Subaru Crosstrek XV Hybrid - Repair and Service

Gambino · March 14

Hi friends,

Happy to say for the first time I was able to own an Subaru XV. Though it has been a dream of mine to own one, couldn't find the courage, funding and my better halves' OK for it . Kudos to the previous owner of the vehicle who had done a splendid job in maintaining the vehicle in the condition that it is even after 130K + milage. All services and repairs done at the agent Senok. Anyway, have couple of questions for Subaru experts here, if they can assist me. No, I'm not a stingy one or not car enthusiast, but looking at the cost to service and repair at Senok, exploring other options to take my ride for repair or routine services other than Senok. Hope no blames coming this way for finding cheaper options even after buying a Subaru . This is me just thinking out loud! So my questions if a lovely soul can answer..Apologies in advance, if some sounds stupid.

1. Are there are reputed Subaru workshops in the town other than Senok, whom I can take my vehicle to, who is trustworthy, knowledgeable and availability of genuine parts in the event of a mechanical issue? If you can't take names here appreciate even a hint.

2. For regular services, other than Senok, can any other reputed Service outlets handle these vehicles like, Hy*** H*b, Care***. etc. Or any suggestions please. (You should already know by now but Senok charges 6000+ for a body wash and vaccum only )

3. My previous owner has been using Valvoline 0W20 which requires a Oil Change every 10K Km intervals but does an inspection every 5K at Senok. Is this the usual for every Subaru, or because of the type of oil he uses. If I do the regular checks of oil levels, air filter and ac filter at 5K, is there a necessity that I go to Senok every 5K. So is it wise to do the service with this type of oil every 10K or shift to another oil and do the oil/filter change every 5k.

Many thanks in advance and hope to see some lovely folks helping out here.

G

iRage · March 15

3 hours ago, Gambino said:

3. My previous owner has been using Valvoline 0W20 which requires a Oil Change every 10K Km intervals but does an inspection every 5K at Senok. Is this the usual for every Subaru, or because of the type of oil he uses. If I do the regular checks of oil levels, air filter and ac filter at 5K, is there a necessity that I go to Senok every 5K. So is it wise to do the service with this type of oil every 10K or shift to another oil and do the oil/filter change every 5k.

Synthetic oils have a use life of about 10,000kms under normal use. Trust me a daily used car in Colombo traffic or a car that just does short runs most the time is not going to qualify as normal use. So even with synthetics you might still have to change it at a shorter interval than 10,000km (under hard use most sythetic oil manufacturers suggest a 7500km change...so it won't be as short as intervals for a normal mineral oil).
Again, it depends on your use of the car. If the car is used occasionally and each drive typically is enough for the oil to heat up to operating temperature, then a 10,000km change with an inspection (change if needed) at 5000k is fine. In Japan that is what I do with my cars (even the 25 year old Corolla after switching to synthetic oils). On each car I only do about 300km a month so what gets me most is the shelf life of the oil (synthetic oils have a life span of about 1 year and mineral oils about 6 months...give or take). So oil gets changed once every 10-12 months and gets inspected every 5 to 6 months. Again...it is totally dependant on your use.
For the previous owner that schedule might have been perfectly fine and fine for the car. You need to tell us how you plan to use the car so we can have a discussion if a similar schedule would work for you

Gambino · March 15

1 hour ago, iRage said:

Synthetic oils have a use life of about 10,000kms under normal use. Trust me a daily used car in Colombo traffic or a car that just does short runs most the time is not going to qualify as normal use. So even with synthetics you might still have to change it at a shorter interval than 10,000km (under hard use most sythetic oil manufacturers suggest a 7500km change...so it won't be as short as intervals for a normal mineral oil).
Again, it depends on your use of the car. If the car is used occasionally and each drive typically is enough for the oil to heat up to operating temperature, then a 10,000km change with an inspection (change if needed) at 5000k is fine. In Japan that is what I do with my cars (even the 25 year old Corolla after switching to synthetic oils). On each car I only do about 300km a month so what gets me most is the shelf life of the oil (synthetic oils have a life span of about 1 year and mineral oils about 6 months...give or take). So oil gets changed once every 10-12 months and gets inspected every 5 to 6 months. Again...it is totally dependent on your use.
For the previous owner that schedule might have been perfectly fine and fine for the car. You need to tell us how you plan to use the car so we can have a discussion if a similar schedule would work for you

Thanks alot for the prompt response. I will be using in heavy traffic during rush hours from Rajagiriya to Fort. I guess that's the best traffic there can be in the island..:) I guess a check up at every 5K would be more ideal for my situation right, or rather a change of oil. Even the previous owner has been using the same route to travel can not understand the logic behind every 10K change. Probably the agent recommended to do so with an inspection at the oil levels every 5k. When you say get the oil inspected at 5k, does that mean whether the oil levels have gone down or to check for a change in quality/color levels. Thanks

iRage · March 15

1 hour ago, Gambino said:

Thanks alot for the prompt response. I will be using in heavy traffic during rush hours from Rajagiriya to Fort. I guess that's the best traffic there can be in the island..:) I guess a check up at every 5K would be more ideal for my situation right, or rather a change of oil. Even the previous owner has been using the same route to travel can not understand the logic behind every 10K change. Probably the agent recommended to do so with an inspection at the oil levels every 5k. When you say get the oil inspected at 5k, does that mean whether the oil levels have gone down or to check for a change in quality/color levels. Thanks

Well....I don't know the condition of your car, but in my Mark X driving from Pelawatte to Bambalapitiya in the thick of traffic; I was comfortable doing 7500-8000km oil change intervals on a synthetic oil. 5000km on synthetic oil might be a bit of an overkill, but then, depending on the condition of the engine, it might be needed. I would say start off with an 8k or so interval, see how the car does.

Engine condition : things below can and will effect the condition of the oil:

oil burn rate, combustion efficiency [less than optimal burn can contribute to carbon deposits], engine compression [oil might seep into cylinders creating carbon], sludge level, condition of gaskets and oil seals.

Edited March 15 by iRage

sathyajithj99 · March 15

16 hours ago, iRage said:

Well....I don't know the condition of your car, but in my Mark X driving from Pelawatte to Bambalapitiya in the thick of traffic; I was comfortable doing 7500-8000km oil change intervals on a synthetic oil. 5000km on synthetic oil might be a bit of an overkill, but then, depending on the condition of the engine, it might be needed. I would say start off with an 8k or so interval, see how the car does.

Engine condition : things below can and will effect the condition of the oil:

oil burn rate, combustion efficiency [less than optimal burn can contribute to carbon deposits], engine compression [oil might seep into cylinders creating carbon], sludge level, condition of gaskets and oil seals.

So you mean using this oil we can run 10,000km if it is not harsh driving conditions like heavy traffic?

(It is Toyota synthetic oil)

Edited March 15 by sathyajithj99

iRage · March 18

On 3/16/2024 at 7:07 AM, sathyajithj99 said:

So you mean using this oil we can run 10,000km if it is not harsh driving conditions like heavy traffic?

Again...I would not say its possible nor would I say you can't. Sorry, really not an answer to your question.

If your engine is in good health and you do normal low-intensity runs with the engine coming to proper operating temperature, then yes you would increase the possibility of getting closer to 10K. But the reality is that the quality of the fuel, quality of air being induced into the engine, etc... would also affect this. So, although the oil might suggest 10K and you do low intesity, low stress runs, in reality, this would actually reduce.

So...it is all very contextual.

The reality is that everyone, from the manufacturers to garages to service stations, gives you a standard recommendation because that would be the safest way to go about it. Otherwise, they would have to come up with 1000 different oil change recommendations, one for each of their customers. So, it is best to figure out what is best for your car by actually studying/observing it.

Gambino · March 19

Thanks, so the several people I mentioned, surprised about the fact that the agent recommending 10k oil change irrespective of whether its run on high intensity or low. Among them experts on motor vehicles. Cant think of the rationale behind this. Anyway, was thinking to do a change around 6k to 7k.

iRage · March 19

3 hours ago, Gambino said:

Thanks, so the several people I mentioned, surprised about the fact that the agent recommending 10k oil change irrespective of whether its run on high intensity or low. Among them experts on motor vehicles. Cant think of the rationale behind this. Anyway, was thinking to do a change around 6k to 7k.

Well...you never know...maybe it was sensible to do it, especially when they did an inspection every 5k. We do not know the exact circumstances and conditions the previous owner used the car in (remember just because you are driving in traffic does not automatically make it a hard run as well). Also, when they said 10,000kms it could have been a 10,000km average where sometimes it was changed at a 8 or 9 k-ish and sometimes closer or a bit over 10?

The thing is..there is no exact science and a hard-fast rule to all this; short of actually doing a sediment analysis and determining if it should be changed or not at exactly every X kms

I would say you would probably end at around 7.5k-8k. 5-6k would seem more natural for extreme use cases on a synthetic oil (we are talking about really bad fuel, excessive heat and dust and long high-stress on engine runs sort of use).

Edited March 19 by iRage