My brother has a WRX ('02, 4EAT, 150,000 miles). It is mostly a commuter, with the occasional road trip and fun drive under it's belt (no racing). It is mostly stock (nothing done to it power wise). No major issues until now (no leaks, no smoke, no oil consumption that we know of) - though the gas mileage may have been getting worse recently.

So, supposedly, the CEL started blinking ( misfires on 1, 2, and 4), so he had it towed to a local Subaru dealership. They said that cylinder 3 has zero compression and they need to pull the engine apart to figure out the problem. They've said that it'll be at least $2800 if it's the heads or $4000 if its the shortblock.



He's asked me for any thoughts, and I'm asking here. We really don't have any ideas about what is wrong, or what should be done.

-Should he just let Subaru handle everything, should he go with some other reputable Subaru tuner in the area?

-If he needs a new block, should he just get a remanufactured EJ20 from Subaru or would it make sense to find something else?

-Should he do anything else while the engine is out, like replace the engine mounts or something?

-We have a brand new catless uppipe sitting in the garage, should we have them toss that in now (assuming they'd install it) since, I'm assuming, it'd be easier to install if they're going to pull the engine anyway.



Any constructive thoughts, ideas, opinions are welcome. We're just bouncing ideas around between the two of us, but we're not really that knowledgeable.

 

Might as well just get a complete JDM WRX motor from Gruppe-s.... cheaper than either of those dealer options. I think they were selling them for around $1600-1700 minus the turbo, injectors and intercooler.

 

Yeah, or put in a 2.5L shortblock

 

don't ever do anything major at a stealership out of warranty..especially when the area around you has so many specialty shops.

 

Probably a burnt exhaust valve- that's what mine was. I also had them replace clutch and flywheel, timing belt, water pump and a couple of other things that were just easier to deal with while the motor was out.

At that mileage he's well out of warranty, all Subaru will do is charge a bit more and take a week or two longer than any of the other shops

I'd second the suggestion to get with LIC or Gruppe S (in my case LIC helped me round up the parts and Gruppe S did the build and install) and see what they can do to help you out.

PS; I did heads AND shortblock, with all the extras above and the total cost was well under 4G, even with parts shipping around and two shops doing their parts seperately.

 

Since I'm not familiar with any of this, will there be any issues when it comes time to get the car smogged?

I know you had one of the other high-mileage WRXs in the area, and I seem to recall some post about your engine dying - did you happen to make a thread about the things you did afterwards. I'll sort through a search of your old posts later, but I'm just curious off-hand.

 

Not much to say beyond what I posted above here, burnt valve=no compression, found a spare set of heads in the i-club classifieds and a short block from Crawford through LIC, the rest of the parts I had LIC order, but when they all came in Adam was too backlogged, so I packed up all the goods, took it to Gruppe-s and was back on the road 2 days later

 

I wouldnt let the dealership do the work unless you are just repairing it rather than upgrading anything.... I doubt they would even install the catless uppipe for you (even though the 06's don't even have cats in the uppipe anymore)

I hope folks from LIC/Gruppe-S/etc. see this thread. If not, PM them or post in their vendor topics.

 

Yeah, get a new engine. That's what I'll do when I reach that much miles on the engine block and when it goes bad.
You have very good reason/excuse for a up-grade! How about spend a little more and get Gruppe-s' race engine?

 

you know that Gruppe-S has some engines for special pricing right now, right? sucks to be you/your bro, but i guess timing is right....

 

it's out of warranty. If he really like the car that much I'd suggest getting a new motor. Either brand new or something used....there are tons of them out there.

That way you can do some extra work to it and get some more performance while you're at it. I know when mine lets go I'm gonna beef it up go 2.5 and put some other goodies and shoot for 325 to the wheels from the get go.

 

Here's another option that no one else suggested. www.ccrengines.com

I sent you a PM too.

 

You're in luck. I got a full 4EAT WRX motor with tranny. 30k miles on it. I just gotta buy the whole back from insurance. But that should be no prob.

 

I still think you should run a twin scroll setup and a upgraded torque converter so you can fix that 4EAT lag

 

Yeah a really strong hot-rodded 4EAT would be an incredibly fun car to drive, left foot braking and powershifting? what's left to want?