GarageXTi

hmmm.

What if they drained the engine oil by mistake instead of the trans fluid, and then overfilled the trans?

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Yeah that's right monkey...play my head.

NAEJ25

First thing i would do is check all the fluid levels they changed , you may find the front differential is overfull ... like they drained the engine oil thinking it was the differential ?? Then overfilled the diff. I have seen it may times ... !!

But yea, if you have no leaks it sounds like they drained the oil ....

May have even drained it , then saw it wasnt part of the service and forgot to refill it later ... ( I have almost done that )

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Shawn

'98 L

Rob S

Here's an update

I'm told it was simply the turbo that failed. I'm 95% convinced.

For the info of others in the forced induction crowd out there, here's what the dealership told me. (The local garage could not figure out what happened.)

> The turbo failed, causing it to spin unevenly, allowing oil to escape the turbo (they say they saw it all around the turbo and down the side of the engine casing, though my garage failed to spot this,) to burn inside the turbo and, even more, to drive oil into the combustion chambers (though I saw no smoke until the last few seconds of driving)

> The failing turbo is able to burn off and pump-through all the oil in the engine within 15 minutes (which is about as long as I had to run the car to get it to the garage) which explained the disappeared oil, apparently.

> The sound I heard and the loss of power on soft-throttle was not a failing transmission; it was the sound of the turbo grinding itself to bits. The inside of the turbo housing is now coated in ground metal filings, apparently.

I am told, then, that the fact this happened the day after a major service was pure coincidence. I'm also told that driving it for 9 hours that day had no bearing (pun intended) on the turbo's failure. It was pure 'luck,' apparently, that the grinding noises started as I left the expressway off-ramp.

I know that no one is lying to me but I still have a faint doubt lurking in my mind. Part of me still finds it hard to believe that the servicing and the engine failure are unconnected. It's probably the same part of me that doesn't want to part with the $3,000 Cdn I'm told it'll cost to fix.

What discourages me the most, though, is that I paid a great deal of money for this car and maintained it meticulously in order to have it last another 8 years. Now that metal filings may have been introduced into the engine, I no longer have confidence in the car, though the dealership says it should be fine after a few oil changes. The final straw is that the dealership mechanic claims he has only ever seen one turbo fail, which didn't make me feel any better.

For the record, here's what the driver experiences when his/her turbo fails. It all ends in acute financial distress but here's how it starts:
1. Engine performs normally.
2. Check engine light comes on. If you clear the code without checking it, it does not come back on until you're qualifying for a financial bailout package from the White House.
3. Engine performs normally.
4. For a split second during highway driving, I thought I heard a faint sound - like someone crinkling some aluminum paper under a coat. It came from behind the point where the right hand side of the transmission hump meets the firewall.
5. Engine performs normally for another 40 minutes.
6. Having left the highway, you start from a stop-light and hear a worrisome sound: It sounds like the combination of a hissing and scraping sound and occurs whenever you engage the throttle. It comes from the same spot to the lower-centre-right of the firewall. This is the sound of the turbine, grinding and cavitating its way into your wallet.
7. After the engine has been allowed to cool, it performs normally...
8. ... for 12 minutes. At this point there is a muted "thwap" under the transmission (a piece of turbo being fed through the exhaust?,) the hissing/scraping sound starts again, the check engine light immediately lights up again, you're very low on power, and your wife's long-ignored request for a Matrix rings in your ears.
9. A few minutes later, the tailpipe starts pouring out white smoke. This is the international signal for final surrender.

My description is intended to warn others that the symptoms of a blown turbo are not as obvious as a long-time auto enthusiast thought they would be. The most basic lesson seems to be never to ignore any check engine light. Even the Subaru corporate rally team mechanic who checked my car within 5 minutes of seeing the light made the mistake of clearing the code without reading it; this logical-sounding way of checking to see if it would recur in fact probably doomed my turbo and shortened the life of my engine.

As for me, I don't see much choice but to pay for the repair. The car did not run for more than 15 minutes after the turbo went so the mechanic assures me the engine should still be ok. But I no longer trust it to take me to 250,000 km as planned. I'll likely trade it in in a year or two.

Sigh. If I hear one more reminder about the Matrix we could have bought... grrrr...

Legacy

Rob, talk to Rocky about getting a full engine swap. Its going to be cheaper than $3k and you'll not have to worry about your original motor being damaged. That's probably the dealer quote price. There's also plenty of used XT turbos fs for $150 on this forum with minimal miles. Sorry to hear the news.