I bought my 96 Impreza WRX STI about a week and a half ago and it's been running fine since i bought it, i went on the motorway for the first time tonight and as soon as i got off the motorway the engine started making a tapping noise but only when i slightly touch the accelerator then if i rev it harder the tapping stops so i took it home incase of it going worse. Does anyone know what it could be or has anyone experienced this before..? I had a look under the bonnet and when i rev it slightly i can hear the tapping from the top of the engine somewhere.

 

u got plenty of oil in it? plus when was it last changed and what grade i.e, 5w30, 10w40?

dont want to sound harsh but injectors can sometimes get tappy?? can anyone else shed some light on this?

also does ur car tap slighly when you start it in the morning from cold and when it warms up the sound goes away?

 

Boost Solenoid.

Rev it slightly from the engine and listen by the drivers side suspension turret. If that is what it is you can adjust it.

 

I don't know what oil was last put in the car but it doesn't really tap when first started cold. The oil is getting changed soon, what's the best oil to run it on?
I'll have another look under the bonnet today and see if it's the solenoid.

 

If it is the boost solenoid, how hard are they to adjust?

 

What he said!

Same thing just happend with my car 3 days ago. Went to the garage and they thought it was the tapits at first but then found out it was the injectors. Get a long screwdriver and touch your injectors with it... Put your ear to it and you should be able to hear if thats the prob right away, other wise it could be your tapits and the well...

It could go away but at some point willl need fixing what means engin out

 

its not an engine out job to adjust them if they are noisy,its fiddly but can be done in situ,there is a guide on here somewhere someone did for it

 

Mine makes a tapping/clicking when the revs are dropping through 1500rpm, could this be the same thing?

 

I topped up with oil today and it still hasn't gone away, the noise is not clicking its like a loud tapping noise as if something is hitting something else and it only does it when i rev the engine 1500-2500rpm. I don't really know what to do as i don't know any garages near me that will even touch a subaru cause most of them deal with your everday general cars. I'm in Manchester near middleton if anyone knows a place i can go or if anyone off here fancies taking a look if they live local?

 

is the noise coming from the top right hand side as if your facing the car ???

 

I'm not too sure it's hard pin pointing it but it sounds like its coming from the centre top of the engine but when i'm driving it sounds like its coming from the right side of the engine infront of my steering wheel.

 

wouldnt worry about it mate sounds like the injectors they can be pretty noisey just enjoy the car.

 

I found out today at a garage the big end is knackered.

 

That's bum luck mate, whats that gonna cost ?

 

Well someone told me they could replace parts for £450 but is it possible because i keep getting told completly different things like for one it needs a whole engine then two someone tells me it can be repaired...? I'm confused i don't know much about boxer engines.

 

How badly damaged do you think it could be? The car starts and boosts like normal it just makes a tapping noise. As soon as it first started tapping i took it straight home and left it parked up since then i haven't used it.

 

...if the big-end's gone then you're looking at a total engine rebuild or replacement.

Dave at API Impreza is the man to speak to from here on in i'm afraid.
May be worth considering flat-bedding the car direct to his crew if you're prepared to pay sensible money for a proper rebuild and honest advise.

...hard luck mate , but on the plus side you've got a good opportunity to upgrade to a 2.5L to help ease the pain...

 

Would the car still drive with the big end knackered? Just wondering if it hasn't done a lot of damage and is repairable..? TBH I'm really hoping i don't have to pay money which i haven't got to get my car back on the road.

 

...nope, don't even turn it over, you'll be pumping bits of bearing shell all around the oil system...which also feeds your turbo!

I've lost a big-end and know what you're going through.
Have a chat with Dave tomorrow, he's seen it all before and won't give you a sales-pitch, just facts.

 

If i was you i would get a second opinion off someone you can trust. No disrespect to anyone. But people know older impreza are prone to big end failure, and sometimes jump to that conclusion prematurely.
They are also prone to another little known fable, a noisey single lifter, which is far less off a problem.
The way this can normally be differentiated (although not completely), and i would empasise "normally", as it's not a given, but is a good guide, is listen very carefully to when the tapping occurs.

With the engine ticking over in neutral gently raise the revs, when you first hear the noise, hold the revs at that particular point. If the noise stays constant and is quite rapid in it's sucsession. You will more than likely have a big end bearing problem.
If it's a lifter on the other hand, there will be no pre determined time in the rev range when it happens. In fact it can come and go even holding at a particular rpm. I've known a few upto now that will sit ticking over, nice and quiet and then from nowhere, the loud ticking begins, then 20 seconds or so later, it dissapears again without trace, and this is without touching the throttle or anything.
The only difference in actual sound i could mention, is that big ends sound sort of like a grrrrrrrrrrrrr as it begins and also makes you cringe! Where as a lifter sounds much more of a very loud TICK TICK TICK.

Good luck on you're diagnosis.

 

This has all the hallmarks of a big end failure - tough luck mate.

As an aside the oil pump supplies oil all around the engine at a rate of 9 gallons a minute. So for every minute the engine has run since the failure started, the oil has carried debris around it 9 times.

As a result there is crap everywhere and there is no 5 minute fix if you want it done and to last.

Call me for a no obligation chat if you wish, resist the temptation to fix it cheap, it won't work.

Good luck - no matter what, David APi

 

mine makes a ticking noise,seems more from the passenger side,had 3 folk look and had 3 different diagnosis,piston slap,tappets/lifter and big ends,has been making the noise for months been playing the waiting game for something to break but it hasnt got any worse it was subaru dealer that said piston slap on the phone before i took the car to them as it is a 99 model so i dunno who to believe,dont fancy replacing a whole bottom end for the noise to be tappets and still be there.

 

Change your oil,and see if there are any metal flakes in it!
Had same problem with my 99 Sti,first i was told big end failure,then another garage though tappets.
Ended up being a meltted piston catching in its bore.

 

cars been serviced since the noise started that was the garage that said tappets,and i did another oil/filter change in july with silkolene proS oil,have a magnetic sump bolt and it was clean

 

Mine makes a noise just like yours, turnes out to be a metal peg type of thing that is mounted under the Intercooler, it is suposte to have a spring connected to it, i had iot changed, but it came off again, but if you hold it and then rev it, the noise stops, have a look at that mate before you take it anywhere else.
The noise inside comes from behind the clocks as if its inside, but from out side its from the center.

 

is it at the turbo side of the engine bay under the ic

 

ive had noisy tappets for a while now. car was serviced by scoobybits in july, and nothng unusual was reported then. tappets started afterwords, and after a few chats with various people in the know, it was decided when the time comes, just get the bottom end rebuilt, for the sake of dropping the engine out to replace said tappets.

my noise is coming from the passenger side manifold. had a listen with a metal prod and you can hear the tappets are louder one one side than the other. this ruled out a dodgy fuel injector.

previous experience on my old wrx showed a different type of noise, which in turn was knocking and the big ends starting to go.

tappets are more annoying than anything else, the noise sounds all bubbly sometimes. will just do more regular oil changes from now on... see where it goes.

anyone an idea of cost for a bottom end rebuild. ive heard quotes around £1500??

 

Yes, directly under the IC

 

I'd budget for about £3k once they add the VAT on top

 

get a second opinion

a few years back i had a turbo 2000 and it was diagnosed that the bottom end had gone, after getting it all rebuilt i then found out that it was a turbo gasket that had gone after all