2005 Subaru Legacy engine problems

Filed Aug 12, 2015 · Engine, Fuel system · 125,000 miles · NY

As we were driving down the highway, we heard what sounded like a airplane propeller whirling. The car then stopped. The mechanic at the subaru dealership said we blew a cylinder. The car is now in need of a new engine or will be scrapped. We kept the car service religiously and was in great shape. How does this happen? I thought we had a reliable car.

Filed Aug 28, 2014 · Engine · 11,500 miles · MO

The 2005 suburu suddenly stops no matter weather going 35 MPH or 70mph without warning! Later the engine warning flashes, then the cruise control flashes, after abt. 20 seconds it starts, but stops intermittently w/o warning. Life/death risk.just bought it 5 mos. Ago. The turbo malfunctions--cracks.

Filed Feb 17, 2014 · Engine, Fuel system · 81,000 miles · IL

The vehicles turbo failed and destroyed the engine. The turbo and engine were all factory original. I replaced the part that I thought was causing problems with the engine and turned the car on and black smoke came out off the exhaust. According to the mechanic shop I took it to the oil union bolts are the cause of the problem to starving oil to the turbo and then the turbo fails. I think it is unclear that these engines have a major flaw in them. Most people have these problems way before the 100,000 miles on the odometer mark. I would need a completely new engine for the vehicle. I did oil changes every 3000 miles and did the recommended services at each time or mileage intervals.

Filed Oct 14, 2012 · Acceleration, Electrical · 89,600 miles · MN

Car has been very slow to reduce rpms when shifting gears or when stopped (and in neutral) for the past few weeks. Today, when pulling into a starbucks, the car surged forward. Luckily I have a stick shift and just pushed the clutch in. After surging, the check engine light came on. Using a diagnostic tool, I found that the car is throwing error code p2138. This indicates that the accelerator pedal position (app) sensor is either bad or has a poor connection. The detail on the error stats "the ECM has detected that the app sensor 1 and app sensor 2 disagree more than 4.5% for less than 1 second." essentially, one or both throttle-by-wire circuits isn't functioning properly. I went online and found that this is an all too common problem and some folks have found that their cars are surging forward, threatening safety.

Filed Jul 5, 2011 · Engine · 123,000 miles · NY

This is the second well maintained subaru legacy that the engine has blown in under 150,000 miles. First a 1999 and now a 2005. Research online shows that this is an ongoing problem and has also been confirmed by independent mechanics. Please advise what recourse I can take legally as subaru has not offered to have the car towed for an inspection. The last time they offered a $500 credit towards a proposed repair that was estimated at thousands of dollars over the closest independent. I would like to find out if the government has had any success in getting subaru to admit the problem and do something meaningful to address it, or if there is a class action suit I can join to get some satisfaction. Thanks you.

Filed Apr 28, 2011 · Engine · 62,000 miles · MI

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 subaru legacy. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, he was unable to accelerate and the vehicle began to decelerate. The contact was able to continue driving approximately 30 MPH. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer who replaced the turbo mechanism. The contact called the manufacturer who stated that they would investigate the problem. The current and failure mileages were approximately 62,000.

Filed Feb 27, 2011 · Engine · 66,000 miles · NY

I was driving at the speed limit. I heard noises start to come from under the hood of the car, and the car lost power. As soon as I safely could, I pulled over and parked the car. I had it towed to a dealership for repair. The dealership diagnosed the problem as a failed turbocharger. It replaced the turbocharger and returned the car to me. It took the dealer four days to return the car to me. Approximately 150 miles later, I experienced the same symptoms. I drove straight to a dealership just a mile or two from where I was located, by coincidence, at the onset of this second problem. This second dealership diagnosed the problem: the replacement turbocharger failed. In addition, the engine was now damaged. Now the entire engine, including yet another turbocharger, is being replaced, along with other ancillary parts. The dealer has had the car for four days thus far.

Filed Mar 22, 2010 · Engine · VA

Ltr fwd fm (va) owner of a 2005 subaru legacy gt concerned that service bulletin released by subaru only alerted dealerships not the vehicle owners re turbocharger defect, reply to roanoke, va ofc. *tgw while driving, the vehicle started make a whining sound from the engine compartment. The whining quickly turned to a rattle and then rapidly to a clanging noise. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and upon inspection, it was determined the turbocharger was blown. Apparently, subaru engineers decided to route lubricating engine oil to the turbocharger through a banjo bolt. The banjo bolt has an internal mesh screen that filters the oil and ensures that the oil flowing to the turbo is clean. If the screen is clogged or blocked in any way, this will result in decreased flow of oil to the turbo. A turbo with inadequate oil flow will basically self-destruct and send tiny shards of metal into the engine's compressions chamber.

Filed Mar 9, 2010 · Engine · 64,448 miles · NH

Check engine light came on, pulled over immediately and checked oil on the side of the road also looked through owners manual. The oil was a quart low, turbo making suction noises, pick up from a stop or quick throttle to pass on high way was gone. Added a quart of oil and had an oil change & check engine light diag done the next day ( drove maybe 60 mile with light on). After the oil change metallic noise from passenger side of engine could be heard and exhaust was pouring out thick smoke. The code was p011 timing issue, turbo banjo (oil line filter) clogged. Car has 64k on it oil changed every 4000. Found this is a very common issue that is a very hot topic on many subaru forums. Subaru will not cover under this issue warranty sighting that consumer maintenance caused sludge to build up on the banjo bolt filter. Yet subaru has no mention of cleaning or maintenance of the turbo banjo bolt filter in the owners manual. This issue caused my car and others to have engine damage requiring the customer to fit a 4 to 11 thousand dollar bill to fix. Subaru should issue a recall and refund customers that had to pay out of pocket.

Filed Feb 8, 2010 · Engine · 62,000 miles · OH

To nhsta three turbos have failed within a 2 month span on a 2005 subaru legacy gt sedan. Leading up to each failure the vehicle was being driven consistently at ~60 MPH for 15 to 20 miles. The consequence of these failures has been loss of power on the highway which could have caused a wreck (but luckily did not). To correct this failure the turbo was replaced by an independent mechanic under an extended warranty. It failed again the same day due to the nut holding the turbo together falling off. Subaru replaced that turbo but it failed again after 2 weeks. I took it to a subaru dealership this time where they said it failed because a small mesh screen become blocked by sludge and would not honor their mechanical fault warranty. I paid to have it replaced but I have not yet picked up the vehicle since I cannot trust it not to break (nor will subaru warranty the part if the screen becomes blocked again, this sludge could be caused by the initial turbo failure, since the broken turbos throw metal through the oil system.) this is a safety issue instead of a maintenance issue because of the consistent failures under the same condition which is normal highway driving conditions. The failure rate for this specific subaru vehicle is much greater than normal with an epa report (ref #gr08-054c epa # 3595) showing "unscreened warranty claims" (minimal failure rate?) of 4.55% as of sep 12, 2008. This rate is on average 3 times higher than other turbo vehicles produced by subaru at the time. (incidently mazda has just recalled their new 2010 turbo mazda3's due to turbo failure from periods of idle or limited acceleration due to oil pooling in the turbo, these are the circumstances under which the subaru turbo's have failed)