club.liberty.asn.au

Hi guys, I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with the problem the cropped up on my car two weeks ago. I've done a search on the forum and haven't come up with much.

I bought a 2008 Liberty GT Spec B from a private seller in June. The car was straight with about 82,000 km on the clock, and had a full service history.

A few weeks ago, the check engine light came on, so I immediately made an appointment with my mechanic to get it checked out the following week. However, two days later, I had a sudden loss of power and a loud rattling sound coming from the engine. When my mechanic took off the sump plug, there was hardly any oil (I had checked and topped up the oil about four weeks before that), and the rings and turbo were gone - replacing the engine and turbo set me back just over $7000.

A few things struck me as strange about all this:

1) I had topped up the oil not too long before
2) I was about only about 1000 km past my next service interval
3) the oil pressure light never came on (it lights up when i start the car)

Has anybody experienced this before? I'd like to contact Subaru about this (some compensation would be nice but not expected), and if anyone has any advice on what I should focus on, I'd appreciate it.

By the way, my mechanic's hanging on to the old engine for a few days - is there anything I should ask him to look at to identify the cause of the problem?

Thanks in advance!

I think that was a common problem for that year range:

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.p ... 19079.html

The trouble is that the car is now 8 years old. I doubt subaru will help out.

How long did the oil light stay on for and did it flicker?
If so that's a sign of a cracked oil pickup.

My car uses heaps of oil, eg 1 litre per 1000klm or less, at 250,000klm: so I've got a spare long motor to go in with various upgrades.

Question is, why? Blame the PO and Subaru, basically.
MY08 was a difficult year for Subaru, the GFC plus the fact that Subaru introduced the G3 Impreza, the car developed from the Gen4 platform, meant that some MY08 Libs were parts bin specials: they have a high failure rate, basically. Regardless, for any Subie:

It all starts with break in, if the car is babied and not broken in properly, the rings will never seat properly.
Then the PO sticks with factory oil and service interval, both of which are optimistic.
Then the oil goes past the rings, oil level gets low, overheats and varnishes the inside of the engine including the oil control rings which become gummed up.
What little oil is there also becomes thinner due to use and overheating leading to either spun bearings or head gasket issues.

This is compounded by the factory fuelling which can lead to fuel starvation on the cylinder closest to the turbo, bye bye ringlands.
That and oil in the inlet from excessive blow-by from the stuffed rings, lowering the fuel's octane rating, leading to detonation.

The heads may also be suspect, eg burnt or bent valves, incorrect clearances or worn valve guides or seals...

Its a viscous cycle, which requires a rebuild or replacement...

So what preventative measures can be taken?

Proper break-in procedure aka hard break-in (google it) on break-in oil, then dino oil, vary revs, limit revs to 5K rpm, limit boost, lotsa vacuum applied initially to seat rings.
Remove, replace or clean any AVCS OCV filters in the block and heads, on postFL these are found deep in the banjo bolt holes at the turbo oil feed (under the turbo inlet pipe on the block), and the heads side feeds on the heads iirc.
Run the serial fuel lines in reverse order (Shadowtuned recommended).
10/40 non eco type synthetic once fully run in.
5k OCI...
Air oil separator or catch cans as per usage scenario.
Killer B oil pickup/baffle/sump as required.
Choose the correct oil pump for your application, eg upgrade only if required for eg dual avcs, or loose tolerances on a built block.
Get it tuned for drivablility and reliability, then economy last. Factory tune favours emissions first, not good for reliability IMHO.
Use a package like BtSsm to monitor your cars health, to log it and take learning views. See my sig links...

Have realistic expectations of your builds potential and do your utmost to research what mods are required to support your goals.

So what to check on teardown?
Heads for clearances etc, OCV filters, varnish etc.
Short block: varnish, ringlands, rings, bearings, cylinder walls, OCV filters, rear AOS cover, main seals on crank.
Sump: shrapnel or glitter in oil, cracked or blocked pickup.
Cut oil filter and inspect internals.
PCV and breather pipes: clogged or stuck?

Sorry to hear about your issues.

Unfortunately it is highly unlikely Subaru will take any responsibility for this.

As you state in your post, you topped up the oil so are aware it may burn or drip oil, it was 1000kms past it's due service and it was driven for two days after the check engine light lit up.

In the owners manual it will have instruction about daily/weekly checks etc and oil level is one of them, this is their escape clause for such issues if they need one.

I did a service on mine a few weeks after I bought it and drained under 2 litres from it! Needless to say I check it regularly now.

Thanks for the quick replies, guys! I've asked my mechanic to look at the piston heads, con rods and ringlands on the old engine to see if they can identify any signs of failure. Being seven grand down, I've got nothing to lose.

Thanks for the detailed information about breaking in the engine, Ben - I'll do that with the new engine. . The car was close enough to 100,000 km anyway, so I had a major service done on the new engine before it was installed - I'll have to ask my mechanic what year the new engine came from. Hopefully it's a pre-08 - my last 07 GTB ran for years without missing a beat.

i bought my car 2 months ago also with 82,000 KMs on the clock (84,000 now)

unfortunately this has happened to you

i've decided to mod my car to achieve 200kw then save for a built motor
hopefully it wont break until that time comes

are you putting in a new short block only or putting in some forgies?

Here you go, IAG break in method:
https://www.iagperformance.com/v/vspfil ... ng-Doc.pdf
IAG is iirc Willals billet block partner in the USA, a respected Suby workshop...