looks like no4 piston has blown my engine.
Going home last night took my favourite right hander coming off the A38 onto the A516 and half way round there is a sudden and dramatic loss of power enough to make me drift out (not lose control though).
so i coasted into mickleover and limped home on 3 cylinders.

First thing to say is i had noticed a drop in power over the last few days and even phoned my dealer who put it down to the warm weather (as had i).

second thing is that this is the 3rd serious mechanical fault infact its more like the fith as two were done on warranty so they dont count.

anway to recap i have had the following faults over the last 4 years and 50000 miles

MY 99 5 door uk turbo purchased dec 2000 with 20,000 on the clock

1 first week of ownership power lurches and surges
fixed under warranty maff sensor

2 Clutch judder gets progressively worse and as car has done about 25,000 miles dont hold out any hope but dealer sympathy wangles me a new P1 clutch out of warranty and this is almost eliminated.

3 another 25000 miles later there are some nasty noises from the gearbox and 3rd apparently has sheared several teeth (no i wasnt rallying or racing just driving to and from work)so this requires a partial gearbox rebuild

4. at around 50,000 miles more grinding and squealing first misdiagnosed as the heat sheild catching on the steering rack later found to be front near side wheel bearing.

5. today blown piston and a complete botton end rebuild.

Non of this includes a minor shunt into somone else's towbar which punctures both radiators and rips off the front splitter.


This is all two weeks before i take delivery of a new ppp wagon
so in i go to the dealer and make mutterings about going elsewhere.
althoughi can hardly blame the dealer they are sympathetic and say they will "talk" to Subaru.
So i dont expect much as i am two years and 3,000 miles out of warranty but bless em they have come back with an offer of 75% of the rebuild cost







[Edited by mattstant - 8/15/2003 5:27:11 PM]

 

i have just got mine back this week. that had a hole in no 4 piston, it cost me 3k but i had a new turbo and clutch ( i think the turbo was damaged at the same time) as well as a brand new p1 bottom end. very unluck it did not last a few more weeks m8. mail me if you want any more info

 

What oil did you use ?

When was it last changed ?

What fuel do you use ?

Any mods ?

 

I did 40k in my scoob with no problems. Wonder if yours was a demo car originally and had a bad start to its life?

 

A cars a car dont matter if its treated to the finest oil driven sympatheticlly and serviced well before time they can still go Bang!

I have seen it happen to all manufacturers as im in trade Ex,VW,Vaux and Nationwide warranty company not many other manufacturers would give such a large contrib be glad you drive a scoob..

Thing is like everything scooby they do it with style.....

G




[Edited by itsajapthing - 8/16/2003 1:57:24 AM]

 

Yep mine went a few months ago. And mine went big style too

Turbo
Crank
Con rod
No 3 piston

 

Sorry to hear about your engine, but how can you call the wearing out of a 50,000 mile old wheel bearing a "mechanical fault" ?

They are consumable parts, just like break pads. Same for the clutch, which as you rightly say you were extremely lucky to get replaced for nothing.

Hope you get it fixed soon

[Edited by -=Buzz=- - 8/16/2003 8:15:46 AM]

 

car was serviced regularly No make that religiously oil? havent got a clue left that to the dealer always checked but it never used any.
Fair comment on the wheel bearing and i was philosophical about it at the time but i included it as just another tale of woe.

Oh and NO mods whatsoever.
oh and SUL used up until optimax came out then optimax all the time.
I also used to make sure it warmed up in the morning and let the turbo cool on a spirited run (rarely needed to do this though)



[Edited by mattstant - 8/16/2003 9:05:07 AM]

 

thought about this but dont think i have ever seen a 5 door turbo demo???

I have to add that i am no angel i expected alot more wear from discs and pads than i did (one new set of discs to the front and one set of pads in its life), i ride the clutch alot and got through plenty of tyres but heavy cornering and breaking hardly puts any strain on the engine or gearbox

[Edited by mattstant - 8/17/2003 12:39:17 PM]

 

evo 6 looks my next buy.360 onstandard internals. looks are good too.i love my scoob cost a fortune to run though.everyone i know with a evo no engine probs .filter exhausts mods boost controller 1.3 bar and 330 brake upwards.no boxer sound but i might just live with that for piece of mind.

 

i think i saw her up in the air today at the dealers m8. exactly the same place as mine was a week ago

 

Sorry to here about your engine mate, mine went pop two mounths ago on my saph cosworth 4x4 the bigend bolts had stretched on NO4 piston bending the rod doing the crank in and the piston is in a bad way too! was doing around 170mph at the time lucky i got off so lightly still going to cost 3k to sort out though wish you a speedy re-build.

 

yep that was mine donutman had to go back and rescue a tin of paint from the footwell friday afternoon and she was stranded in the air over an import.
Which one was yours??

 

Slightly off the subject but if I was to buy a SECS module, would it be good enough to detect problems such as faulty pistons etc., thus giving sufficient warnings ?

Maddy

 

"flash-flash - warning - 3km before wallet decimation"

 

How much fuel did you have in the tank at the time ???

 

picked mine up tuesday night m8. a silver wagon (like yours)that had spent a week or so up on that very ramp with a hole in no.4 piston have a look

 

In a word, no. The only direct way of getting advance warning of this sort of failure is to do it the way the rally teams do it - stripping the engine down (and rebuilding with a large number of new components) every few hundred kilometres. Even that's not a complete solution, as failures can still occur in between maitenance intervals...

Obviously this approach is completely impractical on a daily driver, so you're just going to have to accept that road car maintenance is always a compromise, and in reality, they do bl**dy well to go as far as they do.

What gadgets like the SECS monitor, KnockLink, AFR and oil temp/pressure gauges can do is give you advance warning that your engine isn't functioning within its normal parameters. This can indirectly prevent an expensive bang by alerting you to a problem early, allowing you to get it fixed before it becomes terminal.

If you add fastidious servicing, regular and correct oil changes, and all the other obvious preventative maintenance into the mix, there's no reason to think your car shouldn't have a long and happy life.

 

nearly full tank of fuel why ????

 

Just that with less than 1/4 and hard cornering, the fuel pump can pick up fresh air and do damage to the engine.....

 

Your not suggesting I'm Saxoboy in disguise are you ???:

 

hmmm.. air surge?

 

I know this is an old thread but..........

My mate Ess Bon had no 3 piston go walkies through the engine about 6 months ago (1999 with 50k on the clock). TSL reckond that it was the fuel pump, symptoms prior to engine death was juddering under heavy acceleration (which was the fuel pump starting to give up) - this could have been the lack of power some have commented on?

Hope to fek mine dont go - 3k for a rebuild....i'll be on the bus then ;-)


FT

 

crikey father ted I'm on a new car new this was months ago

 

Off topic...but

Why does it cost £3k at the dealers to rebuild a scoob engine when I can rebuild a Rover V8 for less than £500 (including having crank/bores inpected/machined)? If anything the Rover engine should cost more, due to having more components.

Or can they be re-built for less by going down the DIY route, assuming most of the cost is just jacked up labour charges?