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-   -   2008-2010 2.5ltr Engine Failures (https://www.scoobynet.com/scoobynet-general-1/828990-2008-2010-2-5ltr-engine-failures.html)

Alan Jeffery 28 March 2011 10:28 AM


Originally Posted by wigsworld (Post 9956485)
Yeah it was interesting to read that, sounds like the problems with the 2.5 come from being badly mapped or modded. I remember speaking to Iain Litchfield and he said the 2.5 is fine for 300 bhp but if you want anymore your better off with the 2.0 jdm.

It's all about the detail! Bear in mind the Yank versions are not the same as what we see in the UK in many areas.
The Hawkeye 2.5's are generally ok, we've tuned plenty with no problems. We've only seen Hatches which are already broken with just one exception.
They were all stock when they first came in, apart from the one which had been slightly modified. The modified one wasn't broken, he just fancied 450 bhp!

Littleted 28 March 2011 12:27 PM

I wonder if any dealers have had the 2011 in yet, Ive got 6k on mine and shes fine I know its early days yet, but i aint seen any posts on google saying so.

which is weird as its same engine, UNLESS Subaru have sneakily changed something I know the Maps diff in some way

elitek 10 April 2011 10:39 AM

just an update that my 08 sti engine has did all the usual as per previous posts,had since new,serviced as per subaru iain grieves falkirk and last service was on 30400 and now sitting at 34000 miles with total loss of oil.Even though it was remapped by andy forrest and new miltek exhaust and forge air intake by litchfields ,dealer still was willing to have it in for servicing,but not willing to advise me of all the issues surrounding the engine...now out of warranty by 3 weeks they wont help me out but still expected me to bring it in to them so they can repair it..

Alan Jeffery 10 April 2011 11:23 AM


Originally Posted by elitek (Post 9980332)
just an update that my 08 sti engine has did all the usual as per previous posts,had since new,serviced as per subaru iain grieves falkirk and last service was on 30400 and now sitting at 34000 miles with total loss of oil.Even though it was remapped by andy forrest and new miltek exhaust and forge air intake by litchfields ,dealer still was willing to have it in for servicing,but not willing to advise me of all the issues surrounding the engine...now out of warranty by 3 weeks they wont help me out but still expected me to bring it in to them so they can repair it..

We've just finished one that was refused a warranty claim by Subaru, although they'd stripped it first, giving it back in boxes. We travelled up country to fetch it and the jigsaw puzzle is all back together nicely now.
Cosworth pistons of course!

Littleted 10 April 2011 02:23 PM

So sad I've jut seen subaru now do 320r for my saloon I've mailed Im asking if that's an option fo me or just new clients they did a free upgrade for the older hatchs

Jut keeps wArrenty in check if Subaru do it

rob84 10 April 2011 05:32 PM


Originally Posted by elitek (Post 9980332)
just an update that my 08 sti engine has did all the usual as per previous posts,had since new,serviced as per subaru iain grieves falkirk and last service was on 30400 and now sitting at 34000 miles with total loss of oil.Even though it was remapped by andy forrest and new miltek exhaust and forge air intake by litchfields ,dealer still was willing to have it in for servicing,but not willing to advise me of all the issues surrounding the engine...now out of warranty by 3 weeks they wont help me out but still expected me to bring it in to them so they can repair it..

Also Just done the Ex Subaru Press car from up Edinburgh last week, was out of warranty by 3 weeks, pistons ok for a change, but bottom end bearings were in a sorry state & various other faults were evident with the engine too, But happy to say the owner now has the car back and is currently running it in as I type :luxhello:

salsa-king 10 April 2011 09:02 PM

^^ did u swap the pistons anyway?

elitek 10 April 2011 09:11 PM


Originally Posted by salsa-king (Post 9981277)
^^ did u swap the pistons anyway?

the cars is due to be taken away this week to get stripped down and rebuilt accordingly by hypertech so no worries about the rebuild there...

rob84 11 April 2011 07:12 PM


Originally Posted by salsa-king (Post 9981277)
^^ did u swap the pistons anyway?

Pardon the expression But I Gutted the F*&king thing and threw all the crap out and fully loaded it with forged goodies. No Sh!t goes back in on my builds :thumb:

ScottishRayman 11 April 2011 08:50 PM


Originally Posted by elitek (Post 9980332)
just an update that my 08 sti engine has did all the usual as per previous posts,had since new,serviced as per subaru iain grieves falkirk and last service was on 30400 and now sitting at 34000 miles with total loss of oil.Even though it was remapped by andy forrest and new miltek exhaust and forge air intake by litchfields ,dealer still was willing to have it in for servicing,but not willing to advise me of all the issues surrounding the engine...now out of warranty by 3 weeks they wont help me out but still expected me to bring it in to them so they can repair it..

elitek - presume they are going to do free of charge at Grieves?

scoobyseller555 16 April 2011 08:50 PM


Originally Posted by elitek (Post 9981309)
the cars is due to be taken away this week to get stripped down and rebuilt accordingly by hypertech so no worries about the rebuild there...

really...............

scoobyseller555 16 April 2011 09:00 PM


Originally Posted by elitek (Post 9980332)
just an update that my 08 sti engine has did all the usual as per previous posts,had since new,serviced as per subaru iain grieves falkirk and last service was on 30400 and now sitting at 34000 miles with total loss of oil.Even though it was remapped by andy forrest and new miltek exhaust and forge air intake by litchfields ,dealer still was willing to have it in for servicing,but not willing to advise me of all the issues surrounding the engine...now out of warranty by 3 weeks they wont help me out but still expected me to bring it in to them so they can repair it..

did the person/s who sold you all of the modifications advise you of the possible side effects......or for that matter give you a warranty.I wouldn't think any dealership would turn you away for a service,block exemption ruling allows you to take your car to any garage for servicing as long as you use genuine parts and service as per the schedule,but the end result would have i expect,concluded in the same way.

jsfb 16 April 2011 09:03 PM

Well IM blamed Grieves for my rebuilt engine doing a big end a few thousand miles later so would think hypertech is a good choice

scoobyseller555 16 April 2011 09:13 PM


Originally Posted by jsfb (Post 9991202)
Well IM blamed Grieves for my rebuilt engine doing a big end a few thousand miles later so would think hypertech is a good choice

IM blamed one of there dealers for an engine going again???element of doubt???,what was done at the first rebuild,1 piston authorised under warranty by them?

jsfb 16 April 2011 09:20 PM

No sure left that upto you guys to sort out im no subaru technician, it would be nice to think grieves wouldnt put an damaged engine back together knowingly. Are you saying thats what they did?

scoobyseller555 16 April 2011 09:47 PM


Originally Posted by jsfb (Post 9991233)
No sure left that upto you guys to sort out im no subaru technician, it would be nice to think grieves wouldnt put an damaged engine back together knowingly. Are you saying thats what they did?

i would find it very unlikely.but did it not get a short motor the second time following only 1 piston the first time authorised by IM. and the second time it turned a big end with no piston problems evident,all under warranty.Was yours the silver STi that we bought back from you?

jsfb 16 April 2011 09:59 PM

It did indeed get a short motor after me and not you guys spitting the dummy with IM. Never did drive it with the new short motor, you guys did buy it back at a significant loss to me stiil quite pissed off about the whole thing to be honest, IM should have extended the warranty as a good will gesture and you guys should have tried a bit harder with them. Any how it turns out according to IM its all down to drivers abusing or modifying the cars anyway! Must say did love the car best impreza i have been in just couldnt cope with waiting for another engine failure.

jsfb 16 April 2011 10:28 PM

Well if Mr Grieve was involved IM obviously dont give a F**K about your customers! Anyway worked out ok for you guys you must have made more than a few grand out of it!

scoobyseller555 17 April 2011 12:54 PM

Not had a bit of bother with it since,its amazing how we have cars coming in with 60 and 70k that have never had an engine.

rob84 17 April 2011 01:41 PM

Pardon me for getting involved here, but if a single piston has failed & has started to consume engine oil then isnt it best practise to remove the big end caps and inspect the bearing shells. 9 times out of 10 they will most certainly come back with a knocking bottom end as it will spin a bearing as the hardened coating will have started to deteriorate due to lack of lubrication ??

jsfb 17 April 2011 03:31 PM

Hi Rob as i said i am no subaru tech like yourself, so was hoping the garage was looking after my best intrests. Maybe they did check the bearing shells, maybe they didnt but at any rate didnt take long to destroy the bottom end. Hard and expensive lesson learned for me but these guys just keeping making money at our exspence. Anyway as the subaru salesman above says anyone buying one of these cars is taking a real chance that the engine will explode at a random moment in the future and there's no way of telling if or when let that be a warning to anyone thinking of buy a hatch.

rob84 17 April 2011 10:56 PM

I cant comment on what work was undertaken by any dealership mentioned, but I know myself, If I know a ringland has Broken then I'd make a point of removing the bearing caps to take a look as they do deteriorate very quickly with the oil level running low.

for the sake of maybe 12 bolts it doesn't take much to split the blocks to take a look inside in all honesty, maybe that's just me being to picky but I know if it were mine I'd like to know the car was being looked after with the owners best interests at heart.

Littleted 18 April 2011 08:37 AM


Originally Posted by rob84 (Post 9992739)
I cant comment on what work was undertaken by any dealership mentioned, but I know myself, If I know a ringland has Broken then I'd make a point of removing the bearing caps to take a look as they do deteriorate very quickly with the oil level running low.

for the sake of maybe 12 bolts it doesn't take much to split the blocks to take a look inside in all honesty, maybe that's just me being to picky but I know if it were mine I'd like to know the car was being looked after with the owners best interests at heart.

Rob QQ for u then

In the most basic term and cheapist route, what do you have to do to get the engine to how most of us would have expected Subaru to have done.

Am i right in saying just a straight piston swap to a set of cosworth ones ? anything else ? remap ?

If you didnt go cosworth, is there any even better ones ?

Also with you changing the pistons do we then open up anything else to risk ?

StanS 18 April 2011 01:47 PM

I'd use other than Cosworth pistons as they tend to be noisey - had them in the classic and in the hatch and I reckon its the pistons causing the phantom det I have + they were audibly noisey in the 2 litre when cold. In hindsight I should have gone for "better" pistons rather than the 15% discount on Cosworth parts :(

Littleted 18 April 2011 01:50 PM


Originally Posted by StanS (Post 9993420)
I'd use other than Cosworth pistons as they tend to be noisey - had them in the classic and in the hatch and I reckon its the pistons causing the phantom det I have + they were audibly noisey in the 2 litre when cold. In hindsight I should have gone for "better" pistons rather than the 15% discount on Cosworth parts :(

So in trms of Grades then Stan what are the top 5 pistons

Affordable ones :) nothing silly like Bugatti :)

mickp 18 April 2011 04:29 PM

Just as an aside. After 24,692 views on this forum alone wouldn't it be great for Subaru to share there views. Not big or brave enough i suspect but they have pi%$&* enough of us off, lost enough custom and by the sounds of it handcuffed their dealers into towing the party line for too long.

Anything to say Subaru ???

urban 18 April 2011 05:19 PM

Of course they've nothing to say

The Trooper 1815 18 April 2011 05:26 PM


Originally Posted by mickp (Post 9993648)
Just as an aside. After 24,692 views on this forum alone wouldn't it be great for Subaru to share there views. Not big or brave enough i suspect but they have pi%$&* enough of us off, lost enough custom and by the sounds of it handcuffed their dealers into towing the party line for too long.

Anything to say Subaru ???


http://forums.sidc.co.uk/topic/15318...our-questions/

mickp 18 April 2011 05:56 PM


Originally Posted by The Trooper 1815 (Post 9993737)


Yes, seen that one, but it just raises more questions than it answers IMO.

The explanation the M.D attempts is not consistent with previous Subaru statements (to customers) and even the failure rate seems to have changed significantly which is strange given the limited number of sales.

One huge cover up, on many levels IMO. If Subaru want me to expand then lets have your views and you can have a few more facts from me.

dr jim 18 April 2011 06:21 PM


Originally Posted by mickp (Post 9993795)
Yes, seen that one, but it just raises more questions than it answers IMO.

The explanation the M.D attempts is not consistent with previous Subaru statements (to customers) and even the failure rate seems to have changed significantly which is strange given the limited number of sales.

One huge cover up, on many levels IMO. If Subaru want me to expand then lets have your views and
you can have a few more facts from me.

Just to add to this the MD states in this interview that Subaru Uk would add a datalogger to the car at there cost and extend the warranty, I enquired about this having recently had a short engine fitted and with my warranty about to expire was concerned about a reoccurrence, needless to say Subaru have declined to fit a logger and extend my warranty. Looks like the MD's making offer that the directors are going to honour.....


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