I am slowly creeping towards my 30,000 mile service. From previous history and driving habits, I have chosen to increase the oil change frequency. I’m curious if anyone else has done the same or is already doing the same.
The main reason for increasing my oil change interval to 4,000 miles instead of the normal suggested service of 6,000 is due to the turbocharger itself and the peripheral drive. I remember years ago – with the Gen3 Outback XT – Subaru made a blanket statement that all “turbos” are considered heavy duty, no matter what. Now, the story here is that this was likely related to the detection of oil starvation and stuck bath bolts with earlier intervals.
I previously had a 2009 Legacy (2.5 EJ253) and I believe the oil change interval back then was either 3750 for heavy driving or 7500 for normal driving. Being a suburb outside of New York City, I chose to run the oil change intervals “around 3750” and in practice, this was somewhere closer to the 4000 mile mark. There were one or two times when “we” (the Lady is the main driver of the Legacy) passed the 4,500 to 5,000 mile mark that I noticed increased oil consumption. This was still in the head gasket era, so I really don’t know if it was a head gasket problem, a coolant problem, a combination of the two, or just general oil consumption due to travel. For reference, her commute still takes her through the morning rush hour, which isn’t pleasant and pretty much sums up the heavy service interval: less than 10 miles each way, stop-and-go, lots of urban drive-by traffic .
However, my driving has changed since I modified the route to include toll roads. It’s reliable for the same amount of time unless there’s a major accident: about 20 miles each way, almost all highway at 55 to 65 mph, and generally not aggressive. I had also previously taken a more urban route that would take me longer but would be half the mileage (and those miles were “very urban” – traffic signals every couple of hundred meters to force people to slow down. )
So every day my temperature comes full speed and goes there for about 10-15 minutes of the typical 25 minute commute. Once I’m on the freeway, I’ll let the adaptive cruise control take over.
I am planning to:
- Continue oil changes around the 4000 to 4500 mark, depending on convenience and availability to perform maintenance
- Change the front and rear differential fluid every 30,000 miles
- Continue to rotate tires at every other oil change service (8,000 to 9,000 miles)
- I change the cabin air and motor air filters myself every year regardless of mileage (usually now – after the leaves have fallen and there is less dust)
- Spark plugs are changed at the suggested 60,000 mile interval
- Brake fluid changed at 30,000 mile intervals
I’m considering:
- CVTF replacement at 60,000 mile service
- Coolant change at 60,000 mile service
- Battery change at the 5 year mark unless needed sooner (likely a replacement available at Costco)
- Replacing my OEM tires on Falken Wildpeaks at the 60,000 mile service unless needed sooner
- PCV valve change at 60,000 mile service
Anything else you would suggest? I believe fuel injector services and such are mostly unnecessary for proactive/preventive service, but if I had problems I wouldn’t hesitate to do it. Besides the CVTF, the only thing I’m curious about, maintenance-wise, is the direct injection system. It appears that these carbon sequestration issues are not
