fluid is quite standard synthetic one can buy in AdvanceAuto or AutoZone, nothing fancy
moreover, Subaru owners manual can be downloaded and it is one of the best in how maintenance and fluids types/capacities info is organized
So, I was curious to know what the dealer would say about this car. I took it there the other day and they told me that the car didnāt really need to have an oil change or a coolant flush.
They - one of the mechanics I spoke to - noted that one of the tire pressure sensors is out, saying it wasnāt too expensive a fix - $180. The salesman at the front desk ārecommendedā changing all of the sensors, advising that itās better than just changing one, no surprise - $480 or so for that.
They also brought up the heat shield being loose - already noticed on day car was bought - hence why Iāve been hearing a vibration/metallic rattle when accelerating.
The oil was and still is pretty clean from the get go, yet the dealer mechanic downplayed the condition of it, in my opinion, saying it was slightly brown but not too bad. It is better than ānot too badā, if you ask me and the friend of the family who is a mechanic also said this. They also said the car takes conventional oil, contrary to my thinking that itād be synthetic.
I opted to not pay for anything from them and they charged me nothing.
Our family friend mechanic tightened up the heat shield today and I will do what I can, then have him and a local shop do the rest.
I asked the dealership about additive and they said they donāt have it, also.
Pressure sensors will be much less expensive to replace at some specialized tire place.
Mr. Tire I have next to me asked for something like $50 per sensor replaced.
I bought the whole set for $100 and replace/paired myself, but I did have a proper tool to mate sensors to the vehicle computer.
You do not need to dismount the tire to replace sensor - it suffices to push tire bead down on the side where sensor is, then stepping with your boot next to it keep the tire down and itās enough space to get your hand in and out to replace the sensor.
Rattling heatshilds is a ānormalā Subaruā plague, it is not about tightening them, they simply rust out at the mounting flange. I used a clamp around it to keep them in place, worked OK-ish. Sometimes I needed to add some steel wool under the rusting heat-shield to get it out of contacting the exhaust pipes.
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One more thing on coolant and why it is important to properly maintain that area.
Here is a good explanation from some shop in Canada who specializes on Subaru repairs:
The usage of āSUBARU Cooling System Conditioner SOA635071ā is quite murky waters.
It was mandatory to use up to something like 2007, as it was supposed to delay the deterioration of the headgasket coating which was eaten away by the coolant and was eventually getting the the leakage.
In 2008 of so, Subaru finally changed the material on headgaskets and claimed āthey got it right this timeā, but as events shown later, it was overly optimistic.
From my recollection, from 2008 and forward, EJ engines were susceptible to develop an EXTERNAL oil leak first, then followed by the coolant leak, and only after that it would grenade itself internally, so at least it is not as bad as before, where it would go kaboom out of the blue.
In your shoes, I would spend some time researching the topic and would pay close attention to this area
+1
IIRC, Costco charged me a little over $40 per sensor to replace them at the same time that I bought new tires.