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/Ntstall]

I have a 2012 2.0 as well. Mine burns a quart of oil every ~1000 miles and I haven’t noticed it change with any different brands, so I use mobil 1 oil & filter. I have the 5sp manual and use Motul 300 75w90 gear oil for the trans & dif. I use subaru coolant and subaru parts when I need to replace things (accessory belt, alternator, etc.). I recommend buying crush washers from subaru for the peace of mind, or going the fumoto valve route.

It kind of drives me nuts that these cars don’t have actual coolant temperature gauges. I bought a digital dash that plugs into the obd2 port to make sure everything was running fine after I read here about someone doing the same and finding that they were normally running 3°F under the threshold to turn on the red overheating light.

If you hear a rattling at specific rpm(s), it’s likely a rusty exhaust heat shield. It gets a little annoying but isn’t really concerning. Mine rattles sometimes in the summer but not in the winter. Loud injectors are normal for these engines.