MannyA

This years trip was a migthmare, first of all one of my front discs cracked straight through after 2 laps , germany is a subaru black hole so I had to spend a fortune getting a set of discs sent over from power engineering (thanks fellas!)

Then just as Im heading to the track the big ends start knocking, car got me home, but now sound like a diesel.

Very expensive weekend, and only 2 laps of the track

Has anyone had the big ends go? how much can I expect to shell out.

i just want to get it sorted and sold, not too impressed with scooby ownership.

Gutted.

StickyMicky

mine went a week or 2 back

i can give you a few rough guides on prices i have acumulated

powerengineering will fit you a delivery miles sti9 bottom end for about £2600
3 day turnaround
TEG will do a rebuild for about the same amount but give you lots of other goodies like forged pistons, new clutch blahh blahh blahh
i would budget around 2k to be fair, but this will ovb go up or down depending on who does your work for you

you could get a cheepy motor from a scrappy and sling that in if you have contacts?

simon4653

MY03 wrx 28,000 miles Big End went Tuesday Eve after coming back from having Prodrive springs and geometry. Thankfully, the car is still under warranty; even so I cannot believe its gone in under 30K. Has any one else experienced this.

Simon

Triple X

iTrader: (1)

Err, quite a few unfortunately! Currently in the middle of rebuilding my STi 5 due to big end failure.

Neilo

Im very surprised by that mate....mines done more miles than that with a fair power upgrade....sounds very irregular...

MannyA

Its ridiculous, mine has a full service history, never been thrashed from cold and has always had mobile 1 and is bog standard, although it has 100k on the clock, it simply shouldnt happen to an engine in this day and age!

Ive been phoning round to get some costs and im looking at £2K minimum, as soon as it's fixed im selling it.

Everyone keeps banging on about engine rebuilds and new engines, surely they can just unbolt the sump and replace the bearings as used to happen in the old days? i think half the problem is mechanics these days have a remove and replace mentality.

Im annoyed.

andy97

iTrader: (1)

Its a boxer engine, you will need to split the block to get at them.

Andy

Triple X

iTrader: (1)

And you will probably need to replace the crank too if its badly scored, if not it will still need grinding which means it has to come out.

axgt_bwaii

iTrader: (6)

can i just ask was it a matter of using cheap oils or pumps failing that causes bearings to go?

stew

PJ-STI

iTrader: (7)

Had mine go a last week . Only had it 2 weeks. It's a STI V3 and I am looking at £3000 to get it sorted

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Mobil 1 - oops!

F

Triple X

iTrader: (1)

Whats wrong with Mobil 1?! (motorsport 15-50)

SamUK

iTrader: (1)

amm...thats a point...which Mobile 1 Oil was used?

Standard car Big End gone....now that is intresting...

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

XXX, do you know it was 15-50 he was using? Yours maybe if that's what you were using.

F

MannyA

it was 15-50 m1 as used by power engineering

Triple X

iTrader: (1)

Dont know what he was using no, you?

If he was using 15-50 then there is nothing wrong with Mobil 1.

MannyA

The only other thing I can think of is that the car has been used on numerous track days and the ring, plus a number of high speed (150 on clock) runs in germany, so it has has a fair amount of abuse, but surerly it should be designed with this sort of abuse in mind? oil changed after every trackday.

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

Do you have a knocklink and lambda link or equivalent? What about a TC in the inlet? These instruments would have shown any problems on your high speed runs. The theory is that Scoobs were designed for Japan where there is a 112mph limit. The aerodynamics at higher speeds are not good at feeding cooling air to the TMIC - this leads to high intake temps, det at high load and engine failure.

Changing the oil correctly and often does help but if you had some poor fuel, bad map, poor air flow then this can all lead to engine failure. Some people are lucky and others not. Gauges help spot early problems.

The cars are reliable but any car that is taken to the limit regularly will be prone to failure not just Imprezas.

F

ride5000

any long sweeping turns @ high lateral Gs?

that would point to oil starvation.

ken

MannyA

No out of the ordinary g's that I can think of.

Having spent the best part of 4 hours on public transport (grim!) i had some thoughts.

juddering clutches are also a common problem on scoobys, mine was particulary bad (standard clutch changed 12k ago) some of the juddering when pulling away in slow traffic was pretty bad, could this hammer the big end bearings?

At the end of the day, I have owned over 10 cars over the years (mostly german), all of which got a lot of stick, ive had the odd head gasket go, but this is the first time I have knackered an engine. Its really dented my faith in an otherwise cracking car.

Any way, who's best in SE england for sorting this out for me at a reasonable cost?

andypugh2000

I would recommend Rally Colin @ Thames valley motorsport to sort this out for you, the guy certainly knows his stuff

StickyMicky

to be fair, i have blew wvery single engine i have had in a car ranging from
1.0ohv novas to 1.7td vectras

the scooby has actually held together far longer then any of them in my past
which is quite an achievement for me

Triple X

iTrader: (1)

Very much doubt that the clutch would have contributed.

IMHO these engines dont like sustained periods of high revs, which is when mine went. Some people think the oil flow to bearings at high revs could be the cause. Also has been known for pressure relief valve on oil pumps to stick open.
Knocklink didnt show anything on mine and no out of the ordinary knock levels on laptop when it went. I noticed something was wrong due to the excessive oil temp 120+ deg, slowed right down to see if temps dropped and they didnt! Stopped as soon as i could and noticed the oil pressure was down. Big end knackered.

MannyA

Thanks for help guys, will give Thames Valley MS a call.

I think you are right about the revs, drove from Dunkirk to Nurburgring without dropping below 110, with some longish runs with 150 on speedo. (following mate in his 911) Great fun but ultimately very expensive.

Floyd

iTrader: (9)

The 110 ish mph would have been OK but the longish 150mph would have been too much stress for the engine.

F

maci

iTrader: (3)

Sorry to hear that MannyA.
I can only say that I regularly drive through Germany(about 800 km each time about 6 times a year) with my standard bugeye and I keep long runs at high speeds and never had problems. But I try to not keep the max speed for long time as that can obviously damage the engine, so 5th gear constant I don't go above 5500 rpm -and I have a speed of around 220 km/h. Succeed to shock quite some BMW drivers which is great fun
Keeping the max speed for long periods will break down any car. What I find just annoying a bit is that Scoobys don't have some protection mechanism so that when there is an indication of any problem, like exxcesive heat, they would limit the driver to drive them fast.

bob

I have the Type R and have lots of gauges FMIC and oil cooler have the car serviced every 3000 miles. Car had done 60,000miles but has been well looked after. Big ends still went last Sunday after a high speed run on full power for just 20-30 seconds. No indication untill the bearing was knocking then drop in oil pressure and rise in oil temp.

MannyA

150 (on clock, probably true 140) was done 3 times, each time for about 20-30 secs.
I didnt look at the rev counter, but I agree it probably is quite stressful on the engine.

Anyway whats done is done! ive learnt my lesson (save up for 911) gotta get back on the road, had forgotten just how appalling public transport is!

MannyA

Just one more thing to add.. 150mph feels no different to 130mph

It just aint worth going for those extra MPH if its going to cost you your engine!

SPEN555

FPMSL! How can you manage that?