@@Smeedia Specifically bought my '21 STI new because of the fact that you'll never know 100% if a used STI has been taken care of correctly. Everything was great till 29k miles, when on cruise control at 75mph for 45 minutes, boom. Couple nice quarter sized holes in the top of my case (you can guess what that was). No warning. Never launched the car, never beat on it in any sense, all maintenance done early and done by the dealer, and fully stock. Luckily covered under warrantee, and after a week of investigation, they couldn't come up with a cause for it. New motor put in, as I said covered, but definitely made me start shopping for something else, after doing everything to avoid what the stigma is. If it wasn't for the terrible market right now, It would be gone. BUT, because the market IS so bad, after shopping for the last 6 months for something as a replacement (not paying 10k over MSRP for anything), I gave up and decided to just run it, and if it blows again, i'll just go bigger with a built motor. Hopefully I have better luck with this one, since I love the car for everything besides this instance.
I’ve been running e85 since 07 & always change oil 2k in summer & 1500mi in winter. People lose their minds but don’t realize fuel dilution is real, especially on e85
@@jeffreyxing7177 for trans & rear diff I run redline 75w140ns in trans & 75w140LS in rear 30k mi street will change more when track/road course, flush P/S every 30k, coolant 1-2 times a yr (water wetter+ DI water) brake fluid 30-60k when tracking every other track day & bleed after every track day sometimes in between session if I overheat brakes. Plugs every 30k or sooner, e85 & big power, fuel filters & pump socks every 20-30k (custom fuel system) timing components 60k dependent on use, tracking every season belt/tensioner. People have to be honest with the way they driver their car, & adjust maintenance accordingly. I have 50k mi on factory longblock 40k spent at 550whp/481wtq mustang dyno has only had 4gal of 91oct in last 40k miles, lives on e85, & still runs perfect! I let her rip about 4 times a day 3rd/4th gear & drive 100mi/day.
As a first time Subaru owner, coming from a 300ZX, they are much easier to work on. Before I got it I did believe all the head gasket stories and horrors of ownership but if you just do your maintenance it'll treat you right. I've had all my fears squashed awhile ago from friends who know their stuff and cemented what you've said.
Subaru with good routine maintaince in an auto or slush box CVT can last forever when driven like an adult. If you intend on doing any track stuff, I advise doing certain precautionary things like oil sump replacement or modification to more durability to vibration and rpm. I also like to do oil changes and checks on flat engines at half the normal interval minimum, especially with turbos. And the transmissions, there is definitely some glass ones out there.
For reals. Typically I stick with 3K oil changes, 30K spark plugs and they never give me any issues. I've seen a handful of OE cars upwards of 200,000+ miles
Absolutely love your channel!!! Back in the day I owned a 78 and 72 Corolla that I modified with the help of friends. Then bought a 1987 Dodge Conquest in 1989. To me that was still the best looking and most fun car I have ever owned. A little slit with a razor blade to the vacuum line to the waste gate gave you 14lbs of boost compared to I think the 7 or 8lbs of boost from the factory. Ended up burning the clutch that year but man what a power difference! Then family and responsibly took over. Fast forward to 2023. With the approval from my wife I was allowed to purchase at 22 WRX Limited (manual of course). Love the cold start rumble!! Ride is a bit stiff but the smile on my face each and every day I drive it is priceless!! Sorry, just had to share some emotions!! Keep up the awesome work!!!!!
People complain about Subaru not doing anything revolutionary over the years, but they do seem to keep getting better quality over time. Definitely get a 2020+ imo.
It is frustrating when you see all bad comments about Subarus and you are a Subaru owner, I've had nightmares for it! For that reason I am obsessed with the STI maintenance and keeping it completely stock, just hope to never suffer by any of these problems, thanks Smeedia to feel me better!😂
After 10 subarus and as a member of a group of community in Greece we have more than 10 people i know with close to 500whp that have their Subarus at that level for more than 10 years with track use ane close to 300k kilometers . The only one that I've seen with a problem is my 2002 Subaru Forester turbo s with a built 2.0 block pushing 570whp ,had it with wrong timing from 2007-2008 and it blew after a year, now with the replacement engine i know the dude that bought it he still drives it after 16 years. MAINTENANCE IS EVERYTHING GUYS
90% of people don’t do regular maintenance and flat engines are just more prone to failing do to abuse because they’re inherently harder to oil and extract heat from. You don’t see people saying Porsches should get rid of those “shitty flat engines and go to a good ole inline four” like every wrx and brz/86 hater says like a broken record because people that buy Porsches are more likely to take care of their cars. Also it’s not hard to replace a pcv valve on a Subaru. 2az Toyota engines and really a lot of 2000s Toyota engines have the same problem (but somehow no one complains about them) people just don’t care to do it or research.
I love how all the things wrong with them are mostly if you're going to modify the car or use it in a way it's not designed. But I'm glad you're here to clear the air and point us in the right direction so we can avoid that if we so choose. And as a small note I love how some groups will say that Honda or Toyota are more or less bullet proof. My dad in the Honda guy and my mom is the Toyota lady. My dad had the worst luck with his honda and it was in the shop every other year for some thing. I'm surprised he kept it for eight years. My moms Toyota was alot better and never had engine trouble. But her car was a convertible and that thing didn't take long before it leaked. Plus she had some terrible luck with electrical problems with her powered windows and stereo. But atleast it always drove and did last her 12 years.
It can also detonate the fuel way before it should, then the piston has to compress the explosion for a longer period of time and creating way more pressure in doing so, crack goes a ring land, too much cylinder pressure. An example of what feedback knock can lead to. Get a tune and keep the cylinders cool, you should be ok.
I only broke 2 engines -meth pump failed at full boost, cracked the sleeves and the block, mixed oil and coolant and the whole engine was gone I definitely miss that car -Racing with a basemap(dumb but i knew it was going to blow up) but it held up for over a year and a half of full sending it almost everyday.
EJ255's and early EJ257's (forester XT's and Outback XTs)have filters in the oil banjo bolts, and if you dont remove those, or keep up on the oil changes they clog and oil starve the TD04 turbos causing them to fail, thats the premature turbo failure people are talking about, I went thru 3 of them
That's a fair point to make, I alqays remove those filters and always suggest others do the same. I've seen a handful of those filters clog thr AVCS Gears in the past
My 2010 stock LGT with 186,000 miles on original engine is still going strong. Drive it 350miles today, it returned 28.8mpg and didn’t use any oil since last change. I also recently saw my ex 4th gen Legacy N/A rocking 236,000 miles. As long as they are decently maintained and not modified on the cheap, these cars are pretty decent!
As a new owner of a 2020 WRX, the one thing I wish I knew before I bought this car is: If you put an aftermarket air intake on this car, you are basically on the hook for AT LEAST a 5-600 dollar Cobb access port with an ofs tune, or the accessport PLUS time with a pro-tuner (street tune or 4 wheel Dyno) which can be as much as 1000 dollars if you want to avoid blowing the damn thing up. I have owned boosted Hondas, 4g63 Galant, and I currently have an RB swapped S14 and I have NEVER seen such basic aftermarket upgrades require a full ECU reflash. It's kind of silly. Root cause of this from what I understand is that the ECU can't make a big enough fuel correction to account for the extra air and basically plugs it's ears and says "lalalalala!" like a toddler when the narrowband is throwing a lean state at it in open loop..and then it's "knock knock" time.. Also, stock wrx makes NO POWER below 3k rpm, so miss me with that "leave it stock" talk. Straight up, if I could do it all over again, I would've saved more money and bought an RS or a Q60 redsport.
My bearing spun cause I had a bad oil pick-up. Subaru covered it. It was a while ago. It happens. After they replaced the shortblock with an RA block I haven’t had an issue with it. The emission air system does cause issues with a check engine light
@@Smeedia yea. It happens. The CEL is annoying but that’s the only issue. AF is fine and no/min knock. Come down to San Angelo. There’s a lot of WRXs, STIs and Subarus in general. You could make ALOT of money. 🤙
Good video! I've honestly learned to just accept that these cars will get hate....it is what it is. Don't really understand why, but I just laugh it off. Everytime I drive my STI, see the hood scoop, big wing, and hear the turbo spool, any outside negativity is irrelevant to me as I instantly remember what I'm driving. I will always love these cars and they have a certain charm that no other car can replicate. So let the haters hate, because they're truly missing out on an amazing experience...
thank you for clarifying things. as a first time owner, i can say i look forward to driving it. still working on the maintenance on the car but once done i will be good. but i do plan on tuning it. subie life is good.
What research and development on the internet says.. “While detonation is what damages the pistons, it's important to know that the EJ20 (EJ207 / EJ205), EJ25 (EJ255 / EJ257), and FA20 all have brittle pistons due to Subaru's material and design choices. The pistons are cast hypereutectic aluminum-silicon (Al-Si) alloy; a very common material choice for modern engines. Well proven engines like the 2JZGTE, 4G63, SR20DET, RB26DETT, LSX, K-Series, and others all use Al-Si alloys. However, Al-Si alloys can vary depending on the percentage of silicon in the material. Subaru has opted for a "hypereutectic" alloy which is a high-silicon (12+%) mix. This makes the piston have extremely low thermal expansion, and allows Subaru to run an extremely tight piston-to-bore clearance. The high-silicon content also makes the piston considerably stronger than aluminum itself. For example, a 9% silicon (by wt.) alloy has a 14% higher yield strength than a 7% silicon alloy. This strength comes at a cost: fracturing. When you take a sledgehammer and hit a steel hood, the steel simply deforms under the pressure of the hammer strike, leaving a dent. When you take the same sledgehammer and hit a window, the block shatters the window. That is because the window material reacts to the strike by fracturing rather than deforming. When you add silicon to aluminum it acts more and more like the window glass”
Science always slaps people too hard in the face and they refuse to comprehend when it’s listed out in fine detail. These are not someone’s theories, these are proven facts and specifications.
We had a 2012 Outback which blow up the engine around 270,000 miles. I was my car for 5 years then I passed to our daughter and she thought that the car didn’t need oil change or anything like that. Still with the poorest maintenance service it lasted almost 300,000 miles. I am in my 4 Subaru. None with any issues “even my wife 2019 Subaru Ascent Limited”. It has around 62,000 miles and we never have to add a single drop of oil between oil changes. The CVT is working perfectly. I am waiting for the new Subaru Baja that Subaru seems to will be bringing back. I really want one of those “if this is for real”.
Amen Tanner. Every blown up Subi I've seen was user error. People crank up the hp to the moon ignore the support systems. Then beat them mercilessly cause they are stupid fun. Poof dead engine. FYI Kein make blast plates for the 5 speeds now. Spread the love
Picking up a VB WRX. First thing I wanna install is an AOS, gonna speak to the dealer to see if they can install it to avoid busting my warranty. Love the videos man
Most dealers REFUSE to install anything that is NOT oem. Also, the warranty CANNOT be voided. They can decline to honor a warranty claim, but they cannot lawfully void the warranty. AOS is a great upgrade! I have the Crawford v3 AOS and while it does its job well, the hoses leak. I suggest going with the iAG AOS.
I dont even own a subaru but I can assure you that all cars can POS cars when the owners do not service them as required. AS a Jeep guy myself (jeeps have horrible reliability issues) I have the first gen 4.7l v8 SOHC engine in my jeep and its the most unreliable engine Jeep made between 99-04 and it has not left me stranded once. Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance.
💯💯💯 I've alqays said any car can be a POS if not taken care of. No different any other machine's in the world that need servicing. Some may be more temperamental than others but at the end of the day, they all do the same thing
From my experience, most issues stem from the following: 1. Poor maintenance 2. Horrible tuning (people who try to get the cheapest tune/tuner they can get) 3. Going bigger power with no supporting mods to make a targeted power safely
As someone who used to have a WRX that had an unknown brand FMIC, unknown brand rotated turbo, a $50 manual boost controller from ebay, and a 1pc homemade welded downpipe/exhaust (all done by the previous owner) running on a stage 1 COBB OTS tune (I did that, sorry Tanner) that somehow did not blow up after 6k miles, I'd say that Subaru's aren't as bad as the internet makes it seem. It's a 50/50 driver care and engine maintenance kind of relationship that people got to understand. P.s: I don't know if I got a miracle engine or if my "New to Manual transmission" mentality helped, but the fact that the only problems that i had was rusted out brake calipers and a new clutch makes me feel like i probably did something right.
would love to see a bugeye video sometime! You and MrSubaru both have helped me rebuild my bugeye, still WIP thanks to a broken head bolt but hey, whatre ya gonna do?
I love my 400whp wrx and I love your content... but u gotta admit that these r a lot of serious issues that ur listing compared to other imports in that age range lol.
Vacuum leaks, boost leaks, intakes without a tune, kiddie bois and their vapes are what kill Subaru’s. People that think they can rebuild a light weight aluminum boxer engine without the proper fixtures… IE torque plates kill Subarus.
The same people that say subaru are bad are the ones that never check oil, coolant, gear oil for trans and diff. They run 89 when it says premium only.
Agreed on most. I will add, that all non turbo 2.5 ej subaru engines have head gasket issues. All the way up to 2012 when they stopped making them. Symptoms can differ, but they still leak. Turbo head gaskets are the answer, along with resurfacing the heads. Also, early 2.5 turbos had a catted up pipe as well. 06 is when they stopped using those.
Hmm, what would you recommend for my car? 2012 STI, stock motor, no real performance mods. When I bought it, it was bone stock to the paper filter. I did a leakdown on the motor and it came back around 7-8% cold on all cylinders (no apparent issues) I added: 1. Dom Cooling Mod 2. Killer B Pickup/Pan 3. AccessPort running the ACN91 tune Would an oil catch can be good enough? or should I do the AOS? The car currently has approx 160k miles, and so far is driving great, just maintenance (brakes, oil changes, etc etc). Also I may get my own dog to add virtual horsepower to the car (by riding in the passenger seat and adding to the coolness factor 😁 )
@@Smeedia It's just a daily for me. I have my pain in the ass Mustang to be the "fun" car (when it's not on jackstands, lol). Heck for a bit there I was thinking of getting rid of it and just building up the STI instead.
My 04 wrx blew a headgasket at 160k, exactly when my mechanic (a subaru expert) predicted it would. Got the heads resurfaced. Definitely a predictable issue (on the 04 i can say from experience). Now i have a bit of piston clatter that worries me, but once it warms up and expands it goes away although it takes 15 minutes. I figure once it goes, i will put a built motor in.
The reality is, it’s not bullt like an older Honda motor from the factory. And most of the guys who get into Subarus were into Hondas or something similar before getting into Subarus. So they beat on them like a Honda motor, not realizing it’s not quite the same thing. Boom, wah wah bad Subaru
This is a fair point. Seems like a handful of new owners come from a N/A car you can beat the shit out of. There are some unspoken differences in how to treat N/A cars vs turbo cars and some first time owners may not know the differences
I have a 6 speed lying in the corner, just waiting for my 5 speed to blow, never changed the fluid on it and for some reason takes all the abuse at 450 wheel😂
i swapped an engine on a WRX for the first time in my 15 years of working on cars last month. I was nervous at first but once i got into the engine bay i was shocked of how easy it was to remove and re install. All the horror stories i heard in the past were not true. Now im looking to buy an STI Hatch lol
I just picked up a 2010 Legacy GT and it has 208,000 miles, runs pretty good but after watching your videos for well over a few years I have a general idea of what I need to do! Plus I want to leave it stock and road trip
I had a 05 evo 8 gsr for 7 years and recently had a 21 wrx fa20! Yes the evo was easier to change the plugs! But I’ve never had a easier car to change the oil and all other basic maintenance! Subaru is genius for the oil filter placement! Not a drop of oil on me like my evo 8 or my wife outlander! Miss that wrx! And I used to be a hater when I had my evo 😂 thanks for the info Tanner!
the mk5-7 GTIs are the same way. My oil is so damn easy it literally takes me like 30 minutes tops to do it and the oil filter is at the top next to the engine like a subaru so it makes it very easy to do. I just change it every 3k
My 2016 STi is in the shop now for ringland failure in cylinder 4. The car only had 78,000 miles on it. I babied the car, always did oil changes between 2,500 and 3,000 miles, and even checked the oil levels daily to the point that people at work made fun of me and called me paranoid and the engine still went.. The most annoying part of this ordeal is the die hard subaru fans online, blaming me, saying it's my fault for not properly maintaining the car and that I probably hit red line every time I drove, which isn't the case. I had fun with the car but still treated it with the same amount of respect as all of my previous vehicles. I still love Subaru, but I do think they are just as much to blame for these failures as the owners.
@Smeedia not yet, I'm still hoping the extended warranty will cover the costs of repair. The shop I took it to wants $10k to replace the short block, but say that the new block will have better bearings and piston rings. That price will also include warranty on the new block, 6 oil changes for break in, and dyno session.
@Craiggg12345 I didn't, though. That was one of the first things I learned when I was looking into how to take care of this car. I watched Cameron Alford's video, where he talks about not going full throttle from low RPMs. When cruising, I always kept the RPMs around 2,500, and if I ever did a pull, I down shifted or slowly brought revs up above 3,500 before really going in on the throttle.
Unfortunately 99% of people don’t even check their oils. Cars have to be resilient , 90% of people will forget oil changes, will drive 30,000 miles without oil changes and Subaru are just not as resilent as other things. I did an oil change on the wife car and there was only 1/2 quart of oil in the engine, yep like a cup worth of oil. People just dont have the time and never inspect their vehicles.
2018 Impreza sport I got at 47k, im was at 173k andI’m getting my car back tomorrow from getting a new engine because the head gaskets went out with no symptoms, no white smoke no overheating, just oil and coolant on the floor one day.
hahaha easy to work on? Eh, depends. You and I both know that there are times when you wish you just had a regular fucking engine in this thing. For instance, I made the mistake of not sealing the cam caps cuz the 205 didn't need it, but the 257 did. Any other engine, this would be a an easy job, but nope, gotta pull the whole motor, and accidently break a brand new 02 sensor, which apparently cost about the same as gold pound for pound. My latest saga was I had forgot to swap the neutral safety switch when I did my 6 speed swap, and a 10 minute job turned into 8 hours. My WRX thinks it's name is piece of shit cuz I call it that a lot, BUT I love my subi, and it's finally tuned an on the road. Just did my first autocross with her out in Apple Valley, and couldn't be happier with her. Keep up the good work!
The pickup tube failure took two of my 2006 STI’s engines. First one, the previous owner replaced with oem engine. I though, what are the chances of it happening again? Well it happened within 60k miles. Replacing an oil pickup isn’t exactly a simple procedure either unless you have a hoist to lift the whole engine. One should not have to do major engine work to prevent it from destroying itself!
I had a 94 Integra LS and raced the heck outta that thing as a teen with little mechanical experience and the only thing I that gave up was some motor mounts and destroyed clutch. But I did oil changes regularly and kept fluids in check so it all depends on how maintained the motors are and addressing issues early on in my experience.
😂 I had an Integra TypeR, beat the shit out of it as I was a teenager, I did add oil only when my Vtec wasn't engaging and put 200K on it! I had a 11 WRX, ringland at 108K and now I have a 18 WRX STI, ringland at 27K!!!😮😮😮 Unfortunately, we can't compare them.
I drove my 08 sti every day for nearly 9 years and 270,000km. About the only thing that was stock on it was the turbo and I drove the car pretty hard. It never let me down. I sold it still running as good as it did the day i bought it. They are good cars if you take care of them. Changing oil isn't hard.
i like subarus, idk why people hate subarus soo much cause of head gaskets or ringland failure, that is not the case and it doesnt mean they are bad cars, they are really good cars! their awd system is very good, and better balanced cars!
@Smeedia theres soo much hate man! i really like subarus, the sti is 1 of the cars i wanted for soo long but finally got to get that out of my head lol
some felpro rep is gritting their teeth rn. they make MLS head gaskets that are just fine for the record. the word you were looking for is composite. much love.
All I've ever seen from them are the composite gaskets for headgaskets 😅 good to know they make actual MLS ones too. They should just discontinue the composite ones
Bought a wrx with a blown motor, rebuilt the motor and went to start it up and ran great but wouldn't rev past 1k. I had cheaped out and not upgraded the uppipe and the cat was almost completely clogged but not destroyed, had to go out and get an STi upipe real quick 😅
@smeedia - you were saying early cars from 2009 - ... had ringland issues - do you know if the engine in the jdm sti grb has ringland issues for the first of them (mines a 2007 jdm sti grb so first run of them) or is it the 2.5's that have the issues?
9:00 - i do wanna mention that this video was made on purpose, that a Russian guy and he got like crazy subarus making well ovet 600whp. This particular one had problems with rings as far as I remember and well he decided to blow it up. Well his rod flew out and made a hole in the carbon fiber hood and gave us legendary video
lmao i own a 2002 Civic Si and a 2020 STi. I bought the Si with 220,000 miles on the clock, pristine carfax, and it had a blown head gasket... yes, a K series, the most revered motor for being extremely reliable, blew a headgasket. Anything can happen, these motors are built to be consumable nowadays. It's not the car, it just happens. it can happen to any brand
Tanner! So, I know you need to tune with every mod, but: about 5 years ago my then moms (now mine) 04 wrx had the cats go bad and throw codes and so my parents went with a Cobb stage 2 setup with the full turbo back exhaust and tune. They also got a Megan Racing catless up-pipe. Do you think there’s any issue with that? Since the stage 2 OTS tune isn’t specific to the catless up-pipe? Close to 50k miles since it’s been done and it’s still running strong but I was just curious
I'd rather do spark plugs on a Subaru than to replace just the cylinder 8 spark plug on an early 2010's Silverado any day. GM really said get bent when they put all that razor sharp shielding in the way
The individuals that complain about the Scooby's probably don't have one or can't afford one so are insanely jealous of anybody that does have one , I myself do have one so my life is complete and I'm very happy , 😊
bro over the past year ive had an insane time with my subarus. i got rid of 2 of them and now im down to the og my dgm 14 wrx. i was about to sell it as well and make a swap to another platform and then my buddy rented a house that literally came with a 2 car garage shop and a lift. well he doesnt have tools and we work together as mechanics. now that i have a place for my tools to go and a shop im going to fully restore my hatch instead of selling. i have so far to go lol
thank you so much for this. ive been following you for a while to learn as much as i can. one of my dreams is to race a subaru i built myself! im info hoarding so that im actually able to. you have great info and i love your videos, straight to the point with no BS. your efforts are appreciated (:
Can a 2013 wrx oem shortblock handle just a cobb sf intake, 3inch catback and downpipe reliably or should I just go with iag 550 block mind you im not looking for any crazy power not going to race it just a fun whip to drive and turn some heads.
From what I've seen with my friends and other locals, most people have issues when they just slap a tonne of mods or mix match parts together n pray it will work, then get shocked when it blows n blame subaru. IMO if you modify your engine beyond intake/sway bar/shocks n other quick easy non tune related stuff (or things you SHOULD tune after) then it's no longer the manufactures issue if it blows, it's 100% yourself for modding it that way like a scrub or driving it like a monkey and not allowing engine to cool down when you should etc etc etc. Aka modded, it's no longer subaru's car, it's now you, you are the manufacturer, don't like how it worked? blame yourself n do better next time.
@@SmeediaVag group cars are not reliable, i work in a garage and most of the cars we fix are German 😂 infact id go as far to even say that diesel peugeots are probably more reliable than vag group cars! The older ones were reliable. New ones... Meh 😕
Pretty much Nailed all the issues. Yes it is mainly the owners that cause all the issues. stock subarus dont just break I have a stock 2.0 forester (which had the cat in the uppipe) as a daily and its lasted 10 years of abuse it's still going strong the main issue it had at one stage was a centre diff failure which was my fault 😂 had a flat tyre ran a different size spare wheel and it pooped. On the pan system I feel that the rcm baffle plate/windage tray is more effective for track use than the killer B tray as the killer B version doesnt stop the oil flowing/splashing into the bottom of the head in a high G corner where as the rcm closes off the entire surface of top section of the pan.
I feel for all my USDM brethren; the JDM EJ20 engines almost never have such issues. Running a v8 EJ207 and STi 6-speed in my GC8, & it's incredibly solid & fun. No idea why Subaru pushed the 2.5L turbo engines onto the American market. If anyone can enlighten me, that'd be much appreciated
I wish there were more videos on basic car repairs for subarus. Lots of mods and tunes. But none of the old ones are running with 300k miles, and what kept it going.
I’m a Subaru fan for many years now. Owned 2 WRXs 2005/2020. If you drive them clean they’ll last a long, long time. Do maintenance, repair what you break and for the price point there’s not a more fun car in my opinion.
@@Smeedia the Subaru community is bit of an echo chamber, too. One person says "xyz sucks" and someone goes "whoa did you hear that xyz sucks?" And the third person, not wanting to look like they don't know, goes " oh ya mate, xyz always sucked" 🤣
My argument as someone that likes Subarus has always been. Yes they don’t hold up well when neglected, but then you look at Hondas and Toyotas where you can straight up not care for them for years and they still run no problem which makes Subarus shitty and unreliable by COMPARISON. I don’t see old STIs on the road that often, but I do see civics from the early 80s and type R’s from the 90s on the road on a regular basis. I like Subaru but I can’t really defend them the way I would like lol
That still leads back to lack of maintenance though, lol. Boxer engines run tighter clearances and are less tolerant to negligence. Has nothing to do with unreliability. Plenty of boxer engines with 200k-300k miles easily. The main problem are people in general. People these days lack the basic common sense to check their oil, let alone actually take care of a car. This is the same reason why people think German cars are “unreliable” when they don’t keep up with maintenance. The moment you get into a Subaru thinking it’s like a Honda or a Toyota, you already set yourself up for failure…
@@builtvisions In my opinon that's bad engineering. When your tolerances and specifications of use are so tight that if you deviate slightly the vehicle will catastrophically fail is sub optimal in my opinon in the case of german cars. Yes it's "good" engineering but if you don't factor in the average human it's kinda trash. The average human is who's driving the car lol but that's just my opinon
@DOOMLORDHOKAGE Engines that run tighter tolerances mean that they can achieve their maximum performance while reducing overall wear. Power can be lost due to larger clearances, pressure leaks, and unnecessary gaps. That's why Nascar and F1 have engines with those tight clearances. That's why it's so important to keep up with maintenance on engines like that. Understand your engine, understand what it needs, and you'll never have problems.
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Let’s be real, the owners tend to be the biggest problem with these cars haha
A decent amount of time. I will give the benefit of the doubt to the few that have had one off issues 👌
@@Smeedia Specifically bought my '21 STI new because of the fact that you'll never know 100% if a used STI has been taken care of correctly. Everything was great till 29k miles, when on cruise control at 75mph for 45 minutes, boom. Couple nice quarter sized holes in the top of my case (you can guess what that was). No warning. Never launched the car, never beat on it in any sense, all maintenance done early and done by the dealer, and fully stock. Luckily covered under warrantee, and after a week of investigation, they couldn't come up with a cause for it. New motor put in, as I said covered, but definitely made me start shopping for something else, after doing everything to avoid what the stigma is. If it wasn't for the terrible market right now, It would be gone. BUT, because the market IS so bad, after shopping for the last 6 months for something as a replacement (not paying 10k over MSRP for anything), I gave up and decided to just run it, and if it blows again, i'll just go bigger with a built motor. Hopefully I have better luck with this one, since I love the car for everything besides this instance.
To be brutally honest the problem owners look more like you, not like me...like at all, so its not all owners.
99% of the time the problem is between steering wheel and seat back
I've been saying the same thing for years now
“Are Subaru’s bad?”
No, they just don’t hold up to being treated improperly.
Treat any car like poo and it won't last 😅
They seem way more picky than other platforms that are also treated improperly
@@trashbandit2449That's not a flex. Everyone should be intelligent enough to modify it properly. If not then don't own it.
yeah, and lets be real. subaru will go through 3-4 engines before hitting 100k chassis miles.
@@lespaulguitarist92 Did you not watch the video dude?? Quit the pointless hate its not getting you or the subaru community anywhere
Some people don't realize there's a price to pay for not changing your oil, the only thing a car really needs 😢
Tis the life blood 😩
I’ve been running e85 since 07 & always change oil 2k in summer & 1500mi in winter. People lose their minds but don’t realize fuel dilution is real, especially on e85
Among other things like diff and transmission fluid changes and some necessary mods like an AOS
@@jeffreyxing7177 for trans & rear diff I run redline 75w140ns in trans & 75w140LS in rear 30k mi street will change more when track/road course, flush P/S every 30k, coolant 1-2 times a yr (water wetter+ DI water) brake fluid 30-60k when tracking every other track day & bleed after every track day sometimes in between session if I overheat brakes. Plugs every 30k or sooner, e85 & big power, fuel filters & pump socks every 20-30k (custom fuel system) timing components 60k dependent on use, tracking every season belt/tensioner.
People have to be honest with the way they driver their car, & adjust maintenance accordingly. I have 50k mi on factory longblock 40k spent at 550whp/481wtq mustang dyno has only had 4gal of 91oct in last 40k miles, lives on e85, & still runs perfect! I let her rip about 4 times a day 3rd/4th gear & drive 100mi/day.
Clearing up misconceptions with Subaru's. Nice
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As a first time Subaru owner, coming from a 300ZX, they are much easier to work on. Before I got it I did believe all the head gasket stories and horrors of ownership but if you just do your maintenance it'll treat you right. I've had all my fears squashed awhile ago from friends who know their stuff and cemented what you've said.
300ZXs are an absolute nightmare to work on 😩 glad to hear it's been treating you well 🙌
Easy untill something bad happens then it’s a nightmare
Subaru with good routine maintaince in an auto or slush box CVT can last forever when driven like an adult. If you intend on doing any track stuff, I advise doing certain precautionary things like oil sump replacement or modification to more durability to vibration and rpm. I also like to do oil changes and checks on flat engines at half the normal interval minimum, especially with turbos. And the transmissions, there is definitely some glass ones out there.
For reals. Typically I stick with 3K oil changes, 30K spark plugs and they never give me any issues. I've seen a handful of OE cars upwards of 200,000+ miles
Easily one of the best to do it in the Subaru community, thank you Tanner!
Side note, hoping you bring back the “drive” sub-brand soon!
Have some stuff coming up I've been working on in the background 🫣🫡
Absolutely love your channel!!! Back in the day I owned a 78 and 72 Corolla that I modified with the help of friends. Then bought a 1987 Dodge Conquest in 1989. To me that was still the best looking and most fun car I have ever owned. A little slit with a razor blade to the vacuum line to the waste gate gave you 14lbs of boost compared to I think the 7 or 8lbs of boost from the factory. Ended up burning the clutch that year but man what a power difference! Then family and responsibly took over. Fast forward to 2023. With the approval from my wife I was allowed to purchase at 22 WRX Limited (manual of course). Love the cold start rumble!! Ride is a bit stiff but the smile on my face each and every day I drive it is priceless!! Sorry, just had to share some emotions!! Keep up the awesome work!!!!!
Man I'm glad I got a 2020. Have owned other subies but never had problems with any of them. I am a firm believer in maintenance
The little things definitely help keep the things spinning and thr stuff doing the stuff 🫡
People complain about Subaru not doing anything revolutionary over the years, but they do seem to keep getting better quality over time. Definitely get a 2020+ imo.
It is frustrating when you see all bad comments about Subarus and you are a Subaru owner, I've had nightmares for it! For that reason I am obsessed with the STI maintenance and keeping it completely stock, just hope to never suffer by any of these problems, thanks Smeedia to feel me better!😂
After 10 subarus and as a member of a group of community in Greece we have more than 10 people i know with close to 500whp that have their Subarus at that level for more than 10 years with track use ane close to 300k kilometers . The only one that I've seen with a problem is my 2002 Subaru Forester turbo s with a built 2.0 block pushing 570whp ,had it with wrong timing from 2007-2008 and it blew after a year, now with the replacement engine i know the dude that bought it he still drives it after 16 years. MAINTENANCE IS EVERYTHING GUYS
That is impressive for a 2.0L and for another 16 Years with a new set up can't complain with that 🙌
Definitely not as bad as the internet says. I've never had any issues with my Subaru, personnaly
Internet over hypes everything 😩
90% of people don’t do regular maintenance and flat engines are just more prone to failing do to abuse because they’re inherently harder to oil and extract heat from.
You don’t see people saying Porsches should get rid of those “shitty flat engines and go to a good ole inline four” like every wrx and brz/86 hater says like a broken record because people that buy Porsches are more likely to take care of their cars.
Also it’s not hard to replace a pcv valve on a Subaru. 2az Toyota engines and really a lot of 2000s Toyota engines have the same problem (but somehow no one complains about them) people just don’t care to do it or research.
THIS!!! If more Subaru owners acted like Porsche owners, you’d barely see any engines fail, lol.
I love how all the things wrong with them are mostly if you're going to modify the car or use it in a way it's not designed. But I'm glad you're here to clear the air and point us in the right direction so we can avoid that if we so choose.
And as a small note I love how some groups will say that Honda or Toyota are more or less bullet proof. My dad in the Honda guy and my mom is the Toyota lady. My dad had the worst luck with his honda and it was in the shop every other year for some thing. I'm surprised he kept it for eight years. My moms Toyota was alot better and never had engine trouble. But her car was a convertible and that thing didn't take long before it leaked. Plus she had some terrible luck with electrical problems with her powered windows and stereo. But atleast it always drove and did last her 12 years.
It can also detonate the fuel way before it should, then the piston has to compress the explosion for a longer period of time and creating way more pressure in doing so, crack goes a ring land, too much cylinder pressure. An example of what feedback knock can lead to. Get a tune and keep the cylinders cool, you should be ok.
Good points to add in 🔥 quality tunes are pertinent
I saw an ad for a oil that had your story. People are special and don't know when not to comment.
I only broke 2 engines
-meth pump failed at full boost, cracked the sleeves and the block, mixed oil and coolant and the whole engine was gone I definitely miss that car
-Racing with a basemap(dumb but i knew it was going to blow up) but it held up for over a year and a half of full sending it almost everyday.
EJ255's and early EJ257's (forester XT's and Outback XTs)have filters in the oil banjo bolts, and if you dont remove those, or keep up on the oil changes they clog and oil starve the TD04 turbos causing them to fail, thats the premature turbo failure people are talking about, I went thru 3 of them
That's a fair point to make, I alqays remove those filters and always suggest others do the same. I've seen a handful of those filters clog thr AVCS Gears in the past
My 2010 stock LGT with 186,000 miles on original engine is still going strong.
Drive it 350miles today, it returned 28.8mpg and didn’t use any oil since last change.
I also recently saw my ex 4th gen Legacy N/A rocking 236,000 miles.
As long as they are decently maintained and not modified on the cheap, these cars are pretty decent!
186K & 236K are impressive numbers for OE blocks 🙌
As a new owner of a 2020 WRX, the one thing I wish I knew before I bought this car is:
If you put an aftermarket air intake on this car, you are basically on the hook for AT LEAST a 5-600 dollar Cobb access port with an ofs tune, or the accessport PLUS time with a pro-tuner (street tune or 4 wheel Dyno) which can be as much as 1000 dollars if you want to avoid blowing the damn thing up.
I have owned boosted Hondas, 4g63 Galant, and I currently have an RB swapped S14 and I have NEVER seen such basic aftermarket upgrades require a full ECU reflash. It's kind of silly. Root cause of this from what I understand is that the ECU can't make a big enough fuel correction to account for the extra air and basically plugs it's ears and says "lalalalala!" like a toddler when the narrowband is throwing a lean state at it in open loop..and then it's "knock knock" time..
Also, stock wrx makes NO POWER below 3k rpm, so miss me with that "leave it stock" talk.
Straight up, if I could do it all over again, I would've saved more money and bought an RS or a Q60 redsport.
Think you would have fallen in love with a mk7.5 golf r then. They love mods
My bearing spun cause I had a bad oil pick-up. Subaru covered it. It was a while ago. It happens. After they replaced the shortblock with an RA block I haven’t had an issue with it. The emission air system does cause issues with a check engine light
Those air pumps get so annoying. I've seen a handful of them intermittent lying go out 😩
@@Smeedia yea. It happens. The CEL is annoying but that’s the only issue. AF is fine and no/min knock. Come down to San Angelo. There’s a lot of WRXs, STIs and Subarus in general. You could make ALOT of money. 🤙
Good video! I've honestly learned to just accept that these cars will get hate....it is what it is. Don't really understand why, but I just laugh it off. Everytime I drive my STI, see the hood scoop, big wing, and hear the turbo spool, any outside negativity is irrelevant to me as I instantly remember what I'm driving. I will always love these cars and they have a certain charm that no other car can replicate. So let the haters hate, because they're truly missing out on an amazing experience...
I'm all for the hate if people continue to do so, I absolutely love these cars and don't mind prices coming down a bit more 😅
Facts brotha. Negativity goes away when the rumble starts rumbling away lol
thank you for clarifying things. as a first time owner, i can say i look forward to driving it. still working on the maintenance on the car but once done i will be good. but i do plan on tuning it. subie life is good.
I have a 17 sti. The only issue I have experienced is the rack and pinion gasket leak. Other than that, the car is fine!
The steering racks in these cars are so bad 😩💀
@Smeedia So I hear. I'm surprised it is not a recall.
What research and development on the internet says.. “While detonation is what damages the pistons, it's important to know that the EJ20 (EJ207 / EJ205), EJ25 (EJ255 / EJ257), and FA20 all have brittle pistons due to Subaru's material and design choices. The pistons are cast hypereutectic aluminum-silicon (Al-Si) alloy; a very common material choice for modern engines. Well proven engines like the 2JZGTE, 4G63, SR20DET, RB26DETT, LSX, K-Series, and others all use Al-Si alloys.
However, Al-Si alloys can vary depending on the percentage of silicon in the material. Subaru has opted for a "hypereutectic" alloy which is a high-silicon (12+%) mix. This makes the piston have extremely low thermal expansion, and allows Subaru to run an extremely tight piston-to-bore clearance. The high-silicon content also makes the piston considerably stronger than aluminum itself. For example, a 9% silicon (by wt.) alloy has a 14% higher yield strength than a 7% silicon alloy. This strength comes at a cost: fracturing.
When you take a sledgehammer and hit a steel hood, the steel simply deforms under the pressure of the hammer strike, leaving a dent. When you take the same sledgehammer and hit a window, the block shatters the window. That is because the window material reacts to the strike by fracturing rather than deforming. When you add silicon to aluminum it acts more and more like the window glass”
Science always slaps people too hard in the face and they refuse to comprehend when it’s listed out in fine detail. These are not someone’s theories, these are proven facts and specifications.
We had a 2012 Outback which blow up the engine around 270,000 miles. I was my car for 5 years then I passed to our daughter and she thought that the car didn’t need oil change or anything like that. Still with the poorest maintenance service it lasted almost 300,000 miles.
I am in my 4 Subaru. None with any issues “even my wife 2019 Subaru Ascent Limited”. It has around 62,000 miles and we never have to add a single drop of oil between oil changes. The CVT is working perfectly. I am waiting for the new Subaru Baja that Subaru seems to will be bringing back. I really want one of those “if this is for real”.
Don’t forget about the oil pump bolts! Great video as always .
More good info for everyone :)
Always quality content
Appreciate it 🥳🫡
I like how at the end you contradicted that video that was saying how unreliable they are LOL, the vacuum lines, hard to work on etc I love it
Awesome vid! I think the only thing maybe you missed was the oilpump screws backing out. Always enjoying the your vids for the treadmill 💪
Ohhh that is a good one to add in!
I'll totally agree with that. Every car will have there own problems.
David
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Amen Tanner. Every blown up Subi I've seen was user error. People crank up the hp to the moon ignore the support systems. Then beat them mercilessly cause they are stupid fun. Poof dead engine. FYI Kein make blast plates for the 5 speeds now. Spread the love
Picking up a VB WRX. First thing I wanna install is an AOS, gonna speak to the dealer to see if they can install it to avoid busting my warranty. Love the videos man
They actually might, curious to see what your dealer says 👀👀👀
@@Smeedia I’ll keep ya posted
Most dealers REFUSE to install anything that is NOT oem. Also, the warranty CANNOT be voided. They can decline to honor a warranty claim, but they cannot lawfully void the warranty. AOS is a great upgrade! I have the Crawford v3 AOS and while it does its job well, the hoses leak. I suggest going with the iAG AOS.
Very educational. I appreciate the info.
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I dont even own a subaru but I can assure you that all cars can POS cars when the owners do not service them as required. AS a Jeep guy myself (jeeps have horrible reliability issues) I have the first gen 4.7l v8 SOHC engine in my jeep and its the most unreliable engine Jeep made between 99-04 and it has not left me stranded once. Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance.
💯💯💯 I've alqays said any car can be a POS if not taken care of. No different any other machine's in the world that need servicing. Some may be more temperamental than others but at the end of the day, they all do the same thing
Every car has “issues” but 80%-90% of the problem is when owners don’t know anything about them 😐
💯💯
From my experience, most issues stem from the following:
1. Poor maintenance
2. Horrible tuning (people who try to get the cheapest tune/tuner they can get)
3. Going bigger power with no supporting mods to make a targeted power safely
As someone who used to have a WRX that had an unknown brand FMIC, unknown brand rotated turbo, a $50 manual boost controller from ebay, and a 1pc homemade welded downpipe/exhaust (all done by the previous owner) running on a stage 1 COBB OTS tune (I did that, sorry Tanner) that somehow did not blow up after 6k miles, I'd say that Subaru's aren't as bad as the internet makes it seem. It's a 50/50 driver care and engine maintenance kind of relationship that people got to understand.
P.s: I don't know if I got a miracle engine or if my "New to Manual transmission" mentality helped, but the fact that the only problems that i had was rusted out brake calipers and a new clutch makes me feel like i probably did something right.
Tbh I'm just impressed that it lived 😅 seems like simple problems for everything that could have happened 🙌
@@Smeedia oh yeah, i forgot to mention that it had 170,000 miles on it.
would love to see a bugeye video sometime! You and MrSubaru both have helped me rebuild my bugeye, still WIP thanks to a broken head bolt but hey, whatre ya gonna do?
I love my 400whp wrx and I love your content... but u gotta admit that these r a lot of serious issues that ur listing compared to other imports in that age range lol.
Hey man if it keeps the prices down i’m not bothered to what people say about Subarus 😅
I'll keep snagging em for cheap 😅
6:45 pre 06 FXTs, outback/legacy/baja turbo models also have cats in the upipe. Get rid of them!
Vacuum leaks, boost leaks, intakes without a tune, kiddie bois and their vapes are what kill Subaru’s. People that think they can rebuild a light weight aluminum boxer engine without the proper fixtures… IE torque plates kill Subarus.
Oh yeah the kiddie bois over at donut media kill Subarus too
The same people that say subaru are bad are the ones that never check oil, coolant, gear oil for trans and diff. They run 89 when it says premium only.
My stock 2018 STI blew a head gasket at 60,000 kms.
Yeah, they still have head gasket issues.
Sample size of one.
Agreed on most. I will add, that all non turbo 2.5 ej subaru engines have head gasket issues. All the way up to 2012 when they stopped making them. Symptoms can differ, but they still leak. Turbo head gaskets are the answer, along with resurfacing the heads. Also, early 2.5 turbos had a catted up pipe as well. 06 is when they stopped using those.
"Subaru's are so bad"
Meanwhile in the Subaru forums: Nah man you don't need a retune after installing a catless downpipe you're fine!🤓
Me: HUH???😦
Lmao some people be wilden out there Raw dogging life 🤣
@@Smeedia Insane man😭
Hmm, what would you recommend for my car? 2012 STI, stock motor, no real performance mods. When I bought it, it was bone stock to the paper filter. I did a leakdown on the motor and it came back around 7-8% cold on all cylinders (no apparent issues)
I added:
1. Dom Cooling Mod
2. Killer B Pickup/Pan
3. AccessPort running the ACN91 tune
Would an oil catch can be good enough? or should I do the AOS? The car currently has approx 160k miles, and so far is driving great, just maintenance (brakes, oil changes, etc etc).
Also I may get my own dog to add virtual horsepower to the car (by riding in the passenger seat and adding to the coolness factor 😁 )
Dogs are the way to go for that 😌
Catch cans or AOS are a good addition to add in. Is it just a daily or what all do you use it for? 🫡
@@Smeedia It's just a daily for me. I have my pain in the ass Mustang to be the "fun" car (when it's not on jackstands, lol). Heck for a bit there I was thinking of getting rid of it and just building up the STI instead.
My 04 wrx blew a headgasket at 160k, exactly when my mechanic (a subaru expert) predicted it would. Got the heads resurfaced. Definitely a predictable issue (on the 04 i can say from experience). Now i have a bit of piston clatter that worries me, but once it warms up and expands it goes away although it takes 15 minutes. I figure once it goes, i will put a built motor in.
160K is still not bad for any typical vehicle to need similar done. Hopefully that stock block gives ya more life 🙌
Old Subarus don't die, they just get faster.
The reality is, it’s not bullt like an older Honda motor from the factory. And most of the guys who get into Subarus were into Hondas or something similar before getting into Subarus. So they beat on them like a Honda motor, not realizing it’s not quite the same thing. Boom, wah wah bad Subaru
This is a fair point. Seems like a handful of new owners come from a N/A car you can beat the shit out of. There are some unspoken differences in how to treat N/A cars vs turbo cars and some first time owners may not know the differences
I have a 6 speed lying in the corner, just waiting for my 5 speed to blow, never changed the fluid on it and for some reason takes all the abuse at 450 wheel😂
Lmao mine was the same way before I swapped it! When you want them to die they don't 💀
Sunroof Additions, literally made me LOL. Driver Mod is the biggest issue, right James Pomfrey? Helps to not park it in the dessert at 100MPH.
What would you consider the power limits of the VA wrx 6 spd?
400 WTQ is where I would stop and your flirting with danger there 😅
Any car can be considered trash when you drive it like some of these people do, and not maintain it.
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i swapped an engine on a WRX for the first time in my 15 years of working on cars last month. I was nervous at first but once i got into the engine bay i was shocked of how easy it was to remove and re install. All the horror stories i heard in the past were not true. Now im looking to buy an STI Hatch lol
I just picked up a 2010 Legacy GT and it has 208,000 miles, runs pretty good but after watching your videos for well over a few years I have a general idea of what I need to do! Plus I want to leave it stock and road trip
My legacy gt has 200k on it, stock headgaskets.
It was stock all the way up until I got it.
Now it needs head gaskets.
200K Miles is impressive for that 🙌
I had a 05 evo 8 gsr for 7 years and recently had a 21 wrx fa20! Yes the evo was easier to change the plugs! But I’ve never had a easier car to change the oil and all other basic maintenance! Subaru is genius for the oil filter placement! Not a drop of oil on me like my evo 8 or my wife outlander! Miss that wrx! And I used to be a hater when I had my evo 😂 thanks for the info Tanner!
Glad to be able to share 🫡 low key miss my old evo at times. But dear lord did I dislike working on that thing 😅
@@Smeedia 😂 yeah I didn’t mind! It was how ridiculously expensive the parts were for a Mitsubishi 😂
Evo parts are wildly expensive for no reason 😅
@@Smeedia yep! Like Porsche or Mercedes prices for a Mitsubishi 😂😂🤦♂️
the mk5-7 GTIs are the same way. My oil is so damn easy it literally takes me like 30 minutes tops to do it and the oil filter is at the top next to the engine like a subaru so it makes it very easy to do. I just change it every 3k
My 2016 STi is in the shop now for ringland failure in cylinder 4. The car only had 78,000 miles on it. I babied the car, always did oil changes between 2,500 and 3,000 miles, and even checked the oil levels daily to the point that people at work made fun of me and called me paranoid and the engine still went.. The most annoying part of this ordeal is the die hard subaru fans online, blaming me, saying it's my fault for not properly maintaining the car and that I probably hit red line every time I drove, which isn't the case. I had fun with the car but still treated it with the same amount of respect as all of my previous vehicles. I still love Subaru, but I do think they are just as much to blame for these failures as the owners.
The 09-18s can experience it more frequently unfortunately. It 100% is an issue and therr is no denying that. Subaru taking care of you at least?
@Smeedia not yet, I'm still hoping the extended warranty will cover the costs of repair. The shop I took it to wants $10k to replace the short block, but say that the new block will have better bearings and piston rings. That price will also include warranty on the new block, 6 oil changes for break in, and dyno session.
You probably lugged the engine
@Craiggg12345 I didn't, though. That was one of the first things I learned when I was looking into how to take care of this car. I watched Cameron Alford's video, where he talks about not going full throttle from low RPMs. When cruising, I always kept the RPMs around 2,500, and if I ever did a pull, I down shifted or slowly brought revs up above 3,500 before really going in on the throttle.
Unfortunately 99% of people don’t even check their oils. Cars have to be resilient , 90% of people will forget oil changes, will drive 30,000 miles without oil changes and Subaru are just not as resilent as other things. I did an oil change on the wife car and there was only 1/2 quart of oil in the engine, yep like a cup worth of oil. People just dont have the time and never inspect their vehicles.
2018 Impreza sport I got at 47k, im was at 173k andI’m getting my car back tomorrow from getting a new engine because the head gaskets went out with no symptoms, no white smoke no overheating, just oil and coolant on the floor one day.
hahaha easy to work on? Eh, depends. You and I both know that there are times when you wish you just had a regular fucking engine in this thing. For instance, I made the mistake of not sealing the cam caps cuz the 205 didn't need it, but the 257 did. Any other engine, this would be a an easy job, but nope, gotta pull the whole motor, and accidently break a brand new 02 sensor, which apparently cost about the same as gold pound for pound. My latest saga was I had forgot to swap the neutral safety switch when I did my 6 speed swap, and a 10 minute job turned into 8 hours. My WRX thinks it's name is piece of shit cuz I call it that a lot, BUT I love my subi, and it's finally tuned an on the road. Just did my first autocross with her out in Apple Valley, and couldn't be happier with her. Keep up the good work!
The pickup tube failure took two of my 2006 STI’s engines. First one, the previous owner replaced with oem engine. I though, what are the chances of it happening again?
Well it happened within 60k miles.
Replacing an oil pickup isn’t exactly a simple procedure either unless you have a hoist to lift the whole engine.
One should not have to do major engine work to prevent it from destroying itself!
I’ve had 3 Subaru in my live and none of them had much issues except the 2nd one
Yes, the new turbos have headgasket problems. I lost mine at stock power and full maintenance around 80k. 2016 STI.
I had a 94 Integra LS and raced the heck outta that thing as a teen with little mechanical experience and the only thing I that gave up was some motor mounts and destroyed clutch. But I did oil changes regularly and kept fluids in check so it all depends on how maintained the motors are and addressing issues early on in my experience.
😂 I had an Integra TypeR, beat the shit out of it as I was a teenager, I did add oil only when my Vtec wasn't engaging and put 200K on it! I had a 11 WRX, ringland at 108K and now I have a 18 WRX STI, ringland at 27K!!!😮😮😮 Unfortunately, we can't compare them.
2005 legacy gt models had a cat on the up pie as well. Get rid of it. 325,000 km on mine with many mods and no issues 🇨🇦
Thise Cats are just asking for problems before a turbo 😩😅
I drove my 08 sti every day for nearly 9 years and 270,000km. About the only thing that was stock on it was the turbo and I drove the car pretty hard. It never let me down. I sold it still running as good as it did the day i bought it. They are good cars if you take care of them. Changing oil isn't hard.
i like subarus, idk why people hate subarus soo much cause of head gaskets or ringland failure, that is not the case and it doesnt mean they are bad cars, they are really good cars! their awd system is very good, and better balanced cars!
Dude for real! I've never understood the random hate they get 😅
@Smeedia theres soo much hate man! i really like subarus, the sti is 1 of the cars i wanted for soo long but finally got to get that out of my head lol
some felpro rep is gritting their teeth rn. they make MLS head gaskets that are just fine for the record. the word you were looking for is composite. much love.
All I've ever seen from them are the composite gaskets for headgaskets 😅 good to know they make actual MLS ones too. They should just discontinue the composite ones
Bought a wrx with a blown motor, rebuilt the motor and went to start it up and ran great but wouldn't rev past 1k. I had cheaped out and not upgraded the uppipe and the cat was almost completely clogged but not destroyed, had to go out and get an STi upipe real quick 😅
Those catted up pipes can be detrimental real quick 😅
@Smeedia At first I was mad because it was my first build and I thought I screwed up, was glad it was just that😅
@smeedia - you were saying early cars from 2009 - ... had ringland issues - do you know if the engine in the jdm sti grb has ringland issues for the first of them (mines a 2007 jdm sti grb so first run of them) or is it the 2.5's that have the issues?
I believe this was just for for SOA 🙏
My e39 BMW is worst in some ways than Subarus and people call it the most reliable BMW 🤦🏽♂️
I've heard so many mixed things on BMWs 😩😅
My WRX transmission is counting its days. Lmao.
Spark plugs after you do it once is super easy. Extension, swivel, easy peasy.
The first time is always the worse 😅
Change plugs in an old Chevy monza with V8!😎😂🤣
9:00 - i do wanna mention that this video was made on purpose, that a Russian guy and he got like crazy subarus making well ovet 600whp. This particular one had problems with rings as far as I remember and well he decided to blow it up. Well his rod flew out and made a hole in the carbon fiber hood and gave us legendary video
Lol he sent it in the best way possible 😅
lmao i own a 2002 Civic Si and a 2020 STi. I bought the Si with 220,000 miles on the clock, pristine carfax, and it had a blown head gasket... yes, a K series, the most revered motor for being extremely reliable, blew a headgasket. Anything can happen, these motors are built to be consumable nowadays. It's not the car, it just happens. it can happen to any brand
Tanner! So, I know you need to tune with every mod, but: about 5 years ago my then moms (now mine) 04 wrx had the cats go bad and throw codes and so my parents went with a Cobb stage 2 setup with the full turbo back exhaust and tune. They also got a Megan Racing catless up-pipe. Do you think there’s any issue with that? Since the stage 2 OTS tune isn’t specific to the catless up-pipe? Close to 50k miles since it’s been done and it’s still running strong but I was just curious
No issues should come from that 👌🙏
I'd rather do spark plugs on a Subaru than to replace just the cylinder 8 spark plug on an early 2010's Silverado any day. GM really said get bent when they put all that razor sharp shielding in the way
I have a 2021 Wrx with a sti 6 speed transmission from the dealer. Should I still worry if I’m just trying to push 330-350hp?
No, not at all. If you have an STI 6 speed your pretty golden 👌
@@Smeedia sweet thanks !!!🤘🏼🤘🏼
Like any other car, most problems lye between the seat and the steering wheel
This is a huge contributing factor
The individuals that complain about the Scooby's probably don't have one or can't afford one so are insanely jealous of anybody that does have one , I myself do have one so my life is complete and I'm very happy , 😊
bro over the past year ive had an insane time with my subarus. i got rid of 2 of them and now im down to the og my dgm 14 wrx. i was about to sell it as well and make a swap to another platform and then my buddy rented a house that literally came with a 2 car garage shop and a lift. well he doesnt have tools and we work together as mechanics. now that i have a place for my tools to go and a shop im going to fully restore my hatch instead of selling. i have so far to go lol
Eyyyy that's a good come up right there! Whatcha got planned for the resto?!
thank you so much for this. ive been following you for a while to learn as much as i can. one of my dreams is to race a subaru i built myself! im info hoarding so that im actually able to. you have great info and i love your videos, straight to the point with no BS. your efforts are appreciated (:
Can a 2013 wrx oem shortblock handle just a cobb sf intake, 3inch catback and downpipe reliably or should I just go with iag 550 block mind you im not looking for any crazy power not going to race it just a fun whip to drive and turn some heads.
Stock block is fine handling that, probably be around 270ish whp
From what I've seen with my friends and other locals, most people have issues when they just slap a tonne of mods or mix match parts together n pray it will work, then get shocked when it blows n blame subaru.
IMO if you modify your engine beyond intake/sway bar/shocks n other quick easy non tune related stuff (or things you SHOULD tune after) then it's no longer the manufactures issue if it blows, it's 100% yourself for modding it that way like a scrub or driving it like a monkey and not allowing engine to cool down when you should etc etc etc. Aka modded, it's no longer subaru's car, it's now you, you are the manufacturer, don't like how it worked? blame yourself n do better next time.
When can we expect Golf R content?
I got rid of my Golf R a while ago after it blew up 👀
@@Smeediaripp 💀
@@SmeediaVag group cars are not reliable, i work in a garage and most of the cars we fix are German 😂 infact id go as far to even say that diesel peugeots are probably more reliable than vag group cars! The older ones were reliable. New ones... Meh 😕
Dpf and egr problems constantly, absolute rubbish.
04 Forester XT and 05 Legacy GT 2.5 turbos has catted up pipes too.
Do I need AOS for my EJ204? Daily use, and some long distance lively/fun drives.
Definitely not a bad idea to have one if you don't already 🤝
@@Smeedia Update I just installed a catch can, made the car more fuel efficient with spirited driving 😄
Is it difficult to install an AOS? And does it void warranty? Thanks for the knowledge!
Pretty much Nailed all the issues. Yes it is mainly the owners that cause all the issues. stock subarus dont just break I have a stock 2.0 forester (which had the cat in the uppipe) as a daily and its lasted 10 years of abuse it's still going strong the main issue it had at one stage was a centre diff failure which was my fault 😂 had a flat tyre ran a different size spare wheel and it pooped. On the pan system I feel that the rcm baffle plate/windage tray is more effective for track use than the killer B tray as the killer B version doesnt stop the oil flowing/splashing into the bottom of the head in a high G corner where as the rcm closes off the entire surface of top section of the pan.
With oil do you recommend sticking to 5w30 or would it be better to go with 5w40 weight
I use 5W40 for moderate power. Anything above moderate I use 20W50
I feel for all my USDM brethren; the JDM EJ20 engines almost never have such issues. Running a v8 EJ207 and STi 6-speed in my GC8, & it's incredibly solid & fun. No idea why Subaru pushed the 2.5L turbo engines onto the American market. If anyone can enlighten me, that'd be much appreciated
Don't GAF what people say, that's why I got 4 subies!!
I wish there were more videos on basic car repairs for subarus. Lots of mods and tunes. But none of the old ones are running with 300k miles, and what kept it going.
Have you checked out MrSubaru’s videos? He makes repair videos on various regular Subarus.
I’m a Subaru fan for many years now. Owned 2 WRXs 2005/2020. If you drive them clean they’ll last a long, long time. Do maintenance, repair what you break and for the price point there’s not a more fun car in my opinion.
We have Donut to blame as of late 🙄🙄
I think most of that storm has blown over lol
@@Smeedia the Subaru community is bit of an echo chamber, too. One person says "xyz sucks" and someone goes "whoa did you hear that xyz sucks?" And the third person, not wanting to look like they don't know, goes " oh ya mate, xyz always sucked" 🤣
05-06 outback xt and legacy gt also had the turbo issue because they also had the cat in the up pipe.
My argument as someone that likes Subarus has always been. Yes they don’t hold up well when neglected, but then you look at Hondas and Toyotas where you can straight up not care for them for years and they still run no problem which makes Subarus shitty and unreliable by COMPARISON. I don’t see old STIs on the road that often, but I do see civics from the early 80s and type R’s from the 90s on the road on a regular basis. I like Subaru but I can’t really defend them the way I would like lol
That still leads back to lack of maintenance though, lol. Boxer engines run tighter clearances and are less tolerant to negligence. Has nothing to do with unreliability. Plenty of boxer engines with 200k-300k miles easily. The main problem are people in general. People these days lack the basic common sense to check their oil, let alone actually take care of a car. This is the same reason why people think German cars are “unreliable” when they don’t keep up with maintenance. The moment you get into a Subaru thinking it’s like a Honda or a Toyota, you already set yourself up for failure…
@@builtvisions In my opinon that's bad engineering. When your tolerances and specifications of use are so tight that if you deviate slightly the vehicle will catastrophically fail is sub optimal in my opinon in the case of german cars. Yes it's "good" engineering but if you don't factor in the average human it's kinda trash. The average human is who's driving the car lol but that's just my opinon
@DOOMLORDHOKAGE Engines that run tighter tolerances mean that they can achieve their maximum performance while reducing overall wear. Power can be lost due to larger clearances, pressure leaks, and unnecessary gaps. That's why Nascar and F1 have engines with those tight clearances. That's why it's so important to keep up with maintenance on engines like that. Understand your engine, understand what it needs, and you'll never have problems.
What are your thoughts on a turbo brz with oil cooler, catch cans, baffled sump, flex fuel making 250kw
10/10 set up, my old turbo 14BRZ was similar. Had a PTE 5858 on it and it's still gling strong today 🎉
Nice, using the Australian brand SME with a g25 550 pulsar turbo with the housing swapped to a t51r mod
loved the boxer engine hum