"Overheated" and now won't start

My wife and I were traveling Labor Day across Wyoming when the car computer beeps, I look down and it shows a temperature symbol. I look at the temp guage and it is just touching the bottom of the red zone. I immediately turn on the heater and turn off the AC, ambient temp was varying between 78-82. The car lost power right away and when I put the clutch in the engine died. I pop the hood and there is coolant all over the engine bay from the coolant overflow tank cap popping open. Added water to the overflow tank and it sucked about 3/4 of that back into the radiator over severa minutes. Added more but the level didn't change much after that. Can't get the car to start. The starter will turn, but it will not fire up. When releasing the key you can hear a whirring noise as if something is still spinning (driver's side of engine while standing over the engine). CEL is on, SI Drive is flashing "S". I pulled the battery for a few minutes, reconnected still won't start. Later after I had a Labor Day tow to a populated area where I actually had reception I downloaded Torque and pulled the codes P0345 and P0345. All fluid levels were fine before leaving. After incident the oil is still full and clean. What do you supposed happened?

1500 miles ago I had the short block, turbo, and oil pump replaced. The dealership added in the banjo filter. Subaru roadside assistance was of no help so I had it towed to the nearest town which of course had no Subaru dealership (closest one is about 150 miles away). My wife and I rented a car to get to our destination. I spoke to a technician at the "Subaru service center" (they share it with Chevy/Buick because the town is so small). His gut diagnosis was that the valve gasket blew out (I believe that is the head gasket) which caused the coolant to get pushed out. He then started to ask me about the history of the vehicle since it was relatively new ('09 XT with 23248 miles). I informed him of the 1/2 engine replacement and he asked if the heads were machined. I did not know. He called the dealership it was serviced at and confirmed that they did not send the heads out for machining (either they felt they didn't need to be or they were doing sloppy work). He seemed pretty convinced at this point that it is a head gasket. Would you agree?
Now I get to worry about getting roadside assistance to cover a tow but that will be in another thread.

Sounds like zero compression Which means major work to the motor

Sorry I haven't updated, but I have been trying to catch up on stuff after being gone for several days. I ended up having Subaru tow it to the "closest" dealer. That tow was 210 miles to Steamboat Springs. Could have had it towed to Jackson, WY at 170 miles, but Steamboat is "only" 160 miles away from where I live as opposed to Jackson which is 590 miles (and incidentally where my wife and I were headed for our trip when this went down). Of course to pickup the car I will have to drive 320 miles roundtrip.

The service shop there (it is a joint service service shop of Subaru and Chevrolet because the town is small) took an initial look at it Friday morning and said either the timing belt broke or the belt tensioner broke or came loose which means that the pistons and valves probably tried to duke it out with each other. This will be the 2nd short block in ~1500 miles and now some valves/headwork too. I expecting/hoping to get a call Monday or Tuesday with the official diagnosis.

With that milage, I assume this is covered by the warranty ?

I'm thinking HG.

Why was the new short block installed 1500 miles ago ?

Originally Posted by Max Capacity

With that milage, I assume this is covered by the warranty ?

I'm thinking HG.

Why was the new short block installed 1500 miles ago ?

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthrea...html?p=4025713

The car is under powertrain warranty.

If you haven't done this already, it's time to get on the phone to Subaru Customer Care and file a formal customer complaint. This shouldn't be the case after a Subaru Technician rebuild with all of the new items you mentioned. The one thing I noticed that wasn't replaced was the OEM Oil Cooler, since this collects metal particulate and re-emits them post rebuild.

Really hope this works out for you. Can only imagine your frustration level especially on travel away from home base.

Originally Posted by SBT

If you haven't done this already, it's time to get on the phone to Subaru Customer Care and file a formal customer complaint. The one thing I noticed that wasn't replaced was the OEM Oil Cooler, since this collects metal particulate and re-emits them post rebuild.

Yeah, I have a case open with Subaru. I was not aware the cars had an oil cooler. Is that on all engines or only the turbo engine? Where is it located? Never mind, I searched and found it. I wonder if that is part of a short block? I will ask the service shop about it.

Oil Cooler comes on the all of the turbo versions, some 2.5s like the Foresters with Towing Package, and I believe on all of the H6 engines.

The cooler isn't considered part of the shortblock.

I think it was the tbelt that did you in. When they rebuilt it they may have been sloppy reinstalling it.

-Mike Paisan


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