Forester (2005) 2.5XTN Noisey Engine
 

Quick introduction….

Names Rowly and I live in Bolsover near Chesterfield.Bit of a Japanese car lover (No French crap on my drive thank you very much!):lol1:Also own a Subaru Impreza sport (now with 150k +) an MX-3 1.8 v6 (trackproject)

I’m called krazysteve as apparently I am a bit of an idiot like Steve off of dodgeball (ooohhhhh arrrrrggghhh)

Cars the Fozzy 2.5 XTN which I love to bits especially when chavs think there big (init) in there little shopping carts that only ever see my tail lights:luxhello:

The uno problemo!:mad:

On the way to work on Wednesday I started getting strange looks, now I know I have a little mid life beer belly but surely that could not be it. Turned the music down and could hear a loud knocking and screeching noise.

Cut a long story short I rang the AA and got a lift home. He told me it might be the water pump that was part seized so the next day I changed the water pump (which was fine) and a few part seized pulleys (worn the cambeltßsee photos). New cambelt (etc etc)

The problem still persisted so I thought the bottom end had spun a bearing so have just dropped the oil and its pitch black! But no metal particles visible, just looks like it's come out of a diesel engine.

The cambelt was changed at 70000 and the car has now done just over 77000. Was recently serviced at 75000.

The car is completely standard…..no mods

It does not seem to be kicking anything out of the exhaust.

Now the questions:

Could it be the turbo? Noise appears towards the drivers side

Can the sump be removed without dropping the engine? (Remove bottom engine mounts and jack the engine up??)

Someone has also said something about the cam shims???

Any help on this would be highly appreciated and here are coupleof photo’s and a video to show you what it did and what its like

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwrW6QvBcoM

http://i54.tinypic.com/23l1bnl.jpg

http://i51.tinypic.com/t4zsix.jpg

Now time to go back to my beer and drown my sorrows as I have got to drive my sons hack to work (proper chav mobile) :brickwall:brickwall:brickwall

http://i55.tinypic.com/15x5t3r.jpg

http://i54.tinypic.com/33kur03.jpg

It's creamed "verified"
 

Dropped the sump off this morning, oil feed pipe sort of fell of. This has cracked where it mounts onto the engine.
The front and rear big ends deceased, i can only assume with oil starvation that many other parts of the engine are ready to be weighed in.

Has anyone had this happen?
Is this a known fault with Subaru's?

http://i52.tinypic.com/25kgzo1.jpg

http://i56.tinypic.com/2624137.jpg

http://i55.tinypic.com/2efkidx.jpg

http://i51.tinypic.com/1z1bcwx.jpg

Not common but the oil pick up pipe has been known to fracture resulting in a fcuked bottom end.
If you are going to rebuild it, make sure you check the heads for signs of oil starvation too.

Mick

The saga goes on, went to my local Subaru dealership yesterday and put my case forward.

They listened to my concerns took photo copys of the car's service history and pic's of the failed pickup and sump.

Subaru Uk have got back to them, guess what?

If the car is more than 3 years old and has more than 60k forget it.

Even though the part that failed was an obvious manufacturing fault they just want to brush this under the carpet.:icon_mad:

Having owned a Impreza for 11 years with no problems and not missing a beat this was the reason for buying the Forester. (previous ride was Toyota Hilux surf, rock solid)

How disapointing you are "Mr Subaru", I always assumed that Subaru took pride in producing a quality range of vehicles. How wrong am i?:confused:

It is scary to think of all those Subaru's driving around on the UK's roads with such a potential engine fail, and "Subaru Uk" just do not seem to give a "Sh*t".

I suppose it could have been worse i might have been in lane 3 on the M1.

Sorry for the rant, it has just pi**ed me off me that a car i enjoy to drive has turned out to a pain in the ass!!!:icon_cry:

Quick update, i have sent a modified template letter from the gov/uk website.
Subaru Uk have responded and say they are looking into my problem/ concerns etc, telling me that this has been logged onto their system.

Waiting in anticipation for a reply from customer services.:wonder:
!4 day deadline looming.

Anyone used the small claims court? How easy is it to use etc, i just get the feeling that Mr Subaru is fobbing me off.:Suspiciou
W'ell see!!!

Good luck!
Even US owners with the same problem haven't got anywhere with a recall etc.
The 2.5 engine has a reputation for quite a few issues now.

not good mate
 

seen vid and ya bottem end has gone :cry:

Yep and also the r/h cyl head was squealing pretty bad too!!!

I have been looking at the JDM units listed on fleabay as a possibility, if and when funds allow.
Waiting to see what Mr Subaru comes up with?

I do not think i would not by another newer Subaru, there seems to be too many issues across the range.

Pity the old ones seem to be the best value.

Why A Subaru Is
Unlike most cars

Subaru pride themselves on their innovative range of technologies. But this isn’t innovation that brings complication - each and every advancement has one overriding philosophy: to provide you with supreme driving satisfaction and total drivability at all times

"If only"

Time ticks on, sent a recorded delivery letter of complaint outlinning the faults etc.

Surprise surprise Subaru did write back saying it was in the hands of customer service, and they would be in contact shortly. :sleep:

That was nearly 4 weeks ago and no reply, i then sent another letter yesterday (took from the Gov/uk website, template letters) requesting a reply or legal action in 14 days time.

Guess what the phone rang today and chap from Subaru uk spoke to me, he asked for me to get the car to my nearest dealer for the engine to be stripped and assessed. This is to confirm how much damage the engine has suffered and if the the pickup pipe was the cause. Also he asked again if the engine had been modified, abused etc.

I was then told that there is no guarantee that Subaru will pick up the bill.
The problem for me is that if Mr Subaru worm out of this is that i am left with a hefty bill and still a dead car.:Suspiciou
A phone call to my nearest dealer then compounded the issue, telling me that i do have a chance of this being sorted, but he was concerned that if Subaru Uk do not pay for the work who does? :wonder:
He did not want a dead car blocking up his workshop with no certainty of who or how the bill wil be paid?
It seems to me that Subarus must be made to last 3 years or 60000 miles, then with a sprinkle of fairy dust they may last a little longer.:rolleyes:

Anyone else had similar problems with out of warranty claims, repairs.
Also please post any success storys.

Not posted for a while, a close relative in hospital, sort of put things on hold.
Anyway i went to see a solicitor last week as any response from IM has dried up:brickwall.
I was advised to get as much info before going down the small claims route.
I have contacted a local company who do metal analysis testing, the chaps first comment was "shoddy" what car has this come out of? (was advised to make sure that who ever i use is accredited to a professinal body)
He has rang me and told me the reason for it failing is metal fatigue, for this reason the part was "not fit for purpose"
Now waiting for the report to come back so the Ni form can be posted off with it.