Success, fuel smell repair by main dealer
 

Hi guys,

for info, i have a 2002 uk wrx sti prodrive, that in the colder days has the fuel smell, basically i spoke to vosa (martin) who gave me sum advice on what 2 say to my main dealer, i then rang them told them my fault & wot vosa has found during their report & they have agreed to repair it FOC.

Success & i hope this helps any1 with the fault.

regards

shaun....

Great stuff! is this a bugeye car? i get this too on cold days & think its a fualt with the fuel line length but does this cover Jap imports? i'm guessing it don't.. =(

so can anyone with a bugeye get this done then or do i have to wait till it starts playing up?

my my98-99 classic is starting to smell of fuel now on start up with the weather were having.. wont cover a classic tho will it?

glad you got there in the end with them ;)

hi,

Yea mine is a bugeye, i first noticed last yr, then did sumat bout it, due to another thread on here this wk.....tbh when i spoke to subaru all they asked woz my milage & chassis & have booked it in to be done,,,he said coz it a fault tha happens in tha morning when its cold there was no point in making me drive there as this would warm the car up & there would b no smell,,i believe tha any wrk or repairs carried out on a subaru is loggd on a main computer,,hence the reason y he said to me, yep you car hasnt had this repair done...

all you can do guys is ask,,,the number for VOSA is 0117 954 3486 speak to martin he is really helpfull b4 u spk to subaru,,,he may b able to tell u if an import is covered......


hope this helps

regards

shaun....

Cheers for the quick reply Shaun:thumb:

So whats causes this problem then mate?

Basically theres two short hoses under the intake manifold that join to the metal fuel rails. In the cold, the joins start to leak fuel which creates the stink. Once the car is warmed up, the heat transfer to the pipes expands them and they stop leaking.

Subaru charged me £300 for this repair less than a year ago, now they're doing it for free! :freak3: :(

I had the same issue a few weeks back - it's a fault that Subaru recalled cars for in the US - see here.
My local dealer replaced my metal fuel pipes and all rubber hoses, although they couldn't see any obvious leaks, at a cost of £375.
Since replacing the metal pipes, no more fuel smell.
I'm waiting to see if Subaru will do this on a goodwill basis, given that it was a recall in the USA. Apparently it only presents itself in extremely cold temperatures, hence I haven't really encountered it until this year despite having the car nearly 5 years (and last year it was in the garage all winter).

Mine is a 2001 UK model bugeye WRX, but apparently this can affect all newage models between 2000 and 2004.

So you're going after them for a refund of your £375? Let me know how you get on! :thumb:

Not going after them so to speak.
They offered to request a goodwill reimbursement from Subaru. I just have to hope they'll honour it.

all dealers were issued with a bullitin about this so don't bother vosa just ring the dealer and if they play up ask them to check their technical bullitins

My car has the same problem,can actually see the fuel on the hose.Car is a 2001 WRX UK300..


Called up Ian Grieve Subaru in Falkirk and asked how much for the repair,chap i spoke to did not know about it so i told him about the bulletin.He did not know about it said he did not have that one:Suspiciou


Think i will try giving VOSA a call see what happens......
Thanks for posting this up could help a lot of us Bug drivers:luxhello::notworthy


Kenny

Are you certain mate? The metal pipes in question are not easily visible without removing the inlet.
FYI my dealer have seen this problem apparently affecting more STI's than WRX's.
I actually had a really strong smell of fuel inside the car.
Under the bonnet I could smell it worse BUT I couldn't see it at all.

Positivley cartain .FYI if you look closely you can see the rubber hose on the passenger side of the inlet,when the pipe comes around from the fuel rail and runs up into the underside of the inlet you can see the hose there.Perhaps you are reffering to the ones located beneath the header tank,point to note the bulletin only mentions the WRX.. Is your's not a WRX???

Kenny

Anyway,just called VOSA and to i spoke to Martin and to concur with Shaun a very pleasant chap indeed:thumb:.

Cut to the chase can't get if fixed as my car has been modded :brickwallSo i will get this fixed myself..


Take care guy's

Kenny

I hope you've had a refund!

Just rang dealer for a 2002sti with the weeping fuel lines , not heard anything about fixing for free anyone else got any info, they looked for any bullitins refering to changing them for free no luck ???

Mark

As stated call VOSA aand ask to speak to Martin,he told me that it would need to be assessed by a dealer and to Email himthe name of the deale he would then contact Subaru UK to then confer witht the named dealer and take it from there .Then he mentioned the part about " As long as it has not been modified":D

Anyway good luck:thumb:


Kenny

has anyone who has got it fixed for free had a walbro fuel pump ect mods fitted

Its a "known issue" by Subaru... I found the full Subaru report on it on the forum last year, as I had the same issue.

Read above posts,if they can tell it has been modified then not much chance i was told by VOSA :( IE the injectors,turbo.If it was just the pump then i would chance it:thumb:


Kenny

I've not approached Subaru about it yet.

With the responses in this thread, it doesn't look like the bulletins are being communicated clearly to the dealerships - hence so many saying they'd not heard of the problem, or that they should be fixing it for free!

But i will be speaking to them at some point soon.

UPDATE....

Well my car is booked into Keith price for this recall for friday morning.
the work is FOC.

How did i get it free?,, ring Adrian Hogg at subaru uk, 0121747 4000, give him your chassis num & he will tell you if your car has that perticular fault.

Subaru main dealers should also have the info, tell them to look under Technical News.

it does apply to both wrx & wrx sti.

hope this helps.

shaun...

we done a euro import last week it just had to be registered with i.m which they did when we submitted the paperwork

I had this problem on my car for the past couple of years. Also had the problem in the winter on my previous 2001 WRX.

It got so bad last year that my eyes started streaming (with the fans on).

I called my local dealers and advised me that it was going to cost around £385 + VAT and all they would do is replace it with Blobeye ones.

I took my chances and replaced them myself last winter (Jan 2010) by carrying out parrallel rails mod along with a few other bits and bobs whilst the manifold is off.

Doing these mods would have worked out cheaper than paying for a main stealer to do the work for me. However due to adding extra mods I won't over by a further £150 or so. And it was worth it.

Not all of the faults on the Bugeyes are weaping lines that sit under the manifold. Also could be a leaking injector seal etc.

Good luck to all those chasing VOSA and SUBARU UK .

Steve

Just an FYI. Subaru have refunded all costs for my Y reg WRX as of last week.

When did you have the work done?

About 3 weeks ago mate.

Very useful post Shaun - I'm sure plenty of people will thank you for that as I've heard some dealers have claimed they're not aware of it.

I had to make the decision to have my fuel pipes replaced in the hope that I'd get a refund after the work was carried out. To know for certain would definitely be more assuring and would have meant I'd have had the work done straight away.

Cheers mate :thumb: