All of a sudden I'm seeing all these postings on different forums about the '13 and '14 WRX and STI spinning rod bearings. Makes me pretty nervous since I just bought a 2013 with 29k on it 3 weeks ago. Please forgive me for posting this but it's my very first Subaru and I don't know what to make of this.
You'll always hear the bad. Use quality oil and check oil level frequently. Don't floor the car out of the driveway and let the car reach operating temp before going heavy on the throttle. As a rule of thumb, it takes oil generally twice as long to reach operating temps as coolant.
This is nothing recent: Subarus have been plagued with bearing issues for 25 years. It's a combination of high oil consumption (blow by), negligent owners, bearing material, and freak mechanical accidents (cracked oil pickup comes to mind). Stay calm and remember that you mostly hear the bad... There are thousands of others with perfectly healthy cars that haven't spoken up because they have nothing to complain about!
Excellent point zax, I'm going to just have to just get in the habit of checking my oil frequently. My car does have a stumble when I sit at a light sometimes.
110k 09 which year was prone to this still going strong minus needing front oxygen sensor :knock on wood:
I drive pretty spirited now and then as well. Take care of it and it'll take care of you
Very nice. I'm hoping I can be as lucky as you. I purchased the 7 year 100k full warranty at the dealer. I don't plan on being Mario Andretti with it, but I want to be able to add a few parts and tune it.
Personally, I wouldn't be counting on a warranty to save my ass in the first place. SOA can just as easily deny a warranty claim on a completely stock car by citing "abuse".. though they may be less likely to do so than if you bring your car in with a ton of mods on it.
@Mainframe, I had no intentions of a bpv, intercooler upgrade or downpipe for a long time. I had a cobb ap, cold air intake and axle back the only mods I wanted to do with the exception of suspension. Would you say those are the "safest" bolt ons to do?
I have a 2013 that has cracked a ring land AND spun a rod bearing, all because of a COBB SF intake. The intake causes and over boost problem. Over boost causes a lean condition because the factory settings cant fully compensate for that much extra air. the cobb ots tune also does not adjust enough for the sf intake. Mine probably will not be going back on. ordering parts to build the block today
@Goose42, by all means please continue to discuss anything you need to here in regards to this. I'm new to the Subaru world and I need all the info and knowledge I can get. For the last 9 years I was a truck guy and before that Toyota. Now that I'm invested in my car so heavily, any and all discussion is welcome.
That was basically what I was alluding to, though I was not direct. Barring any factory defects, for what it is, the EJ certainly has much potential. Again though, I should not have opened this can of worms.
Yes cobb stage 2 ots map with sf intake, and i also had torqued performance write a custom map for me. the block was never separated when the pistons were replaced. connecting rods never removed from the crank, which is why i think i missed the bearing damage. I drove with the knock even for like 3 months so i know thats what caused the bearing failure. Maybe mass air flow scaling was off, but according to cobb and eric, it was not
So are you saying you had consistent knock events but you didn't data log any of these knock events and send them to your tuner so that he could update your tune?
No i did update and data log. He told me he couldnt adjust my tune cause of knock events. thats when i tore the engine down and found cracked ring land
Tuned for stage 2 + cobb sf intake. Has perrin 3 in turbo back exhaust, cob sf intake and perrin turbo inlet tube. i sent data logs to eric and he told me he couldnt adjust the tune till "the knock sensor wasnt going off like crazy"
for about a week prior to that i had been running his OTS map. At that point i made plans to tear down the engine it just took much long than i thought to get it in my shop. When i replaced the pistons the knock event went away and did not come back. I drove 1200 miles, did some data logs one day and the next morning i came outside and started the car and it had a rod knock.
cyl # 3 has the spun bearing- i can wiggle the connecting rod on the crank shaft...ordered manly pistons, h-tuff rods, and king bearings today.
Tuned for stage 2 + cobb sf intake. Has perrin 3 in turbo back exhaust, cob sf intake and perrin turbo inlet tube. i sent data logs to eric and he told me he couldnt adjust the tune till "the knock sensor wasnt going off like crazy"
for about a week prior to that i had been running his OTS map. At that point i made plans to tear down the engine it just took much long than i thought to get it in my shop. When i replaced the pistons the knock event went away and did not come back. I drove 1200 miles, did some data logs one day and the next morning i came outside and started the car and it had a rod knock.
As much as I 'want' more power and torque I just try to appreciate for the way it is. And honestly I know it's going to be an endless cycle of wanting more from my car. The only thing I've done is the muffler delete axle back. The rest is going to be all cosmetic including HID retrofit, tinted windows, random stickers and doing vinyl wrap in the near future.
I've been checking the oil level whenever I fill my tank. I do warm up my car as well, at least until the temp gauge moves a little and if I have to go right away I take it really easy until the engine is warm enough.
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