Good points ~ very few Americans follow any sort of routine maintanece schedules, instead they wait until something goes wrong and then moan and blame the vehicle or designer .

Yes, some brands will go far without regular oil & filter plus tranny and final drive lubricant changes but it's a simple thing to do and not overly expen$ive .

The 'C' API/SAE oil rating is for reduced cam wear, use this grade of multi vis oil and hot change it with the filter every 3,000 miles or so and Lo ! you get those 350,000 mile engines that don't have any troubles or burn oil and run strongly .

Same thing with automatic trannies ~ right here on this list was a fierce discussion from lazy folks insisting that changing the ATF & filter on an old automatic is guaranteed to cause failure when it isn't .

If you want any machine to last, TAKE CARE OF IT .

Subarus also need their timing belts changed between 60,000 and 80,000 miles or you'll grenade the engine when it snaps and the valves collide with the pistons and destroy the cylinder head(s) beyond repair .

The choice is yours, make the wise choice .

heavy duty valve springs are only necessary if you're over speeding the engine ~ otherwise all they do is promote rapid cam lobe wear .

Many do not bother to properly break in a new cam, it's critical to "work harden" the lobes and followers, most replacement cams come with a specific instruction sheet that indiaces what cam lube to use in assembly and what RPM's to run the new cam at no load before you ever take a test drive .

Way back in the mid 1970's GM tried to skip proper breaking on their V8 engines and millions had the cams go flat in 10,000 miles ~ it was a regular service item to replace the worn put cam shaft in two year old trucks and cars .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better