STI vs the warrenty

Buying a brand car and expecting the warrenty to work can be fun. Abusing the car then expecting the warrenty to kick in is often unrealistic. I have seen Subaru repair cars that are obviously abused as a good will nature. sometimes we have to say "enough is enough" A 2006 STI is in the shop again. The last time it was in we put a new computer in it. Overall, Subaru's don't have computer issues so it's the tech guess that someone was trying to adjust the computer and fried it. the car has been lowered, has a bypass exhaust system on it custom front end with no steel bumper under it. This time it's "smoking" under the hood. The turbo has oil on the outside of it. Now at school this week, another tech reported that Subaru is going to stop replacing all the turbo's that fail- stats show 3/4 are not a normal failure- abuse. As I looked at the car I noticed the oil feed banjo bolt was to tight, a oil support line bolt missing, he turbo has been opened up-leaking oil and coolant. several cat mount bolts missing. Obviously, the cat was reinstalled (poorly) to get it into the shop for the warranty claim. The district tech rep was in today and i think they are denying the claim. It amazes us that people can do so many mods (and damage) to a car and expect the dealership to fix it. Also on this car (altho I can't verify the fact that this owner had the car at this time) it has has a warranty clutch and short block done. Anyway, that's my rant today. Steve

Reply to
StephenH
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Granted, many high performance cars are abused, and there are many modifications that should void a warranty. At the same time, there are some cars out there that just weren't put together right. My 2004 WRX blew a clutch at 11,000, threw a rod at 30,000 and another at

41,000. For what it's worth I'm a 53 year old driver who uses the car almost exclusively for a daily 15 mile commute to work and back. While I take advantage of the car's capabilities and enjoy spirited driving, I keep the revs within a safe range and change my oil and filters religiously. I've driven about 300,000 miles on manual transmission cars (including two prior Subies) without ever having to replace a clutch.

I give Subaru credit for covering the clutch and two short block replacements under warranty and have written corporate headquarters to compliment the dealership and service rep who took care of me. I love the car; it just came with a few optional bugs.

Reply to
suburboturbo

So they want to deny warranties on turbos? I doubt that's legal in most states. If there is evidence of abuse or tampering, fine. Outbacks and foresters have turbos too and if subaru denies claminms they will be bankrupt too

Reply to
Big Jim

Most modifications void most warranties on most makes.

I'd say this guy tried to push his luck too far, said, OH well, Subaru will pay for my fu@k up, and brought it back.

I'm surprised they did as much as they did. A guy fried a Celica, and when they brought the car in on the flatbed he was ranting and raving. The tech went into the OBD-II and found the engine had hit a 10,000 rpm spot. The service manager guessed the guy had been racing, blew a shift and overreved the engine. He denied it and wanted a Factory Rep. We got one in, showed him the data from the ECU and the rep denied the claim as "blatant abuse".

The guy with the STi should consider himself damn lucky they covered what they did.

Reply to
Hachiroku

Toyota used to be real easy on making sure customers were happy. Back in the 70's and through the 80's they were usually more than happy to fix something, even if it was beyond the warranty.

However, since the mid 90's their mood seems to have shifted, possibly because of the volume of cars they now sell in the US, and getting something YOU may have done fixed is really tough.

They caved on the 'engine sludge' issue, however, even though one customer said they changed the oil at 12,000 miles and another at 15,000.

Reply to
Hachiroku

Without more than the obd claiming a 10000 rpm he could easily go to arbitration or court and win.. Most vehicles are rev limited and cannot get near that. Was there additional tachs installed? Alteration to ECU? otherwise there is no concrete evidence of abuse.

Reply to
Big Jim

Toyota actually dropped theirs to 6,000, I think. They always recommended

7,500 as far back as I can remember (and that goes back to my first Corolla, a brand new '74 1200, when I was in High School! That's how inexpensive they were!)

I have never gone more than 4,500.

Reply to
Hachiroku

Reply to
Big Jim

Depends on your car usage and the quality of oil used.

I've been doing 7K+ changes for years on my own vehicle, but it gets a filter EVERY time. I also use high-quality oil. My commute is long enough to get the engine hot enough to "burn off" any water vapors in the engine.

Water vapor is the leading cause of sludge.

My wife's car doesn't get the "burn off", most of her trips are only about 2-6 miles, so her car gets the 3K changes.

Ive seen the guts of a 2.9L Ford V6 (mine) after a valve keeper broke and dropped a valve.(Same 7K+ changes on that one also). There was just a very thin film, couldn't really call it "sludge" after 140K miles.

Much of the improvement comes from the huge improvement in oils in the last few years.

BTW, I do know sludge, I rebuilt a few engines back in the '60s and remember too well the scraping off of a half-inch (at least) of crud from the pan and valve covers.

Reply to
nobody >

That's easily done in _any_ manual trans car: hit 2nd instead of 4th or

3rd instead of 5th...rev limiter will not help stupidity or misfortune. I really doubt (hope sanity would prevail) he'd win that.

FWIW, one reason I drive a WRX and not a M3 or S4, other than the fact that it puts a smile on my face every time I drive it, :) is that Subaru & their dealers understand what constitutes abuse and are realistic of owner mods vs. abuse. IMO, they follow the SEMA line of thought (and the law in most areas) that it is their responsibilty to prove that a mod caused the failure before denying warrantee. On the other hand, in my experiences, BMW & Audi will OK a mod if they install it but will deny warrantee on anything on the car, even totally unrelated items, if you install the exact same mod yourself.

Brent.

Reply to
news.us.easynews.com

I really don't think that more is necessary. I think that you are assuming that a rev limiter will always prevent an engine from being over-revved. However, if one is traveling too fast for a gear, but downshifts into it anyways, the engine will over-rev, and the ECU apparently can store that information. Miatae are known for being bulletproof since they can safely rev to 8K, but the rev-limiter kicks in at 7200. However, spec miata guys blow the engines all the time by trying to downshift into third coming off a straight, and not yet being quite slow enough to do so.

I don't see why you'd need to produce more information than what the ECU says. What else do you suppose should prove that eth engine hit

10K? A sworn testimony from a passenger? I think that this IS concrete evidence, and that your reasoning would not hold up in arbitration or court.
Reply to
weelliott

All engines are rev limited. But no engine is rev limited when downshifting - how could you ever limit

*that*? The guy entered 2nd gear while trying a 5->4 shift, and was unable to push the clutch. There's no remedy for bad drivers.
Reply to
Evan24

We all know about computer glitches dont we? Shouldn't the engine cut out above a certain point? I had a check engine light come on on my 04 Outback once. Dealer checked the code but they code find nothing wrong. So these computers are certainly imperfect. If Subaru wants to prevent overreving then the engine should cut out at a certain rpm.

Reply to
Big Jim

Jim, of course you can't put your foot on the accelerator and rev above - what? - 8K.

But, if I were on the highway doing 60mph in my WRX and pushed in the clutch, shifted to 2nd gear and removed my foot from the clutch pedal before the car slowed, it could rev to almost 12K!

At some point, a manufacturer has to say - sorry, there's just too much evidence of abuse/neglect. They may not always be right. There are kids out there who think they can rev their STI to 6K and sidestep the clutch to 'launch' or get a 4 wheel burnout. Then, when they shatter the tranny, daddy has it towed in to the dealership(after removing the accessport, atmo blow-off valve and all the stickers) and whines "we don't know what happened, Timmy was doing 20 thru his school zone and it just quit on him."

Carl

Reply to
1 Lucky Texan

Jim, of course you can't put your foot on the accelerator and rev above - what? - 8K.

But, if I were on the highway doing 100mph in my WRX and pushed in the clutch, shifted to 2nd gear and removed my foot from the clutch pedal before the car slowed, it would rev to almost 10K!

At some point, a manufacturer has to say - sorry, there's just too much evidence of abuse/neglect. They may not always be right. There are kids out there who think they can rev their STI to 6K and sidestep the clutch to 'launch' or get a 4 wheel burnout. Then, when they shatter the tranny, daddy has it towed in to the dealership(after removing the accessport, atmo blow-off valve and all the stickers) and whines "we don't know what happened, Timmy was doing 20 thru his school zone and it just quit on him."

Carl

Reply to
1 Lucky Texan

Without other evidence subaru just has to eat the repair. How many abuse cases are there that arent obvious? Not too many. If someone were to remove any addons what proof is there that abuse took place. The head gasket problem affected many cars that were driven all types of people. It was a design/manufacturing defect. Same with STi's . They get lemons too just like every other make/ model.

Reply to
Big Jim

Not at all, but they will be looking harder at the possibility of abuse before they repair it

Reply to
StephenH

The STI left today on the back of a tow truck.

It is amazing how many people clame a faulty car when the abuse is obvious. A GI was driving his WRX on the tank range, hit a big puddle and stalled it- then they tried to push it with another car. The hydro lock destroyed the engine. A young kid went to court over a failed Subaru with his dad, Subaru lawyers were able to show youtube clips of the car at the drag strip, The dad thumped the kid on the head when he saw the video. Another person trashed his car then bragged on a forum how Subaru was going to fix it, until someone else on the forum forwarded the links to all three of the kids city Subaru dealers, the service manager was pleased to see it. I have seen countless other ends where the abuse was obvious, and Subaru still repaired the car. I have a clutch coming in soon, good customer- middle aged and generally not a racer. As he bought the car used from us, so the wear could have started with the prior owner. Also seen 2 clutches replaced on a wrx, the first at 7000. it was shredded. After the second one- he was told no more.

Anyway, I just like people to see both sides of a issue. Steve

Reply to
StephenH

I doubt it. In some juristictions, the OBDII data has been used to convict people of reckless and dangerous driving after an accident; the ECU stores the last few frames of data in flash memory, including speed. So, if they are convicting people of such offences because of OBDII, I would guess a court would accept it as to why a warranty claim was voided.

Reply to
JD

Hey Steve,

my '05 Impreza RS wagon had a Subaru "remanufactured" clutch fitted by the dealer a couple of months before I got it. The usual Subaru 1 year warranty applies. Now, this clutch exhibits clutch judder when it warms up, or even if the car has been sitting in the midday sun for a few hours. Never does it when the engine in cold. Didn't do it (of course) when I took the car in for an evaluation.

The local dealer and another one near my office both tell me that engine mounts almost never fail. The 2nd dealer tells me that they have had bad experiences with resurfaced flywheels.

What's your experience of replacing clutches? Are the Subaru reman clutches OK? Is there a problem with resurfacing a flywheel?

regards Stewart DIBBS

Reply to
Stewart DIBBS

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