dela

Just had the call back from the garage to confirm that the STi has a mild case of piston slap. You can hear it when cold but dissappears when warm.

I'm pretty sure it hasn't always had it, which the garage suggested means that "something" has worn to create it, any may continue to wear.

I'm just not sure what to do next. How safely can I continue to drive on it?
Sadly the warranty from the import agent has expired so I am left to foot the bill myself (gulp).

Any suggestions on the options open to me, and experienced/cost effective people who could carry out any work required.

Many Thanks,
dela (temporarily gutted)

The Zohan

Try a seach on piston slap - there has been shed loads written on this subject

dela

Thanks Paul - did that this morning.

Most of the cases seem to have been with UK cars under warranty, mine is neither.



dela

AlexM

Dela,

There is very little risk associated with you continuing to use your engine as it should be used with slight piston slap.

As the problem goes away when warmed it really isn't too much of an issue... If it troubles you then you could probably replace just the piston in question, but I wouldn't bother if it were my money!.

In the case of the UK cars, No. 4 piston was manufactured with slightly too large a clearence - mine too was silent when new, but the problem had emerged by 7500 miles. I think that it reached a plateau and didn't get any worse after that.

Having said all of that, I had my no.4 piston replaced with another (60 microns bigger) under warranty because I could, and it has eliminated the problem.

Cheers,

Alex


[This message has been edited by AlexM (edited 22 August 2001).]

THOMO

dont panic i was told the same today.he put semi synthetic in and its virtually gone.this was by a person who rallys them ,aviod fully synthetic.theres no point spending loads of dosh repairing it.a piston could go at any time without warning luckily weve had a warning.change the oil every 2000-2500.the choice is yours.

scoobysnacks

Out of interest though. Does anybody know how much it would cost to get the piston causing the slap replaced with the new slightly larger one as supplied by IM to UK Subarus? Also would this piston be ok for all Import WRX's or are their pistons different in some way?

[This message has been edited by scoobysnacks (edited 23 August 2001).]

Racerinlsl

Hello everyone. Over here in the U.S., I've NEVER heard a EJ25 that didn't have a little piston slap in the cold weather. My '99 RS with 45,xxx miles has it pretty bad in the cold. I've taken it to many different service departments and they assure me everything will be okay and that it's just "the nature of the beast". Lukily I have an 80,000 extended warranty, so I'll make it through this winter with coverage in case something happens.

For a while, some dealers were replacing the shortblock or the pistons with new, higher tolerance ones. But now, they tell everyone to go home

Chad