bruceh

I have a 95 WRX Wagon and have had it for two years. Last July it suffered a severe failure on the M5 when two big-end bearing shells disintegrated. This was exactly one day after it had had a 7500 mile service at a Subaru main dealer (co-incidence?? - they insist it is, of course).

Anyway, it had two new con-rods, new crankshaft and new bearings. Cost over 3 grand. Then a week later it had to go back in because of noisy valve lifters. Engine out again, nearly another grand spent.

Bad enough, huh? But no. Now, 5 months and 3000 miles after getting it back, another big-end bearing has gone! It's now back at the same main dealer. The shell hasn't broken up this time but it is badly worn, on one of the old conrods they didn't replace. Now they tell me that the crankshaft and conrod are worn out of tolerance and have to be replaced.

Oil, water, etc were all fine before both of these failures and it had been regularly maintained by the same main dealer. The car is standard apart from a Ramair filter and SS backbox.

Now, they want me to pay again for another rebuild. The only answer they can come up with as to why this has happened is that old chestnut "it wasn't designed to run on our lower octane fuel". They reckon the lower octane (I run it on Super when I can get it and on Ordinary other times - I guess about 50/50) causes over-detonation which puts extra stress on the big-ends and makes the engine (oil, etc) run hotter.

Now I'm not techy enough to be able to either agree or disagree with them about this. Anybody out there got any opinions?

Has this happened to anyone else on here?

Are they right in saying that I should pay for all the repairs again or should this fall under the 12 month/12,000 mile warranty they offer on engine work? Or some compromise?

Should it be repaired or should I try to source a new short engine? I believe Graham Goode can get them. Any idea on costs?

Any help greatly appreciated folks. Thanks.

Moz

If your interested in getting an engine there is a 99 spec(i think) full engine with
ancillaries for sale in motoring news this week for £1400.

MorayMackenzie

Bruce, You have mail.

bruceh

Moz,

Thanks for that. I'll go to the paper shop and get one.

Stef,

Well, they SAY they have, and they've charged me as if they have, but who the f**k knows if they really have? Or if they accidentally managed to run the engine after draining out the oil (first failure was 1 day after a service, remember). When I suggested this, I was told that there was "no POSSIBLE way" that this could happen.

Yeah, and I was born yesterday and never make any mistakes either.

Sorry, but I'm one very p**s**d-off punter. But stuck in a Catch 22 situation where the same garage has to have first chance to look at the second failure to see if it will fit in to their work-done warranty system. Now the bits are all over the bench top and who's to say which bearing shells went into which big-end and which conrod went into which cylinder?

There's definitely something rotten in the state of Denmark!

Darren Thompson

Bruce ring Grade A in Derbyshire he has even got a P1 motor in there, they break Scooby for a living 01663 744114 ask for Andy.

Darren.

Stef

A Subaru main dealer is servicing your WRX? Tut tut....

Stef.

waynelivesey

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by bruceh:
<B>I have a 95 WRX Wagon and have had it for two years. Last July it suffered a severe failure on the M5 when two big-end bearing shells disintegrated. This was exactly one day after it had had a 7500 mile service at a Subaru main dealer (co-incidence?? - they insist it is, of course).

Anyway, it had two new con-rods, new crankshaft and new bearings. Cost over 3 grand. Then a week later it had to go back in because of noisy valve lifters. Engine out again, nearly another grand spent.

Bad enough, huh? But no. Now, 5 months and 3000 miles after getting it back, another big-end bearing has gone! It's now back at the same main dealer. The shell hasn't broken up this time but it is badly worn, on one of the old conrods they didn't replace. Now they tell me that the crankshaft and conrod are worn out of tolerance and have to be replaced.

Oil, water, etc were all fine before both of these failures and it had been regularly maintained by the same main dealer. The car is standard apart from a Ramair filter and SS backbox.

Now, they want me to pay again for another rebuild. The only answer they can come up with as to why this has happened is that old chestnut "it wasn't designed to run on our lower octane fuel". They reckon the lower octane (I run it on Super when I can get it and on Ordinary other times - I guess about 50/50) causes over-detonation which puts extra stress on the big-ends and makes the engine (oil, etc) run hotter.

Now I'm not techy enough to be able to either agree or disagree with them about this. Anybody out there got any opinions?

Has this happened to anyone else on here?

Are they right in saying that I should pay for all the repairs again or should this fall under the 12 month/12,000 mile warranty they offer on engine work? Or some compromise?

Should it be repaired or should I try to source a new short engine? I believe Graham Goode can get them. Any idea on costs?

Any help greatly appreciated folks. Thanks.[/quote]
Sounds like you have a dodgy oil pump!?
This would explain all your engine failures.

bruceh

Well, finally sorted out a deal. Thanks a lot to all who responded, especially a few really helpful direct emails - you know who you are guys

Getting a brand new, warranted UK IM short block in my WRX Total cost, with labour but minus VAT would have been around £3500. I've agreed to make a "contribution" of £2000 (inc. of VAT) and the garage in question will take on the rest.

Not a bad deal, I think, under the circumstances, as the exact cause of the failure is still wide open to argument.

It's nearly (but not quite fully) sort of restored my faith in the garage. But I don't think I'd have got the deal without the help of all you good folks. Just hope I can return the favour to someone else on here some day.

Cheers, and thanks again,

Bruce

NDT

afterthought....

you mentioned that the engine went in for more work with noisy lifters....

I had a bearing failure last year on my 98 STiIV.
Had a rebuild,using Cosworth pistons (by Roger Clark Motorsport)
after the rebuild it was noisy,sounded like excessive valve clearances.....turned out to be piston slap.
RCMS replaced the pistons again (for nothing). - maybe this is what happened before?

Incidentally, they should have replaced oil pump and cooler at the rebuild,just in case there was debris there.

Will a UK short engine be up to the job?
Rods are the same - crank and pistons aren't!