[2016Forester263]

Heading over the pass in Oregon. My 2016 Forester, 50,000 miles, had a major engine failure.Two cylinders self destructed. Have always maintained it on schedule. Was full of oil. No warning signs either. Subaru has no answers as to why this might have happened except, " Sometimes this happens, it's rare, but it happens."
Four years old and just under 50,000 miles.
GOOD NEWS, Capitol Subaru of Salem fixed it, provided us with a Courtesy Car and it was all covered by the "Drive Train warranty"
Total cost $0.
Now my question is...Do I trust the NEW engine repairs (kinda got a brand new engine.) or trade that sucker in as fast as I can?

 

[ForesterBill]

Did they rebuild the cylinders or replace the short block? If they replaced the short block I would definitely keep as you essentially have a brand new engine.

 

[UhOh]

flip a coin as to what suggestions you'll get. Overall, my flip of the coin would be to trust the repairs. Question: when you were going up the mnt pass and engine destructed, what rpm's were you showing and about how long at that level of engine speed?

My '99 car is at 232,000 - but I intentionally drive it like a little old lady would because I'm not going to put add'l money into it. It's my vehicle for snow weather.. When I go up long inclines / mtn passes I take it off cruise because I want the rpms to stay modest - almost never does this old car's engine see >3200 rpm.

 

[LouC]

Find out what they installed. If it’s a Subaru reman short block I would be fine as long as it had warrantee. I had a reman Mopar auto trans installed in our 98 Grand Cherokee in 2007 and 13 years and 100,000 miles later it’s still fine.

 

[adc]

You have an old car with a new engine. You would be crazy to get rid of it.

 

[Inspector]

It really boils down to if you trust your dealership's workmanship and if they're going to extend the warranty on the new engine. If they're gonna leave the 5yr, 60,000 powertrain warranty as starting in 2016 and 0 miles, you're taking an awful lot of risk in how well they rebuild as you'd only have one year left. I'm not completely sure I'd trust mine to do a quality rebuild, and at a minimum, would demand an extended 5yr warranty on the new engine....

 

[UrbanLaxBro]

Capitol Subaru of Salem fixed it…(kinda got a brand new engine.)

So did they fix your existing block or did you get a new engine? 2 completely different things. If you got a new engine, I would trust it. If they simply replaced your blown cylinders and did a rebuild, I’d be more cautious.

 

[DragonSubie7]

You can ask, but I seriously doubt that dealer or any other is going to give you a new 60K warranty... It just doesn't happen.
All Subaru warranties start from the in-service date.

Like what was just posted, look at the service order which should detail what was done. Likely a new short block, unless your valve train was also compromised.
If it's a truly new long block, you shouldn't have engine problems if you keep it and it will be worth more (with a new engine) if you decide to sell it.

 

[Inspector]

Given that I couldnt trust the dealership to replace timing belt idlers on the pre 2010 engines, and they couldnt even replace a wheel bearing without properly pre-loading the bearing, regardless if they do a short vs long block, i'd have some serious reservations about trusting the work without an extended warranty.

 

[GuusV]

I'm going to guess that when the 2 cylinders self destructed, it also destroyed the valves. So, the following guess would be that they replaced the whole engine. If they did it under warranty, they must have used a new engine (and not a used one).

I'd keep it.

 

[LouC]

Subaru parts sells reman engines both short and long blocks, find out if that is what they used.

 

[PeterfromOz]

Check the engine number on the block. If it's different, it's not a rebuild of your old engine

 

[wolfs]

OP. Waiting for reply, to "posters" questions. Thanx.

 

[Ray Bell]

I'd be keen to know what damage was actually done to the engine...

"Two cylinders self-destructed" is not very descriptive, nor is it a logical statement. It does sound like a camshaft problem as that would affect two cylinders, valves being stuck open then hitting pistons and so on.

I hope the OP comes back and tells us something, it's terribly frustrating when they don't.

 

[DragonSubie7]

Ah yes, the "curse of the single poster"....
😏

 

[DGFloyd]

Heading over the pass in Oregon. My 2016 Forester, 50,000 miles, had a major engine failure.Two cylinders self destructed. Have always maintained it on schedule. Was full of oil. No warning signs either. Subaru has no answers as to why this might have happened except, " Sometimes this happens, it's rare, but it happens."
Four years old and just under 50,000 miles.
GOOD NEWS, Capitol Subaru of Salem fixed it, provided us with a Courtesy Car and it was all covered by the "Drive Train warranty"
Total cost $0.
Now my question is...Do I trust the NEW engine repairs (kinda got a brand new engine.) or trade that sucker in as fast as I can?

A similar problem happened to my 2017 Subaru Forester XT with 64,000 miles on this past Christmas morning. My Subaru dealership has not been as easy to get along with as yours have. The dealership told me that I had gotten bad gas and that was the cause for a piston to blow through the engine. However, I highly doubt that was the cause. I have had the vehicle serviced as required and have had multiple problems since I drove it off the lot in 2016 (failing to accelerate upon acceleration, hesitating upon accelerating, etc..) but the dealership could never duplicate the problem. Now it is a war between the insurance company who states it is a mechanical problem and the warranty department who states it is bad gas and that is not covered under warranty. Neither is wanting to fix the car and it's been over a month. I am trying to find gather information from others in case this ends up in a courtroom.

 

[Rbvonliski]

Heading over the pass in Oregon. My 2016 Forester, 50,000 miles, had a major engine failure.Two cylinders self destructed. Have always maintained it on schedule. Was full of oil. No warning signs either. Subaru has no answers as to why this might have happened except, " Sometimes this happens, it's rare, but it happens."
Four years old and just under 50,000 miles.
GOOD NEWS, Capitol Subaru of Salem fixed it, provided us with a Courtesy Car and it was all covered by the "Drive Train warranty"
Total cost $0.ra
Now my question is...Do I trust the NEW engineappen repairs (kinda got a brand new engine.) or trade that sucker in as fast as I can?

Same thing happened to me in the Sierra foothills on I80. Going down a long grade, probably doing 80, and the engine stopped workinged to. Pulled onto the shoulder, got out and smelled the Odor of Doom; extra super-heated metal.
I had just the 50K service done. The dealer had tightened the belt to a pulley meant to compensate for lash...a new mechanic. My extended warranty provider declined to pay, pointing the finger at the dealer who eventually paid in full.

Never went back there.

 

[Ray Bell]

But what happened?

 

[Nasarog]

A similar problem happened to my 2017 Subaru Forester XT with 64,000 miles on this past Christmas morning. My Subaru dealership has not been as easy to get along with as yours have. The dealership told me that I had gotten bad gas and that was the cause for a piston to blow through the engine. However, I highly doubt that was the cause. I have had the vehicle serviced as required and have had multiple problems since I drove it off the lot in 2016 (failing to accelerate upon acceleration, hesitating upon accelerating, etc..) but the dealership could never duplicate the problem. Now it is a war between the insurance company who states it is a mechanical problem and the warranty department who states it is bad gas and that is not covered under warranty. Neither is wanting to fix the car and it's been over a month. I am trying to find gather information from others in case this ends up in a courtroom.

Damn. Lawyer up!!!

 

[Inspector]

LOL, lawyer up for a $5,000 engine? You've never apparently hired an attorney before.