Delux's Subaru Forester project

[delux]

Small update with big news!

Braved the elephants today and started the Forester post mortem. 

Its good news and bad!

My lock ups neighbour is the North Sea. If anyone loves hailstones they would have been in their element...

 

Quick visual inspection revealled loads of oil over the block. No hoses off or split. Coolant level still full. Removed the airbox and spark plugs on the drivers side...

 

 

Hmm, didnt look like that when it went in....

 

That doesnt look good! 

So, yeah,

Good news=I know whats wrong with it and have the tools, resources and (on paper) the skills to fix it.

Bad news=I know whats wrong with it and now I have to sodding fix it! 😒

At least it didnt snow much here this year. Oh, well, better get some tools/motivation together...

[St.Jude]

Few things:

1) I’d love a lock up by the North Sea. Hail stones be damned.
2) This thread has made me consider a Forrester, on the basis the last two Subarus I’ve had have been relatively stress free experiences. So thanks!
3) How in the name of fuck does a spark plug end up like that?!

[delux]

3 hours ago, St.Jude said:

Few things:

1) I’d love a lock up by the North Sea. Hail stones be damned.
2) This thread has made me consider a Forrester, on the basis the last two Subarus I’ve had have been relatively stress free experiences. So thanks!
3) How in the name of fuck does a spark plug end up like that?!

1) Its the best view in the village when its nice! Today it wasnt nice.

2) Think its more operator error than bad engineering. Wasnt driving fast when it broke down but that doesnt mean I have never driven it fast. Idle for so long then pushed into hardcore commuting. 

3) Too high or prolonged excessive temperature. Car didnt overheat, assuming it was because of the oil it was burning at the time of cylinder failure. Spark plug had done about 300 miles!

[delux]

Update/Post mortem!

Colt helped get the broken engine to my global headquarters...

 

 

Looks so sunny but it was freezin/windy as usual!

Fuel economy improved but performance has suffered!

 

 

Back at base...

 

 

A flurry of activity ensued! (When someone makes my biopic, this bit will prolly be a montage!)

 

 

 

So, what went wrong?

Cylinder 3...

 

 

and cylinder 4...

 

 

So what caused it? Dunno! Car didnt overheat, no codes stored, plenty of nice clean oil in it before it broke! 

One of three conclusions (or a combination of them?)

1. Driving like a dick! This is the obvious conclusion everyone who knows me would jump to. I had driven it fast and revved it hard but at the time of failure I was plodding along stuck behind a cooncil van at 50mph. 

2. Fuel. It was pretty empty, nearly 15 miles with the fuel light on the night before. Bit of shite being dragged up from the bottom of the tank restricting an injector would cause that cylinder to run lean. Running lean means running hot. Did happen in 2 cylinders though that operate from seperate fuel rails. 

3.Fuel. Wrong type. My impreza has had Shell super unleaded more or less since new (genuinely got the receipts!) but that morning, half asleep and because the nearest fuel station to my house is a supermarket, it had to make do with Supermarket unsuper unleaded. Would that cause it in 4 miles?

Either way, I promised to put the car back on the road/I've spent too much time and money on it already/I've got nothing better to do so its gettin fixed! 

Next installment when I get the engine back from the fixers!

[Sheefag]

I hasten to add, post 'liked' for sheer tenacity.

[St.Jude]

1 hour ago, delux said:

Update/Post mortem!

Colt helped get the broken engine to my global headquarters...

 

 

Looks so sunny but it was freezin/windy as usual!

Fuel economy improved but performance has suffered!

 

 

Back at base...

 

 

A flurry of activity ensued! (When someone makes my biopic, this bit will prolly be a montage!)

 

 

 

So, what went wrong?

Cylinder 3...

 

 

and cylinder 4...

 

 

So what caused it? Dunno! Car didnt overheat, no codes stored, plenty of nice clean oil in it before it broke! 

One of three conclusions (or a combination of them?)

1. Driving like a dick! This is the obvious conclusion everyone who knows me would jump to. I had driven it fast and revved it hard but at the time of failure I was plodding along stuck behind a cooncil van at 50mph. 

2. Fuel. It was pretty empty, nearly 15 miles with the fuel light on the night before. Bit of shite being dragged up from the bottom of the tank restricting an injector would cause that cylinder to run lean. Running lean means running hot. Did happen in 2 cylinders though that operate from seperate fuel rails. 

3.Fuel. Wrong type. My impreza has had Shell super unleaded more or less since new (genuinely got the receipts!) but that morning, half asleep and because the nearest fuel station to my house is a supermarket, it had to make do with Supermarket unsuper unleaded. Would that cause it in 4 miles?

Either way, I promised to put the car back on the road/I've spent too much time and money on it already/I've got nothing better to do so its gettin fixed! 

Next installment when I get the engine back from the fixers!

My sixpence so you’re none the richer:

1) No. You only get something from the engine when you rev the nuts of it. Genuinely thought my Scooby was just a bit slow until I realised it liked being above 3k

2) Possibly. When were filters last changed or how old are they?

3) Unlikely. 

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, St.Jude said:

My sixpence so you’re none the richer:

1) No. You only get something from the engine when you rev the nuts of it. Genuinely thought my Scooby was just a bit slow until I realised it liked being above 3k

2) Possibly. When were filters last changed or how old are they?

3) Unlikely. 

Definitely not the fuel. They’re designed to run ok on E10, it won’t hurt just not optimum. I can’t get E5 anywhere local just now, so I’ve had two tanks full of E10 in my Impreza (2004 WRX with PPP). TBH  haven’t noticed any difference.

[delux]

It doesnt really matter what caused it. Its happened, anything likely to have caused it will be fixed or replaced and now you lot have to put up with another load of my blurry pics and 'trying to be funny' typings! 😄 

It drove fine when I picked it up and drove home, 400 miles in one go. Since then it was serviced with genuine Subaru filters (inc. fuel filter) and NGK spark plugs (the 'Upgrade' ones, not the OE recommendation).  Nothing budget or New old stock!

There was no warning, no smoke (from a Subaru!), passed its emissions test without having to try, no splutters/coughs/misfires. 

Has to be one of those reasons but each one can be reasoned away. Yeah, I drive fast but didnt do anything with it that I havent done with the Impreza (similar vintage, similar engine). Colt is filled at that garage about 50% of the time and does 15000 miles a year (usually at higher revs!). 

Only time I've seen anything like it was years ago on a friends Renner 5 Turbo and thats cos the fuelling was wrong.  On the rolling road it ran too lean at higher revs and melted 2 pistons. The only thing I could think of causing that would be an air leak (but then it would affect all 4 cylinders, or at least both on the same bank)  or an injector issue (enough fuel not to miss but not enough to keep the cylinder cool)?