99 Sti Type RA V-Limited. Version 5 (so phase 2 engine)

28,000 miles, always serviced and oil chnaged every 4k. I'd consider muself a pretty considerate driver, don't thrash it and let it warm up.

Slowed down gently for a round about coming off the motorway and KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

So, its in for a complete rebuild, don't know yet which bearing has failed but the bills going to be fairly horrendous. I've got a warranty on it (Warranty Holdings) but its still gonna be 2-3 months being repaired.

So, its goodbye Scoob when it comes back. I'm off for some German engineering. TT/993 Porker or something which won't spit its dummy out at such low milage. 2 happy years together - forgiving it for costing £750 per month to run - but i'm not forgiving it this.

Russ

 

Sorry to hear that.

Was your car modded? Was it an import?

German cars goes bang too you know. I would go for the Porsche as I know Audi has a lot of problems for a long time.

What do you mean by running costs of 750 a month?

I come from a Volvo S60 T5 with so many problems that it is a wonder it didn“t kill me to drive it. Dealer took it back.

Good luck with your next car. There is nothing as annoying as a troublesome car.

Claus

 

Not what I wanna be reading having my sites set on getting an STi5

Why are the running costs so high, you must do big miles every month?

 

engine spec please Russ. What air filter? what exhaust system? What fuel? Was it remapped?

cheers
john

 

£425 a month to pay for it plus insurance warranty/servicing/tyres/constant vandalism repairs/rated "horrific" on emmissions by the tax man, etc etc, doesn't take long to hit £750 a month to run these things!

John - Standard motor with HKS air filter, dump valve and Super Dragger box, decatted. ONLY gets run on Optimax with a couple of Broquets in for good measure. Castrol Magnatec oil.

My friends Sti4 failed at 29k(!) but in his case it did a piston - so i've been very conscious of good fuel/oil etc since day 1.

 

Russ,

Sorry to hear. Is the HKS the racing suction kit? Have you had your car on a Select Monitor/DeltaDash recently as I have a friend who blew 3 MAF's in 8000 miles with one if the MAF was on it's way out, it could run horribly lean......

May be nothing to do with it though, based on other people's experience. Also fits with a lot of others, high(ish) speed run, followed by slowing down and then bang

What speed were you doing on the motorway and do you have Oil Pressure and temp gauges?

Matt.

 

and you ran this with the standard ECU with those mods?

My own thoughts on the STi5/6 are leave it alone as regards breathing/exhaust decat unless you have a full remap. This is why i have retained the engine/exhaust/induction as standard and use genuine STi air filters.

Hope you get it sorted without too much pain/time.

 

i dont agree with you at all DBM, i wouldnt have gone for an STi5 if that were the case. IMHO you should stick to what i am doing or get a proper remap of these cars, changing the breathing on them without a remap is a risk i would not take.

There are plenty of non STi's blowing when you make these sorts of changes too. Either leave it alone or do a proper upgrade is what i suggest. There is plenty of info on this BBS about how similar a P1 and STi5 are in terms of the ECU/map used. This is not an STi problem, it's a half upgrade problem IMHO.

I am asuming in this case the ECU was left standard, of course you can have problems with any car, but if you follow the logic i am using you are less likely to have problems like blown engines.

 

just spoted the oil you are using too. Magnatec is crap for a turbocharged Impreza, certainly no good when you start to drive them a bit harder than just normal daily driving. I wouldnt use anything other than a good quality oil such as Castrol RS 10/60 or Motul 15/50.

 

Fuelling was fine, but as you say, it could be the MAF sensor that failed. The cars in at Barretts Motorsport for the repairs tho it could be a while coming back as they're off doing the Rally at the moment!

Phil at barretts is a top chap, and i trust his judgement entirley on Sti's, from what hge's said, its usually an oil pump failure and they tend to fit an uprated one when they do the (frequent!) rebuilds. There were 3 line dup in front of mine to be done before they could start on it!

Still iut'll come back with a nice newly rebuilt motor, and i'm having it tidied up (stonechips etc) whilst its in. So i'll offer it up and move on. Shame, its the only car i've ever had that still intimidates me after 2 years! I'll miss it.

Price wise, what sort of money are they fetching?

Russ

 

Russ

Will warn you now - Warranty Holdings will get an assessment done. Think they will find that 2sometime during the cars life it was low on oil"

They did it to me and most others I know that have claimed. You will need to get an independant assessment - garage doesn't count -so you may as well get this done straightaway.

And you'll probably need a solicitor - just to warn you so you can pre-empt what they're doing.

 

the majority of STi5/6's i know of that fail are det/fueling related Russ. You are going to get debris in the oil pump from a failure so it's a good reason to swap it then anyway. If you can, get some pictures of the pistons, i would be interested in seeing those. Best of luck.

 

Craig, agreed, they are cowboys.

MB

 

I had heard similar comments....! A search on here doesn't find too many people who have successfully claimed. One well known Scoob man advises sticking your money on a horse at 500-1 because you have a better chance of success!

The way i see it is that i paid the £620 for two years cover, serviced it perfectly in accoirdance with the contract and it suffered a failure.

So they owe me!

I'll keep you all posted - hopefuly they'll play fair!

Russ

 

The oil issue has been done to death on here DBM, do a search.

I am not a chemical engineer or an oil specialist, i just know what works for me in the harsh conditions i run engines whilst racing/rallying/track driving etc. If you dont agree with me i dont have any problems with that, but magnatec and it's ilk dont cope well with the high temperatures seen in a turbo engine, they have a tendency to burn.

 

John, I agree, racing and rallying are different, and a fully synth is recommended.

Magnatec is fine for normal road use (even if you do drive fairly hard)

MB

 

I've always used Magnatec because thats what Barretts motorpsort reccommend and use in Sti's - bearing in mind they run Dave Higgins Group N car, as i said i trust their advice. I'll have to ask what goes in the rally car!

In all honesty, i thought it WAS fully synthetic so it shows what i know!

 

Hi Lads, I have just bought a 98 sti 5 20,000 miles totally standard. I have just fitted a hks filter and am about to geta dump vave and full de catted exhaust. Do you think i should do this or leave it alone??????? Cheers

 

Not sure i'd be the right person to comment right now! I'd just tell you to sell the bloody thing!

I'm off to kick the cat.

 

Personally I think its an inherent weakness(misuse,improper mods etc just make it worse but are not the cause in the majority of cases.).Sorry to here about yours mate.I had a very lucky escape.MY STi4 had Link and full exhaust and HKS induction and was pampered.I traded it in for the 7 and a few days later it went bang needing a full rebuild.Dealer who I traded it into was gutted and thought a faulty oil pump was to blame.He stripped the car of the mods for me just before this so I suppose it could have been a damaged MAF sensor which I did'nt know about because I was using the Link.Can a faulty MAF sensor actually cause the engine to let go? Anyway very lucky escape for me, not much consolation to all those who have faced a hefty bill.When I sell the 7 I probably would'nt buy a Scoob again until the engine is fully redesigned.

 

yes a faulty map sensor can cause the engine to to bang

 

Yes, I'm with John F on the oil. I have been recommended not to use any form of Magnatec in a turbo engine. Use the Castrol RS 10/60 instead.

 

The link does NOT rely on the MAF.



/J

 

i bought a sti 4 a couple of months ago ,advice given to me by david hendry who imported it from was first up grade the oil pump, and the to leave it alone as far as moding the engine ,as most of use only do a bit at a time when really you need to do the whole thing in one go . he said that any sti 4/5 that they sell now they up grade the oil pumps just to be on the safe side as they've had problems with the standard one's.

 

this become worrying because i had two pistons go on a MY99 std uk
first time the whole engine replaced (no 3 piston sh*gged the bore up) and the second time no2 piston in the NEW ENGINE was replaced thats on a 33k mileage car fully serviced at a dealer every time never total screwed only had the car 2 and bit years seems like the phase two engine is made of plastic with chocolate internals .

all i can say is thank god for warranty

 

how has a subaru ever made ir through a rally.
seems these cars can let go for no apparent reason at any time
there are similarities between the cars but it seems uk,s sti,s p1,s modded not modded lightly modded heavilly modded have all had failures
said it before it seems when they go best to bit the bullett and use non subaru parts
cossie pistons arrow rods etc and keep below 140mph

 

12,ooomls on my car.
looks like i had better start saving my dosh
this seems like high mileage for a scoob without a rebuild
seems a high failure rate do evos and fords suffer this??
never known such a problem in a supposed high perf car

 

... >> So, its goodbye Scoob when it comes back. I'm off for some German engineering. TT/993 Porker or something which won't spit its dummy out at such low milage <<

Oh yeah ! My loud mouthed, big headed know all neighbour at a recent party severely chastized me about my preference for Brit Built cars. They're all rubbish according to him. Apparently his Boxster is of superior build quality and his friends, who drives something with a three pointed star and the other one of those blue and white round logo "Bavarian Sierras", confirmed his "German Build Quality" observations. Guess what? Yes, got it in one .... later said Porrka failed on motorway hard shoulder - burned it's engine. That fire was certainly of "Superior Build Quality" according to reports. No, you're wrong, I did not laugh even on a "He who laughs last laughs loudest and longest" basis even though I was sorely tempted to do so. But, when a motor car lets you down BIG TIME as they ALL can do sometimes, it's never a laughing matter.

Later, giving a lift to another member attending that same party, during a short drive, we observed TWO nearly new BMWs on the hard shoulder, both with bonnets up steaming like locomotives ... HGFs I suspect. We recalled the "build quality" conversation and this time we both laughed.

Why oh why do so many Brits kid themselves that only British cars have expensive problems? ..... later to learn the very hard and expensive way from bitter experience that that is quite often far from the case.

A few days ago, I spotted said hot porrka up ahead now recovered, repaired and back on the road. Caught up same after a quick "decloak" behind him expecting him to try to leave me .... no such luck ... not the right environment .... Some people are determined to learn the hard way ....

It's worth repeating, ANY car can have problems irrespective of origin ...

Hope you have better luck next time ...

 

lets get this into perspective. How many Impreza's are there out there? Redesign the engine before you buy another subaru, get real!

As to the engine that went bang just after it was sold and the mods were stripped off. Errmmm, hello, the MAF wasnt used with the link but it was still being bolloxed by your aftermarket filter as it was in the pipework (or did you completely remove it?), as soon as the standard ECU needed to use it's input, it was faulty so probably caused the engine to go pop. It wasnt you being lucky, it was the dealer who bought it being dumb. (unless you took the stuff off yourself and didnt tell them!)

I will be amazed if Barrats ran magnetec in Davids car, it would be rather a strange oil to choose for that aplication. They are more likely to run Motul Competition 15/50.

For the life of me i dont know why people put oil like magnetec in turbo engines, it makes no sense when for the same cost you can use a higher grade oil that is proven in motorsport on turbo engines. Turbo engines generate a huge amount of heat in their turbo bearing housings, even on the road. Lower grade oils do deteriorate faster and they evaporate/burn in these conditions so why use them?

If you have an STi5/6 P1 then either leave the engine alone, that includes the filter and cat, or do it properly with a remap.

Also, fitting a vent to atmosphere BOV causes the engine to overfuel, people buy this so they get a nice whoosh noise and get flames out the exhaust. What you are also doing is putting more fuel into the engine than it can burn, this causes bore wash which removes the oil film protecting the engines cylinder liner, but more significantly, it dilutes the oil in the sump and removes it's protective properties faster. All that for a whoosh and a flash, plain stupid.

If anything needs more atention paying to it, its the crap fuel pickup these cars have. They suffer fuel surge too easily which is why i bought a special STi anti surge fuel pump assembly, this is fitted as standard in the WRX TypeRA Spec C.

I could go on, but i am boring myself.

 

ur not boring me... that was a great read