Some advice for this

[Alin]

Ouch. The recalled filter.

 

[TK-421]

Thanks for the info [MENTION=4577]TK-421[/MENTION]

Buddy says he's just following what the engineer builder recommended oil wise. Quite strange!

Some background story

motor has 8k miles since rebuild.
4k miles with stage 1 +sf acn v300 and
4k miles with stage 2 + sf acn v333.
Blown headgasket happened
600 miles on stock tune
and now 100 miles on stage 1 +sf acn v300

What happened when it went poof was when an oil change was done at the dealer. Few miles going back home the engine failed with lots of rattle sounds.
A Recalled oil filter was installed.
Rebuild was completed, however there was crossed coolant lines that made the engine overheat several times, aftermarket raidiator was installed but of course this didn't fix the issue. Crossed lines was discovered later. A years worth of headaches it's finally up n running to where it's now.

I'd really like to meet this "engine builder"....

Sometimes more than often at a dealer people get delt a bad hand. The oil filter issue is on Subaru, it should never have happened, quality control just isn't what it used to be.

But most of all I recommend 1000 to 1500 miles on any engine that I build for break in and stay below 4000 Rpms. You've got to give those rings time to seal correctly. But there won't ever be a instance where I will tell the customer to run 20W-50 on a fresh built engine. The thicker oil also gives the rotating assembly a harder life and that's DEFINITELY something you do not what to have on a fresh build.

His engine builder may have told him 20W-50 but my professional opinion is drain it and run a good quality break in oil at 5W-30, 10W-30 at the most till he reaches 1000 to 1500 miles if the rebuild is that fresh. Then drain and fill with your choice of proper weighted oil, not that thick diesel/race car stuff. If it was a WRC or WTAC car I would approach the situation much differently. But it's a car running a 91ACN OTS tune.

 

[CSF707]

Ouch. The recalled filter.

Was there other horror stories about this?

 

[CSF707]

I'd really like to meet this "engine builder"....

Sometimes more than often at a dealer people get delt a bad hand. The oil filter issue is on Subaru, it should never have happened, quality control just isn't what it used to be.

But most of all I recommend 1000 to 1500 miles on any engine that I build for break in and stay below 4000 Rpms. You've got to give those rings time to seal correctly. But there won't ever be a instance where I will tell the customer to run 20W-50 on a fresh built engine. The thicker oil also gives the rotating assembly a harder life and that's DEFINITELY something you do not what to have on a fresh build.

His engine builder may have told him 20W-50 but my professional opinion is drain it and run a good quality break in oil at 5W-30, 10W-30 at the most till he reaches 1000 to 1500 miles if the rebuild is that fresh. Then drain and fill with your choice of proper weighted oil, not that thick diesel/race car stuff. If it was a WRC or WTAC car I would approach the situation much differently. But it's a car running a 91ACN OTS tune.

Think he has some redline oil left over that he's gonna switch to, to see if there's a difference. He has noticed a slight drop in mpg, little lower than what I'm used to seeing lols. Actually was gettin better results when stage 2 was running before the whole rebuild horror.

 

[Alin]

Yeah. Ask [MENTION=1]IGOTASTi.COM[/MENTION] about them.

 

[HolyCrapItsFast]

Hmm didn't know we were dealing with a diesel build here....

If stock bearing clearances are being used, running a 20w-50 oil will actaully cause more harm than good. That weight of oil is wayyyyyy too thick for a car that has 5w-30 spec'd clearances from the factory. Subaru doesn't just close their eyes and throw a dart at a board to pick an oil weight.

So if the car had bearings installed for use with thicker oil clearances then maybe I could see using a thicker oil, most owners will switch out their stock weight oil for thicker oil on a track day to help with shear.

But to use 20w-50 on a daily driven car that's still using a stage 1 OTS is a pretty big no no. It's a bit like selling a snow plow truck to Hawaii, why? It's not like this engine is seeing any amount of excessive heat or shearing of the oil. I mean even if the owner romped the piss out of it I'd say bump it up to 10w-30 but 20w-50 is just saying hey I love to starve my mains and rod bearings. Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that AVCS like VTEC, VVTi, MiVEC and so forth is oil pressure actuated, the ECU can tell the cam phaser to do one thing but if there isn't enough oil pressure or the correct amount of oil pressure present AVCS is going to be all out of wack.

In conclusion I would try what @HolyCrapItsFast has mentioned, try a different brand of fuel, and drain that 20W and put the stock oil weight back in, at most a 10W-30, and see if that gains better results for you. I've been building engines for more than a decade and I've heard some crazy stuff, seen some crazy stuff so trust me when I say nothing good will come out of an engine running stock bearing clearances with a oil that's as thick as corn syrup.

AMEN BROTHER!!!! :tup:

 

[HolyCrapItsFast]

Think he has some redline oil left over that he's gonna switch to, to see if there's a difference. He has noticed a slight drop in mpg, little lower than what I'm used to seeing lols. Actually was gettin better results when stage 2 was running before the whole rebuild horror.

Do not use Redline or nay other synthetic on a fresh built motor either. Use regular Dino oil till about 3000 mile and then switch to synthetic if you so desire. As @TK-421 suggests, you have to give rings time to seat and bearing to deburr. Synthetics interfere with this process because they are to slippery.

 

[CSF707]

The engine actually is broken in, I forget, but whatever issues happened to it was fixed without opening the engine all back up or something

 

[TK-421]

So what's the skinny on this? Any update? Any changes?