R.B.5

My engine was sounding very very strange last night nd this morning upon startup. Loud tapping/knocking noise, please someone tell me its not going to blow up!

I'll ring Main dealer today to get it looked at as its still under warranty. Lets hope they recognise the fault and sort it. Many of my other cars had problems and the dealers would say "we cant find anything wrong", dont think they could be bothered!

My lovely RB5...

R.B.5

no replies?? Someone must of had the same problem at one stage!

Car is being recovered to CVC, i'm panicing now.

HELLOM8

What year is it on RB?.
I think if you titled your thread "I whipped a Punto" or something simular you might have got some replys.
Cheers.
Ian.

RB5320

I hope it is nothing serious. Best of luck.

R.B.5

Its a MY99. Only year they made the RB5. I'm really worried about it now. Its gone to Cardiff now on the back of a transporter. Seemed to quiten down after it had warmed up a bit. Cleaned the engine bay up a little before it went, i feel like i've neglected it now

I really hope that it doesn't work out to be something serious. Sounds like the valves, like a loud knocking noise directly after it wa started followed by a tapping noise that appears mainly around 2500rpm and upward. The oil was a little low but not that low. It's been burning lots so i've kept it topped up!

R.B.5

Someone please tell me that its gonna be ok.

P20SPD

iTrader: (1)

How stable was the engine, ie was it rocking violently in the engine bay, eg unbalanced?

Worried about the burning oil!

How much you been putting in and how often?

Brun

It's alright mate If it is knacked, it will cost a mint, but will be worth every penny to repair.
Look on the bright side, you did the right thing. I'm sure there will be a few peeps around here who would have taken their cars for a thrash to rectify the problem.
Best of luck and keep us posted.

R.B.5

No rocking, had hood up and was watching it. The burning oil was there months ago. Not long after i bought the car i checked the oil and it was v low, seemed strange as they said it had been serviced @ 39k. So i bought some more magnatex and then whacked it in. Had another sevice then @ 45k which included the cam belt etc and its on 55k now. Checked oil week before last i think, maybe before that and it needed toping up again. Used the whole 4.5l tub. Im stressed eric now, no good to anyone in work as all i think about is me lovely RB5

Its under warranty so its covered afaik, but what im worried about is after hearing the noises and getting stressed about it, will the garage just turn around and say its ok its not doing it anymore etc etc, and not look into it fully.

P20SPD im worried too m8 and think that the piston ring might have gone! It's not pinking or smoking though so i dont know. I'm not much of a techy when it comes to engines, know enough to get buy if u see what i mean!

HELLOM8

Burning that much oil isn't too good. Don't be to worried about the dealer fobbing you off, you need to be firm, if your unhappy with the noise and it is burning oil then they have to repair the fault, make sure they know all the facts.
Don't let the dealer put you off, if you don't moan then they thing all is ok. They'll want to fix a fault pretty quickly if you’re constantly bending their ear.
Cheers.
Ian.

scrappydoo

Whats all this then? Hey it will be fine mate and worrying about it isnt going to help in the slightest. If needs be get a second opinion just to put your mind at rest. Besides it is covered under warrenty so take a chill pill. If you need anything mate, mail me, k?

Let me/us know whats happening with it asap. I dont like to see this type of thing happen to our babies.

Take care
scrappy

FLAT ERIC

iTrader: (1)

I do hope you didn't mean what you said about using a WHOLE 4.5l tub to top up.

4.5 litres is the best part of a gallon in old money.You are talking more "oil change" than "top up".

I was billed for 5 litres on my last service.Which means you would only have had about 1/2 litre to lube the whirring bits.

Now that would make it rattle a bit.

Mark UK300

dosenöffner

Change the oil. Probably a sticking hydraulic lifter. If it goes away when warmer, ie: oil thinner. Sounds like what I had and it was cured with an oil change. Colder weather will highlight the point.

R.B.5

I dont know, i just drive it lol!

I thought the oil would be ok if it had recently been serviced, i put oil in it as there was little on the dipstick! Surely that much oil shouldn't be burned! I drive it hard sometimes but i mean come on isn't that what they are built for??

JohnS

iTrader: (1)

If there was some oil registering on the dipstick, then adding 4.5 litres (the full capacity of the engine and filter!), would have seriously had far too much oil in there.

On a level surface, the oil level should ideally be about midway between the two notches/holes on the dipstick when the engine is cold.

If the car had been burning a lot of oil, then to use 4.5 litres in a few thousand miles, would have had clouds of black smoke coming from the exhaust almost every time you accelerated hard., and chances are the back of you car would have been regularly coated with a black soot.

I'm hoping that the noises are simply from overfilling with oil, and once drained off, there will be no lasting damage to the car.

John

R.B.5

But the engine has had little oil in it since i bought it. Even when topping up it doesn't last that long. A few months. Like i had it serviced a few months ago, 3 i think and new oil + filer and usual stuff plus cam belt etc was done then so surely when i checked the oil 2/3weeks ago it should have been ok. It was hardly registering and has done this the last few services! What is wrong with my car!!!!

nom

Something to note - the dipstick actually lies virtually flat in the sump - the difference between the top & the bottom is, I'd say, easily less than half a litre. So if you're going by that measurement, it's actually not a lot. Having said that, I've never noticed any loss of oil at all (MY00, but '99 car) - except on cold mornings when the level appears lower (that's how touchy the dipstick is!)

Nasty noises (diesel/helicopter-like) when cold can be 'normal', especially in cold weather (can be 'fixed'/covered up with a different oil), although I think really only on the 97-98 cars. But when hot, not so good... but I would have no idea what it could be! Bar something nasty . But if it was still driving on it OK, then it shouldn't be seriously expensive. Hopefully...

Pavlo

sounds like it's fooked.

sorry

paul

dosenöffner

Is it milky inside the oil cap? The oil has to be going somewhere if you are using it.

Using that much oil you would surely notice the Bond effect smoke screen out the back as fitted to many RS Escorts these days.

R.B.5

Nope no clouds of black smoke or any other colour smoke out the back..Just been burned in the engine i guess. I do drive the car hard 50% of the time so yes i would imagine that it would use oil, but surely not 4.5l of the stuff. Thats like just over a Gallon aint it?

*sigh*

Subaru say that it is over the recommended service interval and that if he was picky about it he could make me pay for all warranty involving the engine problem its developed recently. Needless to say im not impressed at all. Its all hunky dory when one is spending muhony with them but then when something goes wrong, excuses after excuses in a funny sort of manner. My gearbox has also been shot since i purchased the car and is now going to get done. I purchased the car in april, its been ages. 1st gear was messed up, now fourth too. Reverse sounds like its got a cat screaming inside the gearbox, and there we have it. Not a very happy Subaru customer.

I had a BMW M3 Evolution a few years back. Bought it from Bristol Trade Center, not long after i had the car the double VANOS system was sticking, BMW offered to pay £2500 for all the work to be done and who was i to refuse. I didn't even get the car from them lol. Now that is very very good customer service.

DO'B

Sorry to hear about your probs, It sounds like the regular Big end failure from your description. That year of motor has solid lifters and shims if memory serves so the tapping is unlikely to be valve gear related.

If you have a problem or need advice call us at API Engines and we'll talk through the options. 01926 614333 David

Good luck

R.B.5

Thanks mate, need some light at the end of this very dark tunnel at the moment.

I might need an STI engine for the car if it needs replacing so i'll give u a shout if waranty falls through!

Turbo_Steve

Have to say, I have had a big end failure, and this does sound a lot like it. Big Clack clack clack on idle? Engine seems lifeless? I wept when I found out...I was gutted..unemployed at the time and having to foot a £2500 bill for a rebuild.

Looking back...I wish I'd just bought an STi lump and slammed it in there. Oh well.

R.B.5

No news from Subaru or the hire car people yet, but i suppose no news is good news!

motomc1

RB5 WERE ARE YOU IN THE UK

R.B.5

Wales m8! Why?

News today is that after getting a Courtesy car for 48hrs its gone back as my main dealer wont extend the cover. I was well annoyed as you can imagine. Talked to a less than helpful person today and yesterday not mentining any names and or garage names as i dont want them to get bad publicity. I'm not a **** and wont mess people about like that so no names. Anyway i now dont have a car to get back and fourth to work, hopefully i will have tomorrow because i spoke to another person just now and hes got a little bit more power than the last one and also shows a bit of compassion, i think they start work on my car tomorrow. Thank God!

<me prays its ok>