SCOOBNOV

hi all, what are the main tell-tale signs of an imminent big-end failure, I assume a drop in oil pressure is one?

Have an oil press gauge in the car so am keeping an eye on it at mo.

Bricksh

Warning - I had big ends fail on my 98WRX and had NO oil pressure warning despite leaking oil pump. It is very expensive so get it checked out before you need a new short engine!

scoobyslut

"IF" you have any doubts, get it to a garage quick, dont leave it a while and "see how it goes". These engine wont give you more than a few seconds warning before they start to knock bigtime and and costing you a fortune.

Dont leave it that long, get it checked now if in any doubt, do your pocket a favour.!

SCOOBNOV

Thanks for the advice guys. will get it looked at asap.

The car is a STI Type R ver5 which I have heard from many people is a highly stressed engine and sometimes referred to as the "Glass Engine".

It basically came to light last Saturday when I took the car down to P.Engineering to have a rolling road test done. The guy's there were not confident about putting it on as according to them, the engine sounded "harsh" on the top of the rev range, and their advice was to get a second opinion from Pat (who had recently mapped the car and is familiar with these engines). This came as a total shock to me as the car is my pride and joy and is very well cared for. regular oil changes/always run on O.Max with a booster and hardly any miles (24k).

I'm pretty sure of the type of sound to look out for and cannot hear anything like it yet? This was also the opinion of Pat who is a very good mapper and certainly knows his stuff.

Having said that, when I parked up last night, put my ear close to the outside of the front grill and thought I could hear a very faint knocking noise, kind of like a worn camshaft would make. This has alarmed and I'll probably get It looked at again by one of the above proffesionals.

This whole thing has really put a downer on my scooby ownership at the mo and has left me worried that engine could go at any time. WHY is this the case that these engines have this problem, have heard theories of oil starvation to the bearings after an oil change being one of the possible causes, any1 else know of any possibles?

Big thanks to P.Engineering as they are very proffesional honest guys who could easily have just put the car on the rollers without noticing!

Can also highly reccommend Pat who is an expert in his field.

has anybody else experienced the same thing on a Type R or any other scoob?

sooby

You must get it checked out BUT if the low knocking noise was near the front right part of the engine (when looking into the engine compartment from the front of the car), then there may well not be an issue. A number of people have heard this noise and chased it up. Many have put 40k miles on the car with it there and there isn't a problem. The "volume" varies from one car to the next.

I had the noise I'm describing and have had many garages have my car to convince everything is ok. All of them said they couldn't hear anything or there was no noise there that wasn't usual. Still ended up having the cam belt tensioner replaced and a few other things looked into. The car is running sweet.

It's funny how you hear things when you try really hard. Just maybe, you're starting to hear things because of what others suspect!

Of course, they may be right. Hope not. If they are, let's hope you caught it early.

Let us know how it turns out.

PS Just wanted to add that the noise I'm talking about can only be heard when hot and idling and only from next to the engine - like when you've pulled up at home and the cars idling whilst opening the garage door.

EMS

If a big-end bearing is completely gone, you won´t miss it..... If it´s slightly damaged, you can hear it best with sligtly raised RPM (around 2000 - 2500) with the car standing. (and warm engine oil) It gives a tapping sound.

Mark.