Whoa.
New longblock.
---
OK, a little background history - as y'all know, I elected to not mess with this car, mechanically, for more power, as it's a lease.
Good thing.
In terms of maintenance, I've been religious as always...of what's pertinent, the first oil-change took place at 1K miles. I used a Purolator filter, with Shell 5W30 dyno-juice.
This was repeated in the second week of September (we got the car right at the March/April transition), at just over 3500 miles on the ODO. I'm old fashioned, and I still go by the 3K miles or 3-months, whichever first, mantra (and I also wait until 10K to switch over to synthetic). I know, that's overkill, but I like to wrench, and I've got a Fumoto valve. :smile:
No consumption was (ever) noted.
This second oil-change was also prompted in preparation for our then-coming road-trip.
----
The lead-up to the problem.....
We took an approx. 400 mile trip (round-trip figures) to MI, to visit a friend, two weekends ago. This was our first long trip in the Fozzy, nicknamed "Rocky" by our toddler, and she performed beautifully. The trunk swallowed an amazing amount of stuff (required for toddler travel), and the car did amazingly well in one emergency lane-change/swerve, as well as engine-braked beautifully - with the SportShift - to bail me out of an Ohio State Highway Patrol speedtrap (also thanks to the Laser Interceptor, of course) on I-80.
The only thing I could've wished for was better crosswind stability, but aside from that, it's hard not to love this mini-ute.
About 20 miles into our trip home, at highway speeds (approx. 70 MPH), I noticed a slight "buzzing" vibration sound, as if something under the dash was loose. I checked the water bottles and the various accessories that I'd put in to the car, and everything seemed snugged-tight.
The strange thing was that it went away seemingly at random.
I asked my wife if she'd ever heard that sound, she replied that she did not, but then again, she said, "this car's always full of rattles and buzzes." Granted, she keeps a lot of stuff in the car, and I've also told her that it's more of a natural resonance-chamber than her WRX (a sedan) was, so she's never really given it much thought.
The noise really never went away, but with the radio on, it wasn't unbearable.
The car got us home just fine, and seeing as nothing was obviously wrong with the car, otherwise, I'd promptly forgotten about it....
----
The problem:
So I'd forgotten all about it, until a week later (this past Saturday night), when the wife and I went out to dinner.
[ It should be noted that, in the interim, she'd commuted with this car to and from work, all on local roads, without any problems. ]
As soon as we got on the highway, I could hear that vibration noise again (which Sara again denied hearing, all week, during her local-street commutes)...only louder. Again, it seemed to come and go at-will, no rhyme or reason.
We got off the highway, everything was fine, until I threw the car in "Park," at which point the engine just sounded "off," with a noticeable difference in idle sound than that which I've become accustomed to, over the course of owning 3 Subarus, for the past 5 years.
I can't quite describe what sounded wrong - it just did.
We went to dinner, came back out to the car, and as soon as we started it up, it again sounded "wrong."
No CEL, no idiot lights, no violent bucking or shaking - nothing else odd - so we decided that we should just go home, and take it to the dealer on Monday to have it looked at.
Car was fine on the highway, but as soon as we got off, it started, literally, to "clunk."
Stick your finger into a fan with plastic "safety" blades, on low speed, and that's the sound you get.
The highway lets us off about 3 miles from home. At mile 2, as we're slowing to a red-light, the oil-pressure idiot-light starts flickering.
I know that this is not good. IIRC, the oil-pressure light doesn't come on until it's at a shocking 4 PSI.
I pull directly into a gas station, jump out, and head to the trunk for my emergency bottle of engine oil, grabbing a wipe for the dipstick as I go. My first thought, for whatever unknown reason, was that, somehow, all the oil leaked out (beats me as to where it would've gone, though, but I wasn't thinking logically, at that point) - I take out the dipstick, and what do you know, it reads "Full."
really!.
I take the gamble, since there's still no CEL, and limp home. The oil-pressure light continues to flicker every once in a while, but the car's steady under cruise, and that knocking sound isn't getting any worse.
We pull in to our garage, and I park the car for the night.
The next morning, I cold-drain the oil. Adding what's in the filter to the drain pan, I get about 4 and 1/2 quarts - about what I'd put in. I put on a new filter, fill up the oil, and re-start the car, symptoms remain.
Contacted Subaru's Roadside Assistance on Monday AM, got a flatbed to tow her to our dealership (which does happen to be the closest) - Ganley Subaru, Bedford.
The Service Advisor immediately said "it doesn't sound good."
Our salesman, Dennis Marsh, saw me in the bay, and came rushing out - asking me what I was doing there, since he knew that I wrenched, myself.
We all speculated about the potential problems - from the Stop-Sale to the oil-pickup, but no-one really offered anything conclusive. I left with a loaner N/A Forester, 2009.
I called back this afternoon, and the Service Advisor said that he'd already left me a message at my home phone, that it was going to be a new long-block, fully covered under warranty.
The VIN apparently came back within range of some potential problem noted - he did not have any specific detail for me, but I do plan to pursue this further. He said that he'll have a conclusive diagnosis of what went wrong once he pulls the block and disassemble it to have a look-see.
I'll update more as the days pass. They plan to have the car back to us by the 15th.
New longblock.
---
OK, a little background history - as y'all know, I elected to not mess with this car, mechanically, for more power, as it's a lease.
Good thing.
In terms of maintenance, I've been religious as always...of what's pertinent, the first oil-change took place at 1K miles. I used a Purolator filter, with Shell 5W30 dyno-juice.
This was repeated in the second week of September (we got the car right at the March/April transition), at just over 3500 miles on the ODO. I'm old fashioned, and I still go by the 3K miles or 3-months, whichever first, mantra (and I also wait until 10K to switch over to synthetic). I know, that's overkill, but I like to wrench, and I've got a Fumoto valve. :smile:
No consumption was (ever) noted.
This second oil-change was also prompted in preparation for our then-coming road-trip.
----
The lead-up to the problem.....
We took an approx. 400 mile trip (round-trip figures) to MI, to visit a friend, two weekends ago. This was our first long trip in the Fozzy, nicknamed "Rocky" by our toddler, and she performed beautifully. The trunk swallowed an amazing amount of stuff (required for toddler travel), and the car did amazingly well in one emergency lane-change/swerve, as well as engine-braked beautifully - with the SportShift - to bail me out of an Ohio State Highway Patrol speedtrap (also thanks to the Laser Interceptor, of course) on I-80.
The only thing I could've wished for was better crosswind stability, but aside from that, it's hard not to love this mini-ute.
About 20 miles into our trip home, at highway speeds (approx. 70 MPH), I noticed a slight "buzzing" vibration sound, as if something under the dash was loose. I checked the water bottles and the various accessories that I'd put in to the car, and everything seemed snugged-tight.
The strange thing was that it went away seemingly at random.
I asked my wife if she'd ever heard that sound, she replied that she did not, but then again, she said, "this car's always full of rattles and buzzes." Granted, she keeps a lot of stuff in the car, and I've also told her that it's more of a natural resonance-chamber than her WRX (a sedan) was, so she's never really given it much thought.
The noise really never went away, but with the radio on, it wasn't unbearable.
The car got us home just fine, and seeing as nothing was obviously wrong with the car, otherwise, I'd promptly forgotten about it....
----
The problem:
So I'd forgotten all about it, until a week later (this past Saturday night), when the wife and I went out to dinner.
[ It should be noted that, in the interim, she'd commuted with this car to and from work, all on local roads, without any problems. ]
As soon as we got on the highway, I could hear that vibration noise again (which Sara again denied hearing, all week, during her local-street commutes)...only louder. Again, it seemed to come and go at-will, no rhyme or reason.
We got off the highway, everything was fine, until I threw the car in "Park," at which point the engine just sounded "off," with a noticeable difference in idle sound than that which I've become accustomed to, over the course of owning 3 Subarus, for the past 5 years.
I can't quite describe what sounded wrong - it just did.
We went to dinner, came back out to the car, and as soon as we started it up, it again sounded "wrong."
No CEL, no idiot lights, no violent bucking or shaking - nothing else odd - so we decided that we should just go home, and take it to the dealer on Monday to have it looked at.
Car was fine on the highway, but as soon as we got off, it started, literally, to "clunk."
Stick your finger into a fan with plastic "safety" blades, on low speed, and that's the sound you get.
The highway lets us off about 3 miles from home. At mile 2, as we're slowing to a red-light, the oil-pressure idiot-light starts flickering.
I know that this is not good. IIRC, the oil-pressure light doesn't come on until it's at a shocking 4 PSI.
I pull directly into a gas station, jump out, and head to the trunk for my emergency bottle of engine oil, grabbing a wipe for the dipstick as I go. My first thought, for whatever unknown reason, was that, somehow, all the oil leaked out (beats me as to where it would've gone, though, but I wasn't thinking logically, at that point) - I take out the dipstick, and what do you know, it reads "Full."
really!.
I take the gamble, since there's still no CEL, and limp home. The oil-pressure light continues to flicker every once in a while, but the car's steady under cruise, and that knocking sound isn't getting any worse.
We pull in to our garage, and I park the car for the night.
The next morning, I cold-drain the oil. Adding what's in the filter to the drain pan, I get about 4 and 1/2 quarts - about what I'd put in. I put on a new filter, fill up the oil, and re-start the car, symptoms remain.
Contacted Subaru's Roadside Assistance on Monday AM, got a flatbed to tow her to our dealership (which does happen to be the closest) - Ganley Subaru, Bedford.
The Service Advisor immediately said "it doesn't sound good."
Our salesman, Dennis Marsh, saw me in the bay, and came rushing out - asking me what I was doing there, since he knew that I wrenched, myself.We all speculated about the potential problems - from the Stop-Sale to the oil-pickup, but no-one really offered anything conclusive. I left with a loaner N/A Forester, 2009.
I called back this afternoon, and the Service Advisor said that he'd already left me a message at my home phone, that it was going to be a new long-block, fully covered under warranty.
The VIN apparently came back within range of some potential problem noted - he did not have any specific detail for me, but I do plan to pursue this further. He said that he'll have a conclusive diagnosis of what went wrong once he pulls the block and disassemble it to have a look-see.
I'll update more as the days pass. They plan to have the car back to us by the 15th.
