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school me : 2010 subaru impreza wrx sti

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#21 ·
I had a 2009 Sport Tech that I sold last year with 60k for 26,500 Cdn before taxes.

I was worried about the ringland issues. Additionally, there is a problem with the air pump failing causing a CEL. Subaru refuses to cover it under warranty and it's a $1500+ fix. Not sure if there is a DIY fix for it yet.

I liked the look of the car and miss that boxer rumble when a turboback is installed.

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Kev
 
#23 ·
burple said:
If you search Subaru forums it's pretty rare you come across people with reliability issues with the my06-07.
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:confused:

2007-2008 were notorious for ringland failures. You can find many threads on this.

Well respected tuner:

I think most people on this forum have cracked ring lands and dont even know it. I think alot of people would be suprised if they did a leak down test. Many times the car runs fine and does not burn oil and does not smoke.

The pistons are weak and something needs to be done about it. Subaru is in a rock and a hard place when it comes to this issue.

The old version 7 JDM motor had Forged pistons. The pistons where very strong. The trouble with this is that the forged pistons expand alot at high temps. They need to be run loose when cold so they can have room in the bore to expand. Subaru ran these pistons super tight. As a result, Alot of high hp cars and or road/rally V7 engines scuffed the bores. Cant run them with more clearance because the cold start emissions would be to high.

They then went to the Hyper cast piston. This piston can run tight and has very little blow by. So little that it was common for me to find V8 STI motors with 0! leak down.. NONE. Since they where small 2.0 pistons they where stronge enough.

The US 2.0 WRX was much lower power and the pistons being small where plenty strong. The rods are weaker then the pistons in the 205 engine.


When the US sti came to the us, Subaru realized the gas is crap. The 2.0 would have never made enough power to keep up with the EVO. ( evo having long stroke and small bore)The solution was the EJ257. THis engine used the 2.5 sized piston. They kept the Same Hyper cast style piston. Since this motor is stretched beyond its design limits (in my opinion) they ended up with a weak piston. The engine has a large bore and a short stroke. The real solution is to use a smaller piston with more stroke. This is not an option as the motor would be so wide that it would not fit in the Frame rails.

I can tell you that the early 04 pistons where total crap. They changed the pistons and the mid to late 04s where better.

05 and 06 seem to be "ok" in most cases but still not strong. THey had several diff pistons used in these motors also.

All hell broke loose with the 07. This was about the worst engine. Many I attempted to tune where already blown. Stock cars had blown pistons. Tuned cars had blown pistons. I got to the point where I did not even want to tune them anymore because I knew it was a roll of the dice... and the blame would always be me. Not the piston.

The 08 came out and I was excited.. Surely Subaru put in a stronger piston right? Wrong.. 08 stis are as bad as the 07 engines. They flat out scare me to tune. Lots of 08 STIs are running around right now 'running great" with blown pistons.

I have one customer that had a totaly stock car with blown pistons. Subaru replaced the pistons.. not the motor. This motor ran for about 4 months and one piston blew. He then went to aftermarket pistons and I tuned the car with no issues.

Lots of 08 STIs where blown because of the Factory FPR sticking. One second your at 11 to 1. Next second you are at 14 to 1! On boost! Oh no! Clark blew my motor.. Lots of stock cars had this issue. Something should really be done about this.

Like I say.. Its a roll of the dice. I tuned RJs (MGI imports) 08 STI and he ran the one lap of america race without incident. That motor seems to be alive after 6000 miles of racing and hours at high speeds.

The solution is to install Forged pistons and be done with it. Lots of people blame tunes and thats a fair blame. Lots of people blame the stock tune. Thats also fair.. But in the end.. Any real detonation will likely cause the piston to crack. If thats the fault of the stock tune, my tune or mechanical issues.. You still have a cracked piston.

Clark
Click to expand...
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=26897307&postcount=14

List of 2007's with or without problems
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1386117

List of 2008's
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1632634
 
#24 ·
Traded my 09 WRX in a few months back. It was paid for and seeing the amount that most places were saying it was worth, I had $ $ for eyeballs. The interior creaked and rattled like all hell, from the day it was new. Seats suck worse than the STI. But for the money, you probably can't buy a faster car. The EVO X is insane (to drive). For a DD it would drive me positively BATTY with how loud it is.

Problem on the STIs as of late has been the cracked ringlands (hell the WRXs for that matter). Even on stock setups. I know a guy who has a 2011 STI totally stock, and is losing compression in 1 cyl. Looks like ringland is cracked (going to the dealer with it tomorrow). Another guy I know had a 2008 STI at stage 2 (tune, tbe, intake) and a bunch of other stuff, and he was seeing oil consumption and black smoke (ie looked like ringland too). Traded it in with 36k on it for like 28k, full cage, bride seats and no interior (didn't even put it back to stock)...somebody bought it and had the motor blow up on it within 2k. I'd be cautious on one that won't have the ringland/piston damage covered.

j
 
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Discussion starter · #25 ·
spjoneSi said:
Traded my 09 WRX in a few months back. It was paid for and seeing the amount that most places were saying it was worth, I had $ $ for eyeballs. The interior creaked and rattled like all hell, from the day it was new. Seats suck worse than the STI. But for the money, you probably can't buy a faster car. The EVO X is insane (to drive). For a DD it would drive me positively BATTY with how loud it is.

Problem on the STIs as of late has been the cracked ringlands (hell the WRXs for that matter). Even on stock setups. I know a guy who has a 2011 STI totally stock, and is losing compression in 1 cyl. Looks like ringland is cracked (going to the dealer with it tomorrow). Another guy I know had a 2008 STI at stage 2 (tune, tbe, intake) and a bunch of other stuff, and he was seeing oil consumption and black smoke (ie looked like ringland too). Traded it in with 36k on it for like 28k, full cage, bride seats and no interior (didn't even put it back to stock)...somebody bought it and had the motor blow up on it within 2k. I'd be cautious on one that won't have the ringland/piston damage covered.

j
Click to expand...
wow that ringland issue is pretty scary, i am definitely going to have to look a lot more into that before jumping on this car, thanks for the information. helps a lot:thumbup: it seems like after the 08 cars the issue was sort of fixed, but still happens in the odd newer cars?
 
#26 ·
Find one with a fully-documented, warrantied, and professionally built motor ... otherwise, don't even touch these cars used. Even new I'd say send it off to get ACL race bearings put in, new pistons, and better rods ...

WAYYYYYYY too many people I know have blown up GR WRX and STi's that I know ... and no, these people aren't doing track events or gong OVER 9000 on a daily basis either.
 
#27 · (Edited)
I know someone selling an '09 STI with like only 15 or 20 thousand miles on it. Stage 2 pro-tune, 2 sets of wheels, aftermarket suspension (springs/shocks...not coilovers) and a few other tasteful mods. Super clean car. It's red...not sure if that makes a difference to you.

As far as reliability goes- I don't own an STI, I own an '09 WRX w/ 60k on it and have never had any serious issues with it, other than my throw-out-bearings started making some noise and had to be replaced at like 35k. It's actually been the most reliable car I've owned so far.
 
#28 ·
Ubel GLI said:
Y Ring land and oil issues were fixed in mid 08. The 2010 should be fine
http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb160/vw_twenty1/IMG_20130401_164305_zps5eb0fb86.jpg[IMG]
There ya go. I can hawk more if you want[/QUOTE]


I was just told on Legacygt that all the 2.5 turbo's are effected and the problem won't be addressed until the new engine is released. Just more reason to buy new though, nice car BTW
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#30 ·
I never miss a chance to post about my '07 Stage 2 STI that just turned 99k. Its been dead reliable through my 63k miles of ownership. I agree with many that have said that its a great DD. Perfect for any weather and still puts a smile on my face. IIRC, many of the engine failures from '06-'07 were due to very lean stock tunes. The first thing I did when I bought mine was a stg 1 Cobb Accessport tune.
 
#36 · (Edited)
I've got a 2011 STi sedan. 49,000Km on it. 40,000Km as "stage 2":rolleyes:. 19psi ~300awhp on 94 octane.

-The car is absolutely a blast to drive all year round. Full throttle out of corners is addictive... so are low traction slides on rainy/snowy days.
-Fuel economy sucks. Average 11L/100km on 94 octane. Much worse when pushing it. The best you'll ever see cruising is 8.5L/100km.
-There are certain precautions you can take to make sure you don't blow a piston apart. Wideband AFR, and a proper tune. Cobb OTS maps are not that great.
-The car begs to be modded. Some people do it properly, others don't. Choose wisely in the used car market.
-The car is loud even in stock form.
-Use the highest octane fuel you can get your hands on all the time.
-If you can get a 2011 then do it as they have MUCH improved suspension setups over the 2010s.
-If you're not able to tune it yourself get a reputable protuner to get you setup. I've tuned my STi myself and review logs almost weekly to check engine operation.

Other Things of note:
-The stock radio/audio sucks donkey balls.
-Speakers rattle
-Interior rattles a bit when cold
-The 6spd transmission hates 1st gear in the cold.

So far mine has been absolutely 100% reliable ( touch wood ) Not a single thing has gone wrong in almost 50K and 2 years of daily driving.

The EVO is no better in the reliability department. Look into them a bit and you'll see... I was on the fence between the STi and EVO originally.
 
#38 · (Edited)
AggvGtivr6 said:
So what was it about the EVO that turned you away? I cant believe it being any worse than needing to rebuild a brand new motor potentially
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Well this one for starters: Frequent Transmission problems

There are also a number of common issues listed here: http://forums.evolutionm.net/evo-x-general/416088-evolution-x-helpful-faq-tsbs-known-issues-etc.html

When it comes down to it there isn't much difference between the two issue wise. The piston ringland issue isn't nearly as common as people on the internet would have you believe. There is a very well known Subaru tuner in my area and he has seen ONE ringland failure in all his years running his dyno.

Yes the EVO is a better track car, but the Subaru is more liveable day to day even when modded.
 
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