Jolting Issues After Service?!

[Glexen]

Hi all, I'm very disappointed at the moment, I just got my car serviced by Subaru for its 112,500 (2008 Liberty GT STI 94K) . Which my car prior the service was running perfectly. Now after hard acceleration it starts to do a nasty jolt fairly consistently through each gear around 3000 RPM or so. I went straight back to Subaru and told them that this is not how it was driving prior to the service. They are claiming now that it was doing what i just explained before they touched the car. Which is just and outright lie. They are also claiming that it has been modified and cant diagnose it. Mined you what they are classing as modified is my GFB Blow off valve and i had and OBD2 reader plugged in at the time. Saying that it was altering my mapping? I've been driving the car for 3 months now with no issues, and had that OBD2 reader in for a month or so now with no issues. They are now telling me to take to a Subaru specialist to get it dynoed? i don't really get it what's going on here. For some reason they are shafting the issues back on to me when i can guarantee it didn't have this problem. In my opinion also since they are claiming it did it before service, they would have put a note in my report about it. But there is not such thing

After all that, in my opinion it has something to do with the spark plugs, either the gap isn't correct or one of the spark plug is a dug. Because nothing else major would have been done besides the spark plugs. Anyone have any take on this matter?

[jaydece]

1/ As part of there service? did they spray UEC ( upper engine cleaner )
2/ Did they reset the ECU as part of the service

[Glexen]

Yeah upper engine cleaner was used.
And not sure if the ecu was reset

[HyRax]

I suspect the ECU was reset. My car is always a bit jumpy after I've disconnected the battery for 10 minutes or more to do unrelated work on the car and that's long enough for the ECU to forget everything (in Subaru's case they'd have reset the ECU directly, not left the battery off for 10 minutes or more).

Give it a day or two of re-learning and the problem will likely go away - perfect excuse to go for a long drive.

Oh, and start taking your car to be serviced elsewhere.

[jaydece]

Yeah upper engine cleaner was used.
And not sure if the ecu was reset

if they did reset the ecu it may just take some time before it self adjusts or re learns everything.....monitor for now

with UEC....again monitor the car and see how it goes....may just take time to get out of the engine system

on the receipt what service specifics was carried out? maybe we can judge by that on maybe whats gone wrong? or potentially wrong...

[Glexen]

yeah i did notice it started to drive better after i drove it for 30mins, but when i let it cool down, it started to do it again. the 112,500 service was carried out.

[senator]

Were the spark plugs changed??

[Glexen]

Yes new spark plugs were installed

[Newbie GT]

Spark lead not secure ? Maybe a plug isn't done call the way up in head

[Manaz]

Spark lead not secure ? Maybe a plug isn't done call the way up in head

These would generally cause worse issues than a jolt at a particular rpm, but are worth checking.

To the OP: Go back to them. Ask them if the problem was there when you drove the car in, why they failed to diagnose it or remediate it (given that's what servicing is about). The OBD2 reader is just that - a reader. If the BOV is plumb-back, then it shouldn't be causing issues. Atmo-venting BOVs can cause issues, but generally not a sudden jolt (when you say this, is it a kick in the pants, or a stumble?) at ~3krpm under acceleration. Ask them what modification in particular they are concerned with, and how they believe it is causing the issue that you're now seeing.

If they're still being difficult, there are steps you can take to (politely) escalate the issue, starting with talking to the dealer principal, and moving through to talking to Subaru themselves as well as

I find it laughable that they are claiming that you should take the car to a subaru specialist to have it diagnosed (given that's what a Subaru dealership workshop is meant to be). That said, MSR are on the central coast, and you'd do a lot worse than to talk to Michael South, both for diagnosis and tuning/mods should you be that way inclined.

And yes, regardless, as HyRax said, start taking the car elsewhere for service. MSR does that too.

[senator]

Yes new spark plugs were installed

Check the coil packs are secure, they have a small clip used to secure the coil pack in place, they become brittle over time and snap, common issue……. Small cable tie works a treat.

I found bank 3 (nearest the driver) was especially exposed to failure due to proximity to the exhaust

[senator]

Spark lead not secure ? Maybe a plug isn't done call the way up in head

No spark leads used on these cars

[Manaz]

Spark lead not secure ? Maybe a plug isn't done call the way up in head

No spark leads used on these cars

No, but the coil packs themselves can come a little loose.

[Newbie GT]

Spark lead not secure ? Maybe a plug isn't done call the way up in head

No spark leads used on these cars

No, but the coil packs themselves can come a little loose.

+1

[alexeiwoody]

Dealerships strike again. Fail.

Get them to find what the problem is, a bov and a obd reader don't change any mapping