BenScoobWannabe

I will be buying a UK Impreza Turbo in a month or so but am scared about all this talk about engines with piston slap. Will the engine only be replaced if the car is under manufacturers warranty or will they do it to any car as long as it hasnt covered starship mileage?
Are there any good non Subaru warranties that would cover this as I wont be buying a car from a main dealer.

Thanks
Ben

BenScoobWannabe

Anyone???

BuRR

I'd just make sure the car you're gonna buy has a full SUBARU DEALER service history, and is still under warranty.

chrisp

The main engines which seem to be affected were the phase one UK spec engines ie upto and including MY98. The MY98 seems to have had the most replacements from what I have read on here. Unfortunately an MY98 would be out of warranty (unless an extended warranty has been purchased). Originally a short engine was replaced but I think in some cases just the affected piston was replaced. Piston slap was due to the piston being slightly wrong for the bore hence the rattling until the engine had warmed an everything had expanded. It is not suppose to affect engine life just a little be annoying when the engine is cold, dont know how true that is though.

Would have thought you should be able to check whether it has been corrected on a car by asking a dealer to check with Subaru UK (as long as you have the reg and chassis number).

There is a small section about piston slap in the FAQ on the sidc.co.uk site.

Hope this helps

Chris

[Edited by chrisp - 1/19/2002 12:50:10 PM]

DJB

I currently have a MY98 and have had the piston slap problem fixed (one piston replaced under warranty about a year ago). The problem seems to affect late MY97 and MY98 most. I only had it fixed because I knew that I could get it done free of charge - it did not affect performance and only occurred on cold start up and always disappeared after 5 minutes. Piston slap, as stated above, is caused by slight free-play between the piston and the bore, allowing the piston to judder slightly from side to side. I understand that piston slap is by no means unique to Subaru engines and is almost regarded as a standard feature of some engines (which have a normal life span).

I would not get too worried about this problem since I doubt that even if you ended up with a car with piston slap, it would cause any trouble. Engine failures because of piston slap are almost certainly rare. I get the impression from reading hundreds of posts over the years that MY97s, MY98s and possibly also MY99s are possibly the best of the pre-facelift turbos. There are alot of reports of dissatisfied owners of MY00 who have noticed performance short of their expectations.

D.

BenScoobWannabe

thanks, thats put my mind at rest

ben

WREXY

I hate to say this, but it looks like the phase 2 engines may also be prone to piston slap. Read on.

http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/threa...threadid=65521

Wrexy.

WREXY

Although I do tend to agree with D, above, about the effects of piston slap being minimal.

Cheers,

Wrexy.