[jonahojensen]

Hi all! As I am new to this forum, this is my first time posting so bear with me.


So first off, I bought this forester xt about 2 months ago with 107xxx on it.. ran great! About a week later I got this terrible whining noise that I initially thought was a turbo death whine. It turned out I had busted a pulley bearing in my timing chain system, got it fixed by the dealer, all good.

Now, about 2 months and 7k miles later (I drove up here from Arizona), I started receiving codes from my ecu.. the first one was a p1011 (most likely camshaft pos. sensor). I did start noticing a slight noise after this. Next was a cylinder 1 misfire.. I didn't really notice any sort of lack of power right away, so I tried spark plug. This worked for a short while but the mis came back worse than before (it became difficult to accelerate and caused backfires), but the code never returned after I cleared it ??? the day after the misfire returned (today), I was dropping gf off at work and this loud whinning noise started happening whenever I accelerated (only if I am moving, not idle), sounds a lot like that timing belt did, except now it backfires, whines and hardly accelerate.

I am wondering if anyone knows whats going on here? are these things related? could have the dealers timing belt job gone wrong? could this just be the cps? because now I cant find any other codes.

Thank you, I'm in a bit of a pickle here and I don't exactly have the money to do the whole guess and check thing, any info on this would be appreciated

-Jonah

 

[Scooby24]

Did they replace just the pulley with the timing belt repair, or do a full timing belt job including water pump?

 

[jonahojensen]

they did the whole repair, water pump, belt, and pulleys. Also I just drove it again and the whine was not instant. It started after I touched the gas a little bit, seriously sounds like its coming from the turbo housing. I don't think its a timing belt issue because that noise was instant before I got the timing system repaired.

 

[Scooby24]

Yeah this sounds like your fears with the first issue may be the problem here in the death whine of your turbo.

The code may be concerning here. P1011 is not a code for Subaru..was it P1101? If so that is likely unrelated as neutral position switch. The turbo dying doesn't usually cause a misfire. It could be the misfire caused unburnt fuel to backfire which is what's killing/killed the turbo. I wouldn't be driving it right now until you figure this out.

Start with cheap/simple and pull your plugs. See what they look like.

 

[jonahojensen]

yes , that's what I meant. p1101. and that sounds accurate. as the backfires seem to go right along with the whine

 

[jonahojensen]

update...

Just noticed when I shut the engine off I can hear an odd bubbling noise. it seems to be coming from the intercooler.

 

[jonahojensen]

update...

confirmed that the turbo is shot. Looking at replacements, what is your guys' opinions on aftermarket turbo chargers?

I'm not necessarily looking for better performance, I just need something reliable that has potential to last.

 

[Scooby24]

Honestly just stick with the TD04.

Keep in mind the death whine is because the bearings are shot, that bearing material is in the oil and may likely be blocking some critical screens in banjo bolts starving oil to other bearings. It's a sad reality that when your turbo is shot on this platform, you need to consider the possibility that there will be some immediate precautionary measures to take, but damage may already be done and there may be some soon to follow failures, notably rod bearings.

And that doesn't even begin to address what's causing the misfire...which can be a number of things and if that's not addressed, you'll have just thrown away money with new parts that are going to get damaged.

My advice would be to find the best local subaru mechanic and consult them.