Stephen Pope

My MY 98 UK turbo popped 50 miles after the 82,500 mile service at eaglesham garage - woops, did i say that! They told me to beat it regarding the repairs. full subaru service history etc etc. I went to David at API who supplied the new engine - still sweet as a nut and an excellent service rom them in general. i now know a good bit more about the engines and most importantly how to maintain them properly.

Deep Singh

I think this is another ocurrence with failures that David forgot to mention. I've read here of quite a few failures within short time of oil change. ? Correct procedure not followed

ierax332

Can somebody possibly go through the correct way for an oil change, step by step, as a future reference for us newbies?

buzzard

a few years ago one of my engines began to knock immediately on start-up after an oil change. i know better now tho'.
incidentally, in Davids defence, he did mention this some time ago.

Deep Singh

[QUOTE=buzzard]a few years ago one of my engines began to knock immediately on start-up after an oil change. i know better now tho'.
incidentally, in Davids defence, he did mention this some time ago.[/QUOT

My post was'nt very well worded. Was'nt accusing David of major ommisions, his posts have been very informative. I'm sure you're right and he did mention it and I missed it

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

he did mention it...'change the oil and filter in the appropriate way...'

Bob

dij

I beleive the oil change procedure has been described loads of times if you do the search.The idea is to fill the filter before fitting it back and crank the engine with the crank sensor disconected to make sure oil is back in the pump before starting up the car.Best to search as this has been described in detail many times before.

I also find that this whole engine reliability issue has come 101 times before,and similar critisism/defence has been given before.

I personaly agree with deep singh's point of view,they require special care that they are unlikely to get from the average owner.
They can last 150k+ miles without a rebuild,but they just dont seem to be consistent.

There have been many reports of standard looked after cars loosing engines at 60k on SN,and you wont hear about the ones that get done under warranty.

axgt_bwaii

iTrader: (6)

ok now im shi*ing myself!

i changed the oil in my 93wrx filled filter a little then the engine 4.5l. DIDNT do the crank sensor though!!! just let the car start and tick over till engine was warmed up then drove as usual. steady for the 1st few miles then back to normal.

i noticed that 3 weeks after doing the oil that on cold start up i get as if my plugs oil up after a minute of running (missing and only alot of throttle added will bring back life to my car) leaving a huge flat spot in the throttle. id guess ive done something in? valve seals or piston rings? or am i well of it and need to wait till the 2nd april till i get new plugs fitted and get ecu read? problem dissapers after 5 mins of driving gently.

stew

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

I wonder how many main dealers prime and fill the oil filter? I know mine doesn't disconnect the crank sensor. I woudn't worry.
Your prolem sounds plug related to me.What plugs are you using?

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

I gave a note to the service manager asking the mechanic to ensure the filter was pre-filled and to disconnect the crank sensor and crank the engine to build pressure before starting my 03 STi at its yearly service. Little did the mechanic know that I could see him working on the car from where I was in the reception! I saw him pour oil into the filter a couple of times (it needs at least 3 fills to allow for soakage) but no way did he disconnect the sensor. I would very much doubt if any do.
I often wonder what the mortality rate would be if the filter was mounted upright and the oil gradually drained back (it shouldn't due to the filter one way rubber flap valve, but in practice it does) and most cold starts included a virtually empty filter? A number of makes have this with little problem!
JohnD

PS The hanbook makes no mention at all of pre-filling the filter when re-newing.

axgt_bwaii

iTrader: (6)

not sure what plugs i have. im booked in with john in hull "colby" next sat for some ngk plugs. will update when they have been fitted. the car seriously does drive like a kangaroo though untill its fully warm.

stew

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

[QUOTE=JohnD] but no way did he disconnect the sensor. I would very much doubt if any do.

John, Just curious -and for the benefit of others that don't know- would there be any obvious signs/sounds etc.. that the dealer had disconnected the crank sensor and was turning the engine over to make sure there was oil in the pump? What do we look for when observing them?

Forgive my technical ignorance.

Regards,

Ns04

Andy.F

NS04

The engine will just keep turning on the starter motor as long as he holds the key over, it will not actually run until he reconnects the sensor.


Stew

Sounds like your Lambda sensor needs replaced.

Andy

scoobydood

My UK Turbo with ScoobyECU (1.1bar) has just hit 115k - all original bits. No problems.
My mechanics UK Turbo has done over 200k and he just found some metal bits in the sump so probably due for a rebuild.... But 200k (and he thrashes it). The UK cars have an excellent reliability record methinks.

axgt_bwaii

iTrader: (6)

ANDY.F i had a m8 do the ecu read. it came up with lambda sensor and throttle sensor. cars in the garage on sat so they will have a proper look then. am i looking at a big bill or should i get parts 2nd hand?

stew

Tim W

iTrader: (1)

It wouldn't be wise to use a second hand Lambda sensor, a new one costs between 60 and 100 quid depending on the source, and don't buy a cheap pattern one, buy either a genuine Subaru sensor or a Bosch LSM11. Not so sure about the throttle sensor, never had to replace one...

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I've recently purchased a standard Impreza MY99, so I have been reading this thread with a lot of interest. I have a couple of questions if people are prepared to entertain them

The bonnet scoop issue that was mentioned is worrying me. I do 85% of my mileage very close to 3 figures, with the odd WOT moments well into 3 figures. I'd never encountered a problem doing this with my little 106Gti. Should I be doing some sort of mod to my scoop?

I think I encountered some fuel probs when my tank was low. I nailed it out of a roundabout, and at about 5K the engine lost all power, and then it all came good again a few seconds later. Was this what you call fuel SURGE (I would have called it fuel starvation...)

I've had a chat with the people at Jon Pye motors in Co Durham (they do a lot of work on Subarus and also rally cars) and they say that a knocklink is not necessary unless I start to do some tuning. They also said that the MAF sensor is not an issue on the MY99 as you can always tell when they are failing. Does anyone know anything of Jon Pye Motors (or Tristan Pye) as to their reputation?

Tim W

iTrader: (1)

The danger with sustained high speed cruise (over the 3 figure threshold) is that you can suffer from pressure build up in the scoop area that actually prevents sufficient cool air passing through the intercooler, which then starts to warm up, and then causes detination.

You could fit an aftermarket taller scoop and an intercooler tilt kit (a few spacers on the IC mounting brackets) to force more air through the intercooler and angle it more into the air stream, although this can affect the aerodynamic drag...FWIW my car although fitted with a FMIC still has a scooped bonnet, I unfortunately had my original scoop stolen and replaced it with a taller Sti 7 style scoop which was about 30mm higher than the original. This happened between TOTB 1 and 2, at TOTB 1 my top speed over the 1.25 mile straight was 166.6 mph (a lot of mods went into the car to do this) at TOTB 2 and Scoobyshootout, with the only external changes being this taller scoop and a smaller mini scoop over the airbox, my top speed over the same distance had dropped to 155mph!

What your descibing regarding the power loss coming off a roundabout on WOT with a low tank; is classic fuel surge (starvation), basically the fuel sloshed to one side of the saddle tank, the in tank pump pick up gulps in a bit of air, the ecu detects a lack of fuel to the engine and cuts power. It's quite unnerving and feels like you've suddenly jumped on the brakes We've all been there and there are ways to eliminate the problem, like fitting a surge tank and secondary pump in the engine bay if your particularly troubled...but that's really only neccessary if you plan to run a lot on low fuel, the easier mod is don't rag it out of roundabouts with less than a 1/4 tank of fuel

If you know what to look for, spotting a failing MAF isn't that difficult, it's almost worth considering them as a service item like the spark plugs and replacing it say every 30k miles on the MY99 on cars. A Knocklink isn't essential, but it is a useful early warning device particularly if your running at high speed cruise and potentially could be suffering from heat soak and then det or a poor batch of fuel.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for your input Tim.

TBH I'm not that bothered about any of the above issues, other than their impact on my engine life I have very limited understanding of car mechanics, so I do not know how the car is meant to compensate for the issues described above.

The weather in this country changes from being very hot (occasionally) to being flippin cold. This will obviously impact the charge temps, and therefore the amount of fuel that the engine can burn. I would have though that the engine is somehow meant to work this out, and then compensate accordingly.

This is where I start to get confused, as if the engine can compensate for different weather conditions, why can it not compensate for a poorly designed bonnect scoop when at high speed? On a standard car, should I curtail my activities to below 110 (ish), or is it safe to use the rest of the car's performance ?

I run the car on Optimax, and am going to fit a full decat exhaust. As soon as this is done (a few months time) I will have the car remapped. I take it the remap will take into account heatsoak and bonnect scoop issues so I should not have too many worries?

You can tell I am getting worried, I do not have a lot of cash and cannot afford a rebuild. I can afford to look after the car properly, but have previously being used to be able to just nail my previous cars as soon as I had warmed them up. I do have mechanicaly sympathy, but I also do use a car to its full potential quite often without thrashing its nuts off.

One thing is for sure, a knocklink is on its way Group buy anyone??

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

[QUOTE=New_scooby_04]The most obvious sign would be a LOT of churning on the starter before pressure starts to build. Mine took about four attempts of about five seconds each before the oil pressure gauge moved (and light went out) I then gave it another go to build pressure to about 40psi.
When I did this procedure on the STi, after re-connecting the sensor and starting the engine, the check engine light stayed on, which I can check the fault code and clear via the PSI3 unit I have. A Subaru mech. would have the procedure for clearing this.
JohnD

nzkenny

Our sons 95 sti (ex Japan) now has 110,000 km (bought at83,000km) and has had the living daylights thrashed out of it ever since. All that has been done is regular service , 1 leaky front strut replaced ,and cam belt at 100,000km .We always use 96 octane and fully synthetic oils .Our 99 sti hatch was traded for a 03 sti when it had done 102,000km and was checked by the subaru dealer as 100% mechanicly.Never had a fault with it (cam belt also at 100.000km

gazman

To throw another question in.

What about the non turbo Sport engine?

Has anybody come across many failures on these.

I have standard engine with just a TSL Firestorm backbox

scoobydood

I am not sure sustained high speed cruising is a problem on the motorway unless there is a lot of on/off boost surely? @ 100mph cruising you won't even be on boost at all and tapping off the throttle all the time?

RRH

there have been a lot of failures due to high speed running- as in 'high' speed, not 100mph cruise, and not in the UK

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

ah, so no 140 mph autobahn blasts then

RRH

not a good plan, certainly not for a prolonged period

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

I take it we are talking classics with TMICs? Are things any different for the newage cars, or do they both need FMICs to cope with prolonged high speeds?

Ooh, I forgot to ask, are the failures due to det? If so, then will a knocklink tell you when you have pushed it for too long?

scoobydood

Yep k/l should show you the det - most likely caused by too high temps when sustained high speed cruising.

And don't forget - you could one day fill up on that bad tank of gas which causes det. Melted a piston on my brothers Audi 1.8T motor during a high speed motorway run after filling up @ a BP station. If he had a knocklink chances are he would have seen it before it was too late.

Luminous

iTrader: (3)

Gotcha, one knocklink going to be fitted then At least I now know what I need to do to keep my engine safe. Maybe one day I can afford to convert to an Evo (dons fire suit)

scoobydood

I work with an ex Evo owner... He had an Evo 6 RS Sprint (lightweight 330bhp) and he said never again. Although the thing was mint - and less than 30k on the clock when he finally sold it, it cost him a fortune in maintenance. Replaced loads of stuff in the 2 years that he had it.

Now not trying to cause a fight here as I like Evos a lot - and may even buy one - but when there are as many of them on the road as there are Impreza's - we will really start to hear about problems too. There is simply no comparison at the moment with regards to numbers. Also I have noticed that Impreza's coming in to the country more recently seem to have much higher mileages than before - probably just due to the sheer number of imports and the lower prices they are fetching. In comparison look at the Evo's coming in and they still have very low mileages - cream of the crop still perhaps? But that will change as they become more and more popular.