I took a video of starting the car on Sunday. LINK This was a cold start, was considerably lighter in volume and duration than it was on Saturday, but still there. This morning the car was a hoe bag on the morning commute.
Oh man, that's terrible...hope you get this resolved fairly pain free. I'm not completely convinced a protune will "fix" the issue. There's been at least one documented case of a car frying piston #2 after 17k miles, though it had been protuned by a reputable tuner very early in its life. Very disheartening.
Via PM's we got him fixed up. He will drive to SOJAX, I will diag and fix problem. 99.9% sure whatever is wrong will be covered by warranty.
It damn better be. I haven't tracked the car, it hasn't been to a drag strip. I drive it to work and back with the occasional road trip. If that isn't normal use, I don't know what is.
Probably a broken piston. Biggis: This is SUPER important, make sure the engine has oil in it! If you starve it, since you know its smoking, its your responsibility to keep oil in it. So check it often between now and then, ESPECIALLY during the trip down here!
It will be covered! I know sure as shit they will want to give me a new ride just to shut me up. That or I would be carried away in cuffs. Now on the other hand when I went in with a blown tranny I sucked it up and took it as best as I could.
Update 2-5-09 SURPRISE! Today coming back from lunch, I heard a odd noise, it sounded like a piston ring land completing its journey from pain in my ass to epic fail. (YES, I checked the oil before starting and it was halfway between the two holes (E and F) on the stick.) Immediately after the odd noise the check engine light came on, lots of other lights started blazing and the car went into "limp" mode. It wouldn't go over 20 mph, so i "limped" back to the office and tried to park where a wrecker could tow it. I called subaru of gwinett (for some reason, i don't know, my mind moves in mysterious ways sometimes) and was told they "didn't have a loaner car." Thats it. Not..."man i'm sorry for this, let me call the tow truck and have em meet you somewhere" or "we'll figure this out and make it right somehow" So I'm calling Subaru of America in a second and see what they say. I think before the day is over I will either choke a puppy, verbally abuse some poor customer service rep or shoot a hole in the side of my car with a blunderbuss. I make no promises that I won't do all three.
Excuse me for posting again.... But I just DO NOT UNDERSTAND how in the HELL SOG cannot bend over backwards to help this man. "We don't have a loaner car. Sorry." WAT?!?!?! Seriously?!?!?!?! I mean this is a completely STOCK car, and its the top of the line performance model offered by SOA in the US. He did NOTHING to cause the car to do this....this is clearly, and entirely a manufacturing defect. I mean come on!! Seriously? And then they're going to give him the runaround about covering it? I mean, maybe they haven't yet but we all know they're going to try. Seriously. Give me a frikkin break!!! Makes me not want to go to SOG ever again. My new job is near Troncalli...maybe I'll just go there from now on. :unamused::unamused::unamused::unamused::unamused:
I called subaru of america. They told me to have it towed to the nearest dealer ( troncalli ) I called troncalli, they told me they couldn't look at it before at LEAST next tuesday. So they put me onto subaru of kennesaw. The service manager there (Steve) told me "they weren't the closest dealer, theres nothing they can do. Call 1-800-subaru3 and have it towed to troncalli or SoG" So i spoke with the manager of SoK, Loius, who sold me the car when i bought it (he was at troncalli at the time) and he told me to take it to SoG. So here i sit, getting the run around from 3 different dealers. SoG says they won't have any loaner cars before at LEAST this weekend. I have to get back home and get to work tomorrow much less anything in between. SoK won't take the car and gives me the " I wash my hands of thee" AFTER I TOOK THE CAR TO THEM ON SATURDAY TELLING THEM I THE CAR HAD A PROBLEM. Troncalli is so far out of the picture now, I just don't know what to do with this damn car. If I could give it back and get out of my loan with Subaru, I would sign the papers right this second and never buy another damn Subaru vehicle in my life.
Dude, this sucks! Good luck with it. I have found that dealers up in the north east, esp NH are much more helpful with service issues. I think its because modders account for a much smaller percentage of total customers.
holy FUCK....you have to be kidding me. That has got to be the biggest load of crap ever. You mean to tell me that not one of these 3 dealerships is willing to help you out? All three of them are passing the buck onto each other? That's interesting. I'm really sorry that you are going through this. What about Classic? Have you called them yet? They are still around too you know. Call them and see if they can get you in and taken care of. (770) 396-6385
Honestly, I would have that shit towed to one of these dealerships and argue with them until they foot the bill. Explain to them that you spent 40K on this car and you want the fucking warranty honored and at least a voucher for a rental car. I'm sorry man.
Dude just drop that shit off at one of the dealerships. Sorry to hear you are having so many problems.
Man, it just doesn't get any better than this. I wish you luck bro. That is a load of crap. I think I would keep going up the totem pole so to speak until someone gives you all that you deserve.
I'm not so enthusiastic that SoA will be able to do anything for me. They haven't in the past, why start now? The car was tow'ed to SoG this afternoon. I do NOT have any form of transportation until SoG gets around to getting me a loaner car. I'll just try to bum rides to and from work from the guys I work with. I'm really hopeful that I get my car back anywhere near working condition. I'm not very impressed by the techs at SoG or at Troncalli. (AND THOSE WERE MY ONLY TWO OPTIONS) :unamused: I pay gobs of money to Subaru for an STi, which then fails, is under warranty and yet it is this difficult to get any sort of help in this situation. I SHOULDN'T have to fight with dealerships for loaner cars. I SHOULDN'T have to fight with dealerships for a place to take it to. I SHOULDN'T have to worry about if the techs are technically qualified or skilled enough to fix the problem. I SHOULDN'T have to take the car not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES NOW to fix the problem. (the third time being this, where the car is undrive-able) I SHOULDN'T have gotten turned away and told "theres nothing we can do" by Subaru of Kennesaw and Subaru of Gwinett. But a car with less than 18k miles shouldn't have a failure like this either. My GOD I want to just get out from under this car. Anyone want to buy a gently used only slightly broken STi? Its got a 60k warranty!
Saving my spot for a second... I am so truly sorry you are dealing with this Biggis...Makes me think of the days of my broken sump tube in the 06 STi Classic Subaru was my dealership and they did take care of me much better than you are being treated by a long shot...If they do not have a loaner they should get you a rental!!! Now to rant about this whole customer service issue...one of the reasons I have not posted a Dealership review of SOK....so here you go. I had set a deal with Classic to try and get out of my problem 06 STi. I was worried that my daily driver would fail me do to past problems but like you say Biggis...the loan hanging there. Classic didn't really do as much as I feel they SHOULD and COULD have to sell me a car...and make up for past inconviences. In dealing with SOK at first was great. Doing up the papers, warranty, Gap, Service Plan, Navi, and so forth. Then after taking delivery of the car as you would expect there were a few things in the waiting...IE navi install, warranty refund from 06. Got the navi installed and it was supposted to have Blue tooth and it had XM instead...So I take the time to go to SOK and my salesman took 5 seconds to walk out and tell me he was busy with another client and he would call me and walks off...If I use the gas, time, and energy to come in person and not call you could at least give me more than 5 seconds...... I have yet to send in my SOA survey just to see how the dealership treated me post purchase... SOK and Troncalli are blood sorry to take up your thread Biggis but again...I feel you Bro
I agree you should not have these issues with the dealers. Sadly, this is not exclusive to Subaru. I have noticed that dealers of all makes don't really care after the sale. If it is warranty service, they don't want to deal with it. They only want to deal with out of warranty repairs. That is where the money is, of course. Customer service and treating the customer right seems to be dead. Especially between the time you sign the papers and the time the warranty runs out. Seems we don't have any respectable/good dealers anymore. I was not happy with the local Mazda dealer when I had my RX-8 either. You want to talk about a car the dealer never wanted to see, the RX-8 is a car the service writer would visibly change into a foul mood when you drove up.
Dealers that care are far and few between no matter what cars they sell. I wish there were more dealers that cared like yours, Will. I have to get some crush washers and touch up paint. I almost don't want to go by and get them. :unamused:
Man sorry to hear about your problem biggis. I dont know if any one has told you this yet but if it where me I would take it back to the dealership and say "hey I want an older version that doesn't have all the problems." if you spend 40,000 on a car it should work right. WILL I finished my EJ20R install it runs like a dream!!! its got power from 1st start all the way to 8 grand!!
You better start documenting every conversation starting with the very first time the car has problems. The clock is ticking... http://www.georgia.gov/00/channel_createdate/0,2095,5426814_130698319,00.html
^I'm sure they are. Once they get word of issues like this they usually track it until the customer is happy.
Oh you better believe they are. One thing lots of people don't realize, SOA monitors most if not all decently sized forums (nasioc, iwsti, here)
Update 2-6-09 I was told that the CEL was a cylinder #4 misfire. I also am being forced to get my own rental car, of which subaru will only pay for $35 a day for 5 days. Subaru of Gwinett will have to petition or something to SoA to get more funds. Mac = :unamused: I was told more information will be had when they get more. Like next week. I imagine I will be out of a car for at least a month. Awesome. BY THE BY, all of the information I've gotten has been from me calling the dealership. Not the other way around. I have YET to receive 1 phone call or email regarding my car.
Thats suck BS man...You should call Classic 770-394-9100 and talk to Jerry Peoples And you never heard back from SOA?
Awesome, maybe they should take another note on how their stock ECU definitions are destroying engines, their brand, their brand's equity, as well as how their whole marketing message for this line of cars is antithetical to car's current ecu/mechanical capacity.
Just like respect was shown to me by your service department by not keeping the car over night? Mac- "The car blows oil smoke when the engine is cold upon start-up, of course it isn't going to now when the engine is rocket hot." Service manager of SoK - "Well there is nothing I can do about it. Just drive it back home." Common courtesy indeed. I shall never return to SoK and will only speak ill of it in the future. Customer service is a dying art it seems.