My 02 WRX wagon's turbo smells like a stinky biatch at 116K. My mechanic says “it wont hurt the engine and to drive her locally until she dies but that the turbo has a small oil leak”. I was planning on somehow begging/forcing my uncle in law who is a l337 h4x07 and in town this weekend to fix Suzi (my car). I may need a td04 (or better) if it isn't something that can be easily fixed (like a tube or quick turbo reuild). Anyone have a good conditioned working td04 for an 02 WRX, or better, I could buy?

Other than a new radiator, a TSB on the clutch, multiple sets of tires, a cabin that smells like gas(also a recall), a new turbo, local douche dealerships, and a gas guzzler; the WRX is a great car 9 years later...way to go subaru engineers*sarcasm*

(please help me fix my turbo....)

 

You're lucky it lasted that long. There's one for sale for $150 in the classifieds.

 

mine has 128k and its running fine lol it depends on how you maintain your car i guess. the owner before me only brought the car to the dealership for the first 108k of its life and i've driven it almost 20k in the past 9 months and its been running fine besides the CEL for misfire all 4 cylinders which i cant figure out why

 

I wouldn't say your car is running fine. Check your timing belt.

 

My buddies 02 wagon has around 75,000 miles and wasn't taken care of that well previous to his ownership, and his turbo is already starting to abandon ship. Good luck!

 

141k and no problems. It's an 02, it's a wagon. Take care of it and you shouldn't have problems.

Just replace it with a stock turbo and don't run it into the ground.

 

the longest running turbos we see are TD04's...not sure why anyone would say they don't last long. Typically they will last longer than the rest of the car itself.

if run low on oil you get blown turbos and rod knock

-Noah

 

Mine went well before 100k. When I talked to the dealership they said it wasn't uncommon to see them blow at around 70k. They keep them in stock.

I run quality oil and don't run it low. And so far I don't have rod knock. Knock on wood. I'm one of those **** oil checkers. Hell, I bet my engine bay is cleaner than most of the engine bays on i-club and I drive on a gravel road every day and in mud/snow all winter.

Try and find me another WRX with 181k on it that's been run as hard as mine!

 

Mine's been run as hard, but I don't have 181k.

 

Each dealership (at least for Subaru dealerships locally here) keeps whatever they sell in stock...its not a global thing. They have an inventory ordering system that self orders based on what sells...this is different for each dealership.

my car has 192k miles on it, and we have plenty of customers in the 200k+ range, longest running cars and OEM configs we see is 2.0L's

I always find it funny when folks say the 2.0L is weak and is a POS motor, so not true. If beat on and/or run low on oil, the failure point on 2.0L's is the bearings, whereas on the 2.5L its the ringland(s) of the pistons. we see the 05+ LGT/OBXT have turbo issues on the ones that are run low on oil...each car has its own quirk but typically always relates to lubrication and maintenance of some magnitude.

*not sure if keeping engine bay clean helps any of the above but I'm sure its a good indicator of how you care for your vehicle

-Noah

 

True.

I think the 2.0 is a great motor. Only reason I want a 2.5 is the additional torque. My car and motor has had the ever living day lights smashed out of it but it's been properly maintained... and keeping your engine clean is part of that in my opinion. Easier to see what's going on in there and if you're keeping your engine clean then you're probably keeping on top of the other stuff.

As for the turbos... the vf39 is way more of an issue than the td04 but I've seen a bunch of them have issues. My second one isn't running so strong these day. It's got about 80k on it. About the same time I was having issues with the first one.

You really have "tons" of customer with over 200k? Are these older people or people that just commute or people that have performance mods and drive their cars like they do? Just curious because I have only seen one modified subaru with more miles on it than mine that was still running the stock motor/tranny. Most of the cars I've seen with more miles have gone through at least one rebuild.

I'll be stoked if I can turn 200k on my motor.


But all this is besides the point. Lord knows you know your **** Noah.




my main concern is that this dude is getting misfires on all 4 and thinks his car is running o.k....

And from the sounds of it the O.P. needs a new turbo. So I stand by what I said before... get a stock one. They're for sale all the time for $75-150.


What do you think is causing the misfires?




Love you Noah!

 

i swear its the weirdest things i changed my spark plugs but same thing. its weird it misfires all 4 or it changes randomly it runs fine with the light on or off so i dont understand it. i've seen my check engine light flash at me and turn off. I have a cobb AP so i check the code's frequently and its always misfire but the orders change or it will say all 4 but i cant tell a difference when driving.

 

Have you peaked at the timing belt?

 

we actually have a bunch of folks in the 200k range on the 2.0L's and both with upgrades and stock

misfires is a tough one but typically comes down to only a few things.

-plugs
-coils
-low compression an a cylinder or 2 (not typical to see across all 4 cylinders)
-tight valves
-timing being off (not all that common to be honest but does happen)
-lightweight flywheel (especially on a 02 ECU)

*my $0.02, do a compression and leakdown to determine if its internal prior to throwing any money at the car, we see people chase issues by throwing parts at it blindly...best to just pay for the diagnostic and know that the motor is healthy or not.

xoxo to you as well OMA

-Noah

 

typically this happens with a lightweight flywheel, do you have a lightweight flywheel?

-Noah