Engine failure after service
 

After some reading hear it looks like my '96 WRX has a big end failure 400 km after an oilchange.

Engine has been runiing fine for last 10,000 km with full decat, 1 bar boost and Unichip and using Castrol RS 0/40.

Last Saturday changed the oil and used again Castrol RS 0/40, 400 km later after driving hard (200 km/h+) it was all over.

I am now awaiting result from my workshop but think I know what is coming i.e big end failure.

Think will not rebuild the engine but put in an 2000 Japanese STI engine but obviously dont want a repeat hence 2 questions:

1) What the best oil brand and viscosity I am driving in Thailand with temps between 20-40 degrees and do a lot of high speed motor way driving.

2) Is changing the oil so critical that you have to take all kinds of precautions? Anything in the manual on this? If yes what to do exactly?

Hope to hear/tnks!

0W/40 is way too thin for a Subaru Turbo At high load the oil is being forced out of the big end bearings Try 10w/40(manufactyrers recomendation) or 10w/60 (good tuners reccemondation)

To change from a 96 WRX to 2000 sti engine i reckon you will need to change the wiring loom as well Best option would be to source a 96 sti engine

Cheers Grant
Hapy new year if your THai

Make sure you fill the new filter before you fit it, takes a bit of patience to get it full. Other than that there's nothing special required. Agree that 0/40 is too thin, I use 10/40.

Kevin.

remove the tdc sensor? and crank engine over til the oil light goes out. recoonect sensor and start as normal.

Could be a complete co-incidence, and caused by a combination of factors, but failure shortly after an oil change often points to oil starvation in the bearings immediately after the change.

As the others have said, this is far thinner than ideal.

Did you pre-fill the oil filter and crank the engine over with the crank sensor disconnected (or the spark plugs out) after changing the oil?

If you're talking about dropping an entire STi6 engine in you're going to have some issues with the loom and ECU. If you're just talking about an STi6 short block you're going to have some issues with the heads.

Mobil 1 Motorsport 15w/50, Motul 300V 15/50, Castrol RS 10w/60, something in that range. 0/40 would be about right if you lived in a very cold climate. Wrong choice completely for hot weather.

Most important things are to pre-fill the new filter with oil prior to fitting it, and dry cranking the engine with the crank sensor disconnected, or even better, the plugs out, to establish oil supply and pressure before firing.

See [url=http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthread.php?t=226638&page=2] here[/b] for further details.

Thanks for the clarification boys, that was a very expensive 'which oil to use' lesson, the STI engine would come with wiring and ecu only need a remap to adjust for the local fuel.

You just had a bit of a namechange, Frank?:D