Question about my 05 legacy turbo

So I had my entire turbo system warranty replaced back in August of 2012, the car has had a lot of issues since I've purchased it, but I love the car so much since it's the first factory turbo Subaru I've owned, I refuse to give up on her. About a week ago at night my girlfriend and I were going to go for a ride and she mentioned she thought that she heard the motor knocking.. I was a little concerned but it was very very cold outside and I thought it may be due to the fact that I hadn't started the car all day, and that perhaps once it warmed up, the sound would go away.. the car then drove with no issues and I didn't hear the sound later on in the night so I continued on with my days as usual.

 

The day before yesterday I was at work and had to take a drive to pick something up, the car started fine (no chugging, no knocking, nothing) and drove to my destination fine, then as I got on the highway, I was blasting my music as usual, with my windows up and the heat on full blast, and even then I thought I could hear a strange noise.. I rolled down the window and turned off the music and heat and all I could hear is a high-pitch metallic sound coming from my engine compartment so I immediately feared something was going on with my turbo, then BAM! CEL light goes on, cruise control starts flashing and the noise persists anytime I accelerate. I made it home okay that night and the next day I checked the code and it read "P0011 Cam shaft actuator bank 1 advance timing" or something to that effect. I hopped on the forums and everyone seemed to say it's oil related (change the oil, possibly the banjo bolt, or because of the starvation of oil as well as other contributing factors the turbo may be on its last leg). So I took my car to my subie repair guy and he agrees and confirms my turbo sounds terrible, but I'm only overdue for my oil change by 10 miles so the warranty on my turbo should still be in tact.. Now assuming they honor the warranty and don't give me the run-around, I'm afraid that when I get another vf40 turbo as a replacement I'm going to run in to the same issue god-knows-when down the road; So should I spring for a vf52 and sell the vf40 to help recoup cash? Keep the vf40 and pray to jeebus that it doesnt blow again? or perhaps you guys have a different/better suggestion?

 

I appreciate you guys reading my long story, I'm just beyond frustrated with this car since I think I've not had it due to repairs for almost more time than I have had it

STI?

 

It sounds like you bought a neglected car and the car wasn't completely fixed after the first blown turbo. The banjo bolt is a pretty well known issue now. If they cleaned it (and I'm sure they did), it gunked up again, so you obviously have a lot of crap running through the oiling system. If they didn't clean the BB, it would've blown much sooner.

 

If you put ANY turbo on at this point, you'll probably just keep on blowing turbos.

Yeah when I got the car I discovered after several issues (had to have the tranny replaced, they messed up the timing belt that the dealership installed, and more) that it had a cracked intercooler and a blown turbo, so there's no doubt the person before me had neglected the car and the dealership had "forgot" to mention it.. But I figured that since the subaru dealership had done a full turbo system replacement, that it included a flush of all of the fluids including the oil, of course, so I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that it could be the banjo bolt.. but I suppose gunk could get in to the system at any time, so you may be right. thanks for the advice

Sorry to hear you're having shitty luck with it. Most of us that bought our cars a long time ago have very good reliability.

 

I would not put incompetence past any dealer. You really have to be a dick about making sure your car is properly repaired sometimes. I'm not sure where you are located, but hopefully you have a reputable Subaru dealer in your area that can fix your car the right way. I believe the turbo has a 1 year warranty, so any dealership will be able to honor the warranty. You can always get Subaru of America involved.

The oil cooler is know to hold metal chips from the past turbo's going and letting go of them over time.

 

The best case fix is new long block and new turbo. With a new oil cooler.

 

You may get by with a short block and oil cooler and have the heads rebuilt.

 

Good Luck.

To reinforce what Max is saying I recomend pulling the oil pan (after any turbo failure) and inspecting for what I call "glitter" or "paning for gold". If there is any debris in the pan an oil cooler is a must.

Also, if you put a 52 or even a 46 in there Subaru will not honor the warranty because it is not the "correct" turbo that the vehicle was originally equipped.

Makes sense to me, GT. I essentially knew it would void my warranty, I just figured perhaps with a more dependable turbo I would run less of a risk of the turbo blowing- but if its the oil cooler, or some other part that effects the dependability of the turbo, than my efforts to buy a different turbo would be pointless. Thanks for the info guys

A vf40 will last if maintained properly (ask Max Capacity). Good luck!

Makes sense to me, GT. I essentially knew it would void my warranty, I just figured perhaps with a more dependable turbo I would run less of a risk of the turbo blowing- but if its the oil cooler, or some other part that effects the dependability of the turbo, than my efforts to buy a different turbo would be pointless. Thanks for the info guys

 

I'm pretty sure people were blowing VF52s also and most of them don't have the mileage VF40s have at this point. I believe all of the cars equipped with a VF46 did not have the mesh filter in the banjo bolt, which definitely contributes to their lack of failures.

 

And yes, 102,xxx miles on my original vf40 with 4 years of autox and 5 years of stg 2 power.

Well there goes my good excuse to get a bigger turbo kidding.. kind of. thanks again guys

If you have to go with a vf40, just remember to let the turbo cool before you shut the car off.

 

I tend to coast a lot on the exit ramps or prior to them.

 

I got 142,000 miles on the oem turbo just using dino oil and fram filters OCI was 3500-just over 5000 miles. I also do a lot of highway miles.

 

You will also need a tune for the vf52. But that's not a bad thing either. You don't want these cars on the OEM MAP, it has been known to cause burnt valves.

So, the turbo aside, would you say its worth buying an access port for this car? It's definitely been something I've wanted for a while, but after this whole thing with my turbo, a boost gauge and turbo timer just became items on the top of my wish list

So, the turbo aside, would you say its worth buying an access port for this car? It's definitely been something I've wanted for a while, but after this whole thing with my turbo, a boost gauge and turbo timer just became items on the top of my wish list

 

Tuning the car is completely worth it. Whether or not you want the accessport is up to you. It's very easy to use and has a lot of great features, but there are other methods of tuning that are cheaper but not nearly as user friendly. No need for a turbo timer. Subaru turbos are water cooled.

Tuning the car is completely worth it. Whether or not you want the accessport is up to you. It's very easy to use and has a lot of great features, but there are other methods of tuning that are cheaper but not nearly as user friendly. No need for a turbo timer. Subaru turbos are water cooled.

 

Really?? I was under the impression they were oil cooled...

Really?? I was under the impression they were oil cooled...

 

Really!

 

Both coolant and oil lines are fed to the turbo. The oil will help dissipate some heat, but it's primarily done by the coolant.

I just read that after posting.. I've yet to pull my turbo (thankfully) so I didn't know there were coolant lines in addition to the oil supply lines. Are there cavities in the compressor/turbine housings? Oil for the bearings, coolant for the housings?

Good news (kind of) is that it was a oil blockage and its covered by warranty.. new vf40 going in and she'll be up and running by monday (hopefully).

Good news (kind of) is that it was a oil blockage and its covered by warranty.. new vf40 going in and she'll be up and running by monday (hopefully).

 

Before you take possession of the car, you really need to grille them to make sure they went through everything to clean all of the crap out of the oiling system

no offense, but that's a myth

 

May be I wasn't really clear.

 

Just never shut if off after driving it hard or for a long time at highway speeds. For most of us rolling down the off ramp, sitting at a traffic light, is enough.

 

I know there is a cooling tank above the turbo.

 

Those of us that seem to have gotten good mileage seem to have done the same thing. Drive it easy before shutting it off.

I'm paranoid as hell with my turbo. Glad to see guys are taking the same path I do, coasting down off-ramps not in gear and all. CT has a lot of long ramps, at least in my area, and plenty of "run ways" as I call them, to coast and cool down as well. I have the VF40 or 42, not sure.. not quite sure what I'm really talking about, haha. But I know it's a VF4? something. Try and take care of it as long as I can. 96k miles and still sounds like a dream.

Yeah, this subaru dealership has been good to me even though I didn't get the car from them.. I honestly just took a chance and bought it from a local hyundai dealership because I couldnt find any other 05 black lgt limited's anywhere else locally from a dealership and when I got there they seemed to already have been doing the maintenance to it (which it turns out they did the service wrong), so when they had told me they were going to put in a transmission and a turbo (because the turbo was all sorts of eff'd up and the tranny was bad after just a month of owning it) I told them I wouldn't take the car back unless they send it to North End Subaru for those parts to go in, seeing how the hyundai dealership didn't even do the timing belt right, I was afraid to imagine what they would do to the car when it came to putting in the entire turbo system and a tranny.. yikes. Thank god I had sent it to the subaru dealership which ended up warrantying the new turbo, otherwise I would be in a much different, and far less fortunate situation right now.

OB_LGT take it ur from MA? U could always do as I plan and have Bren tune it instead of an access port. Also where in MA?

I live in Fitchburg

Ah may see you around. Welcome to the Lgt community!