Hey Guys, just some filler-- My name is Jason Borden and I purchased an 02 White WRX Wagon about a year and a half ago that was put together by Allpro. Everything has been fantastic up until yesterday! Here is where it all begins: I ordered a catless downpipe and installed it about a month ago. The only mod I have done to the engine. Everything has been fine and yesterday I was about 5 miles from home and my car starts running really hot. From the time I bought the car til Friday it has ran the exact same temp on my temp gauge. I have little car experience so I can't give an exact temp but say that on the temp gauge-- the bottom line is a zero and the top line is 100-- I average around a 40. I'm scooting along and it jumps up to around an 80. I pull over into Target parking lot and let it cool down and notice antifreeze is all under my car in the parking lot. I feel like it's a big issue, so I buy some antifreeze and top it off. I get back in the car and drive about a half mile, and it shoots back up around the top on the temp gauge, so I stop... let it cool down... and restart my journey home. Repeat around 15 times. an hour and 15 minutes later I'm back home. (let me start by saying I already understand this may have not been the wisest decision) Upon inspection, I find a tiny hole in the upper radiator hose. I call AutoZone, they say they can have one there by 6pm. I picked it up last night and installed it this morning. I take the car around for about 20 minutes and everything is fine. I feel like I've fixed the entire situation. So, this afternoon I have to leave because I'm in corporate training for my new job and the training center is in Birmingham AL and I live in Florence AL. This is about a 2 hour trip. I'm riding along and everything seems fine. I noticed that it felt like the car was "jumping or sputtering" a bit when I really got on it. I thought "ahhh, you're just being paranoid because of what happened yesterday... keep going". So I'm at nearly the half way point of my trip and I'm running 65 mph in 4th gear at around 3500rpm. I go to pass a guy and get up to 70mph in a sec and look in the rearview and I am bellowing white smoke and it's not accelerating at the speed I know my car usually accelerates. Just for a test, I stomp the gas again and smoke out the exhaust. Temp gauge is still in that "40%" i mentioned earlier. I thought ..."ok, something is wrong when I get over 65mph. If I can just get to Birmingham and stay under 65, I can take it somewhere on my lunch break tomorrow". So then I'm humming along and 65 suddenly feels the way it felt when I hit 70. sputtering, powerless. Now 55 feels normal. 5 minutes later 10mph feels normal. I pull over at the next gas station and smoke is belting out of the hood scoop, I open the hood and notice antifreeze is spewing out the bottom. I turn the engine back on and can see that antifreeze is spitting out from the rear of the radiator and into the fans which is in turn spewing all over the engine. In rural Alabama, pretty much everyone is a shadetree mechanic so 5 minutes later at a gas station with my hood open a man walks up who owns a shop. I tell him basically everything I've written here and he checked the oil and said "son, you have a blown head gasket and you're going to need a new radiator too." I'm heart broken. After diagnosing my problems on Google, I keep seeing very similar symptoms and responses with "You've got a melted piston". I honestly don't know what to do. I am in Birmingham, I live in Florence, and my car is in Cullman with a mechanic that said "I can't work on this car, but I would be glad to keep it here over night in my surveillanced lot." ANYONE?
Drain the oil, if it looks milky then you have a blown headgasket and you have probably killed the engine because you have been running oil and water through the bearings. You can blow a head gasket and it just effect the cooling system but from what you have described it sounds more likely that you have done permanent damage to the engine. Matt
I second this. The reason you were seeing white smoke is because you had coolant in the combustion chamber(s). That white smoke you see is burning coolant.
for a 16bit ecu, a dp install isn't gonna negatively affect anything.. Same could be said for 04 STi's.
right, I did not do any tuning post downpipe install. I'm not convinced that it would have caused this based on the fact that everything was running correctly after the install for over 30 days and the upper radiator hose had a gash in it caused by it rubbing on the pulley.
Have it towed to allpro. I'm willing to bet its toast. After overheating that many times those bearings and rings are probably done for. And the heads are likely warped as well. On the bright side I saw a brand new sti motor on Craigslist for $3000
Depending on the car, no. 02-05 WRX's and 04STi's are typically fine. Of course a tune will make a huge improvement, but its not needed. 02-03 cars can even utilize a manual boost controller without a tune provided the end user is responsible and knows what hes doing....
That has already been bought. But knowing Brandon, he would go that extra mile to take care of his customers. AllPro x2.