Wife's Daily Driver becomes a paperweight!

Just a quick update … Car towed to a recommended private shop and re-diagnosed as a major rod knock caused almost assuredly by a blown turbo drinking the oil out of the crank case.

Used engine found and ordered from trusted dealer (trusted by recommended shop). Price given for total swap about half of dealer quote, but comes with only half the warranty. Since speed and professionalism of installer is on the top of wife’s priorities … Private shop will do the swap. In a year or two when this becomes my car … then I get to do my own work!

Oddly everyone is having trouble finding a good total engine. It seems front end damage wipes the valve train and the few that reach the recyclers in good shape are scooped up quickly by everyone and their brother who is having 2.5 turbo problems.

For the Week I get to drive the official Misfit Toys Racing Tow vehicle!! Thanks again to Jim T for lending me transportation. From now on my wife says I need to be sure at least one of my crap-can-cars is registered, insured, inspected and capable of Baby Transport …. (a list of conditions none of my current cars fulfills)

sounds like the wife has lots of rules

littleturquoiseb wrote: For the Week I get to drive the official Misfit Toys Racing Tow vehicle!! Thanks again to Jim T for lending me transportation. From now on my wife says I need to be sure at least one of my crap-can-cars is registered, insured, inspected and capable of Baby Transport …. (a list of conditions none of my current cars fulfills)

Enjoy it! How many people pulled the heck out of your way on the way home?

glad you found a repair scenario that works for you !

Yeah, with your "low oil" post, I did get the sinking feeling the bearings were lost. TOKTOKTOK!

Keep your receipts! There have been rumblings about lawsuits concerning the turbos on Legacys and Bajas...especially the '05s, but the '06s, too. The turbos on the Legacy/Baja are not the same as the WRX and Forester of that vintage. They have been MUCH more troublesome. It may be that nothing ever comes of it, but ya never know.

What are you going to do with the old motor? It's probably rebuildable for someone who wants to put the effort into it.

docwyte wrote: Subaru is having lots of issues lately. The new (08+) WRX's and STI's are blowing motors with frightening regularity. Apparently the stock tune runs the motor very lean...

Don't know if it's been mentioned yet, but I'll chime in real quick as someone with firsthand experience (I have an 09 WRX, and I actually have blown the motor on it - see below)

1. The issue with the 08 STi was a ringland problem, which from everything I've seen on the last couple years of subaru forums is not a "widespread" problem but has happened more times than would be liked.

2. The 08 WRX haven't had any widespread issues - at least nothing more than any previous WRX. A few failures here and there but not significantly more than previous WRXs, since it's the same engine, turbo, and tune as the 07s, essentially.

3. The 09 WRX (mine): Cars built in the first 70 or so days of production (August through early October '08) had improperly cleaned cranks, and the debris or gristle was trashing the main bearings, with a high percentage of cars in that build date range getting rod knock and bearing failure in under 10k miles. Mine did it at about 9k miles. On NASIOC alone there are over 80 confirmed cases (all on UN-MODDED cars....they're not counting modded cars).

Although Subaru essentially won't admit to anyone that there is a problem, the dealers and SOA do know. With a few exceptions, everyone who has blown the motor with this has gotten a new longblock and turbo (including me) with few to no questions asked. A few exceptions got a hard time from their dealers or SOA for various reasons, but I'm not aware of anyone getting denied ultimately.

Only one replacement engine on NASIOC has failed, and it was one of the first replacements (probably from the same batch of bad cranks).

Otherwise, I've seen no (zero) reports of cars built after early Oct '08 with the problem, and it appears that Subaru found it and fixed it "under the radar". My replacement engine is going on 12k miles now with no issues. So it was really a small subset of the cars, and not the "08+ WRX" in general. Obviously like any car, there are other issues here and there, but I haven't noticed anything widespread (and I do keep an eye on this kind of stuff)....

--

As to the comment about a lean tune from the factory, we all can agree on that. I've seen the dynos from all over. F'ing emissions. Going stage 1 with an accessport usually takes care of that, but then you have the worry about warranty claim denial on any future failure, so it's a tradeoff....ugh.

In any case, good luck with the fix. Think about it this way: once you get the replacement engine, it's time to tune it...stage 2....have some fun. I'm waiting for the warranty on my 2nd engine to be up so I can do the same :)

JThw8 wrote:

littleturquoiseb wrote: For the Week I get to drive the official Misfit Toys Racing Tow vehicle!! Thanks again to Jim T for lending me transportation. From now on my wife says I need to be sure at least one of my crap-can-cars is registered, insured, inspected and capable of Baby Transport …. (a list of conditions none of my current cars fulfills)

Enjoy it! How many people pulled the heck out of your way on the way home?

(police pkg tahoe BTW)

They didn't pull out of the way as much as hang behind me afraid to pass. With the holy cow rain I was driving thruogh I kept it within 10 of the speed limit and in the center lane ... many came up quick from behind only to stand on the brakes as they approached.

Are you keeping the motor and all they are taking out then to sell? i'm sure someone on the suby forums will give you money for it, even with its problems.

Andrew

If he's keeping it he's part of a team building a Subaru powered Wartburg so I hope he keeps that in mind ;)

WORLDS FASTEST WARTBURG!!!! Erm...somehow doesn't sound as impressive when you come right out and say it.

carzan wrote: WORLDS FASTEST WARTBURG!!!! Erm...somehow doesn't sound as impressive when you come right out and say it.

Kinda like being the smartest kid in remedial classes.

littleturquoiseb wrote: From now on my wife says I need to be sure at least one of my crap-can-cars is registered, insured, inspected and capable of Baby Transport …. (a list of conditions none of my current cars fulfills)

Well this seems like a mandate to go get another car!!!!

dean1484 wrote:

littleturquoiseb wrote: From now on my wife says I need to be sure at least one of my crap-can-cars is registered, insured, inspected and capable of Baby Transport …. (a list of conditions none of my current cars fulfills)

Well this seems like a mandate to go get another car!!!!

Well now I have no money ... so I guess the Ba/Be Rally e-30 will have to be it for the next 6 months or so. it's not even close right now.

Oddly my new favorite craigslist search is what kind of car could I buy with the money I'm spending on the engine.

littleturquoiseb wrote: Oddly my new favorite craigslist search is what kind of car could I buy with the money I'm spending on the engine.

Ewww...dont do that to yourself, it's too painful.

I vote for something truckish, you are a homeowner now!

irish44j wrote: < 3. The 09 WRX (mine): Cars built in the first 70 or so days of production (August through early October '08) had improperly cleaned cranks, and the debris or gristle was trashing the main bearings, with a high percentage of cars in that build date range getting rod knock and bearing failure in under 10k miles. Mine did it at about 9k miles. On NASIOC alone there are over 80 confirmed cases (all on UN-MODDED cars....they're not counting modded cars). Although Subaru essentially won't admit to anyone that there is a problem, the dealers and SOA do know. With a few exceptions, everyone who has blown the motor with this has gotten a new longblock and turbo (including me) with few to no questions asked. A few exceptions got a hard time from their dealers or SOA for various reasons, but I'm not aware of anyone getting denied ultimately. Only one replacement engine on NASIOC has failed, and it was one of the first replacements (probably from the same batch of bad cranks). Otherwise, I've seen no (zero) reports of cars built after early Oct '08 with the problem, and it appears that Subaru found it and fixed it "under the radar". My replacement engine is going on 12k miles now with no issues. So it was really a small subset of the cars, and not the "08+ WRX" in general. Obviously like any car, there are other issues here and there, but I haven't noticed anything widespread (and I do keep an eye on this kind of stuff).... -- As to the comment about a lean tune from the factory, we all can agree on that. I've seen the dynos from all over. F'ing emissions. Going stage 1 with an accessport usually takes care of that, but then you have the worry about warranty claim denial on any future failure, so it's a tradeoff....ugh. In any case, good luck with the fix. Think about it this way: once you get the replacement engine, it's time to tune it...stage 2....have some fun. I'm waiting for the warranty on my 2nd engine to be up so I can do the same :)

How about a little insider secret here? It was a change of bearing materials that cause these failures. The EPA mandated that auto manufacturers remove Lead from bearings. Lead is nice and soft and works well to contain particles in the oil.

Once the lead was removed the cranks weren't polished to match the new bearing surfaces.

Hence eating bearings at a high rate in short order.

Just another quick update ... Motor swap complete by recomended shop. Will be picking up tomorrow morning. Core cost to keep the busted engine is only $250 bucks ... no brainer there I will be performing the autopsy in my garage when time permits.

So after the bottom end re-build and a new turbo ... what should I put it in? (and don't say the wartburg ... the transmission can't hold that kind of power)

littleturquoiseb wrote: Just another quick update ... Motor swap complete by recomended shop. Will be picking up tomorrow morning. Core cost to keep the busted engine is only $250 bucks ... no brainer there I will be performing the autopsy in my garage when time permits. So after the bottom end re-build and a new turbo ... what should I put it in? (and don't say the wartburg ... the transmission can't hold that kind of power)

A Wagovan.

littleturquoiseb wrote: So after the bottom end re-build and a new turbo ... what should I put it in? (and don't say the wartburg ... the transmission can't hold that kind of power)

I can take care of that transmission issue.

Of course the trans fix and the 2.5 rebuild would put us well over budget for any of the events we had intended to enter.

Find a formula V chassis and a subie 5 speed and let your imagination run wild.

littleturquoiseb wrote: So after the bottom end re-build and a new turbo ... what should I put it in?

Brat!

Clem

littleturquoiseb wrote: So after the bottom end re-build and a new turbo ... what should I put it in?

whatever you want

I vote locost, or build the toyobaru god never intended …like oh, I dunno , maybe an 88 alltrac?

4cylndrfury wrote:

littleturquoiseb wrote: So after the bottom end re-build and a new turbo ... what should I put it in?

whatever you want I vote locost, or build the toyobaru god never intended …like oh, I dunno , maybe an 88 alltrac?

Meh. 3sgte vs. EJ25 is kindof a toss up.

Would definitely sound cool, though.

EJ + anything pre 90s is a good thing

4cylndrfury wrote: EJ + anything pre 90s is a good thing

Agreed. But i'm also a 3sgte fanboy. I don't see the point in spending the money to get the EJ25 in there, and then boosted, when for the same money you could have just dumped a 4th gen 3sgte in the car and be running over 300whp on OEM parts.

making sense is overrated...sometimes its cooler just cuz its hard and unsmart

Yeah, i should have known better than to post something like that on these forums.