Member Profile - Marcus' GT Spec B 6MT Wagon

[marcus.bspec]

It’s rare for them to catch on fire, eg you need a decent oil leak to make it happen.
I’d be investing in some of those stick-on extinguisher panels for the chassis rails & firewall for complete peace of mind.

I looked for something like that but perhaps wasn't looking in the right places.

but yes, I know it'd have to be a decent leak, I've observed two tiny ones of late, one from the oil cooler, the other from the turbo, which will be replaced along with new braided lines anyways.

Guess I'll have to continue to watch it like a hawk as I have been

[bigBADbenny]

Anti anxiety fire suppression extinguishers & stickers, no mess, no cleanup, all fire types, wiring safe:
Link via Kap Industries
https://fire-one.com.au/

[marcus.bspec]

Anti anxiety fire suppression extinguishers & stickers, no mess, no cleanup, all fire types, wiring safe:
Link via Kap Industries
https://fire-one.com.au/

Legend! Thanks Benny!!

[bigBADbenny]

Theyre really affordable too
Dont forget your Kap extinguisher brackets: https://kap.industries/
yes of course I contributed to the development of the Subaru specific brackets

[marcus.bspec]

Theyre really affordable too
Dont forget your Kap extinguisher brackets: https://kap.industries/
yes of course I contributed to the development of the Subaru specific brackets

yes yes! I already have the Kap ind bracket and an extinguisher installed!! great stuff!!

Also, the car was dropped off today for final works and tuning, unfortunately the ECU was practically locked by Matt Mcleod. He'll be required to reflash it remotely with the stock tune before we can go ahead... hopefully I am not left hanging. Fingers crossed

[bigBADbenny]

I’m probably misinformed but iirc you just need to reflash with your stock tune, which hopefully you had saved prior to tuning, or download from the big list on the Romraider forum.
I gotta check this with Matt or eg Sean from Sick Chips, as I keep hearing otherwise

[marcus.bspec]

I’m probably misinformed but iirc you just need to reflash with your stock tune, which hopefully you had saved prior to tuning, or download from the big list on the Romraider forum.
I gotta check this with Matt or eg Sean from Sick Chips, as I keep hearing otherwise

I haven't got the stock tune, matt does have it though. Car was tuned by him whilst owned by the gentleman I bought the car off of, I had no idea it was locked until today. Have since spoken to matt to help remedy the situation as sean may not be able to help out due to covid restrictions currently.

[marcus.bspec]

A bit of an update since it's been a while.

Turbo, Headers, Clutch, Brakes, Engine mounts and a smattering of new hoses and gaskets went on last month at Got It Rex with tuning due to be completed on the 21st of October... BUT, this wouldn't be a Lib if we didn't run into some sort of Issue...

VF52 came out, GTX2867R went in... for about an hours worth of driving all whilst pushing blue smoke out of the exhaust under load, something the car hadn't done prior.

So I got to looking around with some much needed help and knowledge from bigBADbenny trying to source the issue. Completed a couple of necessary tests before confirming what was pretty much
already known, that the Turbocharger was to blame.

First up was an inlet pressure test - only leak found was from between the compressor outlet into the intercooler and the cooler flange. Being an aluminium flange it was slightly warped and
so I machined it as flat as I could to better seal the join.

cooler pipe.JPG (45.8 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

I also went through to check the crank case breather hose as well as cleaning the PCV valve and assessing the breather hoses and balancer pipe coming off of the heads. The crank breather and balancer pipe
were VERY gummed up with a bunch of gunk, and so I've purchased some new baffled catch cans to remedy this, my catch can setup was fairly dodgy anyways. The Crank Breather hose was also cracked.

Crank Breather 1.JPG (32.24 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

Crank Breather 2.JPG (22.51 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

NOW, onto the turbo.

It was supplied with a simple -4AN fitting for the oil feed, no restrictor...
I later purchased a drop-in restrictor pill for the feed from GCG which they claimed SHOULD have been included, however this did NOT solve my problem, the damage, I felt, had already been done.

AN oil feed adapter.JPG (22.69 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

restrictor pill.JPG (16.8 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

I would imagine the turbo was receiving way too much oil pressure and pushing oil past the seals. I'm unsure if this could permanently damage the seals or whether the issue
would go away with time, assuming the seals are piston-like in nature which would allow for oil to pass when pressure builds up.

I took the turbo off of the car a couple of days ago and it has since been sent to GCG for assessment. As you can see, no leaks from the compressor inlet, which could
mean the turbo just had a faulty seal.

Turbo removed.JPG (41.58 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

For a quick comparison which pretty much answered my questions and solved the mystery, here is a photo of the turbine housing on the VF52 that came off of the car with 100,000+km on it;

VF52.JPG (57.17 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

Here is the GCG GTX2867R that was barely used for 50km of driving...

oily turbine housing.JPG (72.21 KiB) Viewed 2852 times

Pretty well coated in oil with it visibly trickling down past the turbine. Thankfully the majority was being burnt in the housing and so my downpipe was fine.

I will also have to flash the ECU with the stock tune, which Matt has agreed to help me with, as his tune is not editable or readable.
Tuning is now re-booked for the end of this month. Lets hope and pray that I get everything sorted by then, otherwise...I'll be quite pissed...

[bigBADbenny]

Great to see your summary, what’s the eta on turbo diagnosis/return?

It’s kinda (also) whack that that breather pipe is cracked.

...On a rebuilt engine with 5k km or so: it’s a red flag.

I’d really recommend continuing with pressure testing till you’re sure sure.

Also if you still have the inlet pressure test kit, the vf46 flange blank plate & gasket should be in there.

Use that and a plug for your throttlebody hose.

Those are used to test inlet tract & crank case (key to on to open throttle blade) OR just the fmic in isolation.

Inlet/crankcase <1psi, fmic end to end >10psi.

[Yowie]

I've been waiting for a GTX2867R update

Good luck with getting the oil gremlin sorted.

[marcus.bspec]

Great to see your summary, what’s the eta on turbo diagnosis/return?

It’s kinda (also) whack that that breather pipe is cracked.

...On a rebuilt engine with 5k km or so: it’s a red flag.

I’d really recommend continuing with pressure testing till you’re sure sure.

Also if you still have the inlet pressure test kit, the vf46 flange blank plate & gasket should be in there.

Use that and a plug for your throttlebody hose.

Those are used to test inlet tract & crank case (key to on to open throttle blade) OR just the fmic in isolation.

Inlet/crankcase <1psi, fmic end to end >10psi.

ETA on turbo is 3-5 days for assessment and then remedy with either a refund or replacement ASAP. I've alerted GCG and explained the time constraints with tuning as I've secured one final booking
for 2020, the next available will be early next year... and so I've asked they do all that's necessary to expediate the process as the car should have been sorted nearly a month ago.

The motor has just shy of 30,000km on it, but nonetheless odd that the breather was cracked. I've ripped out the balancer pipe to free up the other breathers for a
new catch can setup, as that had a bunch of gunk in it.

I pressure tested the cooler piping already which returned good results, no leaks. I'm assuming many of the ancillaries were re-used when the swap took place, most don't look as new as the
long block itself.

[marcus.bspec]

I've been waiting for a GTX2867R update

Good luck with getting the oil gremlin sorted.

Thanks bud, pretty confident it was the turbo. As mentioned, the car was never smokey beforehand.

[bigBADbenny]

Bear in mind the oem balance pipes are essential for correct oil control between heads and sump, in high G turns.

Eg, if a head fills with oil in a turn, the breather pipe will help oil drain back whilst allowing the baffled breather port to return blow by to the inlet, hopefully via one of your new catch cans.

But yes that’s a good reason to use a catch can regardless:
In case the pcv system is overcome with oil.

[marcus.bspec]

Bear in mind the oem balance pipes are essential for correct oil control between heads and sump, in high G turns.

Eg, if a head fills with oil in a turn, the breather pipe will help oil drain back whilst allowing the baffled breather port to return blow by to the inlet, hopefully via one of your new catch cans.

But yes that’s a good reason to use a catch can regardless:
In case the PCV system is overcome with oil.

Yep, not tampering with them, essentially throwing a catch can in the mix before the inlet. One can for the breathers and the other for the PCV system.

Your advice a couple of weeks back prompted a fair bit of research that I honestly should have done sooner. I've cleaned the balancer pipe in the meantime, in case the cans aren't here in time before tuning.

[bigBADbenny]

I’m full of good advice I wish I’d take too

For example, flatirons to the rescue with the full set of ej255 pcv hoses!
https://www.flatironstuning.com/subaru- ... -08-11-wrx

Inexplicably, the FSM has the parts listed in 3 seperate sections
Eg ccv to heads balance pipe is in cooling.

You can see the “emissions hose” sump breather port hose, to the far right in one of the diagrams.