ian_sadler

My Terzo has just been diagnosed as a slapper.

The Subaru 2nd hand warrenty ran out in Jan and I topped it up with the Subaru but not Subaru UK???? warranty. They said as the slap will not damage the car they will not replace the piston. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

If the engine expoldes in six months then fine but they wont change anything untill then.

Will the slap dammage the engine or not ?

TIA

Ian
Terzo 33

imatrukahs

Nowt wrong with a slapper mate...

Does it do it only from cold?If so my cossie does it,and dont do know harm unless you thrash from cold...

dosenöffner

If it does it from cold for a few minutes then drain your oil (use a cleaner) and replace. More likely to be a miss-diagnosed hydraulic lifter blockage.

Try revving high from cold for a second when driving and see if it goes away quicker.

If it is slap you will be getting uneven wear on your cylinders. Being a pancake engine you should see a hint of blue smoke when you start up each morning from the oil which has snuck past the rings (after time). If piston slap was OK it would be designed in.

scoobycrazy

nothing is wrong with pistonslap just watch the oil out.make sure you top it up regurarly

paul clarke

My 98/S turbo 44k has just been diagnosed with piston slap.To say i was gutted was an understatement and i was told that my approverd warranty would not cover the repairs as this condition was not deemed detrimential to the engine.But Triangle of Chesterfield are doing the repairs free of charge as a good will gesture as Suburu recognise that there is a problem with this model.My car uses no oil just sounds like a bag of spanners for a minute or two in the morning!Iwas told that the mod consists of a change of piston only the block is not changed.

johnfelstead

If it wasnt a problem why would IM (Subaru UK) spend hundreds of thousands on replacement short motors on Impreza Turbo's and Replacement pistons on the N/A engines?

Piston slap will wear your bores. If you are not covered under waranty you need to ask the question, will i be able to sell this car with slap? Is it going to cost me more long term to just leave it alone?

IM replaced the entire bottom end on the Turbo's yet only the piston on the N/A engines. Why did they do that?

Piston slap is caused by the piston distorting due to overheating. It was especially prevalent on the MY97/98 model and usually started to show around the 8,000 mile mark on the N/A engines and 12,000 on the turbo if my memory serves me corectly.

Personally, i would get the piston swapped out before you damage the delicate (relatively) lining in the bore and start to make it oval, once that happens the expense starts to rise. You are going to lose thousands on the value at resale if you are selling it to someone who knows the cars and makes sure you show it from stone cold. If i woas stripping a turbo engine i would change all 4 pistons too, as pete says, the main cost is labour.

ian_sadler

Paul,

How long have you had your MY98 and did you buy it from Triangle?

Ta

Ian

markd

hi ian.ring im group say the warrenty has only just run out. they know it is a common prob they might agree to repair it.i have a terzo mine was done about a year ago, my 3 year warrenty run out last may i have got the extended sabaru 1. i had a problem with clutch judder about 3/4 months ago im agreed to change flywheel & clutch as a good will gesture as it was overlooked when slap was done. worth a call i think..there no.01215222000....mark

ian_sadler

TY Mark

Ian

paul clarke

Ian,i've e mailed you(i hope because i'm crap with computers!)

ian_sadler

Thanks Paul,

Got it.

Ian

scoobysnacks

I've got a MY98 WRX with piston slap and I'm in the same kind of situation as you with no warranty to cover it. I asked on this board how much it would cost to replace the piston responsible and Pete Croney from Scoobysport said it would be about £600 because of the labour involved - it could even cost more if there's damage to the bore. I've also seen other threads about this on the board and have searched the Internet and my understanding of the whole situation is that it's something you should get fixed if it's free, but not pay silly money for. The life of the engine may be reduced by about 10% ie could need a rebuild at 135 instead of 150 k (for example), but that's all. My car has had the slap for at least a 20k (now on about 58k) and does not burn any oil (so you can notice) between services. A mechanic I spoke to said 'you'd be mad to pay for it to be fixed' - based on his estimation of about a grand. I've also never heard of an engine go bang because of it. Now someone may come on here and convince me otherwise but until then I'll save my money and enjoy my scoob as it is. One other thing - apparently all engines (or nearly all) have a degree of piston slap when cold because of the fundametals of their design...

[Edited by scoobysnacks - 3/6/2002 6:01:12 PM]