engine help needed

[sandyRS16i]

I have a Jap import STI V5, but the big end went on the engine, so have been told that there is damage to the block so it needs a replaced bottom end. Part of the problem is that this happened in Inverness, as such the only choice i had was a mian Subaru dealer, who although helpful said they cannot give a garuntee with the engine cos its not a uk car.

The problem is they said they can supply and fit a new P1 bottom end, which is the same as my STI one. However is this going to be the best option?

As i will have no garuntee i could go elsewhere for an engine, as i am reluctant to put in another engine if its prone to do this again. Would getting a 2.2 or even a 2.5 bottom end be stronger? would the turbo need changing as currently its a VF28 and will i need a different ecu?

TBH i dont really ave a great deal of knowledge about subaru engines so any help would be appriciated

[RS Grant]

Unless your car has any non-standard mods (De-Cat Downpipe, ECU Re-Map, Induction Kit etc..) then I dont see why they cannot honour any Warranty on the new short motor.. after all, I'm led to believe that its EXACTLY the same Engine, Turbo & ECU in both a Version 5 STi and a P1. That is part of the reason that the P1's have such a bad reputation for blowing their bottom ends, its a map for 101 RON fuel and the in-tank broquet fitted by Prodrive to raise the octane rating of the fuel used barely lasts 40k miles, rather than the 70 or 80k that Subaru thought.

There wont be a more cost effective route for you than replacing like-for-like in my opinion.... however, I'm sure that you could get a cheaper place to supply and fit a new short-block to your car, the dealers tend to charge slightly more in my experience.

Once you get a new engine fitted and run-in properly.. then I would advise you to get in contact with an EcuTek dealer who will be able to re-map your standard ECU so that your new engine runs safely on 95, 97 or 98 RON standard UK pump petrol.. which should go some way to prevent this sort of thing happening again. []

Cheers,

Grant 

[RS Grant]

....just to add, you should be running your car on Shell Optimax + Octane Booster to try and raise the quality of the petrol to something near the 101 RON that it was used to in Japan.

I would guess the Main Dealer will suggest this to you, but I would also fit a new MAF sensor while the car is in there. Few people I know have looked into an uprated Oil Pump as well.

Cheers,

Grant

[sandyRS16i]

The reson given by the dealership is that as its a Jap import they have no chassis number on their system to match the engine details to. If it was a uk car they would have no problem with this tho.

The car is total standard apart from a bailey DV and the center decat is removed. It stil has the downpipe cat.

It is always run on optimax and OB every tank and i doubt if i have ever gone above 6000rpm and deffinately never even been near or at the 7600rpm redline. (not i my ownership, drive like a granny TBH)

Was considering a ECU remap, but will this reduce the performance if the ignition advance is changed for cr*ppy uk fuel. I have a decat downpipe which i never fitted as i was told it would need mapped for that, would fitting that make up for amy performance deficit due to the lower RON fuel??

[scientific steve]

this may be of some help to ya

Glenburgie Cars

forres

01309 676787

give these chaps a call and they can give some good advice on what your options are

[colin_ross]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck Sandy, there's no good time for this sort of thing to happen.

I drive an sti5 myself so have always been nervous of engine failure for a couple of reasons, 1 - it can't run on jap rated fuel and 2 they go through maf sensore like nothing else. The ecu is the same as the P1 but it has extra knock-monitoring built into it as Subaru knew that UK fuel would cause issues.

I cannot understand why supplying an engine without chassis number would make it impossible to warrenty but what I'm not surprised about is they way they've treated you. In my experience as the owner of a grey import they really don't want the business. One garage local to me (Glasgow) made it as diffilcult as possible to order parts for a service and EVERY gasket they supplied was wrong.

One word of caution though, dump valves and decats can make the situation worse. DV's have been proven to cause bore wash which in turn can lead to bearing failure. Decats lean out the mixture and can lead to burnt valve, holed pistons, you name it.

If you are looking for suggestions on where to speak to I'll be the first to mention Greersport. Their quote will seem like half price after a dealer one. They can also supply and fit 2.2's or 2.5's. You could carry your turbo and most of everything else over if you wanted but a chat with them would be best as they can advise you on cost/specs etc. Oh yes, and they won't leave you high and dry if there's any problems.

Best of luck.