STI cracked ringland, got new shortblock, what's next?
 

I bought a brand new 2011 STI 6 yrs ago from one of the largest Vancouver subaru dealers. And I've taken my car to this dealership for maintenance every 6months since then. When I realized the dealer actually put a 2401 Castrol 5w30 in my STI on my 3rd service there, the whole mess started. The copy of maintenance did not indicate this 2401 Castrol was synthetic or not. So I asked them at that time, and the answer surprised me because its conventional. I asked them why not a synthetic oil, and the service man told me that synthetic oil is not required in 2011MY by their service standards, and he claimed only 2012+MY required it, also he comforted me that as soon as I keep my maintenance schedule on time it doesn't make any big difference between conventional and synthetic. He even told me later they put conventional oil in all 11MY STIs, and never had a problem. I trusted them at that time so I bought his theory, and stuck with the conventional oil for another while.

However as time went by, my concern with the conventional oil they put in grew. I checked the owner manual which says:"5W30 synthetic oil is required for optimum engine performance and protection. Conventional oil maybe used if synthetic oil is unavailable." So early last year, I brought my first synthetic oil for maintenance there, and stay in synthetic till now. I just figured out recently that SOA actually had a updated service bulletin distributed back in late 2011 or early 2012 among US dealers saying "All 11MY turbo cars are required to use synthetic oils."

My sti now is burning excessive oil around 2.6L-3.0L/2000km, and having minor knocking sound in low rpm. Car is completely stock, and just a daily driver. The odometer is just around 50k. I just don't know how a "reputable" dealer can screw this up for years.

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Update:
Cracked piston on #2 cylinder and also rings were stuck
Short block replaced under third-party extended warranty.

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Just got back my car few days ago.
Dealer now started using synthetic oil in my new short block ORZ, so should I change to conventional oil for break in period?

Time to get a lawyer.

Did you buy an extended warranty?

The dealership screwed you, but I don't think there's a 100% connection between oil consumption and the type of oil you use. Every turbo EJ motor consumes oil as far as I know.

Take it to a private subaru specialist; I've had good experiences with Eric @ HBL in Richmond.

I'm having a hard time believing simply synthetic vs conventional alone would cause damage, and I'm doubting you have a spun bearing if a slight noise at low RPM is all you can hear. Figure out where the noise is really coming from, and figure out where the oil is going (it could be multiple issues) and go from there. Have you looked under it at all? It could be leaking it rather than burning it.

Sounds like the oil was ran too low causing the spun bearing..

Any leaks?

Gonna be brutally honest here. Synthetic oil is good but running conventional oil instead does not blow your motor apart. Maybe on a Le Mans racer or f1 car, but a Subaru made to go 250,000km+, just kind of sounds like your grasping at straws. Sorry but just being honest

Putting 89 in your tank will cause your engine to explode

Aren't subies 6 month service and why didn't you switch back to synthetic the next oil change?

Take all of this information to the dealership that serviced the car and see what they say. Explain the symptoms. Have them diagnose it and give a result. From there you will have your answer as to what to do next. The plus is that you had it serviced there since new and have all of your records. If the service adviser made a mistake it will present itself with the service records. If it ends up being a different issue then perhaps get a second opinion.

Yes I got an extended warranty that expires next summer.

No no leaks under it at all. I heard a very audible knocking sound at one night of early March. Also the oil light was flickering for about several seconds when I was entering my garage, but it stayed off. The previous service was done in late October last year. I checked the oil level frequently, and it was slightly under the full mark one week before I heard the knocking sound. I took it to the dealer immediately next day, and they added some oil the sound was almost gone. I asked if they can do a leakdown test, but they spent 1 hour convincing me to do a cheaper oil consumption test instead. Just finished my oil consumption test last Monday, and an excessive oil consumption was confirmed. Then they told me they reported the issue to Subaru Canada for approval of further action. No update so far.

They added the oil to the full mark last Monday, the oil level was down to the low mark last Wednesday and I added again, and yesterday it was down to the low mark again. Check the oil every time in the morning when car is cold.

Chevron 94 all the time. I asked dealer but the service guy told me there was no need to use synthetic for my model year. I was totally misled by them.

Keep in mind that if you plan to use the service bulletin from SOA as an argument towards a local dealership or Subaru Canada, they most likely will not accept it as Subaru Canada don't always share the same tsb and recalls as SOA.
It's best you find out if Subaru Canada released that same information regarding synthetic oil.

This is normal procedure for dealerships when excessive oil consumption is the complaint. As others have said, highly doubt the use of conventional oil caused your motor to have an excessive oil consumption. It's a well known fact that the EJ257 motor is a flawed design so it's most likely something else causing the excessive consumption. Best of luck to you, hope Subaru is covering it!

So you've had it since new?

Was it a lot demo? how many km's when you got it?

Any accidents? Car ever been valeted or over revved?

Has it ever been modded, or tune changed?

How many km's did you put on it every 6 months?

it's under warranty? none of this matters then. drop the car off, grab a loaner and be like every other STI hatch i see on CL with a freshly rebuilt shortblock

It sounds like they're taking the correct course of action, so I'm failing to see how anything is a serious problem yet. I'm still wondering how a temporary knocking sound = spun bearing.

Yes. I had it since new. I waited for 2 weeks to get this car from the port. It's was like 33km on it after they did PDI.
A minor accident with front bumper refinished.
Never mod, never tuned.
Usually less than 4000km/half year. When I'm driving it, it's highway and city mixed driving style.

Knocking sound+excessive oil consumption(almost 3L/2000km)+feel loss of power on boost/highway=possible spun bearing.

From what I can tell, the sound was actually pretty distinct, and it's exactly the same sound as all other videos posted on youtube for spun rod bearing. It may due to other engine problems, I don't know until they can get approval to take the engine apart. but there is definitely something wrong with engine because of the crazy oil consumption. Dealer used synthetic mobile 1 or castrol 5w30 after my request, and I use Castrol 5w30 Edge Titanium for topping off.

Because the owner's manual says "the synthetic oil is required", there is a possibility my extended warranty will be voided by dealer's using conventional oil. If Subaru Canada actually had a service bulletin out that made using synthetic in 11 MY mandatory like SOA, i think the dealer was seriously negligent and unprofessional by ignoring it. I'm eagerly want to know why they kept using conventional at first when the manual says synthetic is required. Even I raised the issue with them on my 3rd service, they claimed it's not required for my model year rather than suggesting me to change to synthetic. I have a feeling that they are trying to downplay the mistake they made and delay the warranty claim as much as they can.

As long as the oil they used has the same viscosity and API service class ratings equal or better to what is specified in your manual, the dino oil should work just as well.

Your issue is not due to the oil.

Any white smoke coming out of the exhaust on startup? and also check to see if white smoke coming out of the oil filler cap.

EJ25s are known for ringland failures....

If you change oil every 6 months and drive 4000km/6month, synthetic vs conventional will make no difference...
Synthetic is not some magic oil, it doesn't really give you more protection or advantage except it takes longer to breakdown vs conventional
hence why people used to change oil every 3000-5000km, and now with synthetic you can change every 15000km+

Maybe there's different levels of a spun bearing, but when it happened to my old car the engine barely ran and it was completely undriveable. I'm not familiar with this engine but they should be able to at least do a basic check of the bearings by removing just the oil pan.

Peace Arch Toyota put conventional in my Tacoma instead of synthetic

Then charged me the synthetic oil change price.

Never doing business with Peace Arch Toyota ever again.


OP, for future oil changes go to a reputable Subaru specialist! (HBL has great reviews)