All Lubricants....I swear I searched

[freds]

It would help:

1. What grease for Front UCA bushings?
2. What grease for ball joints (upper & lower)?
3. What gear oil for 5spd manual?
4. What oil for turbo engines including '06?
5. Sway bar bushings?
6. Gear shift cables and ball joints?
7. What grease for CVs?

Lets have the opinions! Might be fun.

fred

[longislandwrx]

factory recommendations:

1. manual just says "chassis grease"
2. manual just says "chassis grease"
3. 75W90
4. 5W30
5. no grease fittings afaik
6. manual just says "chassis grease"
7. I bought new boots and they came with cv lube.


The redline CV2 grease is good stuff.

motul oils are great. A lot of guys blend their gear oils, there are volumes written about that.

[freds]

Got it!

I was hoping for some guidance (read opinions) on ...brands.....synthetic or not ....Teflon tape on the sway bars...temp grade on the "chassis grease"...from people who have been "messing" with Subarus for a while.

I know on my Bandit 1200S I can really feel the difference when I change oil types. Have settled on Mobil1 for that machine.

fred



factory recommendations:

1. manual just says "chassis grease"
2. manual just says "chassis grease"
3. 75W90
4. 5W30
5. no grease fittings afaik
6. manual just says "chassis grease"
7. I bought new boots and they came with cv lube.


The redline CV2 grease is good stuff.

motul oils are great. A lot of guys blend their gear oils, there are volumes written about that.

[da King]

Mobil 1 is good oil as are most of the synthetic oils. SAE/API has come out with the new SN rated oil the supersedes the SM oils so I'd look for that. The S in the rating means spark combustion, C rated oils are for diesel engines and the C is for compression combustion.
A lot of people swear by certain brands but in fact they are all very close to the same as long as they have the same rating. The important thing is the numbers of your oil, 5W 30 in this case, (BTW the "W" does not stand for winter, it designates the type of testing used) I'll come back to the numbers.
Some little known facts about oil and your engine
- the majority of engine wear is at cold start up, 75* F. will be used for all numbers I give
- There is no oil made that will properly lube your engine at start up, even zero weight oil
- oil pressure does not = lubrication, flow = lubrication
- it takes oil 20-30 minutes to properly warm up and work as designed
- the first number in a blended oil, 5w30, means how the oil acts when cold, the second # is how it acts when warm, 212* F.
If you look at the numbers, 5w30, they mean different thing between synthetic and mineral based oils. A mineral oil is based on the first number so its a 5 weight oil that they add viscosity index improvers (VI) to bring it to the second number of 30. Problem is the VI break down with time and heat cycles so you start with 5w30 oil but 6 months later it could be 5w20 depending on your driving and conditions. Synthetic oil is based on the second number so it would be based on a 30 weight oil that acts like a 5 weight oil at start up because its synthetic, it has no VI's added so it won't break down with time and heat cycles like a mineral oil will.
As mentioned above engine wear happens at cold start up and its flow that lubes the engine, flow is measured in Centi Stokes (CS). Engineers design the engines and oils to run at 212* F when fully warmed up with a CS value of 10, at cold start with 5w30 you have a CS value of around 50 as the ambient temp. goes down the CS number rises, a 0w30 will have a CS # around 25-30, still inadequate flow at cold start but way better.
The only oil to use in any car, whether synthetic or mineral based has a first number of zero. Period
Finn

[freds]

Thanks for the info on oil viscosity Finn.

I've read that it is not good to use synthetic oil when breaking in a new engine and getting the rings to seat well.

Anyone have any facts on this issue? My 06 has a new STI short block and I don't want to do any harm.

Thanks

fred

[Goldwing]

All that pretty much jives with my knowledge, thanks for the rehash King. I haven't heard any warnings against type of oil for break-in, just recommendations not to use additives (other than assembly lube or equivalent when appropriate for initial shock protection) because it can interfere with break-in polishing and not to change the oil before the recommendation. As it was explained to me, changing the oil early drains away the tiny shavings which are actually polishing your engine. Put simply, the first oil change is recommended where the smart people figured the polishing was done and just wearing away started. Seemed to make sense.

[Wayne Presley]

I use Gibbs break in oil and change the filter only after 2 heat cycles as the assembly lubes tend clog the filter and allow the bypass valve to open. Run it in on the dyno with varying loads and rpms to seat the rings. Then power pulls and change the oil to synthetic when done.

[CHOTIS BILL]

I was told by both of my engine builder to break in engines with conventional oils. I am a big believer in breaking in an engine on a dyno but when I don’t have access to one I was told to start the engine and set the idle at around 2500 RPM. After around 15-20 minutes the RPM’s will suddenly increase to 3000-3500 and at that point the rings are seated and the engine is ready to use after changing the oil. I have done leak down test at this point and it would come out around 1%. This may not be the correct procedure but it worked of me on many engines.

For CV grease I use what is supplied with the CV joint or I follow Carroll Smiths advice and use Sta-lube. I tried another type from a well known manufacture one time and it turned to mud and destroyed the CV joint. I am sure there are other very good greases out there but I just haven’t tried them.

Bill Lomenick