Liberty GT 04 - Bottom End Bearing! TWICE

by **agan** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 12:22 am

jslayz wrote:New short motor from Rising Sun Subaru - $2200
Competent mechanic to install - $2000

Think you got done over at 5K

I'd be going back and causing them a great deal of trouble by exercising every right & complaint process available.

J

Agree - I'd go seriously hard on them - ESP coz it was your hard earned dollars and you deserve decent workmanship too. And the 98/95 fuel may have been an issue but I didn't think it'd die at 10,000 km?

by **dr20t** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 7:29 am

agan wrote:
jslayz wrote:New short motor from Rising Sun Subaru - $2200
Competent mechanic to install - $2000

Think you got done over at 5K

I'd be going back and causing them a great deal of trouble by exercising every right & complaint process available.

J

Agree - I'd go seriously hard on them - ESP coz it was your hard earned dollars and you deserve decent workmanship too. And the 98/95 fuel may have been an issue but I didn't think it'd die at 10,000 km?

Sorry guys I really think you're missing the crux of it here

He was running on 95 fuel

The 04 gt libs NEED at the very minimum 98 fuel - they run high static compression from factory (9.5:1) and are essentially a jdm market motor (built for their 100 premium Ron which is like a 102 Ron equivalent in Australia).

Subaru did not really detune these much for the audm market, well not enough anyway

Running 95 would have pitted the bearing from knock for sure and caused engine failure. I'm surprised it even lasted 10,000kms to be honest

So no blame on the mechanic even if he overcharged for a shitty rebuild.

And the fact you said it was "making the same knocking noises" tells me you had plenty of prior warning

For those reading - if you EVER have audible pinging - stop your car immediately and do not drive it. In any other car I would say throw some octane boost or some shit in it and she'll be right. Hell my wife's xtrail has been pinging its tits off since we've owned it on 98 fuel even with timing backed right off and that's done 95,000kms and no issues. The EJ motors are a different beast as they are extremely sensitive and susceptible to knock.

Tl;dr : don't use 95 fuel for your 04 GT - 98 only

Mick

by **Kody.B** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 7:37 am

What's an '04 GT with a spun bottom end bearing worth? Might make a good project car for someone...

by **kiahatsiu** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 7:49 am

The cost of the manual conversion would be killer kody.

by **BUDDAH** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 7:58 am

MRT will fix it :lol:

by **agan** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 8:37 am

Mick now that you mentioned it I remember my preface had the sticker "98 only" or something - unless his didn't have it?? :O

by **Robbks** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 9:21 am

Kody.B wrote:What's an '04 GT with a spun bottom end bearing worth? Might make a good project car for someone...

I'll offer $4k or swaps for a 96 Starlet + $1K cash
Legit offer.

Did 04 libs not have any knock control?
At least if my 94 Leggy knocked the ECU would go into limp mode straight away

by **JMlegacy** » Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:49 pm

Robbks wrote:
Kody.B wrote:What's an '04 GT with a spun bottom end bearing worth? Might make a good project car for someone...

I'll offer $4k or swaps for a 96 Starlet + $1K cash
Legit offer.

Did 04 libs not have any knock control?
At least if my 94 Leggy knocked the ECU would go into limp mode straight away

What if it is tuned and you don't know?
In my country guys and gals run the ADM and JDM legacys on the equiv of 90 US gas, (95 ron) - UNTUNED. MANY have seen over 100K KM without issue. The IAM takes care of things, for a while. Some do hit bearings after a while though, but a long while!

The ones that do go bad quickly are bad from poor oil schedule, wrong oil type (like too thick of an oil that destroys the oil pump) and really bad fuel (87 pump gas mixed). So i doubt that would have taken out your bottom end at 10K after rebuild!

HOWEVER, if you bought that car second hand it MAY have gotten an ecu flash for performance and may have been tuned to the limit, (think timing afr and boost). Combine that with the wrong fuel and your engine is in serious trouble!

Just my 2c

by **coyote** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 2:22 pm

The stock MY04 tune is terrible (as are many others). Yes, the ECU has a knock control strategy, but it's as useful as George Pell suggesting to his priests they stop raping children.

Put some 95RON in, ignore that deafening knocking noise and you could kill a brand new one in an hour.

Less if you tried really hard.

by **<GB>** » Wed Jun 12, 2013 2:49 pm

did the engine builder flush or repalce the oil cooler?