we bought our first new car this summer, a 2010 subaru outback. it is a great car, but I have a question about maintenance. the dealer is telling us to change the oil every 3000 miles, and my wife recalls the car guys suggesting that changing the oil can be done every 5000 miles. is my beautiful and charming wife, who brightens my life on a dailey basis right, or is the bald fat guy at the service counter who smells strange correct?
Follow the owner’s manual maintenance schedule recommendations. I believe that allows for a 7500 mile oil change interval after the first one at 3750. I choose to do 5K oil change intervals for convenience of math and memory. 3K intervals might be appropriate if you do a lot of stop and go, etc. However, I believe Subaru recommends 3750 in these cases.
thanks, I’ll hold off on the change for a bit.
Time to open up the Owner’s Manual and read the section on Scheduled Maintenance. Unless the car is driven short distances and never fully warmed up, a 5k interval should be fine.
Very Important! - Regardless of the change interval, don’t be afraid to open up the hood and check the oil and coolant level on a regular basis. The Owner’s manual will probably say, “check the oil level at every fill-up” and allow for 1qt/1000m oil consumption.
I used a 4k change interval for 30 years. My 2010 Cobalt has an Oil Life Monitor, according to the OLM, the Cobalt can go 9k between changes based on my driving habits (semi-rural, no city stop and go driving). I’ve decided to go to a 5k change interval, it’s easy to remember and that is the longest interval I would be comfortable with.
Both my 2000 Blazer and 93 Caprice have a 7500m change interval, I would never go that long between oil changes, an extra oil change a year (~$40) is less expensive than a new engine (considerably more than $40).
Ed B.
P.S.
Rule #1 - The wife is always right.
Rule #2 - If the wife is wrong, see Rule #1.
Neither is correct. The owner’s manual that came with your new Subaru will tell you how often to change the oil. It will also tell you all sorts of other useful information.
Read the manual.
The manufacturer gave you an owner’s manual for a reason.
Does your Outback have the turbo motor? If so, do it every 3,000. Turbos really hate old/dirty oil.
No turbo’s in 2010+ Outback just 2005-2009. So she will be all set in that aspect.
"we bought our first new car this summer, a 2010 subaru outback."
Out Back Of What And What subaru Model Did You Choose ?
CSA
That depends upon your driving habits and enviro conditions. Three thousand if most of the driving is of the 2-5 mile short hop variety and you can go 5000 if most of the driving is of the extended highway type.
Never listen to what a service writer or service manager tells you at the counter. The vast majority of them are mechanically cluesless and much of what they say would be diametrically opposed to what the mechanic in the shop would state.
While the manual does indeed specify a 7,500 mile oil change regimen, if you look closely (probably on the the next page) it also specifies a different schedule for cars that are subjected to “severe service”, and it also defines what “severe service” actually is. Unless most of your driving is long-distance expresssway driving, it is very likely that you car falls into the severe service category.
That being said, I want to point out something else that is vitally important on an AWD vehicle such as the Outback–namely, tire rotation. Subaru specifies tire rotation every 7,500 miles in order to keep the amount of wear relatively even from one tire to another. This is to prevent expensive damage to the AWD mechanism.
If you don’t rotate your tires on a consistent basis–at approximately the same mileage interval each time–the resulting damage to the AWD mechanism will not be covered by warranty. So, unless you relish the idea of paying…probably somewhere around $700 to replace the center clutch packs, you should be very aware of the need for tire rotation.
So–here is the regimen that I have followed on all 3 of my Subarus, including my 2011 Outback Limited 3.6R:
Change the oil every 3,750 miles (approximately)
Have the tires rotated at every other oil change (7,500 miles, approximately)
Since the “major” service intervals for the car are at 30k, 60k, 90k, 120k, etc, a 3,750/7,500 mile schedule for oil changes and tire rotations works well in terms of easily remembered mileage intervals.
This way, you will not have to worry about the possibility of engine sludge building up, you will not have to worry about damage to the center clutch pack, and you won’t have to remember any fancy formula for when to have each service performed.
Alternatively, you could change the oil every 5,000 miles, but that would also mean rotating your tires at every oil change. Personally, I think that the 3,750/7,500 regimen makes more sense.
The 3000 mile oil change interval was set in motion LONG LONG AGO… These days with better metals and coser tolerances you can actually push the interval out a bit longer. I CAN tell you that you will NEVER have an oil related failure if you change it every 3000 miles, however I feel that mark is a litte too soon. I go 3500-4000 and drive in mixed conditions that coud be finally summed up as severe duty. If you were Mr. Freeway then you can go longer on regular oil. If you introduce Synthetic Oil OR you car has Synth Oil from the factory then your interval will be very noticeably increased. Do yourself a favor and read the manual. Find out what type of oil is in your car from the factory Synthetic or Regular… You can use either if you go with Regular oil 3000-3750-4000 is your safe change interval. Synthetic I would go 5000-6000 or slightly more but always less than the crazy claims that Synth oil makers put out there of 10-15K miles… This is a debate as old as the automobile however. I have never EVER seen an oil related failure at 3000 miles. So if you want to be safe…dont go beyond 5000 miles regardless of which oil type you use. You will get millions of differing opinions the more you ask. Follow your manual, and if you dont want to do that. Safe rule of thumb is 3000-3500 with Regular and no further than 7500 with Synthetic even though they say you can go much further.
Also make sure you CHECK the oil regularly. Changing the oil often is great, but the benefits are negated if you let the oil run more than a quart low.
Only synthetic oils with higher levels of additives will prevent lubricant breakdown. If the additives aren’t there, the oil is not guaranteed for extended life.