CovertRussian's 05 LGT Build Thread

I will say the 2011+ WRX and STI wagons did finally tickle my interest!

 

Ha even legacy sedans are sleepers, no one ever looks twice at it

'05 LGT here. Survived 2 kids (8 and 6 now). Traded the wife's mazda 3 sedan in on a Grand Caravan. If she'd have listened to me and gotten the mazda 3 hatch, that might not have needed to happen - but there was NO WAY to get even a medium sized stroller into the m3 sedan's trunk. Since we were getting a new car anyway, got something easier on the wife's back, and can take her parents at times.

 

3 kids might be kinda tight, but 2 is fine. Wife wants the LGT as a DD when I get something new - van will become an occasional vehicle..

Nice, I'm hoping the LGT will last with kids too, but I am concerned on it being a little small.

 

We are gonna do the best we can to avoid minivans!

Just don't have three and you'll be fine.

Yeah between the Legacy and the Cruze the back seats suck. You would think anything family oriented would have a back seat size comparable to my 98 Buick Century at least.

I've been toying the idea of getting a 2010+ Legacy, since it is much wider. But not only are they way more expensive, I'm also not a fan of how they look at all.

 

I think realistically I might replace my 04 FXT with a newer bigger Fozz or SUV.

NO! the older FXT's are way prettier than the new ones.

 

I will admit that I envy the new ones for their 2.0 DIT Turbo powerplants though (and the grill louvres... ). if only the 2015 OB came in 2.0 DIT XT format (and with the WRX 6 speed...). I like the look of my current OBXT, but would give it up for a 2.0 DIT turbo heart. Just need to wait for a local flatbill to crash his new wrex into something. rear destruction preferred.

I know I know, but having 3 turbo cars gets expensive. It would be nice not to have to pay for premium gas for once. Plus new Foresters are rated for 30mpg highway.

 

I also envy the 2.0 DIT's, but I don't envy their crappy injector seals (common FRS/BRZ issue). It's still a fairly new motor though, thus I would wait a bit more before considering it.

My mom picked up a 2013 A3 wagon in diesel. I drove it back to her place to pick up the her extra Tacoma while I'm rebuilding the car. That motor has some nuts and gets way better mileage... But then there is the maintenance on a glorified VW. Nope. I'll stick with the OBXT for a good long time.

My mom picked up a 2013 A3 wagon in diesel. I drove it back to her place to pick up the her extra Tacoma while I'm rebuilding the car. That motor has some nuts and gets way better mileage... But then there is the maintenance on a glorified VW. Nope. I'll stick with the OBXT for a good long time.

 

After having my engine go at 120k miles. I really wonder how much worse can it be? Can the glorified VW really be that much worse?

Good point, but now after spending a good chunk of the last three years troubleshooting and fixing this one? Not sure I need a big shift in platforms.

 

Well see after I get it back on the road if I feel the same way. However this car has been one of the most reliable car I've owned. That it's end is head gasket failure and most of us take that as #YNANSB. Well then shame on us in some cases. I possibly could have gone farther on the SB but chose a longer term path, I hope.

 

I had reliability 120K before I really stuck my nose in it. Otherwise relied on mechanics to wrench for me. Oil changes and general maintenance is all I performed at that point. But now after having such a bad experience with the local stealership. I'll do it myself thanks.

 

So in the end I'll probably be able to recite the mod list and most part numbers by heart with gen 4 Subaru. Don't think I'm going anywhere soon.

After having my engine go at 120k miles. I really wonder how much worse can it be? Can the glorified VW really be that much worse?

 

It really can get worse, my friend had an 07 Mini Cooper S with just under 50k miles when he got it. At around 55k miles he had to replace the clutch, the timing chain stretched and needed to be replaced, the oil filter housing (plastic housing with replaceable filter inside) shattered one day as he was changing the oil. Rear O2 sensor was throwing connection errors, new sensor didn't fix it, probably needed a new ECU Harness. Every month a new thing would break, and it would cost $100 at least to fix.

 

But I do warn all everyone I talk to that Subaru is the German of the Japanese cars. It has stupid unique tools, bolts, and much worse reliability then the other big 3. Most reliability issues with Subaru actually come from stupid little things like banjo bolt filters (dirty oil is always better then no oil!), lean tune, catted up pipes, cheap head gasket materials, etc.

 

I think brand new Subaru's are finally as reliable as all Japanese cars were in 2000. Which is good, because today all other Japanese cars are becoming very cheaply built and unreliable too.

I think brand new Subaru's are finally as reliable as all Japanese cars were in 2000. Which is good, because today all other Japanese cars are becoming very cheaply built and unreliable too.

 

 

I disagree. The Fa20 engines are horrible with consuming oil. Many owners have already had multiple rebuilds under warranty with no change to the condition. I know of several 15wrx and stis that literally bring on a rod knock soon as they hit around 3k miles.

I disagree. The Fa20 engines are horrible with consuming oil. Many owners have already had multiple rebuilds under warranty with no change to the condition. I know of several 15wrx and stis that literally bring on a rod knock soon as they hit around 3k miles.

 

I haven't heard much about the rod knock deal besides human errors (not enough oil). But I have heard a few cases of FA20 eating more oil on CVT's. It's believed that the engines dont get broken in well enough from lack of RPM range revving thanks to CVT.

 

But to my point, you haven't really heard of major head gasket failures or as many turbo failures from basically 2008+ cars.

But to my point, you haven't really heard of major head gasket failures or as many turbo failures from basically 2008+ cars.

 

I'll give you that - my Turbo didn't fail and my head gaskets were fine....my ringland on the other hand...

I'll give you that - my Turbo didn't fail and my head gaskets were fine....my ringland on the other hand...

 

Ha that's for sure. But even then ringland failure is only an issue on turbo Subarus right? Since NA cars are less sensitive to lean mixtures they probably don't die as quickly (I haven't heard much chatter about ringland failures for NA Subaru's basically).

 

Since turbo Subarus are only a fraction of their total sold cars, I would say Subaru as a whole has become more reliable compared to 2000-2007 models.

Lean factory tunes, uh? I was under the impression that the factory tunes were excessively rich. The studdering issue between 2500-2750 RPMS was due to the engine loading up. Most after market tunes took care of that. At least this is what I read on this forum.

Lean factory tunes, uh? I was under the impression that the factory tunes were excessively rich. The studdering issue between 2500-2750 RPMS was due to the engine loading up. Most after market tunes took care of that. At least this is what I read on this forum.

 

There is a delay when going WOT (Open to Closed Loop) that causes the engine to run lean. The first thing all tuners do is remove that delay.

 

This probably isn't the best -

but it's the first link I found

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/closed-open-loop-question-7108.html

Lean factory tunes, uh? I was under the impression that the factory tunes were excessively rich. The studdering issue between 2500-2750 RPMS was due to the engine loading up. Most after market tunes took care of that. At least this is what I read on this forum.

 

I will preface this with, I love data and I love graphs. I have a graphs to show you that you are correct and wrong at the same time.

 

Here is where you are wrong: In this graph stock tune is being super lean. Red line is the stock tune, blue line is closed loop to open loop delay being off.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/05%20LGT/ECU/CL%20to%20OL%20Delay/CLtoOLDelayDynoGraphpng.jpg~original

 

As you can see, the stock tune is dangerously lean until 5k RPM in that run. This is the main reason you have studdering on stock tune, there is no such thing as engine loading up, and turbo spooling up would not cause a studder in a properly tuned motor. All Motors can be VERY smooth when tuned right.

 

Here is where you are right: Stock O2 sensor doesn't read below 11.1:1 AFR, heck it's not even all that accurate below 13:1 AFR. Blue line shows how rich the stock tune actually is logged with a real wideband, now it's not dangerously rich, but it's also not optimized.

http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t188/covertrussian/Cars/05%20LGT/ECU/Fueling/WBOStockvsUEGO.png~original

 

Thus once you disable closed loop to open loop delay, you will be now on the richer side, which is safer then being on the leaner side. It is also not uncommon for all manufactures to have very rich tunes, it gives them a safety pillow between different motors (no two motors are built the same way).

 

Hope this helps folks understand this issue better, Subaru simply went with worth of both worlds .

Edited February 27, 2015 by covertrussian

Thanks for your detailed post. It is much appreciated. I really don't know one way or the other, this is just what I read on this forum. Personally, I wish I had a tuner in my area (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area) that I can trust. I would love to have my tune optimized for the stock equipment. Nothing crazy, just better. Right now I'm running the stock tune.

 

I really enjoy reading your posts. They are a real education. Take care.

PA has a lot of Subaru owners, there's gotta be some forum peeps that might be able to help you. Otherwise eTune is always an option.

 

Otherwise you can pick up my stage 0 tune and just bring over the changes to your 06. You really want that Open Loop delay to be disabled, for your motors sake.

Romraider has some cleaned up tunes that run conservative to cover engine-to-engine differences. Stage 1 and 2. Mickeyd i think has a 05 and 08 gt version. At leasts gets delay to zero and probably cleanes up cylinder 4 sacrificing. Could also do an etune with peeps on here. I think 150 for etunes for stage 1.

 

Edit: Lol, see above so.

 

Sent from my XT1028

Thanks for your comments. I'll have to look into that.

 

PA does have a lot of Subarus but not many turbo cars - at least in my area. I may have seen 5 Legacy GTs since I moved back to NEPA in 2008. The local dealer here, Minooka Subaru, didn't even have Legacy GTs in stock during the Gen 4-5 run. They can sell more NA Legacys and Outbacks.

 

Cheers.

Cryotune!

http://www.cryotuneperformance.com/

JohnnyT, I'm running the MickeyD stage 1 tune on my 05 LGT. Been doing well for over a year now. Found it on the romraider forums per suggestions here, edited my maps to match it, and reflashed myself. Pretty easy if you take your time, and are handy with a computer.

 

Sent from my Samsung GS5 via Tapatalk. Please pardon any typos.