quicksilver14

please help me.........
can any one give me any tips on getting my dealer to sort out my engine on my 1998 sport. it has piston slap and my warrenty runs out on sunday.
any advice would be gratefully received....
many thanks

danny-boy

Piston Slap is a manufacturer fault; there fore has nothing to do with the warranty.

Take your car to the dealer and they'll have to hear it from cold, they will send a claim to Subaru UK to get the work carried out.

As its a Sport, you'll need a new short block.

You'll need full S SH, as the dealer will send your service book to Subaru UK with the claim form.

Cheers

Dan

quicksilver14

cheers dan
that sounds great
have you had a succesful claim?
will i have to be pushy i could imagine them doing anything to not have to pay....
many thanks and ill phone them tomorrow

sc00byd00

whats Piston Slap ??

aj

danny-boy

To be honest,

The first time I called I was fobbed off, and told it was a feature of the car.

I called again, spoke to the service manager, when I mentioned that other MY98's were being sorted and it was a manu fault, he was quite helpful and told me what I needed to do, i.e. they need to hear it from stone cold, and then he could submit a claim.

I've went into the dealer on Friday and he put the claim in, so just waiting to hear back.

there's a guy on here called Iain Atkins, he's had his fixed Free of Charge.

I'd advise to speak to the Service Manager and dont take any fobbing.

Good Luck

Dan

danny-boy

ScoobyDoo,

Piston slap is when your car sounds like a bag of bolts when its cold.

MY97/98 Sports and Turbo's were mainly affected. Basically the pistons are slightly too small and "slap" (vibrate in the cyclinder) when cold, it goes away when the car is warm and the pistons expand and the sound goes away.

Cheers

Dan

bigbadal

So is it damaging to the engine or just an annoying noise?

Danny Fisher

An MY98, you've got more chance of them giving you a new car, than resolving an out of warranty issue.

Sorry.

Dan

Tim23948

Keep trying - they (Dealer) fixed mine, MY98, 47K, FSSH but no warranty, and Subaru paid for the parts, but not the labour. The dealer has to send off a request for you. Still, saved £500 or so.Afraid the labour was a massive £700 !!!!!!!

206CC

You wont get a new short block on a sport.. Only the Piston will be replaced.. along with a new gudgeon pin and gaskets etc

Can be done same day if it started early enough..

Scooby Tech

StickyMicky

were the jap spec cars affected?

Jer

I had mine done (98 Turbo) 40 000 miles ago. It seems to have come back, has anyone else had it come back after a fix?

Danny Fisher

Jer, yes mine came back.

Dan

Jer

Has this happened to anyone else? If so did you try and get it fixed again? If so what was the outcome.

Cheers

Jer

scoobysnacks

Ahh, good old piston slap.
It does affect imports yes, as my MY98 WRX has it...
I believe it usually happens because one of the pistons distorts due to it getting hotter than the others during normal engine operation (maybe piston no 3 - can't remeber). This piston then 'slaps' when cold because it moves about laterally in the bore too much before it heats up and expands. The new short skirt piston design in MY98 cars made the engine in this year more prone to this problem than others. The upshot of all this, I've read, is that engine life may be reduced by about 10%, meaning a rebuild at 135k instead of 150k for example. It's probably not worth paying the £700 or so it costs to fix (if Subaru won't help) if you don't think you'll own the car by then. Also, there seems to be no other ill effects as my car has had slap for over 30k miles and is still running strongly and never burns oil for example. If you do get it fixed you will probably get a sligtly larger replacement piston fitted which should also be more resistant to heat to combat the problem.