terzo204

After rally GB my car started to make an intermittent knocking noise from the front. It did'nt sound like the proverable 'bag of spanners' and so I did'nt think much of it. Anyway, I took the car to my local dealers and I was told it has possible engine failure.....

This has yet to be confirmed as my dealer want's someone from Subaru to come and have a look at it before we open things up. But to say I am worried is an understatement. I may be made redundant in January so the rebuild cost would come at a very bad time.

The car has always been serviced at the main dealers at considerable cost. the car is very lightly modded following a remap by Powerstation. It has never been tracked an only has 44k on the clock.

When looking at the records the dealer told me that there are other MY 2003 STi's that have had engine failure so - has anyone else had this and if it's not a total loss, what could it be?

Any help gratefully received as at the moment I am truely gutted

andywiddss1

iTrader: (4)

44k **** that is low for a knackered bottom end . hope they are wrong mate

G-string

iTrader: (1)

Gutted for you mate.

finalzero

water pump, pulleys etc? Check everything, wiggle stuff about and then start the car, does it make the sound on tickover and moving?

Yeah tough times mate with redundancies all over the place - hope it works out okay

Pete

Well i,d defo get a proper opinion first, don,t panic just yest, does sound nasty though, but as Andy says, pretty low milage for bottom end failure..

terzo204

I thought initially it was a power steering pump / pully loose so I got Subaru to check it and that's when I was told that it's possible mechanical failure of the engine.

I'm not happy as I have spent a lot to maintain this car at a main dealer.

cornflakes5210

iTrader: (1)

proper gutted for you! i just got made redundant also not good times at all!!

terzo204

It only seams to make the noise at tickover.

The engine sounds fine when on revs

terzo204

Really sorry to hear thet.

I survived the first cull but I am worried for the new year.

Construction is fooked at the moment.

ColiNThESTI

dam looks stunning let us know how it goes

The rookie

iTrader: (1)

Best of luck, the fact it goes away when revs may be a good sign, maybe an AVC unit has gone down, I know the BM's bang like crazy at low speed when they do.

Simon

M444GY

iTrader: (72)

what a pisser . seems very low milage for engine failure

sKunk

I'm not aware of 2003 STI's having engine problems.

terzo204

Neither was I nor was the dealer.........

It might not be the engine, but i'm not feeling lucky at the moment.

Any ideas anyone technical?

Scooby_Stu_

iTrader: (12)

I seen a 2005 55 plate sti bottom end go on the rolling road at a very well known tuning company, it was only going through the warm up they hadn't even given it any power runs, just went. Sounded awful.
And that had realy low milage.

Stuart.

terzo204

Does'nt bode well........

steveorangewrx

That is low mileage. Dont want to seem to be teaching egg sucking leasons, but the outer crank pulley that the aux belts run off can fail as the rubber damping comes away from the pulley its self causing a knocking sound, I hope its that?!
Good luck, sounds like you need some fella.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Speak to David at APi mate.

if it were the bottom end, I would expect the knocking to increase in frequency with increasing engine revs. I'm not an expert though!

Ns04

pikeywrx

iTrader: (5)

Not an expert mate but when mine was on its way out the noise got worse the hotter (oil getting thinner) and the more i revved it.
apparently oil pump makes a racket when it is on its way

terzo204

My thoughts too?

Assuming the worst I may take it to Powerstation/API or someone like that.

I have always warmed the car up and cooled it down, taken the Clio if neither are warmed up etc.......Well annoying.

terzo204

I got Subaru to put the car on the ramps. They looked at it for an hour and concluded it's engine related. I initially took it in thinking it was one of the belts. The noise first appeared after driving on the gravel roads/car parks in Wales. I thought something may have been knocked off.

RedScoob

I hope it's not as serious as it first appears.
Makes you think though, bottom end failures seem to be quite common with the flat fours. After almost 20 years of evolution you would think that it would have been addressed by now?

RON

If it is bottom end failure, the best thing you can do is get the car away from the main dealers, as they'll charge you and arm and a leg to sort it out, get it to the specialist of your choice.......

there's little chance of any sort of warranty pay out, esp seeing as it's been re-mapped...

andyswagon

it could be the cambelt tensioner, the hydraulic part goes weak sometimes and knocks against the engine block. seen this on an 06 wrx with 10k miles on it!!

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

Terzo, tough luck mate, what a time of year for that to happen. If you want to pop in [ assuming you're not a million miles away ] we'll diagnose it exactly for you. No obligation - no cost.

In the past we have had " engine failures " that have turned out to be tensioners, broken up pipe [by a very well known tuner ] loose crank pulleys.
The fact that it is only on idle suggests a tensioner failure. Usually if you bring the revs up to 1500 - 2000 it'll start making a racket if it is the crank.

Regardless of all that, if it is a crank failure the bottom end is now wrecked and no amount of non use or gentle driving will alter the fact that it is broken.

I.E. it cannot cost any more to gently run it around for diagnosis as the bill is already as bad as it will get.

Good luck call if I can help at all. David APi

Agents for:
Simtek, the most exciting new Ecu for years
Buddy Club exhausts
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Hybrid front mount intercooler kits
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And of course; the well known APi Performance Exedy organic clutch

www.apiengines.com

01926 614333

p1doc

good for you david-full of xmas spirit
martin

jasonius

iTrader: (1)

^^^^

Which is why David/API will be doing my cambelt change/uprated oil pump sometime in Jan..

terzo204

Thanks for the advice Scoobynetters. Suffice to say I will not be getting it fixed at Subaru as i'm not made of money. Once the fault is diagnosed then I may well be giving you a call David.

Fingers crossed!

Happy Christmas to you all.

terzo204

Above is the thread on my car's engine.

In short, I was advised that piston No. 2 was slapping and about to fail. The car is currently being fixed at API with new pistons, oil pump, seals, clutch plate, etc, etc.... As I was thinking of selling the car I'm gutted. (Not that I would wish this on anyone else).

In peoples experience, will the engine rebuild effect the value of the car and has anyone else experienced / heard of engine failure in a 2003 STI with less than 45k on the clock?

Mike

APIDavid

iTrader: (4)

Mike, We have 3 damaged pistons for you to collect on Saturday. No 2 cylinder was by far the worst for side skirt damage.

I would hope that the car would be worth a bit more with one of our engines fitted. It ought to give the buyer more confidence that the engine is nice and fresh.

But with car sales as tough as they are at the moment, I can only suggest that any interested buyer should be more interested in the one with the better engine.

Kind regards David

PS Nathan and the boys will look after you on Saturday, I am booked a day off.