2013 FRS Reliability?

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Or not. He may have something there (even though not the same engine)


http://www.licmotorsports.com/blog/2...d-gasket-issue


http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/...gasket-issues/

diddly DO NEIGHBORINO!Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:51am - Noah Levy



Non turbo 4 cylinder applications all have head gasket issues, you've heard this before, most of you know this, and yes its a result of a bad/faulty design with the gasket.

The factory gaskets have a coating that deteriorates over time (typically between 80-120k miles. That range is dependent on if you've run the SOA mandatory coolant conditioner, which is designed to get you past that 100k mile hump).

The symptom of leaking "head gaskets" is oil weeping between the head/block surfaces. This weep over time turns into a significant leak, which then turns into coolant leaking as well, after that symptom you often times will go into overheating, from there its a few mile slippery slope...which then has coolant and oil intermingling together.

If you haven't guessed it yet, this is where bearings get trashed, you develop a rod knock and hopefully at this point you've realized its about to be over but recognize before the next critical stage.

The sad thing is....it doesn't need to get to this point. If you work with a specialty shop its easy to point out early on when this is happening (at the weeping stage) and proactively fixing it. By doing so, you 1- secure your investment with your vehicle, 2- save yourself the headache of being broken down on the side of the road, and 3- you get to enjoy your car for another X amount of miles b/c you didn't let it catastrophically fail.

Did you know when we do head gasket jobs here at LIC Motorsports we don't install the same gaskets that do the same thing? Would you be shocked to know that the dealer and most other independents still install these bad/faulty gaskets to this day when they perform this job (reason being is Subaru hasn't revised the gasket on the older SOHC vehicles).

In case you were wondering, anything up to these have head gasket issues, which is: The older EJ series motors, which those vehicles are up to 2009 Legacy/Outback, 2010 for Forester, 2011 for Impreza.



we gotta wait for the fa20

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by FRSBRZGT86FAN

diddly DO NEIGHBORINO!Thu, 01/30/2014 - 10:51am - Noah Levy



Non turbo 4 cylinder applications all have head gasket issues, you've heard this before, most of you know this, and yes its a result of a bad/faulty design with the gasket.

The factory gaskets have a coating that deteriorates over time (typically between 80-120k miles. That range is dependent on if you've run the SOA mandatory coolant conditioner, which is designed to get you past that 100k mile hump).

The symptom of leaking "head gaskets" is oil weeping between the head/block surfaces. This weep over time turns into a significant leak, which then turns into coolant leaking as well, after that symptom you often times will go into overheating, from there its a few mile slippery slope...which then has coolant and oil intermingling together.

If you haven't guessed it yet, this is where bearings get trashed, you develop a rod knock and hopefully at this point you've realized its about to be over but recognize before the next critical stage.

The sad thing is....it doesn't need to get to this point. If you work with a specialty shop its easy to point out early on when this is happening (at the weeping stage) and proactively fixing it. By doing so, you 1- secure your investment with your vehicle, 2- save yourself the headache of being broken down on the side of the road, and 3- you get to enjoy your car for another X amount of miles b/c you didn't let it catastrophically fail.

Did you know when we do head gasket jobs here at LIC Motorsports we don't install the same gaskets that do the same thing? Would you be shocked to know that the dealer and most other independents still install these bad/faulty gaskets to this day when they perform this job (reason being is Subaru hasn't revised the gasket on the older SOHC vehicles).

In case you were wondering, anything up to these have head gasket issues, which is: The older EJ series motors, which those vehicles are up to 2009 Legacy/Outback, 2010 for Forester, 2011 for Impreza.



we gotta wait for the fa20

Keeping in mid this is from some place trying to sell their service. They aren't very subtle with their "We do it right everybody else sucks" promo>

[NOHOME]

The deal is...at about 100,000 miles the car is going to be worth maybe 4-5k max in value.

With shop rates at Toyota running $125/hour today, and only going up as time moves on, this little piece of maintenance is going to run well over $2000.

You would be better to part out the car and move on at that point rather than pour the money into the repair.

To me, these kind of repairs are not acceptable. I have become used to Mazda (piston engine) levels of reliability, and if the FRS pulls this stunt at the low mileage of 100,000, it will be the last Subaru product that I own.

The take-home message I am getting is that the FRS might become like the RX8: Great chassis for those that don't mind keeping spare engines under the bench and are capable of swapping them in on their own. How well did that work for the RX8?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by NOHOME

The deal is...at about 100,000 miles the car is going to be worth maybe 4-5k max in value.

With shop rates at Toyota running $125/hour today, and only going up as time moves on, this little piece of maintenance is going to run well over $2000.

You would be better to part out the car and move on at that point rather than pour the money into the repair.

To me, these kind of repairs are not acceptable. I have become used to Mazda (piston engine) levels of reliability, and if the FRS pulls this stunt at the low mileage of 100,000, it will be the last Subaru product that I own.

The take-home message I am getting is that the FRS might become like the RX8: Great chassis for those that don't mind keeping spare engines under the bench and are capable of swapping them in on their own. How well did that work for the RX8?

All conjecture at this point. Not all the Subaru engines have an issue and hopefully it doesn't appear. Way too early at this point to simply assume there will be problems.
Same as not all Mazda's had perfect engines and certainly had some serious rust issues for many years.

[Djratrap]

Originally Posted by FRSBRZGT86FAN

Why head gaskets?

High compression engines...just my experience with them. Subie boxer motors are pretty known for their head gasket issues. I'm making premature assumptions so take them with a grain of salt. I guess we'll see once people start hitting 100k+ miles.

[NOHOME]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

All conjecture at this point. Not all the Subaru engines have an issue and hopefully it doesn't appear. Way too early at this point to simply assume there will be problems.
Same as not all Mazda's had perfect engines and certainly had some serious rust issues for many years.

No, not all Mazda engines were perfect. The one in my Miata died of a broken crankshaft nose. I was lucky and made it to 300,000 km before it did so.

It would be fair to say that I bought the car on emotion and am doing due-diligence after the fact. Spoke with a mechanic who had served time at Subaru dealership and he asked me if the oil burning at start-up had begun yet..."They all do it around year three" was his observation. Can't say as that gave me the warm fuzzies.

All I need is ten years total and maybe 150,000 miles and I will be good. The question to be answered is if I will be good enough to want to buy another Subaru product? The new Miata does look good!

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by NOHOME

No, not all Mazda engines were perfect. The one in my Miata died of a broken crankshaft nose. I was lucky and made it to 300,000 km before it did so.

It would be fair to say that I bought the car on emotion and am doing due-diligence after the fact. Spoke with a mechanic who had served time at Subaru dealership and he asked me if the oil burning at start-up had begun yet..."They all do it around year three" was his observation. Can't say as that gave me the warm fuzzies.

All I need is ten years total and maybe 150,000 miles and I will be good. The question to be answered is if I will be good enough to want to buy another Subaru product? The new Miata does look good!

I bought my last car purely on emotion and learned my lesson the hard way so put many hours into my due diligence this time around. Didn't find anything that scared me tooooo much.
I will be able to tell in only a couple of years though as I do about 40K miles a year!

[tennisfreak]

Well my 2013 started making really loud clunking noises from the rear (seems to be on the right side maybe) axle area. It happened twice this morning once from a dead stop and another time on a roll about 10mph as I let the clutch out when shifting from 1st to 2nd.

It was really cold today and after the car warmed up it did not happen anymore. But now I feel like I can hear a slight click from the rear after letting clutch out and hitting gas on any gear.

My car has less than 20k miles.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

Well my 2013 started making really loud clunking noises from the rear (seems to be on the right side maybe) axle area. It happened twice this morning once from a dead stop and another time on a roll about 10mph as I let the clutch out when shifting from 1st to 2nd.

It was really cold today and after the car warmed up it did not happen anymore. But now I feel like I can hear a slight click from the rear after letting clutch out and hitting gas on any gear.

My car has less than 20k miles.

That sucks, but I have to ask:
What does a guy in Texas classify as "really cold"?

[tennisfreak]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

That sucks, but I have to ask:
What does a guy in Texas classify as "really cold"?

27 degrees, LOL. For Nov 14 this is record lows for us.

Butt cold is anything under 25.

Colder that a witches titty in a brass bra is anything under 20.

I dont think I can remember it ever getting below 15 degrees.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

27 degrees, LOL. For Nov 14 this is record lows for us.

Butt cold is anything under 25.

Colder that a witches titty in a brass bra is anything under 20.

I dont think I can remember it ever getting below 15 degrees.

Pfffff Tropical!
I am waiting to see what weird and wonderful noises I start to hear when it gets really cold here. Already getting speaker buzz that I never had once when it was warm.
Good news for me is that (so far) even with sub zero (C not F) a couple of nights mine seems to be immune to the dreaded stiff second gear issue.

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by tennisfreak

27 degrees, LOL. For Nov 14 this is record lows for us.

Butt cold is anything under 25.

Colder that a witches titty in a brass bra is anything under 20.

I dont think I can remember it ever getting below 15 degrees.

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Pfffff Tropical!
I am waiting to see what weird and wonderful noises I start to hear when it gets really cold here. Already getting speaker buzz that I never had once when it was warm.
Good news for me is that (so far) even with sub zero (C not F) a couple of nights mine seems to be immune to the dreaded stiff second gear issue.

From California, you guys are both talking Celsius right?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by strat61caster

From California, you guys are both talking Celsius right?

I am at any rate!

[BobRickel]

My car is a 2013 Whiteout with A/T, it was a very early production car. Original owner blew the engine with 600 miles. Toyota put in a new engine and put 600 miles on the car to break in the new engine and went to give him his car back and he said "no". He lemon lawed the car. I bought it this past January with 1200 miles for $20K. Full factory warranty plus 1 year from my date of purchase under Federal Lemon Law. I have put 24,000 miles on her since January. No issues other than a small drip on D/S window in car wash. Dealer replaced the weatherstrip and no more leaks. Love this car.