AliT

Fascinating. It's not the piston ring. On the piston "gland" (I assume the part just below the piston ring groove), a chunk of the actual piston has broken off!!! What, exactly, are these pistons made of? I'm beginning to think McVities lent Subaru their digestive recipe!!! A short motor has been ordered up. Will keep posted on the ongoing saga but won't be keeping it long after I get it back!

Once bitten and all that. Ironically, I've spent the previous 6 years or so driving RX8s and never had one hint of an engine problem, despite the criticism they get for reliability. The lack of support from the dealers is what's really grating. Until they found the piston issue, they were prepared to just tell me there was nothing wrong with it., and I had to keep pestering them to actually get more work done. Not impressed at all. The wife was equally unimpressed and has moved onto a Mazda CX7 from her Legacy as well. It is, however, good to know that my MetaSat works on the 330S. Not only did it register when the alarm was switched off while the car was in the dealers, it also registered when they maxed it out at 114mph on a quiet A road on a test drive!!!! Did I say I was unimpressed?

Just an addendum. Finally diagnosed as piston ring failure on cylinder 3. Another one bites the dust! Sorry Subaru, but this issue is becoming a joke. I'll be going to VAG or Mitsubishi for my AWD fun in future.

Oh dear. Apparently they couldn't find anything wrong with it. It does now have blue smoke on start up, so that must be progress after they drove it for 12 miles and the mpg dropped from 29 to 21 in that space of time. Still missing around 100bhp and hesitating on partial throttle. I love car dealers.

Thanks for the replies. Sadly, the answer will have to wait as the dealers can't (or can't be bothered) to fit in the car today. Note for future: don't buy a £30,000 plus car and expect customer service when it goes very wrong during warranty, despite the fact that we're a two Subaru family and spent a small fortune with them. I guess we'll be a zero Subaru family soon then. The real test of a dealer is how they respond to an emergency. Never had a single problem with the local Mazda or Honda dealers but the service dept of this dealer really don't seem to give a toss.

Quick addendum. On my way back home last night, I could smell an electrical type burning smell. I thought it was the ancient VW I was following but, in hindsight, I take it this is something very relevant? Is the turbo controlled by anything electrical that could give way commonly and leave everything else driving fine?

Hi folks, I rarely post here but spend a lot of time searching for info and have found this a superb forum for just that. Just wondering, with all the knowledge on here, if you can give me any ideas or clues as to what my car is playing at? Last April, I took delivery of an STI 330S hatch and it's been absolutely fine for almost all of that. It's just turned 21,000 miles and, out of the blue, it decided to lunch 600ml of oil in 1 week. Not a lot, in the grand scheme of things, but it had never used a drop prior to that. I took it to the dealers and they measured the oil level, topped it to maximum (though when I read the dipstick, it's actually showing quite a bit over maximum, but they said they'd filled it perfectly) and the idea was for me to drive 1000 miles and for them to measure it again, probably in 3-4 weeks as I've only managed 300 miles so far. I've been worried re the oil so been keeping a religious check on it before most journeys given all the ringland failure reports on this engine, but it's not actually dropped at all since the dealer topped it up (or overfilled it?). It was fine and hearty yesterday but, today, I seem to have a very flat engine. Even Sport sharp feels like INtelligent mode. It starts fine, idles fine, runs fine, just has no boost above a small surge 3k. There's no hesitation present either. No lights on the dash, no obvious hoses come off, or split., and the fuel cap is properly on, in case anyone asks. I just have very poor boost. Typically, today is a bank holiday in Edinburgh and the dealer service department is closed. Spoke to sales but there recommendation was to phone first thing tomorrow. Which means another 30 miles of driving, which I'm not entirely happy about in case it goes boom, to get home tonight and then back to Edinburgh tomorrow. Does this scenario ring any bells with anyone? The car has full Subaru service history and only has OEM options, no tuning parts (Prodrive springs, STI lip and foglights). It has been religiously run on super unleaded since buying it. Hopefully find more out tomorrow, and have the usual arguing about courtesy cars (being a vet, I need to be mobile...hence buying a Subaru for reliability...haha).

They're not working at all!

I can't, for the life of me, remember. It was back in the third week of March when the sticker price was £28,995 if that's any help?

Just found that link and, for no reason, I can't log in with my original username and password? Anyone else having the same problem. Phone call to the dealer require, me thinks.

I have this but never actually figured out what it can do! Wasn't exactly well explained at the sale time.

I'll be sticking to OEM options until teh warranty is up and it's paid for!

Nice. Do they do the regular car in black now? I thought it was a 330S exclusive?

Looking good there. Any plans to go up to 18 inch wheels? I can highly recommend that and the Prodrive springs. Not cheap though. I can heartily agree about Falkirk. When I bought my 330S last April, it came down to their white demo or a silver new car Nobles had in the showroom. The salesman at Falkirk was a pleasure to deal with but Nobles beat the deal and it was a new car compared to a demo. Mind you, Phil at Nobles is a decent sort as well but we'll certainly look to Falkirk, as well as Penicuik, when the wife's Legacy is up for renewal.

Nothing there on mine after a year. However, I have an annoying squeak coming from the offside. Can't tell if it's the dash, the door hinge or even the suspension. Happens when I'm pushing it hard and there are any mid corner bumps, never just in normal driving. I doubt it's suspension as the front and rear ARB bushes and the front offside strut have been replaced under warranty for a different issue.