In february 2010, I purchased a 2008 subaru impreza sti from a subaru dealership with factory warranty and I purchased an extended factory warranty. Once I began getting used to the car I noticed there was an issue. When I would accelerate there would be constant "dead spots" in the power band through out the RPM range. After multiple times of bring the car in for repair the dealership could not figure out the problem. But I being very car social on the internet I found that many and I mean many people were having the same issue with the acceleration of the vehicle and some had come to find out that there motors pistons "ringlands" were cracked and the cylinder was losing compression. After multiple services as explained before subaru finally found that my motor also had a "ringland" failure! The dealership replaced the bottom end of the motor and I received my car back. It ran great I knew that's how it should have felt in the first place.but now around 3000 miles later the same issue is back again! It is my worry that I go to pull out of a side road expecting the car to be able to make it out, and I go, but the car is bogging down and is struggling to get up to speed and the other car has to jam on there breaks or they end of rear ending me causing an even bigger problem.the same could be said for exit entrances onto highways. After researching on the internet I come to find out that this problem has been plaguing subaru owners for years now and subaru has done nothing to fix this issue. And this does not only effect subaru impreza sti owners only but can also be found in the models such as the wrx, or outbacks de to similar engine designs. I believe subaru is turning a blind eye to how much of and issue this is and how big an issue this could cause. I read that most car companies when they have a widespread issue as explained they compare the cost of a recall to cost of per car issues and they go with the cheaper but this is a major problem needs resolution.
2008 Subaru Impreza STI engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 15 of 15, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Piston #4 had ringland failure of both ringlands on said piston in my 2008 subaru wrx sti.
My 2008 subaru impreza wrx sti had a number four piston failure with only 28,000 miles on the vehicle. The vehicle was immediately taken to a local auto shop when a problem was noticed. The shop did a compression test and found the number four piston to be at fault. Due to the possibility of damage to the cylinder walls the block and all associated internals were replaced. After removing the heads the shop owner said there were no signs of detonation on the cylinder and that the failure most likely was due to poor build quality.
At 15,500 miles, my 2008 subaru sti experienced a ringland failure on the #4 piston. This was verified via a compression/leakdown test. A longblock replacement was approved by subaru of america. My main concern, without taking engine components off, this mild cracked ringland was almost un-detectable. There was very little degradation in performance, for running on 3.5 of 4 cylinders. In addition, my mechanic also found fuel in the oil pan.
I own a 2008 sti and have just under 6,000 miles on the odometer. I bought the vehicle new with just under 200 miles on it in december of 2008. In january of 2009, I began to see white smoke coming out of my exhaust on startup. I had just over 1,200 miles at the time. My engine failed suffered a failure at just under 2,000 miles. Subaru replaced the engine under warranty and sent me on my way. Fast forward to june of 2009 and now I'm being told my engine has again failed due to the piston ringlands cracking and breaking off. This is a widely reported issue from 2008 sti owners and would seem to indicate a possible defect in the piston design.
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