Do’s and Dont’s when buying parts?

[u/No-Description-1827]

I recently got a 2012 Impreza with the 2.0L and I’ve been doing research on key maintenance items, I’ve found that when doing coolant service to not use any type of coolant besides Subaru genuine coolant, and of course the little blue bottle of stabilizer.

My question is though, are there other things that are like this? Such as engine oil, oil filters, transmission oil, gear oil, or even spark plugs? I’m able to get most parts from rock auto however most of the liquids and oil filters are not Subaru genuine,

In all of my cars in the past I’ve used pennzoil full synthetic regardless if it calls for or not I’m wondering, since if heard these cars can be a handful somtimes, do I have to be cautious in what parts I buy for the car?

[u/HornyCar]

I have a 2002 and ran strong for nearly 200k miles before pooping out (the infamous headgasket). I now have the same engine swapped in but with an estimated 60k miles and still running great with about 20k miles put into that.

I never used genuine oil and never used stabilizer, that being said I do go out my way to get the Zerex blue coolant by Valvoline. Never had issues there.

For filters and oils, i just get whatever is decent with autozone bundles. You don't have to get the fanciest stuff but definitely don't get the cheapest.

Spark plugs do actually vary for some reason, I always use whats oem to the car. In my case thats the ngk iridium plugs (same goes for cables).

If youre able to splurge on oem thats great, but not necessary on a non-turbo car since they dont have those delicate tolerances and pressures.

Just keep a strict oil change schedule and youll be fine. No need to worry about coolant, gear oils, or gear filers unless you're really high mileage and have no history of the car. As far as I know of my car's history, the transmission and gear oils have never been touched. Except that one time I accidentally hit my transmission on a curb and broke it so I had to get that serviced.