I have reported on a previous post that my vehicle was noisy from cold. I have already had the No 4 piston changed last year which seemed to quieten the noise. However it seemed to start getting noisy again so I reported it to the dealer and he said its all ok and its nothing to do with piston slap again. Then when I had it serviced 2 weeks ago I mentioned it again and they kept it overnight for a cold start. They reported it was a timing belt tensioner problem. I had the tensioner changed on Monday at a cost of £350 and low and behold this morning the noise is still there! I think its piston slap on another piston as I have always thought but the dealer keeps telling me its not. He's having another listen to the noise on Friday morning to hopefully confirm my thoughts. How do I stand about the £350 spent replacing the tensioner with no end to the problem? Also my vehicle is out of warranty so should they honour the piston slap problem if confirmed, as its a known design fault

Stuart

I seem to recall reading somewhere that you can check for piston slap by disconnecting the injector from that cyl, if it stops slapping, it's that cyl?

Not sure how correct / advisable / reliable this test is...

- Mark.

If it's out of warranty, why not take it to a Subaru expert - rather than a dealer - for an opinion? Cheaper & more likely to work ;)