Need a bit of advice.
I have a classic turbo (uk car) on a 99/S.
While pulling into the carpark at work yesterday i noticed the check engine light came on briefly then went out after about 10 seconds. My journey to work is around 13 miles mostly A road so fairly constant speed.
I contacted my local dealer and took the car in. They performed a diagnostic and told me the knock sensor had put out an error code, they had reset the ecu and i should go away and come back to have the sensor replaced if it happens again.
Well i drive home and as i turned into my road the check engine light came on for about 5 seconds then went out again.
Took the car back and im now told that the engineers think its nothing to do with the sensor and they can hear a slight knock which will require them to strip the engine to check confirm the problem (5 hours labour and a bill for £350 even if they find nothing! )
My concern is that i'm being had or that the engineers dont have a clue what they're on about (vague description of a problem in my opinion). The car runs like a dream and i can here no strange knocking and the car certainly isnt down on power! and until the check engine light came on i wouldnt have had cause to take the car in to be checked.

What the hell should i do?

 

got a recomended independant mechanic near you mate?

 

dont know of any that i would trust. before the scooby i had a ford under warranty so always got it done at the dealer.
im in basildon in essex if you have any suggestions?

 

Scoobytek is in basildon i believe or very near

 

just did a search for the website and says they've ceased trading!

anyone got any other ideas? anyone had the same/similar problem?
the car is booked in at the dealers on friday so need to decide what im doing before then

 

call api or andy F
or another well known subaru tuner

u will find out they will kow more about your car than subaru do......and they are not money grabbers like subaru!!!!!!!!!!!!

also i dont know what they would find in 5 hours, i would have thought it would take a lot longer than that.... but once they have your engine in bits they basicly have a a blank chech from you dont they!!!!!!

 

For those interested i took the car to the dealership and asked to speak to the engineer who explained he thinks its piston slap and number 4 is probably on the way out. His advise was that i should monitor the noise (which i still cant hear) and if it gets worse to bring it in but either way it will need a new short block if the piston is ****ed at a cost of £3000 + labour when it eventually goes!

i took the car straight to Xtreme Scoobies and the very helpful guys there diagnosed the noise as the cam belt tensioner (use of a long screwdriver applied to the block and i can now hear the noise!)
so im now over the moon that there is actually nothing wrong and have the car booked in at XS for a Hayward and Scott exhaust and new panel filter
i also enquired how much for them to rebuild the engine with uprated parts and have been quoted £2800 for a strong 320-350 bhp! I know where im taking my car from now on!

 

"A strip down" seems to be Subaru's answer to everything..

Customer: "Excuse me my front offside indicator isnt working.."
Subaru Monkey: "Ahh thats very serious sir, we'll have to strip down the engine and inspect the bores for that one"..