Spun Rod Bearing Warranty Service

[ZZT86]

Originally Posted by ermax

I know people will disagree with me but I firmly believe ALL years will run into this as they age. I say that because these problems are due to oil pressure and the oil pressure problems have not been resolved. I know there is this theory that they were blocking oil galleries with FIPG in the early builds but my engine (MY2013 built 11/2012) had no blockage yet it still spun #3. #2 and #3 share an single feed off the crank where as #1 and #4 have dedicated feeds off the crank. Compound that with the fact that these engines have shit oil pressure and you're bound to spin 2 or 3. All 4 of my bearings looked seriously worn though, it was only a matter of time. I've opened up cars with way more miles than mine and the bearings were spotless. I think there is a misconception about rod/main bearings. They aren't actually the bearings. Think of the bearings as shims that are there to create the proper clearance for a perfect layer of oil (the actual bearing). If you have proper oiling then the bearings never make contact with anything other than on cold starts.

I hope for everyones sake you're wrong & that's it's a hit/miss issue associated with production. It would be a horrible & expensive nightmare to have an engine blow because of Subaru quality &/or design. Having said that my cars @50K miles is purring just fine & I always use TGMO 0W20, but I always dump it every 4,600miles max if not sooner. And my Blitz oil pressure & temp gauge always reads 15psi/1000rpm or more which seems quite healthy to me.

[EddieZ2]

Since I’ve relied on this forum and videos on youTube by MRT Performance to learn about the FRS/86/BRZ, I’d like to pass on some info. Since reading this thread about bearing issues I reached out to MRT in Australia. (I wish they’d come to the states) - Anyway, they don’t see too many failed, certainty not randomly and failure is more in line with mods, bad tune and lack of maintenance. -

MRT did a great video about connecting rod failure. Bottom line is that as much as Toyota/Subaru push these cars as buildable sportscars, you have to seriously watch your mods and maintenance as they are really temperamental and prone to an early death if pushed. Not my idea of building a sports car but it is what it is.

Looking at Subaru and all of its engines, they have had their share of problems and seem to have a serious life expectancy issue with some. Some last forever if maintained to the letter, maybe not. Subbie engines appear to be a throw of the dice especially if you get on them a bit too much or push the mods.

Since I’m old school with my oil changes, every 3k, I should be good with that much. Overall the FRS/BRZ/86 is a great platform. It would’ve been nice if Toyota/ Subaru would’ve put a more bomb proof buildable engine into an otherwise fantastic car.

[Icecreamtruk]

I had my engine opened to do some headwork (headgasket decided to retire itself from duty at the track). My car is at around 50k miles and is driven at the track every 2 weeks and has been for the last 3 years. (2013 model). The engine was in surprisingly good health, head gasket aside. I do have only NA mods (exhaust, intake tube and snorkel and tune) as my only power mods and run a koyo rad along with an oil cooler (air to oil) in front of it. I also change my oil every 2 or 3 track days max (so around once per month). It seems so far that maintenance has paid off. I might make a complete compendium when the engine dies for real and I take it in for rebuild and document the state of the interals and what seemed to fail.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by EddieZ2

Since I’ve relied on this forum and videos on youTube by MRT Performance to learn about the FRS/86/BRZ, I’d like to pass on some info. Since reading this thread about bearing issues I reached out to MRT in Australia. (I wish they’d come to the states) - Anyway, they don’t see too many failed, certainty not randomly and failure is more in line with mods, bad tune and lack of maintenance. -

MRT did a great video about connecting rod failure. Bottom line is that as much as Toyota/Subaru push these cars as buildable sportscars, you have to seriously watch your mods and maintenance as they are really temperamental and prone to an early death if pushed. Not my idea of building a sports car but it is what it is.

Looking at Subaru and all of its engines, they have had their share of problems and seem to have a serious life expectancy issue with some. Some last forever if maintained to the letter, maybe not. Subbie engines appear to be a throw of the dice especially if you get on them a bit too much or push the mods.

Since I’m old school with my oil changes, every 3k, I should be good with that much. Overall the FRS/BRZ/86 is a great platform. It would’ve been nice if Toyota/ Subaru would’ve put a more bomb proof buildable engine into an otherwise fantastic car.

I feel you have some good points. My idea of a "sports car" is a small, light, nimble, relatively inexpensive, relatively comfortable, dependable, car that I can use as a DD and have some fun driving in the mountains and on twisty roads.

My criteria has been met by my 2013 FR-S ….

Everyone happy fer me ….


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ermax

I know people will disagree with me but I firmly believe ALL years will run into this as they age. I say that because these problems are due to oil pressure and the oil pressure problems have not been resolved.

[ermax]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I will bookmark this post.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ermax

I will bookmark this post.

LOL

[guybo]

I have a dedicated oil gauge on my car. My old engine (RIP) never had good pressure when heated up. I was nervous to see under 5psi when at idle. The engine in it now (for the time being anyway) is a 13 and the oil pressure gets as low as 5psi but never less. This has always seemed odd to me. The old engine also used a little oil (about a quart every 4000-5000 miles) and the catch can would get about a shot glass full of oil every 1000 miles (I don't know about the 13 engine). I don't known why engine would be different from another, but there it is.

[ermax]

Originally Posted by guybo

I have a dedicated oil gauge on my car. My old engine (RIP) never had good pressure when heated up. I was nervous to see under 5psi when at idle. The engine in it now (for the time being anyway) is a 13 and the oil pressure gets as low as 5psi but never less. This has always seemed odd to me. The old engine also used a little oil (about a quart every 4000-5000 miles) and the catch can would get about a shot glass full of oil every 1000 miles (I don't know about the 13 engine). I don't known why engine would be different from another, but there it is.

I know it's just idle but still seems crazy low to me. The real problem is they don't even generate that much pressure at redline compared to a lot of other cars.

I plan on getting a gauge at some point but I want to get one that I can interface with my Raspberry Pi so I can have an intelligent warning light where I take into account RPM and oil temp rather than some static number. My plan is to connect the RPi to the reverse camera input on the OEM head unit and then rewire the reverse line to my RPi. Then if I ever want to display a warning I simply trip the reverse signal and then it will display on the head unit.

Here is the guage (sending unit) I was looking at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RCPDPRQ...v_ov_lig_dp_it

Problem is the RPi doesn't have analog input so I need to look into an analog to digital converter or use an Arduino instead of an RPi.

[EddieZ2]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Uh....your car runs on methane?

[EddieZ2]

Originally Posted by guybo

I have a dedicated oil gauge on my car. My old engine (RIP) never had good pressure when heated up. I was nervous to see under 5psi when at idle. The engine in it now (for the time being anyway) is a 13 and the oil pressure gets as low as 5psi but never less. This has always seemed odd to me. The old engine also used a little oil (about a quart every 4000-5000 miles) and the catch can would get about a shot glass full of oil every 1000 miles (I don't know about the 13 engine). I don't known why engine would be different from another, but there it is.

Considering oil pressure and temp gauge since these engines are oil sensitive.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by ermax

I know it's just idle but still seems crazy low to me. The real problem is they don't even generate that much pressure at redline compared to a lot of other cars.

I plan on getting a gauge at some point but I want to get one that I can interface with my Raspberry Pi so I can have an intelligent warning light where I take into account RPM and oil temp rather than some static number. My plan is to connect the RPi to the reverse camera input on the OEM head unit and then rewire the reverse line to my RPi. Then if I ever want to display a warning I simply trip the reverse signal and then it will display on the head unit.

Here is the guage (sending unit) I was looking at:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00RCPDPRQ...v_ov_lig_dp_it

Problem is the RPi doesn't have analog input so I need to look into an analog to digital converter or use an Arduino instead of an RPi.

Service manual:

[ermax]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Service manual:

I wasn't saying it isn't normal for this car. Just that it's unusually low compared to other cars (at idle). If you read that oiling thread I've linked to before you can see that in a lot of cases it isn't generating 73psi at 6000RPM.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by ermax

I wasn't saying it isn't normal for this car. Just that it's unusually low compared to other cars (at idle). If you read that oiling thread I've linked to before you can see that in a lot of cases it isn't generating 73psi at 6000RPM.

Well, why do some believe that 7 psi oil pressure at idle is not sufficient for this engine under normal use conditions?

How low does the oil pressure in this engine have to go, at idle, before the engine suffers damage?

Hell, engines have ran for years with the rod bearings just being splashed on.

Hey, it's Friday night


humfrz