2008 Legacy GT *** DOES *** have a banjo bolt filter

Hey guys just want to clear one thing up that did not seem to be very clear when I was asking around. When my other half first purchased this car with 44k miles I joined the forum and that is when the whole "banjo" bolt thing was brought up to me. I then was quickly told that 2007 on up no longer had these filters in the banjo bolts. At 66k I got a CEL and it happened to be only on bank 1 the oil control valve was sticking. I started another thread about possible turbo failure and I pointed out a certain bolt under the turbo inlet tube and was told again that 07's on up do not have the filter.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/brand-new-never-been-subaru-owner-183066.html?t=183066

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/all-sort-problems-do-start-p0011-guess-225387.html?t=225387

 

Well it's funny how things work out because at 88k miles 3 and a half hours from home my turbo let loose. After a very long day of getting back home I started to remove the turbo. I dropped the pan and found metal as well. I found a too good to be true deal on a NOS turbo still in the box on Ebay that I bought. I am now currently going through the long struggle of getting my money back as the turbo was listed as brand new ended up being a rebuild and had shaft play. UGH!! So I sent the original turbo to get a quality rebuild. I will be around $1k worth of parts and a bunch of labor and cleaning when it is all said and done just to get the car started again and I still am not guaranteed that metal did not get into the whole engine causing a shortblock replacement.

 

Here is the deal and I can only speak for a 2008 Legacy GT but there is filter in the banjo bolt to the oil feed line that feeds the turbo. It is located right underneath the turbo inlet pipe just before where the pipe meets the turbocharger. Yes it is a PITA to get at as you will need time and patience to get it out. To have the most clearance you can pull back the turbo inlet tube but there is about 5 hoses that connect to it and is packed tight in there and takes some patience to not snap anything off the inlet tube. My suggestion is to just remove the filter and do not put another in since it is such a process to get to it. However others do argue that opinion but many back it up as well. Your choice. Also there is another bolt on the driver side that I have not tackled yet but this one appears to be the anti-christ and here is the link to that http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/all-sort-problems-do-start-p0011-guess-225387.html?t=225387

 

I did not start this thread to point fingers or blame anyone at all. I have gotten great advice from many on here and people where just trying to help and I thank everyone for that. To some this may be old news or brought up before but there really seemed to be a lot of confusion whether or not 2007 on up Legacy's had this filter. I was even finding out that there have been Subaru techs that was not really aware that this filter existed. I am simply trying to help others out not go through what myself and many others have gone through. I want to save people from spending a whole bunch of money and labor on their cars and just enjoy them. We are the second owner of this car and the first owner kept a log. All oil changes were done by Subaru and when we got the car we used nothing other than Rotella full synthetic oil and changed strictly between 3500 and 4000 miles. Here is a picture of what the banjo filter on the turbo feed line looked like on her car. Good luck to you guys.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h191/oachs83/Subaru%20banjo%20filter_zps6exc8pni.jpg

Sorry to hear about your problems.

 

You are correct that this has been a topic here. Most of us know the 07-09's have the filters. My general thoughts on them is there don't seem to be a issue like the 05-06's.

 

My theory is that because they are vertical the oil rinses them as it drains back down.

 

Very few 07-09's have the same problems as the 05-06.

 

I have both filters removed from the 05.

I learned so much in this thread. First I learned that my 07 doesnt have filters (thought all fourth gens did), then I learned that it does, but they dont seem to be an issue. So is it still common practice to remove the filters from a MY07?

I learned so much in this thread. First I learned that my 07 doesnt have filters (thought all fourth gens did), then I learned that it does, but they dont seem to be an issue. So is it still common practice to remove the filters from a MY07?

 

Yeah now you can see why I had all the confusion from the beginning a couple years back. If you take a peek at the two threads I pasted you will see I was told by a few people that my 2008 does not have banjo filters. Like I said I figured this topic is known by many on here but my main purpose of the thread was this. In case any person that is in a similar situation like I was at the time being very new to these cars and is searching for an answer as important to how to keep an engine alive. I want to give a clear answer that yes these cars still have the filters and should be removed. 2/3 years ago the answers I was getting was so unclear to me it caused me to not worry about the filter and could possibly be the reason my turbo failed.

We are the second owner of this car and the first owner kept a log. All oil changes were done by Subaru and when we got the car we used nothing other than Rotella full synthetic oil and changed strictly between 3500 and 4000 miles.

 

In the log from the first owner, how often were the oil changes done (how many miles between changes)? Was synthetic oil used?

I learned so much in this thread. First I learned that my 07 doesnt have filters (thought all fourth gens did), then I learned that it does, but they dont seem to be an issue. So is it still common practice to remove the filters from a MY07?

 

No.

that banjo filter looks way dirtier than the one I pulled from my 05 with 267k on it.

FWIW, I removed all the banjo filters from my 08.

In the log from the first owner, how often were the oil changes done (how many miles between changes)? Was synthetic oil used?

 

Yes used synthetic all oil changes were between 4000 and 5000 miles. At 44k miles we started doing them between 3500 and 4000. Yeah I accidentally dropped the filter hence the small dirt particles but it was pretty dirty. Of course to this is after the turbo let loose.

i had 1 removed, but the harder-to-reach one i left in. hopefully it doesnt cause my shit to go kaboom! i heard you at least throw a code on the second one, something about AVCS. my OCI is 3.5k

I posted in one of the threads awhile back with pictures of where the 07+ is since it is in a different location...

i had 1 removed, but the harder-to-reach one i left in. hopefully it doesnt cause my shit to go kaboom! i heard you at least throw a code on the second one, something about AVCS. my OCI is 3.5k

 

Send a sample out to blackstone if you havent already. for $25 they will tell you everything abput the health of your engine, as well as a recommended OCI that will help you get the most out of your oil. Mine oci is 6k miles but I drive alot of miles everyday.

 

Mike

Now that I think about it, both filters were totally clean when I removed them. Maybe it isn't necessary on the 08s. I do run Penzoil Platinum or Rotella T6 changed every 3-4k.

Sorry to hear about your problems.

 

You are correct that this has been a topic here. Most of us know the 07-09's have the filters. My general thoughts on them is there don't seem to be a issue like the 05-06's.

 

My theory is that because they are vertical the oil rinses them as it drains back down.

 

Very few 07-09's have the same problems as the 05-06.

 

I have both filters removed from the 05.

 

Thanks interesting, didn't Subaru also change the OCI from 7k to 3.5k by 07's? Also when did Subaru finally start shunning from Mobile 1?

 

Turbos changed in 07+'s too, perhaps the shafts are stronger?

 

Wonder if the oil pressure changed between 05-06 and 07+, if they got higher pressure oil pumps they would push through the grime a bit better.