surging through the rev range particularly cold

[05gtwagonman]

Oh, and i'm delighted to see that you have a sport grill on the front, this is the most eye pleasing mod I've done yet...
Sorry for spelling mistakes before, I'm crook, and tired, and I can't be bothered fixing them...

[smythie]

what was the outcome in the end? I couldn't make it out from your last couple of posts. Did you get it all done under warranty?

[05gtwagonman]

There was no outcome in the last two posts Smythie!

Here's the outcome...

After Subaru saying for serveral weeks that there was no unusual data and therefore no problem, I had a very stern word with the service manager, and stated as clearly as I could that the reason why they could find no problem is that they were attacking it from the wrong direction. They have a reactionary approach to diagnosis... IE: look at what it is doing and see what isn't normal. Chiptorque employed a proactive method. Ask the vvt to set exhaust valves to XXXX and most of the time it couldn't do it...

They still coundn't do this at Subaru, but they did at least decide to get another 2.0t gt and run diagnostics on it to compare. Then they found that there was a difference between the two cars, but couldn't tell us why.

Zupps were instructed to pull apart the vvt system and check it mechanically and electrically. They did this and found no fault.

In desparation (as they tell it) they went back to the very basics and in doing so found the timing belt to be one tooth out on the crank pully.

Told firmly that they had fixed it finally I dubiously booked the car back into chiptorque for the final tune, sure that they would report that there was no difference. That day was yesterday.

I can happily report that this has fixed the vvt woes. After the tune, the car runs far smoother and pulls like a freight train in the mid range!!!
The last tune liberated over 100nm more at 3300rpm than the standard tune!!!!!! and now that the valves are working correctly they pulled a further 28nm
AND- now hold onto your pants- this was at an increase of 10 deg c amibiant temp in the dyno room. These cats pulled 150.9wkw at 36 deg!!!!!
This thing should be a rocket come winter time...


I can only assume that the car left the factory in this state of tune, and that none of the services have revealed this problem because under most circumstances, the variable valves and the timing can be advanvced or retarded enough to get the car running fairly well. But not at it's peak...

Bottom line- I get to have one of those really frustrating and protracted issues that send owners crazy, but mine was resolved (after 14 months )under warranty, despite the fact that this ran out on the 5th of march this year...

In the end, much thanks to Subaru and medium thanks to Zupps (did you guys need to drag your heels soooooooo much??? realy???)

The real heros in this tale turn out to be Chiptorque. With great service and good humour at all times, the guys there have been the epitome of service and what we are all looking for from our mechanical contacts...
After 14 months I can put this to bed- I have a really good car at the moment, and no reason to belive this won't stay the case..

Thanks to all for reading and helping with this thread..

Cheers, Rich.

[Arith]

Congrats on a winning outcome on such a stretched out issue. As long as you're the happy customer at the end that's what counts!

[Spec B Wgn]

good result mate..

you stuck at it until it was fixed.

Nice power figure as well.

[smythie]

cheers for the description. One tooth out on the crankshaft? Holy shit!

great to hear you got it done under warranty. I still can't believe it was out like that *shakes head*

[05gtwagonman]

Yeah seems a fair bit eh???
Would that be around 10 degrees?
It's amazing that it ran as well as it did. My local mechanic still has his doubts so he is planning to set a car up one tooth out to see how it would run... Glad it isn't going to be mine... I still have my doubts too, but the evidence seems to be stacking...

[smythie]

yeah, I'd say 10 degrees would be the ballpark. How many teeth are on the crankshaft pulley? divide 360 by the number of teeth and you have the amount your car was out

[BlackGT]

This post was awesome..may very well help others!

[Q]

Hey Rich

Good to hear you finally got some satisfaction at last Its the most frustrating thing having your car playing up and Subaru being the same. Took me 3 months to get a new engine after the big end drama's so I sympathise mate.
How much did chiptorque charge for the work? Pm if you don't want to post it.

Rob

[05gtwagonman]

Hey Rob, I did get a good deal, as I was the first Lib 2.0 that they did... You can just stump up for the ezeflash box with the same tune I got done for around $995 - at least last time I checked... I had to stand around for a fair while but that's why the first guy get it cheap I guess...
But if you have mods quite different to mine you would want to stump for some extra dyno time. Mine has sports muffs on so a bit less back pressure. Basically standard...
The most would be around $1800 full custom, but I'm sure it could be less with your powers of persuasion
It's not a pitch, but seriously, these guys are a long way from dickheads, they know what they are doing on a lot of different cars, and it really bodes well to see them work on mine as the first gt 2.0 and fault find as well as nail the tune. This calibre of tuner is about one in every cap city...

[Danners]

Rehashing an old thread here... but i've got a 2005 MY04 Liberty GT with a similar problem. I don't think its quite as bad as your issue as there's no "pig rooting" as such but there is definitely a surge in acceleration.

I've never driven another GT before so I have no ability to compare power, but the car seems to be quite sluggish.

Thanks for the thread! I'll make sure the timing belt is done at 100K service!