GaryScoobNCBR

hi all,

I have piston slap on 1 of my pistons i believe, its out of warranty so was just wondering how much this would cost to fix.

It goes away when warm but its really annoying when cold.

Should i goto a subaru dealership or just get my normal mechanic to do?

Jamie_B

I'm in a similar situation and have been told that I may aswell get an engine rebuild.

speedy1

I thought this was normal?, just leave it. When it gets noisey when warm panic?

obie_1

i had a 98reg uk scoob 3 years ago which i was told had bin recalled by suabaru and was done foc,if same try subaru uk it may never of bin recalled,think they had problem 97-98 regs with piston slap might be worth a go,bearing in mind they dont offer us long standing customers much

andypugh2000

Let me offer a bit of advice here, piston slap is merely the piston skirting in the bore when cold, when warm it goes away, it is absolutely harmless, it will make absolutely no difference to the performance, oil consumption or reduce the life of your engine, its not broke so dont try and fix it.

More engines have failed through faulty maf sensors and dodgy oil than through piston slap.

People will gladly tell you it needs a rebuild just to be able to take 2k out of your pocket.

Stop listening to the scare mongers and get on with enjoying your car, if it goes bang then pay out 2k but I will bet my bollocks to a barn dance it will go easily as long as any other engine.

AP

(MY98 with piston slap 90,000 miles and stil going very strong)

StickyMicky

my97 here with slap scince i bought it (56000 miles) now just under 90000 miles and still going strong

Matt P

my99 here with slap since I bought it (56500), now on 105500 and still going strong. Slap gets a bit worse each winter tho!

GTB Limited

102k and slapping, has done for last 40k.
Tad noisier in the winter, just takes longer to warn up

Until your oil consumption becomes excessive don't worry.

Mark

flatoutscooby

MY97 had piston slap for 25,000 miles never caused me a problem or ever had to top up oil, just sounds horrible in the morning!

GaryScoobNCBR

ok cheers all for the advice, its a little annoying but i can live with that...just have to buy a louder exhaust to drown it out

Shark Man

Ideally on a scoob, the slap should stop after about 10mins of normal driving. If it keeps going after that, then there is a little more bore to piston clearance than ideal (unless you have aftermarket forged pistons). But still, not much to worry about.

If its doing it whilst hot, then you have a problem, you WILL use oil. If you do have a high oil consumption (i.e you need to top it up between services) Then it will be rebulid time.


I currently have a BMW with very slight piston slap when hot. It uses about 2 litres every 12months. I'm currently contemplating what to do with it. Its already had the engine replaced once (nikasil), but it must have been a very early nikasil case where BMW were'nt aware of the causes and it may of been replaced with an identical nikasil bore engine