I had an engine failure on my Type-R recently (August) even though it had been rebuilt 8k miles ago!
The engine is still under warranty as the paperwork says: ''engine warranty, 10k miles.'' I spoke to the guy that rebuilt it and he said that the warranty is void because I'm a new owner of the car? He said that he told the previous owner that if the car was sold on, the warranty would no longer stand... But there's no mention of this on the paperwork?

Anyway, took the car back to the same bloke and the run down of bits that he reckons have gone are:

-Crank
-Head gaskets (he says water vapour mixing with oil, even though the water levels were perfect and nothing on oil filler cap)
-Exhaust valves
-All 4 pistons (says 2 at first and then said well, all 4)
-Piston ring bearings
-Left hand head
-Big end #4

And he reckons all the above due to a missed gear? I was like WTF? When the engine went on me, I was cruising at around 50-55 MPH, when the exhaust started popping (small pops) and then I heard a bit of metal break up and then ground to a halt. No smoke or any other noises at that point. He reckons I probably missed a gear a while back and this caused a fracture in one of the major parts and then it let go recently?
He later went on to say that it could be down to low oil and possibly too much boost. Oil had been changed every 6 months and I only covered a max of 500 miles in between services. Regularly checked the oil and it was always perfect. It was mapped to 1.4 bar by Bob Rawle.

Does it sound like bullsh!t to you?

He says I need the following parts for the rebuild:

-Left hand head
-Exhaust and inlet valves
-Pistons x4 (I mentioned Omega but he said go for Wossner)
-Con rods x4 (he said go for Mahle)
-Main bearings (he said go for ACL)
-V7 or V9 crank
-Oil pump (which I said I'd like to change)
-Block needs to be rebored

Video of the engine here: Video of Engine Demo - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting

Going by the above, he's made it sound like I've had a major engine failure. Any opinions?

 

i dont know about your problem, but cranking a fcuked engine over is just gonna make it worse

 

Err, I spoke to David at APi and he said it would be fine to do so. Thanks for the awesome advice, though.

 

hmmmm when my big ends was knocking everyone told me not to start or drive the car until it was fixed or it would cause more damage, in your case i would of thought it would be the same.

never mind.

 

who was this garage that did the rebuild?

 

Seems wrong does that, the engine as been rebuilt and naffed in just 8k. Prob cheep repair or cheap parts and or not done right, if nothing is said about the rebuild and swopping owners then take it back to the bloke and tell him to take it back, just say it was bought back cheep.

 

I'll keep that quiet for now.

Not sure the previous owner would buy it back. TBH, he hasn't been very helpful. Told me he had spent £4.5k on the rebuild; so why did it let go so soon? Parts were ordered from RCM. I can post up a pic of the invoice...

 

Anyone?

 

no mate what i'd just get it built else where if your having to pay, just saying new owner shouldn't get him out of it so walk away and get another place to build it if your gonna have to pay anyway.

besideds which not sure if i'd want a place rebuilding an engine for me when it failed within 8k

 

Hmm, it's a difficult one as I paid a lot just to get it to him (from Manchester to Essex). I thought he'd be reasonable seeing as it's still under warranty but he's come back with all those parts that apparently need to be replaced. I think all he's after is the $$$$$$$$$$.

I would prefer to get it rebuilt elsewhere, but the cost of putting the car on a flatbed/trailer is A LOT. Anyone know someone with a flatbed truck/trailer??

 

take out aa cover, i pay £7 a month and they will tow the car to any destination of my choice if car breaks down, just park it at tside of the road and phone aa and say its blown up = free tow home or anywhere u want.

 

Good idea but would mean more labour charges with having to put the block back in and then taken out again. Might be worth a try without the engine in?

 

stick the block in the boot and keep everything out of sight lol, as long as the car rolls fine. if you tell them your engine has blew up while driving they wont look under the bonnet, well they didn't look at mine anyway but they sent out another company to recover mine which they have done everytime i've phoned them!!

always worth a try mate

 

I'd love to be there to see the look on the recovery bloke's head if he were to! LOL

 

The guy obviuosly want nothing to do with it.
It sounds like a sh*t/botch job or the car is running a crazy ecu map and is detting its self to death.
Take it somewhere like api or scoobyclinic and get the job done right. A rebuild from these guys will last. Get the car checked over afterwards for good running (safe map, good maf etc)

 

Sounds a bit late in the day for 2nd opinions when he's got the car in his garage and the engine in tiny bits.
For any form of "qualified judgement" from SN, a LOT of pictures of the broken bits are needed - but I hardly think that he'll give you a new engine FOC because SN says he is wrong.

Just what are "piston ring bearings" and how does over-revving blow a head gasket are my initial thoughts.

With hindsight, buying a car with such a big list of modifications could have done with a rolling road diagnosis session for peace of mind.
PS - for the next build, get rid of that TMIC. It's doing the spec no favours and may have contributed to the failure.

 

That is utter BS Schumacher! If the bottom end has gone, you will need a crank, bearings and maybe a full set of rods depending on how many are damaged.

Ring Chy @ Pennine and he will be happy to collect the car from there and do the work at a very reasonable price with no BS included for free!

Banny

 

Not sure the engine is in bits, he could be making it up? I've asked for photos, but nothing yet from him.
I've owned the car for nearly 3 years now (only covered just under 6k) and had it checked over when I first bought it.

Banny, he says the bottom end and top end is knackered.

 

I find that difficult to believe, A couple of years ago my bottom end and I carried on driving the car for about a week. This included on boost thrashing with the engine rattling like a good un lol (never do this!!) and only the bottom end was faulty, when the engine was stripped the crank, bearings and two rods were gone but as I had another block to go in I was not fussed.

I find it very hard to believe you did that much damage with a gentle cruise, you need to get the car out of there asap, as you are going to get taken for a ride and be out of pocket.

Banny

 

Surely a 10k warranty should be a 10k warranty, irrespective of ownership?!?! The warranty should reside with with the parts and labour not the owner! The only exception I can think of was if the builder had evidence that the appropriate running in hadn't been done or the oil change wasn't carried out etc... after the running in period etc.. But even that would be a bit of a minefield!

I don't like the sounds of this at all mate. I'd be taking the car somewhere else as a precaution.

Ns04

 

Yup, it's hard to believe I did all that damage, that's why I'm after opinions. The reason I took it to him in the first place was cos my dad thought he'd be reasonable seeing as he built it and it's still under warranty. Been a real bad year for me.

 

Agreed. But he keeps turning round and saying about the owner change and how ''these young drivers with their baseball caps facing the other way rag these cars.'' I'm young, but I've never ragged the car.

 

Mate, I really feel for you.

If Bob Rawle mapped it, I seriously doubt it was detting itself to death/overboosting or anything like that. Have you missed any gears? Could there be any truth in that?

Get the car back from this guy. If the engine went within 8k then I certainly wouldn't be taking it back there. If he isn't prepared to at least cover half on the warranty then no point.

If you're in London, try Slowboy (I haven't tried them yet but see nothing but good things), Mocom (who I've used a lot) or API (who I haven't used but David has given me good advice in the past) who are a bit further away.

Good luck!!

 

So basically, his warranty isn't worth the paper its (probably not) printed on! You simply can't exclude yourself from a warranty because you don't like the demographic of the new owner of the car.

I'd be looking at the terms and conditions of the warranty carefully, and if there isn't a specific new owner clause (which I'd question the legality of), I'd be going to trading standards and taking legal advice on claiming the cots of a new build.

In the meantime, you'll need to get the car elsewhere for a second (and impartial) opinion of the damage and probable cause. If they suspect a dodgy build and can provide evidence you'll have a good chance of winning a legal dispute.

It won't be the mapping if Bob took care of that.

Don't lie down on this one mate.

Ns04

 

was there a time scale on the warranty? seeing as you have had it 3 years? Doesnt help I know but that may be why he is trying to get out of it. If one of the heads is mashed I would say its likely a rod has snapped (not tight enough maybe?)

like others have said pics will tell a story

 

Once a big end starts knocking then the crank is wrecked, no amount of any extra cranking is gonna wreck it more, or un-wreck it. The damage is done --new crank time.

David

 

...Especially a Suby's crank - where you MUST ALWAYS FIT REPLACEMENTS and not re-ground ones!, eh Dave

 

.The damage is done --new crank time.

David[/quote]

http://www.gnm6.com/dosyalar/hammerpants1.jpg

STOP: New crank time!......

It's just not as catchy as "Hammer time", David!

 

Do you remember Mark Lamarr right royally winding him up on The Word by playing that
#...ee-er-oh! ee-er-oh! Hammer time!...# sampled jingle over and over?! Classic.

 

Sounds like the message is gettin' through at last.

Glad about that; as my uncle has invested a lot of money in making Subaru cranks

David