lokokkee

Just noticed some oil on the garage floor overnite and traced it to the o/side valve cover. (MY97 Turbo with 45k miles). Is this the normal life expectancy of the said gasket and while I am at the service, should I get the other side replaced too or wait till it actually quit on me?
Thanks.

wightey

hi there,
as you are in KL i guess you have a jap spec version. apparently its a common problem on the jap versions. i have an import and had to get mine replaced too as it was leaking on the drivers side. i hear that its not a common problem on uk models however due to different materials used in the gasket. i got mine replaced with UK ones and all is well.
you should prob get them both done when its in to save on some costs with time etc and also inconvenience. you should investigate if you can buy some UK gaskets and get them mailed over to you (also double check that they will def fit your model)

lokokkee

Wightey, thanks for the advice. The car is an export-specs model, equivalent to the UK Turbo, i.e. 220 ps and unrestricted speedo. I do have the part numbers from the dealer's workshop catalog, do you know of any UK dealers that would do overseas mail order business? As to the correct fit, would different versions of the car have the same part number that could give rise to problem? Even though I am dealing with the franchised main dealer, they don't carry the gasket and have to be back-ordered from Japan, with a 3 week delivery lead time, hence the idea of ordering the parts for the other side as well to save the trouble the next time. Can you imagine a dealer that don't even have brake pads in stock? Managed to get some EBC Green elsewhere at a lower price than the OEM ones.

wightey

hi again,
thats terrible that they dont carry stuff like that as spares, especially since it takes so long for them to order them in.
i would definately suggest replacing both of them.
as for specs, my car is a WRX WRC STi version 1. it arrived from japan with leaking gaskets which the garage changed out for just normal UK model ones which apparently have some different materials in them and for some reason seem to be less susceptible to leaking. i guess you just need to quote your MY year and that should be all you need.obviously they do fit ok as they import lots of cars with this problem and haev to change them out and didnt say they ever had a fitment problem
graham goode sell replacement service parts etc worldwide and are in the UK so they might be worth mailing. www.grahamgoode.com
and will sell UK part gaskets. they also sell WRX version gaskets and STi parts and so may have some other bits that interest you.
it will probably be there alot quicker than 3 weeks also.
let me know how you get on and i will try to think of another way to help if it doesnt work.
neil

lokokkee

Chan, thanks for the suggestion. This is exactly what I did, called the Singapore Subaru dealer, which is a sister company of the local one and found that they have stock. Then called the KL service manager again and asked him to order the parts from Singapore instead, even though the price to me will be higher (two rounds of mark-ups). The parts dept. people have no authority to deviate from the normal Japan supply source and need clearance from higher up. Being a long standing customer, this being my third car from the outfit, helps, but I have to make the call to Singapore myself, the workshop's hands are tied.
I need to check out alternate suppliers as the prices quoted by the dealer are ridiculous. OEM shocks are twice the price of Koni equivalents, except that I may have to find some other outfits to install them for me if they won't entertain third party parts.
For Scoobs, at least there is a official importer, pity the Evos, their owners are on their own as far as after-sale services are concerned, as the local Mitsubishi agent does not handle the model.