Blown Turbo

I was driving on the Interstate last weekend when my check engine light came on. The car was still going down the road as I held the gas pedal down, the cruise automatically shuts down when the check engine light comes on. I wasn't hearing anything out of the normal as I was driving the car. I was able to get home alright, it was late when I got home & too dark to see anything that day. I drove into work the next day, but I started noticing how badly the car was running. I went to the dealer, they said they were too busy to look at it, & I needed to make an appointment. So I did this, but as I was driving home I the car was running even worse. It was surging as I was accelerating, & I was so slow that I was having trouble out running a moped. When I would start the car I noticed it was smoking so badle that I thought it was a mosquito sprayer had passed by.

So I took the car in today to the dealer, it was doing the same thing, very slow acceleration, surging, & smoking at start up. The dealer called to tell me that it was a blown turbo, & it would cost $2400 to repair it. They said I would have to pay $1800 up front before they ordered anything.

This is the latest in the series of problems with the Subaru. I've had the exhaust blow apart, it was covered under warrenty. I've had problems with the engine timing with the RH engine bank, that was covered under warrenty. Then this last summer the transmission main bearing went out, it was making a whining noise, & the tranny had to be rebuilt. Fortunately this was also taken care of under warrenty. I was informed that the problem with the turbo will not be a warrenty item. The reason I was given was that I didn't bring the car in for the 60K check up, the dealer said it was a $900 check that changed the oil, oil & gas filter, spark plugs, air filter, then they checked the belts & hoses. The also said that since they don't have any records of any oil service (changes) on their records is another reason for the turbo problem not being a warrenty item. I told tham that I've been changing the oil & filters in my car every 3K miles, but since they don't have any records, & I didn't save any of my reciepts this doesn't count as far as they were concerned.

Now if the problems with the exhaust, transmission, & turbo wasn't enough. The matting in the carpeting is falling out, the chrome is pealing away from the trim, & the tow hook cover in the bumper has fallen out on it's own.

Sorry for the rant, but as unreliable as my car has been it will be a long time before I own a Surbau again.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Holy crap. Could your report that car as a lemon with all those issues ?

However, your dealer is crap. buy a used turbo with little mileage ($400) and install it yourself.

Of course, you'll have to make sure the motor itself is fine.

No I never thought it would be an issue, so I never kept any of my reciepts. So it's my word against the stealership.

I was talknig with someone I work with who had a problem with the engine in his Justy going out, 200 miles past the warrenty. He said that after sending a lot to time writing, & talking with SOA, that he's just out of luck & there wasn't going to be any warrenty grace of his problem. So he had to replace the engine out of his own pocket, he said that this was the last Subaru that he was going to own. And that was after telling SOA being a very loyal Subaru owner for his, & his families cars. After hearing all that he went through with the dealers, & SOA, my problem isn't too far off from his so I would expect the very same treatment. And the fact the he works at the building at the intersection of I65/38E in Lafayette, IN doesn't do anything for him.

I was driving on the Interstate last weekend when my check engine light came on. The car was still going down the road as I held the gas pedal down, the cruise automatically shuts down when the check engine light comes on. I wasn't hearing anything out of the normal as I was driving the car. I was able to get home alright, it was late when I got home & too dark to see anything that day. I drove into work the next day, but I started noticing how badly the car was running. I went to the dealer, they said they were too busy to look at it, & I needed to make an appointment. So I did this, but as I was driving home I the car was running even worse. It was surging as I was accelerating, & I was so slow that I was having trouble out running a moped. When I would start the car I noticed it was smoking so badle that I thought it was a mosquito sprayer had passed by.

 

So I took the car in today to the dealer, it was doing the same thing, very slow acceleration, surging, & smoking at start up. The dealer called to tell me that it was a blown turbo, & it would cost $2400 to repair it. They said I would have to pay $1800 up front before they ordered anything.

 

This is the latest in the series of problems with the Subaru. I've had the exhaust blow apart, it was covered under warrenty. I've had problems with the engine timing with the RH engine bank, that was covered under warrenty. Then this last summer the transmission main bearing went out, it was making a whining noise, & the tranny had to be rebuilt. Fortunately this was also taken care of under warrenty. I was informed that the problem with the turbo will not be a warrenty item. The reason I was given was that I didn't bring the car in for the 60K check up, the dealer said it was a $900 check that changed the oil, oil & gas filter, spark plugs, air filter, then they checked the belts & hoses. The also said that since they don't have any records of any oil service (changes) on their records is another reason for the turbo problem not being a warrenty item. I told tham that I've been changing the oil & filters in my car every 3K miles, but since they don't have any records, & I didn't save any of my reciepts this doesn't count as far as they were concerned.

 

Now if the problems with the exhaust, transmission, & turbo wasn't enough. The matting in the carpeting is falling out, the chrome is pealing away from the trim, & the tow hook cover in the bumper has fallen out on it's own.

 

Sorry for the rant, but as unreliable as my car has been it will be a long time before I own a Surbau again.:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

my car did the exact same thing. What is better to get an OEM or after market turbo and where is the best place to find it? I have the money to spend for the OEM but I am a recent college grad and would love to save some money.

Time to call BNR and order a 16g. Still cheaper than the OEM.

http://bnrsupercars.com/

I assume this is the place. At least the turbo is a hell of a lot more cheaper than what the stealership was quoting me for the OEM replacement part. Now if I decide on the BNR turbo will I need to reprogram anything or will all just run with the OEM settings? To be honest I've never replaced a turbo in anything, but I'm good with tools around cars. Looking at the turbo replacement page, & the step by step pictures it looks pretty straight forward.

Dear god, why would people insist on driving a car that was a) smoking a lot and b) running poorly? That screams of a serious issue with the car! Park it, tow it, get it looked at. Who knows what parts of the turbo you can throw through the engine?

I've dropped the car off at the dealer, before I knew about the bad turbo, but wasn't driving because of the way it was running. Right now the car sits, until I finish researching the options I have. When the check engine light came on, & was looking at the fluids, engine, etc, I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. And when I was slightly reving the engine (maybe up 3K RPM0 I wasn't hearing any unusual noises from the engine.

I've contacted BNR to get some further info about the 16G/18G turbo options they offer. I've also been looking for some step by step instructoins on doing a turbo replacement.

You will need a tune and new oil feed lines for them to honor the warranty on the turbo.

Basically the stock programming on the ECU will work fine with the BNR replacement? Just some new plugs, filters, turbo oil lines, & that's it?

Sorry for not being specific...by tune, I mean an ECU tune.

I was wondering about that, I realised that the BNR will flow more air. I wasn't sure if the stock programming could compensate for the change. I assume that BNR will supply the correct programming so the ECU could be reprogrammed correctly. Other than that (again I assume) it just a straight bolt on swap. I hope to hear BNR's response to the questions I sent to them earlier.