Just how unreliable will a stock Hawkeye STI be?....
 

A Z4 owner here, looking to scratch the Impreza itch i've had for several years now, but never indulged in:confused:

So after deciding on the looks of a Hawkeye, and knowing it had to be an STI type UK Spec D, and KNOWING that Subarus were seen as a reliable car (maybe i've watched too much top gear?:nono:) - a bit of research leads me to this forum, with a large thread on the known unreliability of the 2.5l flat 4 engine (ringland issues anyone?), I have a question to ask....

Is it a matter of when and not 'if' these issues will occur with this engine? I'd be keeping it standard / OEM.

I'm looking to take a punt on a 56plate / 50kish STI early next year, however I can't really justify having to find 3k for a forged engine rebuild!

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on my probably entirely deluded question :lol1:

Thanks :)

There are many that have already been rebuilt at that age and milage.

I asked a similar question some weeks back. I will say many people come I forums for help when they have issues, not all but I'd say majority.

I spoke with a blob owner and he said look around you when you drive to work, there are plenty hawkeye wrx, wagons, stis etc. If it was a known issue then how are so many still out there. Also spoke with a 911 owner who said he read a lot about his generation of 911 having failures.

The best advice I was given was go see blobs and hawks. Look at there condition, miles, owners etc. Then make your mind up on what best fits your needs. I've looked at a few blobs now and found good condition ones very rare. People who know hey have a good one charge a premium (and quite rightly so).

If I were you I'd go see as many as I could. Drive both. They are very different. Also read up on engines from
Other manufacturers with head gasket failure. All makes have issues.

Cheers for the replies.

So this engine really is quite different from the bulletproof N52 under the hood of my hairdressers car :lol1:

Regarding importing - i'd really have NO idea where to even start with such an endavour - though have read (again on here) that JDM models are the ones to go for!:wonder:

Cheers for the replies.

My biggest challenge is i'll be buying trade rather than private...

The failures are well documented, but it's not to say there aren't good cars out there. Get one with good history and that hasn't been modded for power from a decent dealer who provides a warranty. If your budget will run to it, get a jdm.
Apologies if this is stating the obvious.

I bought a Spec D from new and had a head gasket failure at 70k.

Whilst the engine was out we had a look at the pistons and they were absolutely fine with no indication of potential failure. However, just to be safe, I had some forged pistons put in.

At the time, 2011, the headgasket repair was £850 + VAT and the pistons (incl rings) were £615 + VAT.

Obviously, these were not dealer prices. In fact, before the Spec D, I had a JDM Classic which blew the big ends possibly owing to a weak oil pump. I was near my pseudo dealer at the time (normal dealers wouldn’t touch it as it was JDM so this was an Ex Subaru Dealer) who quoted me silly money (£4,500) so I made some investigations and the first place I found, API, had excellent reviews and a very cheap quote (about a third IIRC) compared to my dealer. The only problem was when I asked them to collect my car from the dealer and they advised they couldn’t do that as they were the company who carried out the dealer’s engine works!

Hope that helps.

Imo, it's really shoddy that the Hawkeye STi has so many issues. Why were they built like absolute crap?! It annoys me they have so many issues. Are these issues ironed out a little more on the later models, or no?

I also believe these engines go because people don't look after them. ****ty oil, not changing the oil frequently enough, ****ty mods, poorly mapped if not at all, and general abuse i.e when from cold etc. Unless anyone wants to correct me here?

In my case, you are completely wrong in the extreme so long as you are not including Subaru service schedules and maps.

I only ever used best quality fully synthetic oil (Shell and Silkolene IIRC) after the intial run in service, serviced on the nose as schedule, did not exceed 3.5k revs with little load until warm, Only engine mod was the PPP Map from new although, to be fair, after the HG & pistons I got it remapped by JGM which was a far better map especially re sensitivity at low revs. I also discovered that the high torque meant it wasn’t worth revving the nuts off it and had my rev warning set at 5,500 and if I had been giving it some allowed a period for the turbo to cool before switching off.

It's not just the Hawkeyes but the 2.5L engine in general.

Have a look at the sticky near the top of the page.

To the OP, you could be one of the lucky ones and never have any bother, people on here have Hawkeyes on 100k+ with no issues, others have had HG failure at 30k.

Bit of a lottery really.

Would advise anyone buying to look for a forged build or to fork out the extra for a JDM version, which still uses the more reliable 2.0L engine. :)

IMO subaru should have nipped this in bud :(

If they'd forged the engine in the factory once the issue materialised added 2k to the selling price these cars would have still sold. As a road car a heathy 2.5 is an awesome engine :)

Well..... I had a Hawkeye STi Spec D. Took it from 105k to 125k with absolutely zero issues. No overheating, nothing. Reading about them on here you'd think that was an impossibility so I do find it very odd. It sounds for all intents and purposes that the headgasket thing is a proper design fault, but as I say, no issues for me.

In the beginning " sounds like a film intro - anyway , EJ257 gaskets were very poor quality , that was rectified & the gaskets are up to the job on MY08>
Heads not torqued to spec from factory was also a issue ( unbelievable but true ... but the biggest issue with failings is Heat , that is a can of worms as a simple air lock can put paid , over revving , sustaining high speed was found to help in its demise also . & the cast pistons were fragile once Heat / cool cycle had gone beyond tolerance .

I will, you're wrong..

pm me when your looking to buy a spec d as might be selling mine soon :thumb: already fully forged and strenghtened , coilovers etc etc :D

maz