I never had any problems mechanically w/ my 05 STi. I ran it hard but now I'm reading up on the ringland issues w/ newer STi's.......anybody on here have any problems?
Not entirely. The tune plays an important role. To contradict myself a bit though. The pistons are incredibly weak and the casting process that is being used sucks. A detonation free tune will pro long the life, but not necessarily keep it from happening.
hyperteutectic pistons aren't all that bad just not ideal for modded/aftermarket turbo applications. Shitty fuel selection/quality has a major role in engine failures as well.
Ehh... lets not forget ring gap. I have seen broken ringland on motors that are tuned perfectly and have zero detonation.
I had number 2 go after 56k miles; my STi was running only a sway bar and ohlins for the vast majority of the 56k. I ran the Cobb tune for STU when my went. The same exact thing happened with the 2006 STi I co-drove with a friend at solo nationals shortly after mine went. Joel Furman's 05 STi built for BSP also broke it's piston ring lands. And now I'll never own a subaru again. If you are worried I'd do a compression check!
You drive the ever living crap outta your cars high up in the rpms and that couple with the extreme heat from autoxing is a prime candidate for detonation and ring swell.
If you stay stock turbo and don't boost to the max (ie proper tune and not the stock one), your pistons should last just fine. Just don't beat the crap outta the car for extended amounts of time, maintain it, and pay attention.
The car was stock most of it's life; I've done the same amount of autoxing on an s2000, an BMW, and an EVO and had zero problems with engines or ring lands. We actually couldn't kill the engine in our 89 SI... we built an engine for it after 270k miles.
yeah you can try to justify it all you want, but when there are cars doing the identical thing a subaru does making the same power and not having the same problems then there is something to be said about subaru build quality. ringlands when on my 2.0l @ ~74k, now it has a hybrid block making 300/350 tuned by Doug with ~125k (just replaced the timing belt). (i will own another subaru in the future, just be a little smarter with it)
who needs ringlands... I saw kokopelli make over 400whp at the Top Speed dyno day and he was essentially missing a cylinder. And he drove it home. High on race gas.
I'm not trying to justify it....I'm more just pointing the issue. High heat, high rpms = detonation city. It's a serious shortfall that hits the Subaru 2.5L the hardest. I probably drove my EJ205 harder than many of you on here combined. It lived 170,000 miles before I pulled it. The dude that bought that block simply rehoned, changed the rings, and it's still rocking out. Last I talked to him last year it now has 250,000 miles on it and nothing was new minus gaskets and rings.
oh no, he was trying to blow it up iirc. He was running race gas and 30+ psi, trying to see how high it would go before metal pieces started falling out the bottom. The grand finale to an awesome dyno day
I also saw a lot of other people taking fun runs in that car at various auto-xes. It definitely was getting beat up and was pretty much a ticking time bomb.
Yeah, but the car was meticulously maintained. So that means a Subaru isn't safe to rev to its own redline on a (somewhat) regular basis? Exactly the point she was trying to make... Plus, that car was fun to drive.
Funny I think I can count on one hand how many times I saw you at an autox. The STI saw the same duty at all my other autox cars, if anything my S2000 should have blown up after three years of 1st gear vtec downshifts. I'm not a fan of the pistons is all I am saying and I'd recommend a compression check for anybody who's worried as it is a known problem. Edit: When Brian and a friend bought an roughed up 2003 bug eye for a fun car, you can bet the first thing we had done was a compression check. As soon as Subaru buffs up their pistons I'd buy one again.
I ran my 05 STi pretty hard and didn't have any problems. I did sell it though with under 5,000 miles. Are the 2012 STi's just as fast as the 05's. I used to love to cut circles w/ my 05 , will the 2012's light em all up?
Bye bye differentials Shameless plug but I have some Manley forged pistons with 10k miles on them ready to be dropped in an EJ257 for cheap if anyone needs some.
It smoked bad on the dyno because it pushed oil out on to the header. Very little if any smoke out of the exhaust on the way home. You can have cracked ringlands and not even know since most of the time it is not the top ringland that lets go.
you were - it's when we had the bacon log grease fire and dana was about to let us shoot him with the potato gun.
Failed leakdown/compression test on #4 cylinder on my 05 STi at around the 60k mark. Yea I ran it pretty hard, couple auto-x seasons w/ off the shelf Cobb AP tune and catback. It was mentioned that the car was running pretty lean, poor baby. I guess it was just a matter of time as previously mentioned. Haven't taken apart the old engine so not sure if it was a ringland issue but there were some issues on those new STis werent there like 07-09? Even just stock ones.
http://www.importtuner.com/tech/impp_1103_subaru_ej_series_engine_tech/viewall.html This is some good information.
I'm not 100% certain they're THAT renowned...yes, here in the SE, they're well known, but not all over the country.
Sorry meant to say stage 2 with turboback... catless downpipe... Running lean but still spitting fire lol
So the big question is to tune a factory car to prevent ring land or keep it factory? And if you tune who is the best local tuner?
Definately get it tuned asap. The transition from open/closed is so long that detonation will kill it. TS showed a stock tune on the dyno....it was horrible. Forged said their STi was off the wall horrible. Both have said some are good some are bad some are catastrophic. Be safe and just get it tuned. Asking who's the best is like asking which two factory STi's are better when they are the same minus paint color. Both Forged and TS have good track records....both have had their share of horrors....that's part of a shop. Call them both and see who you feel more comfortable with. Talk with the tuners in person.....watch them tune in person and make your own decision.
Subaru stopped warrantying ANY piston ring claims. They state it's due to driver/owner negligence and is only achieved when the revs hit the limiter. Supposedly, they put in a tracker into the ECU to monitor how many times the engine hits the rev limiter. If it was ONE time, warranty is denied.
That's fucking retarded. If hitting the rev limiter automatically voids the warrenty....lower the rev limiter to a point where it doesn't.
I put Cobb's OTS Stage 1 map on my car and I have not found the rev limiter yet. I have had it up to the redline on the tach and no hard limiter like stock. The car stops pulling and I shift(about 6200-6300) before I have ever found it.
Stop telling people this it isn't true. There is no one factor that allows them to deny your warranty. If you have a legit warranty claim and the deny it get a lawyer.