WrX 03

I've read a few comments on here about people suffering from poor power in hot weather conditions. I recently bought a new Impreza IIIWRX in may, after 1500 miles it had the turbo replaced on warranty. 1000 miles later the boost is fluctuating again. I've taken it back to the dealer who said it feels OK after he took it for a test run. I know its definately not right, cos when I give it a boot full and its running good I can't help myself grinning with an evil frown on my face, when its not working there no smile and loads of frowns. Another trip down to the dealer and I'm told its due to the hot weather and its quite normal!!!! What the F**k do they make of them on the continent and how do they win rallys in hot countries??? No help from the dealer (albeit they were very polite in telling me to **** off and stop whingeing!) I am told I've got to wait till the 4th August until the regional service manager to come and see me. So I ring subaru technical (0121 522 2000) and speak to a thoroughly nice chap called Mr Baker who suggested I take it back to the dealer to drain some oil as it was upto the full mark. This was a problem on older models and apparantly puts the oil pressure up and can tell the ECU to cut the boost down to protect the engine. Didn't work for me but might do for a few of you out there who are suffering the same. Anyway still no joy but I'm keeping a diary on the cars antics and performance as well as waether conditions (i'm lucky enough to have access to a weather station for humidity atmospheric pressure and temp)as I for one do not think its acceptable. I'm not talking 10-20bhp loss but as much as 50-60 horses, thats how flat it feels. I urge anyone who still has warranties to keep on to Subaru and your dealer about your problems and demand the problem fixing. Anyone got any comments please???

Leslie

I suppose the question is, how do you know how much BHP you are losing. A drop of 20 horses would feel significant I reckon. It does not matter if the turbo is producing the normal boost pressure, the higher charge temperature will mean loss of power. With the temperatures we have been experiencing the loss of power will certainly be very noticeable. It certainly is on my car.

Les

WrX 03

I could accept a small drop in power due to the weather. My next step is to when its next running bad to get it dyno'd on a rolling road, get the print out and present it to subaru. Customers abroad must be really dissapointed. I know they are nick named scooby doo's but I dont accept that we have to drive dogs.

nom

My thoughts...
Be happy if you're getting a big drop. It's that or the possibility of the engine blowing
It's not a scoob thing, it's an engine in general thing, moreso with a turbo. As the weather gets hotter, air gets hotter & thinner. That's about it. Physics does the job after that.

The scoob is affected more than some other turbo cars because the intercooler is on top of the engine, which will increase charge temperatures significantly if you floor it after pottering for a bit - particularly from traffic lights, etc.

JDMs again are affected more because they are expecting better fuel than available here. The fuel here's far more prone to det, and detting is what happens when things get too hot.

When the ECU picks up a fair bit of det, it panics and pulls boost right back to stop it (det increases temps significantly, and over a relatively short span of time something in the cylinder - typically the plugs - gets so hot they start an explosion at the wrong time & you get pre-ignition & a hole in the piston...).
You don't want det anyway, let alone to that extent!

So be happy that the car looks after itself! And the boost will come back over time if det is not detected. Two things to get round this - use Optimax & octane booster, and be very very careful with acceleration after sitting in traffic!

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Well, the engine is very tight to start with, even when my scoob was new she felt like she struggled (i had problems with a 1.8ltr vtec civic and couldnt get past him ) so id give it a few k miles (like 8-10k) and by then the engine would have loosened up

Tony

WrX 03

Thanks nom, I might be happy that it does only happen in hot weather, but sometimes she flies when it really hot and sometimes she struggles even when its cool, like this morning it was only 16 degrees! Admittendly the problem does occur most when its warm, but its just so bloody frustrating especially when you cant pull away from a golf TDi!

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

Mine was in pretty cool weather, id give your engine some time to loosen up, this is what it'll be IMHO as scoobs are like dogs performance wise when new

Tony
PS, she now flies (PPP'd ) and has no problems with vtec honda's

WrX 03

Take it you recommend the PPP? Did you get it done at your dealer and is there a definate difference?

PS How do you put all these faces on your posts?

marklemac

know how you feel. My STi7 PPP holds back when sat in traffic or when I do a hot start and pull away.

My boost gauge drops from 18/19psi to as little as 10psi until such time that enough air has been rammed into the scoop. When I am stuck in traffic and I need to blast it, I just keep pushing the IC button just to reduce the charge temp.

I'd like a FMIC, but until the warranty runs out I guess thats a no go. I wonder if it is really worth doing ?

nom

FMIC?
Lots of 'free' extra power (ie not really any downsides, aside from cost - some say there's additional lag but I think you need to be paying some serious attention to notice!).
And, I think, unless you have gone nuts with other mods, an 'all round' ECU can probably cope too (ie 800/802/Tek2) without the need for a remap. You don't take so much advantage of it without a remap (more safety than power), but you still get both.
You also increase the safety 'zone' by increasing the power (lower, more predictable intake charge temps) which somehow doesn't sound right

TonyBurns

iTrader: (3)

I have an MY00, i got my PPP fitted at Prodrive
Is there any difference..... well my car had around 10k on the clock so she was loosened up when i had the PPP fitted, the difference is quite noticable though especially in gear

Tony

WrX 03

The difference is terrible today, 16 degrees 97% humidity,1001 bar atmos pressure, foot down nothing!! Did 220 miles in her yesterday and she was flying!!!! So Fookin frustrating!