by "FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
Published 02/21/2017 at 10:21
by "FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
Published 02/21/2017 at 10:21
Tags: SUBARU
STARS: 2
Plates getting put on an STi belonging to a woman clearly not wearing a flat bill cap. The red Outback has me seriously tempted to trade in my 2013 because so much less ugly. Update: burned a quart in the last 1200 miles. Going to get a short block replacement. Yay.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
02/21/2017 at 10:25, STARS: 4
Is that a Steelers logo on the floor? /s
"Highlander-Datsuns are Forever" (jamesbowland)
02/21/2017 at 10:32, STARS: 1
You know my story, same as yours. Welcome to the new short block club!
I am so impressed with Subaru’s service. That being said this experience may keep me away from Subaru going forward.
"Comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer" (cyclonefan94)
02/21/2017 at 10:34, STARS: 0
That logo has WRC championships, not NFL.
"jasmits" (jasmits)
02/21/2017 at 10:34, STARS: 1
How old is your Forester??
I don’t get Subaru’s reputation for reliability, I briefly looked into a mid-2000's Legacy once and there seem to be more motors to avoid than to seek out.
"E90M3" (e90m3)
02/21/2017 at 10:34, STARS: 0
Time for an STi swap.
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
02/21/2017 at 10:36, STARS: 0
So less Roethlisberger, more Sollberg?
"Comes over to help work on your car and only drinks beer" (cyclonefan94)
02/21/2017 at 10:41, STARS: 0
Zactly.
"DipodomysDeserti" (dipodomysdeserti)
02/21/2017 at 10:41, STARS: 1
Follow the trail of worn piston rings.
"JQJ213- Now With An Extra Cylinder!" (jqj213)
02/21/2017 at 10:44, STARS: 0
Is it at least covered by warranty?
We love our 2016 Outback. Although just recently we noticed a little vibration at idle that we need checked out.
"Tekamul" (tekamulburner)
02/21/2017 at 10:46, STARS: 1
SBC swap
"My bird IS the word" (mybirdistheword)
02/21/2017 at 10:47, STARS: 0
My mini does that but apparently it’s “normal”
"Highlander-Datsuns are Forever" (jamesbowland)
02/21/2017 at 10:50, STARS: 0
I think it’s a 2013/2014.
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
02/21/2017 at 11:02, STARS: 0
This post makes me think about what to do when the lease ends on my wife’s 2016 Impreza. We like the car (with the exception of the idiotic infotainment screen), the buyout at the end of the lease is a totally reasonable number, and she puts super low miles on it which means it’s less likely to need new headgaskets or something similar. So we’ve thought about buying it at the end of the lease. But the flip side of that is if we keep it, with her low miles, by the time any issues crop up, we’d likely be well outside the warranty.
Whatever, don’t have to worry about that for a couple more years.
"DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back" (karsonkinja)
02/21/2017 at 11:05, STARS: 1
I dug this up but its a couple years old. This seems to be pretty common here on oppo and elsewhere.
That really sucks about your car. Is it gonna be a warranty replacement?
"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
02/21/2017 at 11:11, STARS: 2
Is there a difference between the short block and long block clubs? I mean, my WRX got a new long block, and there’s nothing wrong with your short blocks, but maybe we could just set aside the long/short issue and just call it the Subaru New Engine Club (SNEC).
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 11:17, STARS: 0
So far the service has been great. Jury is still out for me. I’ll see how the next few years go, because I really love the car. It could be this was just a design hiccup that won’t be an issue with future motors.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 11:21, STARS: 0
It’s a 2014 made in late 13. They had some issues with the FB25 motors the first few years of production. Piston ring design was letting oil sneak by. Apparently it’s been revised and from some point in 2014 they’ve been pretty good. Mid-2000's Subaru’s have leaky valve covers and can make a lot of smoke, but they seem to run poorly forever kind of like 90's GM cars.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 11:23, STARS: 0
I think the 2.0 has had less problems. My mom hasn’t had a single issue with her 2014, but she doesn’t put a ton of miles on it. Overall, Subaru repair costs haven’t seemed bad enough to me to totally scare me away from owning one out of warranty.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 11:23, STARS: 1
Yep, it’ll be under warranty. I’m at just over 50k.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 11:24, STARS: 0
Yeah when it was a quart between service intervals it wasn’t bad and I was wondering why all the fuss. Now that it’s a gallon between service intervals it doesn’t seem to signal good things for longevity.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
02/21/2017 at 11:26, STARS: 0
Woo hoo, should have gotten a turbo or 3.6
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 11:26, STARS: 1
You know, if it was out of warranty I’d seriously consider putting in a FA20DIT out of a wrecked XT just to have the manual turbo Forester they won’t sell new any more.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 11:27, STARS: 0
Perhaps. Counterpoint: mine has a 6 speed manual instead of a CVT.
"E90M3" (e90m3)
02/21/2017 at 11:28, STARS: 0
See if you can get the dealer to do that.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 11:30, STARS: 0
I got the letter about the settlement a few months ago. It’s all under warranty - even without the extended warranty from the lawsuit I’m only at 50,000 miles. I’m still driving it til they get a short block in then I’ll get a loaner. Dealer has been really cool to work with. It probably helps that I bring both of my Subaru’s there for all their maintenance. The service manager is a really knowledgeable guy and we spent a few minutes talking about how it would be easier if they would do a long block, but even with all the labor the short block comes out cheaper.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
02/21/2017 at 11:31, STARS: 1
Well, yeah... Could have had a turbo and no short block, but we have not had any comebacks after having the short block replaced, so you should be good after that. I haven’t even heard of any consumption after it either. I think they went to stronger rings.
"Highlander-Datsuns are Forever" (jamesbowland)
02/21/2017 at 11:36, STARS: 2
In the spirit of Subaru warranty engines I am not horizontally opposed to this idea.
"Highlander-Datsuns are Forever" (jamesbowland)
02/21/2017 at 11:41, STARS: 2
Oh I’m glad to here this, I’m about to get my first oil change after a short block replacement. I really don’t want to go through this again. I was planning on having the car for 10 years/100,000 miles minimum.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
02/21/2017 at 12:02, STARS: 1
Yeah so our guess is that to meet CAFE standards and such, the 0w-20 oil mixed with too light a ring made it too easy for blowby. Then being a flat motor instead of a I4 added to the issue. Then the only way to get stronger rings (more tension) would be to change the pistons and probably the bore too. Hence the short block replacement. Subaru likes short blocks.
But yeah, we haven’t had any issues yet and some of these jobs are years old. So I think you’ll be set.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 12:12, STARS: 0
I’d have to do a lot of wheel-greasing but it might be possible...
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 12:16, STARS: 1
Good to hear. The service manager (I actually spoke to the service GM today) seemed to think that Subaru had redesigned the rings. We had a pretty good talk, mainly that it seemed crazy for Subaru to put so much on the techs by doing short blocks instead of long blocks, but that’s what Subaru likes to do. Also he thinks they got a little too aggressive with the 0 weight oil.
"CaptDale - is secretly British" (captdale)
02/21/2017 at 12:19, STARS: 1
They have never done long blocks, and the rest of the motor isn’t having issues, so that would cost them much more in parts than labor to do a short block vs a long block. GM uses 0w-20 as well, but doesn’t have issues.
"brianbrannon" (brianbrannon)
02/21/2017 at 12:21, STARS: 1
Oil is only rated for zero when cold so it’s a non issue once the engine is running
"jasmits" (jasmits)
02/21/2017 at 12:24, STARS: 0
I don’t remember exactly what year/engine etc I was researching at besides it being a mid-2000s Legacy with a stick but it seemed to have a reputation for munching head gaskets. It probably wouldn’t have scared me away on its own if they were cheap but at least in Portland they aint
"DAWRX - The Herb Strikes Back" (karsonkinja)
02/21/2017 at 12:52, STARS: 0
Oh okay, thats good to know its being taken care of by Subaru, but thats par for the course for them. I would be surprised if they were being difficult.
What exactly is the defect that is causing the oil consumption? I was surprised to find out that these are problems with the newer FB motors and not the old EJ motors.
Edit: I should have read a bit more. Just saw it was a piston ring defect.
"E90M3" (e90m3)
02/21/2017 at 12:54, STARS: 0
Nothing wrong with that.
Dealer be like how’d that get in there wink wink
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 12:56, STARS: 0
Oh yeah all Subaru’s munch head gaskets :) Yeah resale is high in the PNW. A guy I work with down here in TX that drives an old Legacy wagon is always talking about buying one here and driving it up to WA where his family lives to sell there at a profit.
"FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com" (alphaass)
02/21/2017 at 12:59, STARS: 1
You can look at some of the comments in this post, but the issue seems to be that the piston rings weren’t strong enough/toleranced tight enough for the switch to 0W20 oil. The FB motors use it as one of the ways to improve fuel economy over the EJ, but they either didn’t get the design right or had manufacturing issues with some of them. Apparently it has been resolved, either with a redesign of the piston rings or changes to the tolerance on the rings and/or bore so that blocks aren’t sneaking out of the factory that can allow oil by.
"J_P_Cars10s" (jpcars10s)
02/21/2017 at 22:01, STARS: 1
I came in at only 4 oz in the first 1200 miles. Continuing the test cause that’s just not true, IMO, having put just shy of 20,000 on the car. (42k total)
I’m going on a 4000 mile road trip from SD to CA over spring break, so I’ll end up having to restart the test when I miss my next three 1200 mile checkups in only 10 days. I plan on getting very familiar with the dipstick though.
"Illegitimus Prime" (illprime)
02/24/2017 at 08:29, STARS: 1
I partially feel your pain. My current daily (2004 Seat Ibiza 1.4 with a four speed autotragic, handed down to me by my wife) seems to have some pretty bad blow by issues. From my amateur assessment, it seems VW used some really short skirted pistons in the engine to increase fuel economy, this combined with neglect by her ex leads to me having to fill it back up every other month.
I’m pretty uncertain of how long it will last, but knowing VW it will run poorly for a long time.