Engine explosions - avoidable or inevitable?

[spicyHam]

hi guys,

ive noticed in alot of threads here about mods, single turbo conversions and whatever stating that "you should wait till the engine goes bang first" or "save the money for when the engine breaks." all this talk is getting me kinda worried - it sounds as if an engine blowup is inevitable? Im worried about this as if my engine did break i would be pretty screwed, and thats putting it nicely. I dont have a spare 3k or more for a engine rebuild, but i believed a blowup could be avoided by proper maintenance, hence why i change my oil religiously every 5thou.

Am i wrong here, and my engine is doomed to die? car is a 97 Rs-b, unmodified except for muffler, currently done 117xxx kms, and no problems in the past year ive owned it. As much as it would suck, id rather sell it off than face a huge repair bill i can't pay off.

[Guest boostin]

Its a lottery every time you start the engine. You may have an engine that just keeps going with no issues, but at the same time it might hand grenade tomorrow.

[gazzy2000]

If you choose wisely a suby that had a known/proven history with good servicing, no mods, not raced and mostly run on 98 octane you have more chance of getting one that will last.

Preventative mantenance is the go too, i.e. i get the radiator flushed on every car i own, like to know where i stand.

Subarus are expensive if things go wrong, prolly not really recommended for broke punks with no cash, just in case. Also knowing how to swing a spanner yourself saves good $$$$

[Guest keltik]

If breaking things is a worry, sell it and buy a Honda/Toyota. Rebuilds are over 3k, however a 2nd hand motor from the wreckers is closer to 1k.

Just take care of it, maintain it and dont fit a pod filter or play with the boost and theres a good chance it will live.

[Guest boostin]

 keltik said:

If breaking things is a worry, sell it and buy a Honda/Toyota. Rebuilds are over 3k, however a 2nd hand motor from the wreckers is closer to 1k.

Just take care of it, maintain it and dont fit a pod filter or play with the boost and theres a good chance it will live.

I've seen plenty that are serviced every 10,000km, driven nice and still blow a big end, and others thrashed with pod filters and they go forever.

Its a lottery.

[Joker]

some last 50,000 from NEW, mine is hitting 200,000 this year and is un-opened...

I do have a plan B in preparation mind you , like you I am being realistic

[Guest]

Never hand an engine let go in over 10 years of subaru ownership. This is not only including road cars but also my race car. A lot of it comes down to how you maintain or how its been maintained before you purchase. Keep up the maintaince, stop worrying and enjoy the ride.

[DPI]

Same; 10 years, and 5 subarus with various amounts of km's at time of purchase (including a GT Legacy that had done 160,000km when i got it).

1990 GT legacy (Auto) shat the centre diff, which then buggered the front diff, at around 170,000km. Brought at 105,000km Sold at 180,000km.

1995 STI: no problems up to 130,000km (when it was stolen)... Brought at 103,000km.

1997 WRX wagon: no problems (but it did only have 80,000km on it when i brought it). Sold at 99,000km.

1996 Legacy GT: Gearbox was a bit rough going into 2nd, and AFM playing up too (this is at 190,000km) Sold at 195,000km.

2002 Spec C: Alternator quite on the day i drove it home, otherwise, no issues (again, had only done 60,000km when i got it). Sold at 124,000km

[Guest]

These cars are relatively high performance engines and are getting old.

How long they last depends on past owners - has it been driven to an inch of its life ? given decent oil etc.

And of course it depends on how the curent owner treats it.

You could get the oil tested that might give you a heads up if there is problem.

I wouldn't buy a 97 RSB / STi if it was on its orig engine

I heard of a guy who bought the car, changed its oil and on its way to get a mechanical warrenty did its big end at 50km/h...

[aim]

Honestly, it's always inevitable, it's just when, could be 200,000 or 100,000, likelihood increases as your k's do, depending on what kind of k's. Some will deteriorate faster than others. A lot comes down to user treatment. You can't undo the damage done by the previous owners. Just drive kindly when you're not in a hurry, and leave the thrashing for when you're late or wanna have some fun

[nztintin]

i guess it's a bit like life, the only certain thing is death, it's just the time that varies

[Guest boostin]

 nztintin said:

i guess it's a bit like life, the only certain thing is death, it's just the time that varies

And taxes. 2 things that are certain.

[aim]

Unless you live in Freetown

[spicyHam]

Thanks for the input. Yea i realise its going to happen eventually, but what im meaning is that i hope it doesn't happen while i own it, haha. I would sell it before it ever reached 150thousand k's and as i dont even do 10thou a year id probably sell it long before it got to that many. I drive carefully most of the time, off boost (my friends call me a nana ;D) and generally do my best to treat the car really nice. The bad part is that despite buying it from a dealer, i have no real history about the car so i don't know exactly how well it was treated - i know this is breaking rule no.1, but the car was too good a deal to pass up at the time. And in all the time ive spent looking at cars to buy since i started driving, i have never found one with a complete service history.. in 10 years or more it must be easy for these things to get lost. After owning a Mitsubishi that had a failed tranny after less than a month, a and smoky toyota, the Subi has been the most reliable car i,ve had.

i do have money do do repairs if something went wrong, but if the whole engine catastrophically failed then yea id have a problem.

Unfortunately to 'downgrade' to a non-turbo honda, toyota or whatever seems to cost more! Nissans are even worse. It'd really suck to have to pay more to get a worse car.

For now i should probably do some more maintenance for piece of mind and keep an eye on it.. But any other advice? Like i there a certain age or mileage where i should really get rid of the thing? or some way i can test to evaluate my engine's current condition better?

[nztintin]

Like has been said above thers some cars blow up after 50k, some last past 200 and never get opened, I'm going by the theory for my car if i treat it well and try to save enough to rebiuld when it blows i'll have a mint engine that i know the history of and will have started at 0ks again..... it's a good idea in theory ;D

[aim]

 spicyHam said:

But any other advice? Like i there a certain age or mileage where i should really get rid of the thing? or some way i can test to evaluate my engine's current condition better?

Head gaskets start to become common after around 150k so I've heard. Best way to evaluate it? Pull it apart

[Guest]

As i said get the oil tested - and if it has traces of metal...

[mattapo]

Save up and build your self up an engine, when its ready put it in and sell yours while its worth something

[GravelBen]

You can get a very negative perspective on any cars reliability from too much time reading internet forums! For the simple reason that a lot of people only post when something goes wrong, you don't hear many of the 'my car never did anything bad enough to worry about' stories...

...Like mine - 4 Subarus over the last 8 years (kept trading up to nicer/faster ones), the biggest problems I've had were an AFM and a split radiator hose. The most expensive repairs have been buying new tyres after punctures! Driven hard but well maintained and always treated gently when cold.

[Shale]

Exactly, many of us have no issues with the motor going chernobyl. My Legacy had her stock engine for 220,000km before the previous owner failed to realise that broken waterpump from NEVER CHANGING IT = overheated = seize the damn motor. That block is going to get crack tested, planed and re-used with different heads The baby it's going into has 125k on the clock and a good (but potentially open deck) block; it was a virgin engine but freeboosted for god knows how long, hence the turbo being blown beyond recognition.

And the N/A Impreza? Worst that one's done in over 4 years of ownership and 130,000 HARD kms is demand new plugs and leads...and a cambelt change, 60,000km overdue.

But at the end of the day not only is it a maintenance thing, it's also a lottery thing. Works the same as the yellow thingies. Buy a Subaru, buy a ticket. Some are unlucky (like my 20E), and will probably never win. Twin turbos seem to be very lucky tickets, and often win the prize! Yet there are stories as above of TTs that have gone around the clock how many times, and still purr like new...

Luck of the draw, swayed by either love or stupidity.

[Guest boostin]

Yup. Like my old 2.2 BC Legacy. I bought it at 220,000km, thrashed it until the engine decided that it no longer required oil pressure to the cams at around 330,000km. I dropped another engine in it, and it was still going strong when I sold it at 356,000km. That thing loved the rev limiter.... ;D

[Max Headroom]

 GravelBen said:

You can get a very negative perspective on any cars reliability from too much time reading internet forums! For the simple reason that a lot of people only post when something goes wrong, you don't hear many of the 'my car never did anything bad enough to worry about' stories...

...Like mine - 4 Subarus over the last 8 years (kept trading up to nicer/faster ones), the biggest problems I've had were an AFM and a split radiator hose. The most expensive repairs have been buying new tyres after punctures! Driven hard but well maintained and always treated gently when cold.

I agree.

My '92 BF5 GT is my daily driver, and it has travelled 26,000km in the eight months since I bought it. I just returned last night from a weekend trip to Feilding which involved a distance of 1000km with 3 people and our luggage. It was effortless, and trouble-free. The car has done just over 150,00km and runs very well. It's bog-stock other than a K&N panel filter inside the standard housing and a Rage front pipe to eliminate the catalytic converter. A good maintenance program is critical.

My previous BF7 2.2 NA wagon had 381,000km under it's wheels before getting taken out by a dozy XR8 driver. The heads had never been off. I had every intention of taking that car to 500,000km . . .

As much as I enjoy performance in a road car, I value reliability higher.

[dubbedup]

over 8 years, prolly close to 15 subaru's, so far 1 motor, 4 gearbox and some minor stuff like wheel bearings - all driven hard and with average maintenece..

the motor i blew was running 20psi when i got it so i suspect thats why it didnt last... pretty reliable really...IMHO

[Guest]

The OP was only asking about 97 RS-B and similar

[spicyHam]

Page 2 of this thread wins, nice to get a positive perspective on it! Im sure thought that the N/A models will go alot further than the turbo ones ever will however. And i don't think i,ll be pulling part my engine just to have a look.. id end up with a pile of parts that i couldn't put back together again. If ive had the car for a year and nothings buggered up then i guess i got lucky and got a non-thrashed one. Though i was looking for about 2months before i decided on this one..