I was making progress in my 6 month old WRX on the M20 last Thursday when he started making a dreadful rattling sound which diminished when I slowed.

However I pulled off the motarway at the next junction and called Subaru Assist. They came out to the car and had it recovered to a nearby dealer and provided me with a hire car.

The dealer reckons the big end has gone, and the car will be off the road for a couple of weeks. The remarkable thing is since then the dealer has had another 2 cars come in with the same problem.

Is this a known fault with them or an indication that more are going to suffer in due course?

 

Not joking but how regulary did you check the oil as they do use as bit, Sorry to hear of your trouble.

John

 

Yes it is known fault It usually happens on sti's though. I am suprised a new one went though. A friend of mine was having a play with a classic last night and it blew up in front of him see here

 

Can you tell us the name of the dealer? PM me if you like. Just curious to see if they are following proper oil change procedures.

A few other questions:
How many miles on the car? When was the last time you checked the oil? What type of oil?
Thanks.

 

Mine isn't at its usual dealer, as I had it recovered to the nearest dealer rather than back to mine. Mainly because I couldn't get a hire car until the dealer agreed it wasn't going anywhere, so a 10 min flatbed journey was better for me that a 90 minute flat bed journey.

The car has done 10,750 or so miles, and had its 10,000 mile service 2 weeks ago. I did check the oil between the 1,000 mile service and the 10,000 mile service topping it up with synthetic oil.

As regards the dealers concerned let me know why and I'll think about it! One of the other cars in has only done 4,400 miles apparently! The other one 20,000 but its older.

 

It's seems to be a common trait of them blowing very shortly after oil changes. I have a Subaru tech document telling Dealers to make sure they follow proper procedures during oil changes e.g. pre-filling oil filter, turning engine to establish proper pressure before actually firing it up.

Stefan

 

LOL i brought my dream scooby only to have this very same thing happen

Had service ony 3 year old classic scooby only 32K and 2 days later big ends went

BUT IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SERVICE

Ask for an NEW car

 

ive been told that dealers are using 5/30 magnetec that cannot help matters.

 

Reading this I'm now a little bit worried. I have an MY03 STi and it had it's 10,000 mile service on monday. I check the oil every few days normally. It's an old habit that grew from owning a CTR.

The level is always right on the max mark.

Should I be worried about my big end going???

I had them put Mobil 1 Motorsport 15W50 in at the 10,000 mile service.

 

My Subaru dealership are starting to use BP 5W/40 semi-synthetic, couldnt believe it, I had 'em put Motul 300V in it.

 

My mates 04 plate STI blew up on Friday!! similar thing but noticed when he went round a roundabout the car cut out, he took it back to the dealer who said it was running lean on bank no1 and reset the parameters and off you go small boy.

Two weeks later same thing happened but started making noises resembling an empty biscuit tin full of M10 bolts,nuts and washers.

Still awaiting the results from the dealer.

PS only 4 months old with 6k on the clock!!!!!

Possible big end failure.

 

They are very very sensitive to the oil used - I had an oil change done by a dealer once, who put in their standard semi-synth somethingorother. I was getting an idle oil pressure of ~1.4 bar. With the Motul 300v I usually use, I get ~3.5 bar. Obviously this is just an indicator of the differences in oil quality rather than anything specific, but it shows what difference the oil makes.
I duly changed the oil back to one that was, well, oily, and mysteriously the idle pressure went up, cruise temperature became far more stable... I have no idea why a dealer would put junk in the engine. Presumably they charge the same whether they put in £40 or 40p's worth of oil, so they go for the 40p. After all, Subaru says it's ok ( )

 

As mine is a contract car and will be under warranty for all the time I am responsible for it I am not too fussed.
However it does seem remarkable that they are so prone to blowing the engines.