New Short Block; New Leaks
 

So I'm writing this on a 94 degree day (F) from the cabin of my '14 BRZ Limited. My boss and coworkers are late for work and I'm early. Florida moment.

I installed a cold air intake recently because my dad broke the stock intake box when he was helping me change my clutch back in June. Somehow the intake ended up being more inclined to slurping water from puddles than the stock box. Engine threw some rods, but like a good neighbor, State Farm hooked me up with a brand new short block and labor.

About 3 weeks of driving around the car it feels great, but on Friday, two days ago as of writing this post, my AC blows exclusively hot air and I have a coolant leak on top of my AC compressor. Huh? Do I call the dealership and shrewdly negotiate they find the problem? Compressor gets power, clutch engages, fuses are good, so I'm 98% certain there's a freon leak. Plus a coolant leak. I'm half posting this to get roasted since I feel defeated after this now one-year ownership cycle of things breaking. Half of them are probably my fault though lol.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachm...912_150355.jpg

Thanks for reading, I really love these forums BTW.

Well now, that's too bad - :sigh:

Sounds to me like you have a couple of things that need tending to.

I suggest you take it back to the dealer that did your engine work and ask them to find out what went wrong and fix it.

did you have these leaks before you got your new short block or only after? if it was after then i agree with @humfrz.

Only after. Before the only problems were slightly leaky valve covers. #subaruthings

That looks like pag oil leaking from the top of the compressor because it's green and not blue like subaru coolant is. I'm sure refrigerant is accompanying the oil leak. Shop probably didn't use new O rings on installation. Take it back and have them reseal the connection with a new O ring and fill up the system and you should be good to go.

Funny enough you say that, they billed my insurance company for Subaru blue coolant and put the generic coolant I brought it in with back in there. I bought the car with that coolant from a Toyota dealership. They also billed me for an OEM Subaru oil filter. The K&N filter I brought it in with is on there.

I don't think it's a good idea to put oil filters, coolant, and hell at this rate probably the old oil, from a block that blew back into a new block.

They did bill me for a complete seal kit too, so I **assume** they used new seals.

Update: Took a drive over to the dealership today since I have a day off from work this week. I calmly spoke to the service advisor lady who was very cordial. I explained to her the problem, to which her eyes widened and she says "oh, that's really bad". After that, I asked her about the coolant and oil filter that were billed to my insurance and she explained that if their service department made a mistake, she's happy to have them fix it. They didn't have a loaner car available, so I was invited to come back Monday to drop off my car and whip around in yet another 2021 Crosstrek. Sweet.

So, poor service work AND insurance fraud..... awesome!

What is the name and location of this dealer?

I'm hesitating to say right now because the service advisor ladies have been really helpful so far. I'm actually at the stealership right now waiting for them to tell me if they can get it done in 30 minutes, or if they'll get to it another day. It's been an hour so far lol.

The service advisor did assure me that the old coolant, oil filter, and O rings/gaskets were all NOT supposed to be reused; so I guess they have a 16 y/o who got lazy or something. Oh, and that the low pressure schrader valve had a cap on it when I brought the car in.

When I get the car back I'll post here if it was negligence or if they actually intended on billing my good neighbor State Farm fraudulantly lol.

That is straight up shameful.

I wonder if it was even evacuated. My biggest service horror story, the thing that still makes me cringe whenever I crank up an AC, is of watching a former co-worker charge a refrigerator immediately after soldering in a new compressor. No evacuation. I was the new electronics geek so, when I asked him about it, he literally scoffed at me and said it was a waste of time.

"They work just fine without it."

When I tried to explain Dalton's law, he got all pissy and said something about electronics guy telling the appliance guy how to do his job blah blah...

These assholes walk among us.

That's what I call a professional Jack-Ass of All Trades.

Update:

After my post on Monday, I waited somewhere over 90 minutes for them to find out if the fix was going to take 10 minutes, or if they could just give me a loaner so they could have time to work on it. I think it's safe to say these people don't follow standard AC service procedures lol. Eventually, the service advisor comes into the customer lounge to tell me that she'll just give me a loaner then and there because she wants them to have time to work on it. That's a little better I guess.

On the way to the desk to sign papers for the loaner car (it was a 2021 Forester this time, not a Crosstrek), we bumped into the technician who serviced my BRZ. The service advisor raised the concerns I had with the leak, the missing low fill valve cap, the previous oil filter being reused, and the coolant still being the same shade of green I brought it in with. The technician says...

"Oh well I used a new O-ring when I installed it, so that's probably AC dye that's leaking. Subaru coolant is blue, not green, so it can't be coolant. They didn't give me an oil filter so I just put the old one back on. It was on the invoice? They didn't give it to me so I don't know. Yeah that's definitely AC dye that's leaking though. Oh the AC line didn't have a low pressure cap on it so I didn't even have one to take off." I was a little perturbed that he said he put the new coolant in when I triple checked and saw it was the same shade of green I brought it in with. I asked him how much AC dye he used. He tells me one ounce. I tell him "that **pool** of liquid on top of that block is at least five ounces so it's probably not one ounce of AC dye." He goes on to tell me that it's "probably" PAG oil then. To be fair, it more than likely was since refrigerant accompanied the leak.

I got the car back today. They plugged the leak, the coolant reservoir is blue now, the AC blows cold, and the low pressure line valve has the same cap on it that it once did. They still didn't change the oil filter. The service advisor said to me that the "... technician said it was AC dye ..." that they cleaned off my new block. I'm 99% sure it was PAG oil.

I'm sure my compressor will seize up in about a week from now and I'll have to go back to them again. I still can't believe he first said it was AC dye, then PAG oil, then he says it was definitely AC dye and not PAG oil. I guess one ounce of AC dye gains mass/volume when it's circulating through a system. lol.

I would raise the concern with Subaru of America so that it is at least noted going forward. I would not have accepted the car with the old oil filter, especially after a blown engine. That is pure hack BS. I wouldn't have completed the job as a service tech unless a new filter was charged to the job I was doing, heck I would have bought one myself just for the piece of mind.