O5 LGT Sedan Issues

Hello Everyone first of all!

Awesome forum!

I recently purchased an 05 Legacy GT from an Auto Dealer here in Cincinnati. I paid $7600 for the car. First of all there are no good Legacy's that are close to me. The car has 114k on it and is in decent shape. The interior is clean and the body is clean but it has a few bumps and scrapes nothing big.

I started my trip after purchasing the car by going out to eat with my family. I kept smelling a strong oil smell on the way over, it was about a five minute drive to get to the restaurant. I turned the car off and checked the oil to make sure everything was kosher and it was clean and full. I didn't see anything obvious wrong.

I remembered the auto dealer told me that they had just replaced a turbo on the car. I was like ok, maybe it's just left over oil burning off. The car wasn't smoking or anything like that and running smoothly.. We get done eating. I take the car to my friends house to show him my new car. Ii get to where I am just about to get off the highway and I hear a noise that sounds like a helicopter which I instantly start to slow down and think, turbo..

I pull over and the car kills itself and I have it towed back to the auto dealership to have them look at it in the morning. I call and leave a voice mail for the dealership stating I think the turbo went out again. Brand new turbo mind you. I start seeing threads about the turbo filter. I mention it to the dealer. The dealer gives me the mechanic that put the turbo ins phone number.

I call the mechanic and we have a conversation about the filter. He tells me later when we talk again that this one doesn't have that filter. He tells me that Subaru tells him that they only started putting the filter on later in 05 for these cars. He states mine does not have the filter. He puts an old turbo on the car at this point because the turbo that blew, where ever they bought it from told them to bad so sad, we're not giving you another one if you blew the new one.

I get a call that the car is done. I pick it up and it's missing on cylinder 2. I took and swapped the coil packs and eliminated that in the dealers parking lot. That doesn't resolve the issue and it stays with cylinder 2. I started looking in to this issue more last night and come across the fact that the oil feed line that cools the turbo also feeds oil to the cam...

Does it sound to you guys like this mechanic is just lying about the Subaru dealer telling him that they only put the filter on after a certain point in 05? I'm thinking the mechanic is saying this to cover his ass at this point.

What do you guys think?

All the 05's have the banjo filters, my wagon is a early 05, I bought mine in Late June 04. I have both banjo filters removed.

All these cars have banjo filters, the 07-09 are in adifferent location in the oil system.

The second filter is hard to remove, don't worry about it. The main one is on the back of the passenger side head. A stubby 17mm ratchet box wrench is needed to remove it and clean it or replace with a new one.

Either way you should have a warranty that will cover the all the cost of a new short block and engine rebuild.

That car is a mess, and judging from the price they know it's a mess.

 

Likely there are bits of metal running throughout the engine. The "easy" fix likely involved a new shortblock, oil cooler, etc. Worst case is a whole new long block.

 

Unless the entire system is cleaned out / replaced the car will continue to blow turbos at a breakneck pace and eventually all the bearings in the engine will go as well if they haven't already.

 

If you still have it as an option I would look to return the car if they are not willing to repair it correctly.

Sucks getting screwed. The guy gave me a power train warranty that covers the motor and transmission and he told me that they will not give me my money back, I asked nicely too, but that if need be they'll put me in another car if this one can't be fixed.

I'm thinking the motor is screwed too at this point and agree on the metal shavings part which is what me and my brother had concluded based on the no filter, would have led to the new one going out right away..

I'm just hoping that the power train warranty will cover a new motor or rebuilding this one if need be but not sure, we'll see huh.

Thank you for your response by the way, much appreciated.

All the 05's have the banjo filters, my wagon is a early 05, I bought mine in Late June 04. I have both banjo filters removed.

That's what I was thinking, thank you for confirming this. This guy knows he messed up when he put the new one on and just made some stuff up so I'd think oh, it wasn't his actions.

If the power train warranty covers this I'll be good otherwise I have a pretty red paperweight I suppose.

The old filter in there is stopped up with metal, that's why the new turbo went.

I have my old filter sitting in front me here at my desk.

Thats shitty man. I had my turbo blow on me about 2o minutes after a completing the title transfer on my 05.

Join cincyscoobs.com and Post your thread over there as well. Always looking to build on the local suby scene. I think Eric at PFP should be able to help you out. He's the man and does all of my major services. It's quite possible that the problems you are having are unrelated.

The old filter in there is stopped up with metal, that's why the new turbo went.

 

I have my old filter sitting in front me here at my desk.

I was thinking it's still in there too. I was thinking that or the guy after I mentioned it, poked a hole in the filter which would mean more damage if I keep driving it around. It's sitting at their shop now I believe.

Thats shitty man. I had my turbo blow on me about 2o minutes after a completing the title transfer on my 05.

 

Join cincyscoobs.com and Post your thread over there as well. Always looking to build on the local suby scene. I think Eric at PFP should be able to help you out. He's the man and does all of my major services. It's quite possible that the problems you are having are unrelated.

I'm joining that site now. I'll look in to talking to this Eric fellow as well. I was hoping the coil pack had been shorted out and when it didn't fix the misfire, that's when I started to worry about this whole situation more. The motor was solid when it was driving...