GRIFF007

INTERESTED IN AN STI V4 FOR SALE, HOWEVER IT HAS BEEN RUN ON STD UL NOT SUL SINCE NEW FOR IT'S 12K MILES AND UNLIKELY TO HAVE BEEN COOLED AFTER RUNS (MAINLY M6) - OWNER DOESNT KNOW IMPREZAS (FIRST 3000 MLS WERE IN JAPAN OVER 2YRS - PETROL MAY HAVE BEEN OK THERE)

WOULD THIS BE TOO RISKY A PURCHASE BEARING IN MIND I AM TRYING TO BUY A NEAR PERFECT EXAMPLE?

Steve vRS

Leave well alone. STi's need high octane fuel to run otherwise pistons can be destroyed.

Steve

robin lowry

sounds like it could be a pile of trouble to me. Sul in Japan is 100 ron, if a car has been run on nul for some time me thinks the engine internals may try to escape!

Ian Sutton

Griff there is a nice 2 door STI V5 for sale on Page two of the Private threads if you missed it.

I have only ran (getting back to the question) my car on advice on SUL and with octane booster for track and mad dashes.

...Ian

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

I only have a limited knowledge but the Jap petrol it was designed to run on is obviously of a higher rating.
I ran an Import MR2 Turbo for 3years and 60,000miles mainly on Std UL and with increased boost and never had a related problem.
The ECU is pretty good and I would think it would have retarded timing enough to be okay with STD UL for 9000miles...especially motorway.
The non-cooling puts the Turbo at risk..
but again at only 12,000miles should be okay, then again might not be, but that is the chance even with a car that is cooled down after each run.
Again though if mainly M6 changes of Turbo being on sing and then switching off is slim.

All IMHO...

I wait for diagreements..

sounds like perfect excuse to knock some money off though. Buy it and run it on SUL.

ho ho JGM

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

Hold the scaremongering guys !
STi 4's were pre Phase2 engines therefore not so prone to melting their innards.
STi4's only had problems if run on NUL & used on tracks or Autobahns where sustained high revs (& stresses) were placed on the engine.
Having said that I would still leave alone - you dont know 2 years of its history - ie how its been treated (but then do you on a UK car ?) or if serviced (despite what a service book says)
Also I would be more concerned with it not being cooled down after fast motorway use - that can bugger the turbo.

Ro.

steve170

Surely unless the guy lives/works on a motorway junction, he would have to have done some non-motorway driving before he got home!!

I'm sure he didn't blast up the off ramp and then switch the engine off

I reckon you tell the guy it must be knackered and he'll never sell it, then offer him a couple of thou' off his asking price!!

Markus

Think I'll put my size 11's over this one

My WRX Wagon runs quite happily on NUL (Normal Unleaded, ie; 95 RON), though I'm told it should be run on SUL (Super Unleaded, ie; 97 RON)

Mine runs fine, if it blows then it's my fault. anyway, I digress.

If it was an STi then I would <B>always</B> run it on SUL, <I>unless</I> it had a link ECU and had be mapped to run on NUL, which I believe is possible and some on here may have done.

As said, as it's an STi then it should be run on SUL.

Who knows maybe the owner has had it mapped for NUL.

TRIGGER

God - this really shows the ignorance and predjudice for imports - who are you all ? Quentin Wilson ? (Flamesuit on...)

Seriously, the ver 4 is fine with Normal unleaded, as the ecu sorts it out - I personally use octane booster coz I like the pefformance - the ver 5 does have problems.

I bought a ver 4, which spent first 2 years in Japan doing all of 5,000 Km - but just check the engine bay - you will soon see how looked after it was - mine was immaculate, and has run perfectly ever since I bought it. I had 2 Uk cars and I very rarely let them cool properly before turning the engine off. 1) you never know what previous owners have done, but the Japs are far more careful than British owners, 2) very few owners really push their cars anyway - only us nutters on the scoobynet.

Overall, dont stress yourself over these things - if the car checks out, looks good and comes with a warranty, then go for it and enjoy.

Adam M

If it hasnt been cooled down, the worse you face is turbo rebuild costs, which can be around 300ukp which isnt that bad IF you need it.

Running on nul, I would not recommend, btu det is teh likely problem this causes, prolonged exposure to det, will weaken pistons and rods, but there is such diversity ion the stregth of the standard internals that I would not use this as a reason not to buy the car. If you treat it well from now on and dont allow it det any further (assuming it has already) then you should be okay!

If you intend to give it some real stick, there is no way of knowing that it wouldn't have blown up anyway, even if it had been treated perfectly.

If you like the car, I wouldn't let this get in the way, but the market is good enough for buyers taht you dont need to confine yourself to one car.

Consider the sti 5 that was mentioned, decide what you want from teh car and choose carefully.

Finding the right impreza can be a lot of fun.

If starting out now, I would try to find a car like scott davies'

sti 5 type ra v limited, assuming all the 22bs have gone .