zilch

My UK300 has been at the dealers for 3 days now, after they suspected a leaky gasket on the turbo, which was causing a "fluttering sound" (other forum on MY03's). The bad news coming back is that the Cat has broken down and has managed to cause damage to the turbo (not sure how that happened, can anyone shed some light ?? ). Car is run religously on Esso SUL.. so i have not put anything in that could bugger the cat (excuse the expression). Scoobyless for the bank holiday and hope to get it back after a new turbo turns up..2 Years and 15K months does not seem a long time (exhaust is a dealer fitted prodrive, as part of the performance pack, just lucky its under warranty

Mr Palmer, give us a call to arrange a beer, you might have to drive

Cheers

Jim

ScoobyDuck

iTrader: (1)

if the 1st cat in the uppipe has disintigrated, bits would have gone through the exhaust turbo fans, and probably breaking a fin or two. this is what would have caused the fluttering sound, as the fan would be unbalanced & have bits missing !

no idea what would have caused this cat to break down like that, but obvioulsy, it can happen. best option - get rid of it for good ! (you've got another 2 or something anyway!)

hope it all gets fixed (warrenty) and you get your Scoob back better than ever..

Steve

zilch

Steve, believe the PPP upgrade actually means they rip one of the Cats out anyway..so was down to 2.. Interesting point was when i
took it to the dealers when the noise first became apparent 6 months ago.. the whole of the down section was loose..and they had problems retightening it.. hmmm could have been damaged then ??

Off to phone the lease company and see if i can get a replacement for the weekend, no doubt a s@dding vectra or something similar

Cheers

Jim

Leslie

One free flow sports cat in the centre pipe is all you need for the MOT.

Les

zilch

Les, trouble is its at a subaru dealers getting fixed, expect they will not want to make that mod for me and will insist on putting on the complete genuine article

Cheers

jim

zilch

Just had an update from the dealer, they changed the cat and when they removed the turbo, by some miracle the foreign objects had passed right through the blades and avoided any damage..I thought they would have done the initial inspection before giving me the bad news yesterday.. Ah well good news is its back on the road for the weekend

Cheers

Jim

ScoobyDuck

iTrader: (1)

humm..yeah .. uk300 .. not sure on what they have - there are so many differences ...
if it has been removed - then I doubt the downpipe or centre ones would have caused this problem !
but who cares - it's gone be replaced - for free . . . just keep an eye on it and make sure it doesnt happen again!

Steve

ScoobyDuck

iTrader: (1)

this is confusing the hell out of me..

if there is NO cat before the turbo (uppipe) then the debris wouldnt go thro the turbo ..

so what are they talking about ???

Steve

zilch

Steve, will get to the bottom of it when i get over to the
dealers this afternoon and pick it up. Perhaps they can shed some light on what exactly went wrong.

Cheers

Jim

zilch

Steve, just got back and with the car.. this is the deal

Joint around the Cat (the downpipe one) was cracking and bits of weld were flying up into the turbo. According to the dealers it was very very lucky that the turbo did not get damaged..

Must admit the annoying sound as now gone (fluttering), but that could of been down to the Turbo gasket which was faulty...Just glad i got it back for the weekend and not a courtesy car ..

Cheers

Jim

hades

Scoobyduck, to clear things up - the UK300 has the same engine as the WRX, although a lot do have the prodrive performance pack (PPP) fitted. The PPP removes the cat in the centre section, leaving one in the up-pipe and one in the downpipe.

This means that there is an up-pipe cat fitted. Although it doesn't appear to be the case here, if you run too high exhaust gas temperature (EGT), then the up-pipe cat can break up and fire bits through the turbo. I've seen pictures of cats that have done this. This is normally caused by high boost or lean mixture or both. I haven't heard of it happening on a standard or PPP car, only more heavily modified ones. This might be what the dealer thought had happened.

The "classic" shape cars, the bugeye STi, and (I believe) the 03 (new shape) WRX all do NOT have up-pipe cat's fitted. I think this is the reason that the standard bugeye WRX feels slower than the older or newer shpaed cars.

ScoobyDuck

iTrader: (1)

Hades,

yeah .. I knew about the wrx & PPP'ed cars having and not respectivley. wasnt sure about uk300 !

so .. Jim says, the dealer says, it's the DOWNPIPE cat that has been throwing stuff UP into the turbo .. ERR .. I dont see how this is possible !
the cat is almost, what, 12" away (on classic anyway) and the zorst gasses would push any debrib down surely.... ???

the seam coming undone would explain the nosie .. probably leaking & vibrating about ...

glad it's fixed Jim .. just still a bit dubious of the dealers explination of bits downstream of the turbo getting thrown to the front of the car ...

oh well .. maybe that's why my car never sees a dealer anymore !

Steve

zilch

Steve, it could of been the up-pipe, it was the service reception guy i was talking to,not the mechanic..so he might have got it wrong..sorry for confusing you all

Cheers

Jim

[Edited by zilch - 8/23/2003 10:11:23 AM]