Hey Karlos..

Check for anything vibrating on the bulkhead..

I am afraid to say.. that Piston Slap can be heard from inside the car.. but at times when u open the window/door you cant hear it..

In a way its irrelevant what we say.. its upto the dealer in the end.. take it to them.

J.

 

All,

Over the past few days I've noticed a strange sound which sounds like a knocking/rattling. A friend of mine like'nd it to a helicopter, which is quite accurate really. The sound can be heard if you take the car just to 1000 - 1500 rpm. What is most worrying is that it's louder in the morning, when cold, and gets quieter during the journey, although you can always hear it. The strange thing is, I got to work this morning and although you could hear the noise inside the car, I opened to door to see if it was coming from the engine bay but couldn't hear anything....

Your help/suggestions are appreciated.

Karl

 

Hi Karlos,
I'm no expert but may be of help and anyone is welcome to correct me. I seem to hear this too and have a larger exhaust fitted. If you have a larger exhaust fitted, there is a chance it's the resonating sound from the exhaust you are hearing and that may be why you can only hear it from only certain angles or in the car. Hope this helps although more opinions would be welcome.

WREXY.

[This message has been edited by WREXY (edited 07 June 2001).]

 

Thanks for the reply Wrexy,

Unfortunately the car is completely standard at the moment. Is the noise louder on your when cold then? I'm getting the bad feeling that due to the lack of replies I might be looking at it being piston slap, but surely you'd be able to hear the noise outside of the car? Somebody please tell me as the warranty is up in December! :-(

Karlos

 

****!

I was hoping it wasn't piston slap. How good are dealers at admitting it IS this and repairing it? Anyone had experience of this?

Karlos

 

Karlos,
Mine is pronounced more when warm. Its a soft sound it has the same beat as the exhaust (hence the helicopter sound) and you can here it at the front of the car and then it's the same note when you go to the back coming out the exhaust. Mine has been diagnosed as resonance from a mechanic. You can sort of hear it in the car too, but you have to really really concentrate.

On cold start up mine goes to 1600 revs and slowly drops 200 revs every minute or so. Its quiet and when warm the noise starts and the idle is at 700 revs.

WREXY

 

Well,

I've booked the car into my local dealer. Goes in on wednesday the 13th, so I will find out then what the problem is. Incidently when I explained the symptoms of the problem to the service guy who sounded a little concerned. Asked me how many miles I'd done and when I told him 21k he sort of um'd and ar'd the way mechanics usually do... I AM SCARED! I've only had this MY98 three weeks, I didn't get any of these problems with my MY96!!!

Karlos

 

Karlos,

Mine is a MY00. I think the MY98 had this problem, from what I've read here.

Hope all goes well for you. Good luck and let us know how you go as I am concerned.

WREXY.

 

Start the car and then one at a time unplug an injector lead. Plug each back in before moving onto the next cylinder.


Piston slap normally affects cyl 4. If the knocking goes away with the injector unplugged, then that's the cylinder with a problem. Cylinder 4 is the one nearest the passenger seat (RHD car). If the noise goes with cyl 4 unplugged, my money is on piston slap.

 

Thankyou very much for those handy instructions Pete.

WREXY.

 

if you can hear nothing over the sound of a flat 4 trying to run on 3!

 

Hi Karlos
If you want me to listen to it for you put a post up and I'm happy to pop round and give you an opinion (I only live in Fareham).
Just a word of warning though do not expect a short engine from Sparshatts as they only do the piston change now and you may have to be "persuasive".
Friend of a friend had his done a couple of months back and it quietened it down nicely.
See you
Warren

 

Wal,

That would be outstanding m8, if you could spare the time. You busy this weekend? It would probably be best if you popped round in the morning to hear it from cold. I'll email you my address/phone no.

Karlos

PS ****! Just noticed you've got no email address! Call me on 07941 527676, or email me your tel no. Work email is karl.royal@gemplus.com

[This message has been edited by Karlos (edited 08 June 2001).]

 

i very much doubt if you will get a short engine at all as all dealers have to do a piston change

 

Thanks to Wal for popping by this morning, and unfortunately confirming that my car does indeed have piston slap.... Quiet badly as well apparently. Needless to say I will be relaying this information to the dealer on Wednesday, and will keep you informed of the outcome.

Thanks,

Karlos

 

GULP!

Car went into the dealers this morning. Spoke to the chap and explained the two problems I'm having, exhaust shield rattle and the dreaded piston slap.

"they all have a bit of piston slap... it's quite normal blah blah blah..."
Said the service guy. After explaining that this was my third Impreza and that I hadn't had any problems like this with the first two he finally backed down.

Still haven't had a phone call yet.....

Karlos

[This message has been edited by Karlos (edited 13 June 2001).]

 

Get stuck into them m8 if they don't call you.

 

Hi Karlos
Best of luck with Sparshatts, I think you may have to keep phoning to get it done as it appears to be their tactic to hope you will go away.
On a different tack your spoiler is a Demon Tweeks special, flicking through the catalogue (not mine!!) and saw it in there.
I won't be able to make the 24th as I will be at sea but thanks anyway and I'll try and make the next one.

See you later
Warren
Scoobless in 3 days....

 

Hi there,

If anyone's coming to the meet @ Winchester Services on Sunday, could they have a listen to mine, as I get some helicopter type noise at 1000-1500 revs, but at the driver's side... I can't decide if this is belt noise or not.

Any help much appreciated... You can find me in a red MY98 wagon, STi back box, SIDC stickers... will probably be parked next to a green MY98 wagon with 17 inch gold Speedlines.

Simon.

 

Simon,

I was going to be coming to the Winchester meet but have been instructed by the dealer not to do "un-necessary" miles in the car prior to mine getting fixed.

Where you from? I can come and have a listen to your car if you like. I will tell you however that it does sound like you've got the same noise as mine......

Karlos

 

Phew!

Picked the car up last night and was relieved (although I don't know why!?!) that Sparshatts have confirmed that there is a serious problem.

They have told me that they are going to contact IM and arrange for the work to be done, then they will contact me to get the car in again. They told me they'd contact me in a couple of days. Is this the usual course of events Warren, or are they doing the "hope he goes away" tactic you mentioned.

Also, if they come back and say they'll just do the piston, how difficult for me will it be to argue that I get a short engine as it doesn't take an engineer to work out that if you've got one body of metal smacking into another there's gonna be damage to the block.

Karlos

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Piston slap normally affects cyl 4. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Really ???

All the USA examples I seen have been #3

Richard

[This message has been edited by rsquire (edited 14 June 2001).]

 

Karlos,

Actually the dealer will inspect the bore when replacing the piston, and it will almost certainly be as new. The new piston has a very slight overbore to close the clearances up slightly, and that is all that seems to be needed to make it quieter.

I had mine done, and it has completely sorted the problem out. Given that the fix works, IM aren't going to stump up for a new half engine unneccessarily.

The other benefit of a simple piston replacement is that you don't need to run the engine in again..

Cheers,

Alex

 

Richard,

No.4 was replaced on my car - the dealer did say that it usually is that piston.

Alex

 

I'm also Which cylinder is it the one under the turbo or the passenger seat one of a right hander? Or is it both? I keep reading two different oppinions and am confused.

WREXY.

 

Just had a look on my car, cylinder 3 is under the turbo and 4 is in your case the passenger seat ( driver side on my car ) So I take it it's number 4 that goes. Ay?

WREXY.

 

But what was replaced??

When we talk about #3 or #4???

The Pistons
Conrods
Bearings?


I'm a very confused litle mupppet as from all sources that I've been able to gather it's the #3 bottom end that fails

and that is on

USA non Turbo cars
USA *cough* Turbo cars *yeah I know they don't exist... Well proper ones

UK... Well certainly my 22B Can't comment on others ...

Anyone want to add to the list

Oh and my feeling is the "mods" are not the cause.. It's more a case of the fundamental design..

 

Alex,

Thanks for the reply. Did your dealer tell you it would take a couple of days to sort everything out with IM before getting your car in for the repair?

Karlos

 

OK I've gathered that number 4 is the piston that goes and 3 is the big end bearing that goes. True or False?

WREXY

 

Thanks - have mailed you offline...

Simon.