Well the jury's in...........

No they did waste their time with the turbo, no not number 3 piston but number 1!!!! New short engine ordered by the end of today won't see it until next year I would guess. Have to say, really not very impressed with the brand now.
Interested to know if its number one on yours Arron, or something else.

 

Well the jury's in...........

No they did waste their time with the turbo, no not number 3 piston but number 1!!!! New short engine ordered by the end of today won't see it until next year I would guess. Have to say, really not very impressed with the brand now.
Interested to know if its number one on yours Arron, or something else.

 

adair69,

I hope for you they check what caused the failure of the #1 piston. They don´t go without a reason!

Boost creep shouldn´t be a problem with only Back box and mid section replaced.

Mark.

[Edited by EMS - 12/16/2002 2:39:54 PM]

 

do you have any info on what on cylinder 1 has failed? Is it a case of a melted piston or a colasped ring land? or a big end bearing?

do you have an OEM air filter still installed?

 

Just found out my car melted a piston.
Probably due to the ignorance of the dealer I bought it from running it on normal unleaded petrol!!!
New short engine coming Wednesday hopefully and in Friday hopefully.

 

Hi john

There stripping it to see what internals have gone, I wait to hear what the result is, as for the filter, just an ITG panel.
Anyway as I said though, the actual brand has not really done itself any favours in respect of reliability, very poor to think that we're talking less than 4 months old and 6800 miles. As for a rally homologation, may be tempted to look at the Evo VIII or if I feel like a bit of style the Mazda RX-8.

[Edited by adair69 - 1/24/2003 3:15:29 PM]

 

Arron which piston?? Not number 1?

 

Dunno and dont really care as it makes no difference to me. Its fecked and that enough. I`ll find out when I pick it up later this week hopefully

 

if you have an ITG in there i strongly sugest they inspect the MAF sensor. You could have a fooked MAF sensor, this could cause the engine to run lean and can lead to the type of failure you have just had.

If there are any signs of oil on the MAF sensor, it needs replacing and an OEM panel filter installing. Get them to voltage test the MAF output.

If you dont do this you could have another melted engine in a few weeks. Make sure they check this BEFORE they run the new engine. Do they know you have an ITG filter in there?

 

As you're watching this one closely, Arron.... did either of your previous STi7s have the rattle??

Cheers
Phil

 

John,

Are you saying ITG filters are unsafe?


Si

 

If you have always run good fuel etc and it is a piston gone not a big end then the maf is the most likely culprit, unfortunately they can become contaminated in a gradual way which causes them to generate a slightly lower voltage that the ecu doesn't consider an issue, it therefore won't flag a check engine light. The ecu then reads a lower (lighter load) point on the fuel map which is generally going to be leaner. Ask them how it failed ... if its been "eaten" aropund the edges then that's caused by det.

Take John's advice and get them to replace the maf even if it costs you, better safe etc.

 

Hi Phil.
First car did.
Second one I didnt actually own. No knocks on test drive just plenty of squeeks.
I havnt noticed the knock on this one but I have only driven it for a couple of days. I dont think it does it.

 

i would not use any oiled air filter on an STi5,6 or 7 (STi typeUK) because the MAF sensor is very sensitive to oil contamination. This can lead to engine failure due to the MAF reading airflow incorectly.

I only use genuine STi dry filters on my STi5 for this reason. If you want to go for higher flow than these (why, i duno because they are easily good enough for 280BHP) you should use an ECU that does not use a MAF sensor input such as a Link.

 

John,

Any issues with using K&N paper panel filter on STi7?

Cheers

Paul

[Edited by Paul N P - 12/16/2002 10:10:45 PM]

 

John,

Assue no issues over ITG on My2000 classic?


Si

 

lets not turn this thread into an air filter posting. K&N filters are oiled cotton, so could cause problems with the later MAF's.

My own thoughts on this are that any car with the film type MAF should avoid an oiled filter, because they are less capable of dealing with contamination. The earlier MAF's dont seem to suffer to the same extent. I am not sure of the cutoff date when they changed the sensor, try posting in drivetrain or doing a search, i am sure someone has this info in their head, i would have to check.

Blown MAF's are a well known problem, it's been covered in drivetrain many times.

 

Must say I ditched the ITG filter when I saw it - oily and the plasticky material didn't seem too sturdy or sound. I also stuck a MAF in, just in case. (must have read your mind John?)

As some reference, mines an STI V, 3 years old, 21K and a good few track days under its belt. But yes, I do have my fingers crossed!

Hope you get if fixed soon, and for no cost mate.

D

 

Up to and including MY98 used a hot wire maf, after that used the hot film, the hot wire has a self cleaning routine which heats the wire to red hot to burn off contamination, its also got less "sensitive" electronics in it, the hot film type is more accurate (read precise) in its reaction to air flow but by nature suffers from vibration and contamination more, treat it as consumable and servicable is the best policy. Now that the cartridge is available at relatively low cost it is prudent to consider replacement every say 15-20k miles IMHO. No guarantee that there won't be issues within that timescale of course.

 

so is it changed on all the phase2 engines bob? and is the STi MAF sensor the same as the UK one? i never did find that out.

 

John,

I think Megastream found out that the MAF was the same on the STI5 as on the UK. His car is identical (bar any personal items ) to yours.

he's got some posts somewhere with the part number.

 

MAF Sensor thread see here with part number of the MAF that Mega_Stream got for his STi V from Cheam Motors.

 

The deliberation however is still going on in respect of the failure of no 1 piston. Having read some of the threads about filters I must say I was wondering if it was that. Just an assumption but I guess I'm running it in again. Having slept on it now......
.....as the engine is changing I have a feeling that the Insurance need to be notified, and DVLA and then HPI will have an engine change logged against the car, this I feel will devalue it. Not very impressed with the brand. I don't mind a wrangle with a manufacture, but if anyone thinks that the above is not likely then I'll leave it. But I feel sure that any notification with DVLA automatically goes to HPI.

[Edited by adair69 - 1/24/2003 3:18:18 PM]

 

mega stream replaced his maf on his sti V ra and the part was the same as a uk one for my99 to 00.

 

Yes, you have to run the engine in again. Give me the car if you don’t fancy this, I’ll have it done in 27 hrs.
You don’t have to tell the insurance company as nothing is changing in the specification, it’s just a repair.
You have to send your V5 document off to the DVLA to get the engine number changed; this will not affect the value of the car at all. It was very common on MY98 cars to have an engine number change due to a design issue with the pistons that led to piston slap; lots of MY98’s have new short motors.

I think you would be over reacting if you reject the car because it had an engine problem that is being repaired properly under warranty.
If I were you, I would insist on a MAF sensor replacement, the sensor modules are not expensive (if you replace the actual sensor and not the whole assembly) and get an OEM STi filter installed in the car.
When I had a new short motor installed in my MY98, I had a note inserted into my service book to log the date and mileage the change was made, if anything it helped sell the car as the engine was newer than the car.

I think it’s unfair to be critical of the brand, when you ran a modified engine (yes I do count exhaust and filter changes as modifying the engine) and it subsequently failed, and then they are replacing the engine under warranty. If anything you should be praising them for giving you a good service.

 

thanks for the MAF part number info

 

hi john
ive got a itg filter in my sti, where do i get the sti one you have ?
mark

 

You are having a laugh I hardly call replacing an air filter and exhaust modifying a car do you ? Why make excuses ?
As you have to pay for air filters at service intervals then the manufacturer cannot use this is a warranty get out clause as it is illegal.

 

co55ie your knowledge and guidance here is, as always amazing,dare I say to the point of being stupendous.

Keep it up M8 we all need a laugh here occasionally.

 

nice one co55ie. Showing your ignorance of how a Subaru works yet again.

Just in case you didnt know, the YB series engine used in the RS cosworth does not have any metering of the airflow and therefor doesnt have a MAF sensor (so you can use whatever air filter you like). It relies 100% on the ECU map monitoring boost, throttle position, distributor phase (or cam phase on the later ones), water temperature, charge temperature and engine speed.

This is one reason why the YB is no longer in production as it doesnt meet emisions regs unlike the metered Subaru engine.

You can buy STi filters from scoobymania, i dunno if anyone else is importing them, i was the first person to do this i think?