Has anyone had a warranty claim denied? Seized engine! Pics of teardown added 6/5

[Gords_zenith]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Quick update.

Apparently our cats are both destroyed. Now what could cause that....? I'll be dropping by the dealer on Monday to get more pictures of the additional teardown. Someone else at Subaru of America (not Bill, the rep I was talking to) authorized more teardown.

On the flip side, this, in a way, does prove that we do indeed have a STOCK engine... we obviously didn't remove the cats :p

WTF......wow what is going on with this engine!

[CSG Mike]

Well, I'd *speculate* that the engine leaned out, ran super hot, and destroyed the cats.

Any bits of metal that flew out of the engine may have been caught in the cats too...

[Gords_zenith]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Well, I'd *speculate* that the engine leaned out, ran super hot, and destroyed the cats.

Any bits of metal that flew out of the engine may have been caught in the cats too...

Ha, Sounds about right to me.....very disturbing none the less and on a side note, what did Subaru expect when people started buying these cars? Are we just a huge sample of testers for them to find the weaknesses than deny us warranty work-I understand you had one replaced already but it "appears" to me they may have both failed from the same issue. I don't want to speculate, but just trying to have a conversation.

[Gords_zenith]

Also, I've read all the posts, but I can't remember if you ran 91 or not, if so than my post about the OM stating that 91 will not affect the reliability, is completely ignorant and misleading on their behalf, and under certain conditions as a few have found out, causes the engine to grenade itself due to these " transient ignition maps" which I've never heard of before btw. I guess my point is if you can "in the mean time" run 91 with an octane booster(California) and for the rest of NA 93(I run 94-Canada) or higher is mandatory, until this is resolved by Subaru and Toyota permantly via a recall.

[CSG David]

Originally Posted by Gords_zenith

Also, I've read all the posts, but I can't remember if you ran 91 or not, if so than my post about the OM stating that 91 will not affect the reliability, is completely ignorant and misleading on their behalf, and under certain conditions as a few have found out, causes the engine to grenade itself due to these " transient ignition maps" which I've never heard of before btw. I guess my point is if you can "in the mean time" run 91 with an octane booster(California) and for the rest of NA 93(I run 94-Canada) or higher is mandatory, until this is resolved by Subaru and Toyota permantly via a recall.

This has been a huge question mark as well. The car ran a full tank of 100 octane at one point for purely speculative reasons and the engine ran much smoother and quieter. Even standard highway traffic commutes were definitely odd compared to the 91 fill. California 91 octane is watered down with 10% ethanol as well. Filling with 100 octane just isn't cost efficient though...Ugh.

[sierra]

Originally Posted by DylanFRS

I would be curious to hear if anyone is having these same issues in other countries where they can actually get ethanol free 93 octane gas.

Or if the car is even designated for ethanol in the first place, as per my earlier post.

[LavosTRD]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

Damn I wish some techs from Socal were on this forum to offer that. Move to Socal?

All this ECU talk is making me concerned. I don't think i've gotten any reflashes and i've had my car since June 2012

There are...

[LavosTRD]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Quick update.

Apparently our cats are both destroyed. Now what could cause that....? I'll be dropping by the dealer on Monday to get more pictures of the additional teardown. Someone else at Subaru of America (not Bill, the rep I was talking to) authorized more teardown.

On the flip side, this, in a way, does prove that we do indeed have a STOCK engine... we obviously didn't remove the cats :p

Have them check the fuel pump

[wootwoot]

This is crazy.

Is anyone confident the updated ignition tables will keep this from being a problem? Or is the concensus that this is a bigger issue?

[Don_SA]

Ever since I first test drove the FR-S I was sure it would be my next car. I spoke with my salesman so I could place an order for a 2014 as soon as he had final details so I could get it before my birthday in October. The more I read the more afraid I am of this car and don't think I will be able to bring myself to pull the trigger now. I can't believe it made it to market with such serious problems. Chirping fuel pumps... CEL cured by flash, but new flash can cause injector seals to fail (this is my understanding, from what I am reading) and then the engine is blown. Who knows what else, or if the next fix will affect something else.

I have two cars so don't NEED one but looking forward to getting my FR-S made going to work a little bit easier every day. Sadly there isn't anything else I am really interested in right now. The twins were exactly what I had been waiting for.

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by Don_SA

Ever since I first test drove the FR-S I was sure it would be my next car. I spoke with my salesman so I could place an order for a 2014 as soon as he had final details so I could get it before my birthday in October. The more I read the more afraid I am of this car and don't think I will be able to bring myself to pull the trigger now. I can't believe it made it to market with such serious problems. Chirping fuel pumps... CEL cured by flash, but new flash can cause injector seals to fail (this is my understanding, from what I am reading) and then the engine is blown. Who knows what else, or if the next fix will affect something else.

I have two cars so don't NEED one but looking forward to getting my FR-S made going to work a little bit easier every day. Sadly there isn't anything else I am really interested in right now. The twins were exactly what I had been waiting for.

The chirp is annoying, but its not a big deal. The CEL issue from last year is seemingly resolved. This injector/seal crap should be ironed out by MY 2014. Remain calm, all is not lost...

[wootwoot]

Agreed. These issues occur in a very small number of cases. I suspect all will be made right in the end. Toyota and Subaru want this car to succeed even more than we do.

[SubieNate]

So I was kind of bored tonight and decided to do a little test. I drove up to a 76 station in Perris that has 100 octane race fuel and mixed 3 gallons of it with 6 of 91 for a total octane rating of 94. I drove normally for a few miles to hopefully get the fresh fuel to the injectors and then did a 1-4 pull to redline followed by some 2-4 pulls to redline.

This may be totally in my head, but the motor just seemed quieter, less raucous/thrashy. Even when shifting at 7200 or so it just hummed right on up there. I could swear there's a bit more poke all around as well but that's likely a faulty butt dyno wanting to justify the extra $20 I put into the tank.

Cruising on the highway at 78 mph or so the motor was super quiet as well.

Just totally non scientific observations to add fuel to the disucssion.

Cheers
Nathan

[robispec]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

Is there a way for us to come up with a solution to the heat? Oil cooler? Bigger radiator?

Been there done that.
Car runns COOL as a Cucumber...
I removed my DI's for another completely unrelated problem an the seals were fine.
12K miles 10+k tracking at the limit...
Had the car tuned at 700 miles. and retuned with every modification...

I use tuners that understand SAFE POWER so detonation/knock/overpressured cylinders just do not happen...
This is the indicated cause of the DI seals failing.
Once you know you have a failure continuing to drive/track the car will result in engine failure as the faulty seal will alloe air/fuel mix to escape and allow air back in leaning out the cylinder till you allow it to knock itself to death..

If I think there is an issue with my car IT'S ON THE TRAILER...to the tuner and we find out WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON. Before we blow the bitch up!

Mike sorry for your problems... I had my warranty voided when I picked up my car. I knew I would be using it in timed events, Competeing in timed events, and using these results to assist my parts sales efforts...very close to CSG's marketing GOALS.
You really can't have it both ways.
But you can rationalize ANY position.

I'm just grateful ANY car company wants to sell me a performance car that doesnt cost 40K+.

Happy as punch being responsible for my own actions!

Robi