club.liberty.asn.au

So just bought myself 2008 Liberty GT tuned by STi..
should i concerned this car is a ticking time bomb waiting to do a big end bearing?

anyone experienced this or have a 2008 thats perfectly fine on the stock motor
tell me your insight and experiences please

Just do your best to maintain it, so you feel confident it ain't gonna break.
Sorted mods, conservative tune can help.
But eventually it's gonna blow something, eg a bearing or head gasket, as will many if not all engines.
Every car is different.
What's your k's, mods and oil use like?

Btw I asked the same question about three years ago, I'm still going strong...
But I'm slotting in a rebuilt long motor for my 250k major service due to oil use either loose engine or worn valve guide etc.
I bought the car 100klm ago and blame the PO, break in, service abuse factory build

Here's a similar thread viewtopic.php?f=18&t=27937

82,000km so relatively low for its age
Oil consumption no idea its still at the transport company. I bought it from Perth, should arrive early this week coming

Just put in some fresh 10w40 Penrite 10 tenths and new filter as a precaution when you receive her.

You'll want to take a peek at any service records and receipts supplied, perhaps contact the originating dealer for any records, and or get info from the PO about use and or mods.
08's were subject to TSB/recall issues after all.
Also you'll want to see if the 1st major service has been done eg on time/age as opposed to klm.
That's probably more tensioner/idler related than eg a worn belt, as regards potential for failure btw.

My now rebuilt/not yet installed engine came from an 08 auto: hg issues meant it was pulled at 160k, tear down revealed one slightly worn big end bearing. It was reassembled with a light bore hone, acl bearings and stock rings and the heads were machined, valves set with new guides. Should be good for another decent run

I'd recommend a tune and monitor it with eg btssm
A slight upgrade pump and new bucket filter eg dw65c or Kobe can't hurt either.

Look at eg Franks tbsti in the FS section for examples of basic mods that improve on stock...

If you care about longevity of the engine then get rid of the stock tune, run the oil jslayz recommended, and only use 98 fuel.

jslayz wrote:Just put in some fresh 10w40 Penrite 10 tenths and new filter as a precaution when you receive her.

dealership told me they just serviced it, if its true ill put racing 10 tenths in the next service (i use that oil on my wrx too)
or should i just change it straight away regardless?

bigBADbenny wrote:You'll want to take a peek at any service records and receipts supplied, perhaps contact the originating dealer for any records, and or get info from the PO about use and or mods.
08's were subject to TSB/recall issues after all.
Also you'll want to see if the 1st major service has been done eg on time/age as opposed to klm.
That's probably more tensioner/idler related than eg a worn belt, as regards potential for failure btw.

My now rebuilt/not yet installed engine came from an 08 auto: hg issues meant it was pulled at 160k, tear down revealed one slightly worn big end bearing. It was reassembled with a light bore hone, acl bearings and stock rings and the heads were machined, valves set with new guides. Should be good for another decent run

I'd recommend a tune and monitor it with eg btssm
A slight upgrade pump and new bucket filter eg dw65c or Kobe can't hurt either.

Look at eg Franks tbsti in the FS section for examples of basic mods that improve on stock...

Would subaru come in to play if the car is on the recall list or known engine problems being a 8 year old car?
i will ring the dealership in the logbook as soon i get the car
the car will have 3 months statutory warranty, then ill tune if it doesnt break within first 3 months, what is btssm?
i will mod the car exactly same way as my wrx hopefully reaching 200kw, then saving for a built motor

dr20t wrote:If you care about longevity of the engine then get rid of the stock tune, run the oil jslayz recommended, and only use 98 fuel.

after 3 months statutory warranty i will retune it.
i use 98 minimally on all my cars!

thanks guys i will take upon all your recommendations, but still scared engine might go at any time

http://Www.btssm.com
The recall info is just FYI, it applied to a certain date or vin range iirc.
There's no particular reason to be paranoid about your engine as long as it's properly tuned, maintained and driven imho...
Especially with a low expectations conservative tune

Looking at my receipts supplied in the log book, I can tell the PO enjoyed it, wore out tyres, it had a recall early due to oil pickup or turbo oil supply or drain, dealer service abused, eg 10+k intervals and some other bit broke eg ps pump or rack or such covered 50/50 by the dealer.
Since then I've done a drivers cv, radiator, and avcs ocv's. And lotsa great mods
I log and service it, so I kinda know the score.
At 250k it needs clutch n tb service so I'll just replace the engine, clutch, centre diff, turbo etc.

I've got an early MY08 build tbsti - stock motor on 137,000km still going tuned with common mods pushing out some extra kw than stock

Always joke about it going to blow up, the vin number I think was within that recall range for the big end bearings

Serviced every 12,500km before I owned it, now every 3-5000km and also had every single fluid and service item has been replaced in the last 12-18 months - Just because it makes me feel better knowing it's been done.

Yeah and Dom has an 08 wagon, PO had the SB replaced under wtee, iirc...

car was delivered this morning to my house

number 27/250 built in Feb 2008

whats the chances the shortblocks been changed by subaru already?

I'm not sure if this is correct, but I would imagine if the shortblock was changed then the engine number shouldn't match the original one. Hopefully you have the original engine number in the service manual.

service manual only has original owners details and the cars VIN, no engine number

i do have the engine number on the invoice from dealer

A rego check from your local authority eg VicRoads will get you that data, eg original vin & eng #'s...

vinshonz wrote:car was delivered this morning to my house

number 27/250 built in Feb 2008

whats the chances the shortblocks been changed by subaru already?

Unlikely I think, it's the type of issue that probably wouldn't rear its head in the warranty period for the car.

Best you can do is service is properly and get it re-tuned and hope for the best