bjandtheband]

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

[Hop]

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.

[Mensaf]

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

[benebob]

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!

[bwb3]

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!

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

[Hop]

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.

Originally Posted by benebob

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!

[Crazy_pilot]

Originally Posted by bjandtheband

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

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.

Originally Posted by Hop

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.

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.

[Maxo]

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

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.

Did you pull the motor to do all that work? I need to do a reseal too an it looks like it could be easier if I just pulled the engine but I don't know how difficult that would be.

[Crazy_pilot]

Originally Posted by Maxo

Did you pull the motor to do all that work? I need to do a reseal too an it looks like it could be easier if I just pulled the engine but I don't know how difficult that would be.

I didn't pull the motor. Obviously yes, it would be easier to work on it with the engine out, but I didn't find it to be especially hard in the car. The battery, airbox, snorkle, rad, and anything else that moves basically have to be removed to make room to work. The trickiest part was getting the drivers side valve cover back in with the new gasket. A touch of high temp RTV kept it in fine. Removing the engine would only give you an advantage in that you can replace the flexplate and do the rear main seal.

A couple bits of advice though, if you want to change plugs at the same time, it's far easier to do with the valve covers out (just be careful not to pull any dirt into the open heads). Also, at the rear of the valve covers there are two half-moon seals. These don't come with the kit and you will have to find some seperately, either through Subaru (P/N 11051AA070, $18.44 for 4) or from a seperate company. I got mine from a gasket store and paid $8.50 for the set. The old ones had become so brittle that they shattered when I tried to use pliers to pull them out. Seal those in with silicon.

Other than that, not much. Oh, the seal kit doesn't come with a thermostat gasket. Get one of those as well if you plan on doing the thermostat. (might as well, you've got everything apart and it's only $10 or something.)