Yes, it's never caught anything except oil vapour...which is fine by me. Mocal set up...a few years ago.

Man, it's more than condensation surely...I know what you mean by that...but this is full on coolant burn and explains the misfire I think.
I suspect a breach of HG. It's a white smoke / vapour hit. I'm used to condensation on a cold day, but this seriously takes things to the next level.
Having said that, I've not revved on warm up ever...so I don't know if what I see is normal.

The car performs so well once warmed up, so still I don't know what to think.....

 

Here's another video of just ignition on....constant humming, may well be normal for fly by wire set up? Can anyone vouch for this? Air con switched off so no fan running :


I can't grasp what is giving me such a **** idle upon cold start-up. Please, can people stop buying vape stuff from the local shop or online....just come and see me FFS! Coffee and biscuits supplied.
Such a lovely clean car, decontaminated and ceramic GTechniq C5 coated alloys recently, but at the moment I feel the term "polished turd" is appropriate! lol

 

it really shouldn't be taking 10seconds to build up oil pressure. it should be split second. so that is a definite worry, and could well be oil pickup pipe fracture

 

That humming is the fly by wire throttle. Mine does it too and always has.

 

I wondered that too. They do like to go at the top of the pick up tube.. Maybe a killer bee solution?
Going back to your last comment, on reflection it is perhaps just vapour steam pouring out, not coolant smoke, big difference.

Smoke was what I had after rebuild...hence Mocal catch can system installed....stopped cold start up smoke in an instant. Oil smoke...stinks and thick cloud to gas out the neighbours. I blamed it on oil residue creeping through the TMIC and down the throttle body and sucked in overnight. Start up was fun back then lol. The can sits perfectly where the secondary air pump was.
PCV blocked and a few other ports blocked in my Samco air intake pipe. My old original one was split at the turbo neck end.

Do you think that a reduction in oil pressure readings (ie fractured oil pick up tube) would affect the initial idle?

My PSi3 is oil pressure and oil temperature capable, but would need sensors added to the block to read from, so I've never done it.

 

Cheers JT

 

oh no!! back to the engine builder it is. That is bad news. Will they sort it under warranty?

 

35k on the engine,doubt it's covered.

 

No not now...that was 4 or more years ago....

 

Does has all the hallmarks of a fractured oil pick up pipe to me

 

That's my direction now. But would that cause a bad idle on cold start up?
The videos don't really show it at it's worst....typical

 

Shame its only lasted 35k. I thought a fully forged would be bullet proof unless you track it every weekend.

 

Mine had 25k forged but let go due to very poor tune!

 

Nothing is bullet proof!!!

edit: apart from bullet proof glass or thick steel etc
but not an impreza engine

 

My 16yr old engine has been shot at many of times but still going strong (kiss of death now )

 

well looked after and a good tune will keep it singing well for another 16+++

 

Oil pick up pipe for sure for the oil light delay.

poor idle, headgasket or head failure letting a small amount of coolant into the combustion chamber

 

on a rebuilt engine it’s common to have oil smoke on start up until the engine beds in , mine did it for quite a while then stopped , catch can fitted but not really needed , ive heard of pick up failures but normally it’s terminal very quickly , it could account for low oil pressure on start up but it would also mean oil is low pressure all of the time too so in theory terminal fairly quickly , some one had it happen in there fsti it was an oil light then fairly soon after death of engine

 

I will get the oil pick up looked at yes. I wonder if it's oil smoke I'm seeing, could be the turbo has shat itself? I guess the smoke would be a bit more blue....or would it if I use a fully synthetic Millers CFS oil?

 

its not oil smoke. its condensation.

if i was you i would just get the car booked in and checked over by a subaru specialist and stop worrying about what it may/may not be you'll only drive yourself crazy.

 

It's booked in for "soon" 2-3 weeks I reckon approx.
Forgot how good my Passat is as an all rounder car...54 plate with 126k miles on it...not even tickled it! lol

Once the Spec D is fixed, I will be using my Passat more....he says.

 

****UPDATE****
Well, had the call tonight and...just my luck...I've done the block. It's cracked apparently inside cylinder 1 (drivers side nearest the cambelt)
Waiting for pictures and I'll put them up. I tried to start it on Saturday (battery fully charged) to move it off the drive to be winched up to the lorry....the engine was hydro-locked, wouldn't even turn over.

Gonna be a pricey one this, but I have no wife or kids to clean me out every month, so it could be worse I guess!

Some parts can be re-used, hopefully not bent a rod - If I have then I have, replace.
Manley rods are pretty good so hoping not the case.

New bits will be :

Block.
Mahle (or similar) forged pistons - existing Mahle ones are too large as the original block was honed / bored on last rebuild.
Bottom end shells / big and small ends etc - ACL last time, but I don't think they make bearing shells anymore?
A couple of cambelt idlers.
Cosworth HG's, engine oil and filter.
Complete seal kit.

Hoping these are ok as done only 35k miles ago :

Manley rods
Crank (not replaced, original 85k miles)
Oil cooler
My sanity
Oil pump
ARP head bolts / studs
My sanity
ACT clutch
Heads skimmed last time, never had an overheat condition, so fingers crossed they aren't warped.

I am gutted, not gonna lie, but I've decided to see it as a pricey refresh

 

OH NO!! that is bad news. What has caused the cracked cylinder? hydro-lock?.

 

I am assuming crack liner letting water in then the hydro lock , very unfortunate hopefully most parts can be re used , and it’s not horrendous £ wise , worth running a little less power ? i don’t know what it was running before , i know people do 400 450 etc but i just
think it’s pushing the limits of the car
and more prone to failure , i’m more than happy with my 340 bhp or so , was previous builder going to sort things out for you ?

 

We just don't know. Only that the crack caused the hydro lock - but what caused the crack?
I suspect just flex in the bores, simple bad luck.

The garage said he'd only seen this on a Cosworth hatch and a Forester before.

 

Yes, whilst running gave off plumes of white smoke, and overnight the bore was taking in coolant hence the hydro lock.
It was only running 342bhp and 410 lb ft torque, so nothing too crazy. I kept the power there as not to stress it too much, fast road car but hoped it was underpowered given the power figures versus the build components used at rebuild. For that power, I felt it was over-built which is fine by me.

It's never been tracked once, treated gently until hot, oil / filter changed on the button or 500-1000 miles early. I'd keep a close eye on oil level too, and pretty much mechanically sympathetic towards it.
Standard turbo, injectors, airbox etc, so it really wasn't being pushed in my opinion.

However, I think this has been a while coming, about 18 months perhaps - reason being, at times I'd get a significant water push and would have to drain some coolant out of the overflow tank by the radiator, but equally the header tank was always full, and the radiator, so I had nowhere to put the coolant back in.
Yes, a symptom of HG, but I do see my PSI3 as accurate and no coolant temps were out of the ordinary ever. No bubbling in the overflow tank even after a boost etc, so what could I do but just sit and wait. Towards the end I did notice the top rad hose get pretty firm after a run, another sign of pressurisation getting into the coolant system.

Occasionally it would "gulp" coolant back and I could refill the overflow tank to max mark once cold - it never went too low, so never sucked air in whilst cooling down overnight.

But anyway, if the crack has been developing over time, I would have still been in the same rebuild position anyway, but the car ran fine, and the spluttering has only been since about Christmas time.
As far as I know, the Cosworth HG's are fine, but I won't re-use them of course.
Not a lot more I can really say, other than it is what it is.

 

It sounds like a case of bad luck rather than any thing else , and nothing you could have done about it , it sounds like your current builder is subaru4u ?? , Lens very good he’s rebuilt a few of mine , i remembering when i was done there last time a cs400 has a cracked liner again a random fail , he sometimes keeps bottom ends in , last time he rebuilt mine with an already machined bottom end to make the rebuild a bit quicker

 

Yep, sure is Len and I'm glad you find his work very good too. I'm more than happy to have him build it again as he's a genuine guy, and none of this is his fault.

Boom :

 

He’s done two and a half of my engine rebuilds , the cosworth was there when i went last time , as i said i think you have just been really unlucky no one to blame , it’s like the oil pick up pipe failures rare and no warning , hopefully not too much ££

 

Is that casting mark/milled out area on the outer cylinder wall normal? Where the crack is running down. Dont think I've ever seen that before??


Edit: seems it is looking at other pics online.