Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Re - earlier thread about engine rebuild.

To recap big end shells have gone as well as the cam shaft I suspect.

Had an oil and oil filter change by a Jap performance car specialist on Dec 5th. They said they put v good synthetic oil in it.

Seems a bit suspect that the big end has gone only a few weeks later.

Did they put the right oil in!

Does anyone know if you can you test oil to determine what it is?

Cheers
Steve

RON

I'm sure you can get the oil tested to find out what it is, but try getting someone to admit putting it in there, and then saying that's why the motors gone pearshaped.
Ron

Bob Rawle

From all the info and feed back I have had most cars that lost a big end(s) did so very soon after being serviced, its definately oil related (usually) and the servicing technique and grade used is very very influencial ( ie 98% fail within 800 miles of a service), however under what conditions did it fail? you should be honest with yourself about that. Most people have admitted that theirs failed imediately followiung a fast hard "blat". If oil is not up to scratch then this will lead to film breakdown. No comfort and no justification or exoneration either but these cars are not bullet proof.

hope its sorted soon.

EvilBevel

Steve, we have contact with a guy from Kendall oil who did a lot of (free !) oil sample breakdowns for the Dutch club.

If you are interested, I'll give you his email address. He may want to charge you, but you can trust his outcome (he's not playing games). The least he can tell you is exactly what grade of oil (and possibly brand) was used, what contamination can be found in terms of gasoline, silicon, etc..;

He produced a full report (think of it as a PR action for Kendall) on this, shame it's in Dutch.

H dejong

Hi EvilBevil,

I can also recommend the person from Kendall. We both know him.
He also did a sample check of the oil that was in my Scooby.
I Have a new sample for him to check.

I was very satisfied with the report and the service is good.

With regards,

Hans

fivepint

Bob, can u tell me what oil u reccomend please? Ive been reading ur findings on engine failures with great interest and would value ur opinion on this

Cheers Fergal

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Thanks for all your replies

Ron.
I do blat it sometimes. However only when the engine is very warm.
The failure happened after a motorway run at a steady 80mph.

The big question is?
If I get the oil tested and it is found to poor. Have I any come back against the garage? It may be difficult to prove that they are to blame and to get the money out of them.

My feeling is that I have to put it down to a bad experience and move on.

What would you do in my postion?

Cheers
Steve

Sigmund

What you should do if you find that they put in non-syntectic oil or something similar is sue them. If you won that'd probably make a few more garages a bit more careful about what they put in diffrent cars.

That is if you can take the pain of it.

TopCat

Steve which oil was it that was used in your scoob? was a OE filter fitted?


Moe

Bob Rawle

I use Motul M300V Competition 15w-50 and it gets change every 1/2 service interval (plus filter), to make sure that this is always in the car I provide my own oil and filter when I don't do the service myself, that way I know what is in it at all times.
It is worth specifying that an OE (Subaru) oil filter is always used, some of the alternatives have been known to have issues with sealing. If you get the oil checked and its found to not be what you specified then you may have a case but did you actually specify anything ? For example if you said do you use synthetic oil and the answer was yes that would not guarentee that the correct grade was used or even the best quality and there would be no come back imho, if you said "I want you to use brand x grade y" and that was found to be not used than that may be different.

An oil test will show up if the oil used was breaking down and carburising, this is bad news for turbo engines. it can sometimes determine what oil was used although this is a grey area in analysis terms. It will certainly show up the difference between full synthetic and semi synthetic for example.

Kevin Groat

Bob,

I've used Castrol 15w 50 motorsport this time and when the engine starts from cold it sounds as if there's a single hydraulic tappet needing oil. Soon disappears after a few seconds - but it's an STi3 and I thought they had solid lifters. I'm probably going back to one of the 10w 40's instead. Any thoughts ?

Kevin.

Bob Rawle

Hi Kevin the Sti 3 does not use hydraulic lifters so the clatter will be something else that needs oil to fill clearances. (hopefully not a bearing). Cams are known to clatter on a lifter before oil gets fed up to it to coat the contact surfaces so it could be that.

robin ledger

do your own oil change (and filter) then you KNOW!!

my99

Dont go in blindly trying to sue the company, only two types of people go to court, very rich (can pay) and poor (cant pay). If your in between your f88ked if you lose, as costs can mount quickly.

Speak with your local trading standards they will guide you, they will probably advise you to get an independant engineers report done on the engine at your expense. They will then advise dependant on the outcome of the report.

Trading standards advise is free, so use it. They are more up to speed on these matters then the legal profession anyway. If you do have to go to court check your household insurance policy as there may be provision for legal costs in it.

If you need any further advice Email me offline.

Cheers
Garry

Steve Whitehorn

iTrader: (13)

Thanks for all the advice so far
Best wishes
Steve

spence7

Hope you get it snorted.

Just to add the string, I use Mobil 1 Motorsport and always sooo smooth and quiet afterwards...v.expensive though

cheers
Alex

HARWOOD

HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM - REBUILT ENGINE AFTER BIG ENDS GONE, REGROUND CAM-SHAFT, NEW SHELLS.
RAN IN FOR ABOUT 500KM, ON MULTIGRADE THEN PUT IN SYNTHETIC PRIOR TO RALLY - ENGINE WENT AGAIN!
DID ANYONE HAVE SIMILAR PROBLEM?
HAVE HEARD THAT AN OIL PRESSURE ACCUMULATOR WOULD HELP (A PISTON TYPE DEVICE WHICH PROVIDES OIL TO THE ENGINE DURING SURGE IN THE SUMP)
ANYONE OUT THERE?

grahamstocker

I change my oil and filter every 6.000 miles and use Mobil 1 motorsport , i'm no machanic but this is such an easy job ! do it yourself for peace of mind. G.

John H

Steve,
The company I work for often sends engine oil away for analysis. If it's any help mail me off-line and tomorrow I'll send you the address of the specialists we use.

Regards,
John

Bob Rawle

Harwood, if you only ran the engine for 312 miles (500km) and then put in fully synthetic the big ends were almost bound to fail again if the car was driven hard.

msp1

I have a company in quaterly to take oil samples from some of our critical drives in work. They only charge £27/sample. I've heard they do engine oil analysis as well. E-mail me direct if I can be of help.

Mike

SMG

Thing with rebuilt engines is they dont get cleaned.Contaminated oil from a bearing gets everywhere turbo,turbo feed pipe,oil filter housing hydrolic tappits cam feeds in cyl heads.Have all these been cleaned?.Heads striped and cleaned? safty clean and air lines dont clean all they do is move the crap about you need a hot detergant wash with a high presure lance.I rebored a block for a main dealer and ground the crank 50 miles later its failed turns out they did not clean it at all and thought the honeing oil it was covered in was a assembly pre lube, apart from the fact it was covered in swalf.Cleaning an engine is the first and most important stage of any build, and the most over looked.Best of luck on your next engine.

SMG

After b/end had gone was ovality and size of rod housing checked
and have rod bolts been changed?.I always use ARP rod bolts and have never had a problem.ARP dont make a bolt for the impreza yet but i ream the bolt hole to 3/8 inch and use a mini cooper s bolt set,but the con rods will need re circling after this.If you want ARP part no let me now.steve.

iain atkins

Due to get my scoob back today/tomorrow after it had a piston replaced under warranty (due to piston slap).

They are also servicing it and i have supplied Motul 15 50. is there going to be a problem with this????

Trouble is they have al;ready finished the piston replacement and changed the oil

Cheers



Iain

Pete Croney

Silkolene's plant in Stoke analyse oil for all sorts of companies. When I went on a tour they had sample oil from an Impreza engine which had been sent in by a warranty company.

I have seen how its done and they can tell exactly which make of oil and which multigrage a jar of black glupe was. And what contaminants it contains.

Contact their technical dept.