MY03 Sti 1st year faults. How common? What were they?
 

Hi all,

I've got a 1 year old 03 STi Type UK and my car is due its 10K service shortly. I know by searching the site that a knocking sound from the rear of the car has been endured by a few other owners on this model.

The questions I have for you fellow owners is...

1. Do you suffer this particular sound?
2. Which side of the car does it seem to emminate from?
3. What did your dealer do/say?
4. Was the problem resolved?
5. Any other minor faults to report during your 1st year of ownership?

Mine seems to be a sort of clunk on the near side of the car on small, sudden, jarring bumps in the road. Larger bumps, speedhumps seem OK, bizzare! The other side has no such problems.

This will hopefully give me the knowledge to get this resolved with the dealer without too much experimentation / return visits. Could also be a good resource for 1st year blobeye owners, with regard to potential problems to keep an eye out for.


Thanks in advance guys,


Dan

dan
my 02 sti is the same, hear clunks over drain covers, where the road has been repaired etc, not speed bumps etc as you say, mine has been in for one fix where the spring and top mount were replaced, still doing it now but havnt bothered getting it sorted again, yet
mark

Mark,

which side of the car are you getting it from mate?

Cheers,

Dan

Had 10k service on mine yesterday.

dealer gave it a clean bill of health.

Nothing wrong with it at all.

Check out this thread.

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthrea...ght=suspension

Chip.

my sti is doing the same at the moment,the dealer has parts on order to hopefully sort it.only done 5k miles.
mike

Chip,


thanks for that mate....
that's a hell of a thread!!!

Now I know I'm not the only one.

Regards,

Dan

You describe Classic Symptoms from a minority of 02 and 03s. Changes in components cure some, but not all!! As Mark Morris says, there are still a few unrectified (?unrectifiable?) ones out there. Make sure your Dealer changes the assembly in accordance with IM Technical Notes, and hope you're one of the lucky ones.

Phil

i had a noise from the back of my 04 st, ive put it down to the waterspray hoses in the back having a little rattle.

Phil
Can you send me details of what IM have done to cure the problem.

Thanks

Chip.

me also please

Dan,
Had my 03sti for 7 Months now and never had that noise, infact nothing at all has gone wrong.
Good idea to go armed with the info when going to the dealer, I had a knocking noise from the rear of my girlfriends fiesta zetec s a while back.
Ford changed alsorts of suspension parts including the rear top mounts and I finally fixed it by greasing the door and hatch catches of all things, this fix was found on a ford forum.
If I had just used the forum first it would of saved my two trips to the dealer.

Dipster

bttp for the Monday morning chaps http://mysmilies.ipbfree.com/s/cwm/cwm3d/3dsmirk.gif

bttt even!


http://mysmilies.ipbfree.com/s/contr.../corkysm46.gif

forgot to mention the fuel smell that i get,which the dealer still hasn't sorted but is having another go at it this week.
mike.

Leaking front passenger door seal - leaves a nice pool of water on the mat after every rainstorm.

Still takes several times to start when cold or wet (Subaru are aware of the problem - don't know yet if they have resolved it)

Just about to book in for 10'000mile service.

Mine is now 5 months old and no problems so far!

Guys,

Your dealer will be able to get/may already have the IM technical notes on how to "fix" this problem.

My own STI (MY02) did this and still does to a certain extent. The latest fix applied cured the majority of the problem, but it still knocks and bangs away over stupidly small bumps.

I have noticed recently that when additional load is placed on the rear passenger suspension(parking on the pavement, reversing into slightly raised drive etc) it makes a weird groaning/creaking sound.

Anyway good luck, and as Phil says maybe you'll be lucky!

All the best,

Shaun

Yep mines knocking like Fooooc had it in once and they replaced a part... once day later it just as bad... even worse yesterday with the inlaws in it... sonds like the strut is smply loose... very disconcerting... quite loud too when going slow. sounds like its going to fall off!:(

I took it back last Thursday and the dealer ordering a new strut...

MY03 STi PPP nearside rear...

I've got a runabout so won't be using the scoob now until its fixed, i'm that worried.!

Dazza

cup holder comes out everytime i go over a bump. But I have cured that by positioning a scooby doo in it .....job done. Other than that the car is perfect in every way

Now this is a bit weird but my Alfa 147 has exactly the same problem and from the same corner!

I had some lowering springs fitted (25mm) ages ago and suspected those weren't fitted properly but the dealer checked it out and told me it's OK. I think it's coming from behind the trim so I'll get the dealer to check it out.

Someone mentioned that it could be the anti-roll bar knocking against something if the suspension has been lowered.

i have this problem too when driven hard to the STINKS of fuel ive traced the smell to around the filler cap area/rear arch is there a breather there or something??

anyone else had this one

:( surely some of you must have had the dreaded battery problems i just had another one fitted on fri thats my 3rd. :(

3rd battery for me too!! :(

:confused: i dont know if this helps, but was told on here a month ago that someone had the same problem, but he seemed to cure the problem by having his lights on when driving, i had been doing this and not suffered the problem for the last 3 weeks, but wife wanted another battery, so will be trying lights on again with new battery to see if it works again. :confused:

the new fix for the knocking suspension is this, if the car is an 02my or very early registered 03my and the spacers have been fitted and all the bolts around the ski hatch tightened then you need to swap the rear struts for late 03my struts this according to i.m technical fixes it as there are some differences in them.

I've not had my MY02 STi long and didn't realise the knocking from the back was a warranty issue (hopefully) until very recently - I thought it was the boot lid moving slightly.

The knocking only happens at slow speeds and only after driving for a few miles. Also, after coming to a stop then rolling forward again - I can feel the rear drop slightly - together with a clunk. Difficult to tell exactly where it's coming from - but it sounds to be the offside.

I'm going to ring the dealer tomorrow to see what they say - fingers crossed.

Only other minor niggles are a squeaky drivers window, a broken clip which holds the drivers mirror in place (would cost about 10p - but needed a whole mirror assembly as they can't get the part seperately) and a very very slight water leak from a hose (I think)

Scoobsti

my 02sti difficult to get into 2nd when cold. No suspension noises though?
Paul

Same with Mine, when going Slow or reversing into my Garage it sounds like the Strut Top mount knocking or something.... I had a look as I was quite worried like yourself but its all together properly... Might just be the Top mount is Fooked. Had it On my Quattro and was a very similar noise!

I took the liberty of popping the Strut off (3 bolts at top and 2 on bottom) and it looked OK but then again the audi one did too!

No suspension problems....yet! But the wipers on my new STi are useless. Its been back to the dealership twice and I still don't get a clean wipe across the drivers side. They claimed it was a film on the screen and cleaned it, it was no better, but then as the passenger side was fine I doubted it was that. They changed the wiper blades second time, no better. When you look close the rubber lays flat on the back wipe and does not squgee the surface, passengers fine. Seems like to much arm pressure or soft wper blade rubber? It's a bit much when a basic problem is going for a third fix! The promised to phone me within a week, that was three weeks ago. So come on Barratts whats happening?

Dark wet night, oncoming lights=dangerous.