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Old 11-09-2010, 10:31 AM   #1
yuekon
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Default '08 WRX water pump failure

On the way into the office yesterday, the water pump on my '08 WRX froze and "shredded" the timing belt. Is this as freakishly rare as I think it is?
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Old 11-09-2010, 10:38 AM   #2
WeldingHank
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yes, very. they don't normally fail.
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Old 11-09-2010, 10:46 AM   #3
yuekon
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thankfully, I am still covered by the powertrain warranty.
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Old 11-09-2010, 10:59 AM   #4
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having worked for a subaru dealership for 5 years... I can honestly say I NEVER had a car come in with that happening before. Very rare indeed.
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Old 11-09-2010, 11:12 AM   #5
yuekon
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Leave it to me to be the first......
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Old 11-09-2010, 02:05 PM   #6
Mavrik
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The only reason I have seen a water pump be replaced was due to leaks from seals. No other reason. I would sooner believe a timing belt sprocket seized and broke stripping the timing belt off. If I am not mistaken its the smooth/flat side of the timing belt that drives the water pump. Its the smooth sprocket with the coolant hose coming off it.

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Old 11-09-2010, 05:26 PM   #7
yuekon
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Agreed, but the fact of the matter is that the water pump has seized. I am also very concerned about the condition of the valve train. I'm being told that until they get the new water pump in there is no way of telling if there are any bent/damaged valves.
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Old 11-09-2010, 06:21 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mavrik View Post
having worked for a subaru dealership for 5 years... I can honestly say I NEVER had a car come in with that happening before. Very rare indeed.
I concur. I have not seen one shred due to a bad w/p but a bad tensioner though.
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Old 11-09-2010, 06:37 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yuekon View Post
Agreed, but the fact of the matter is that the water pump has seized. I am also very concerned about the condition of the valve train. I'm being told that until they get the new water pump in there is no way of telling if there are any bent/damaged valves.
if there is any valve damage then it should be apparent on start up. If the pistons made contact and hit the valves then the engine won't run well. It may also be noisy. If it runs fine and is quiet then make sure they document that there may be damage and drive the car until it breaks (if it does break)
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Old 11-09-2010, 07:50 PM   #10
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Will do Mavrik, thanks for the input. I would really like to get the car back, I mean the Outback I'm driving is nice and all but it's NOT my WRX............
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Old 11-10-2010, 02:42 PM   #11
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Stopped by and looked at the parts........ I've never seen a timing belt burned through from the smooth side before. Wow, it was brittle, held together by the fibers and smelled like smoke. Dang.......
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Old 11-10-2010, 02:51 PM   #12
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See if they will let you take some pics of the pump.
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Old 11-10-2010, 09:53 PM   #13
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I've been with Subaru for 26 years and have seen this a few times including 2 weeks ago with a STI. It was squeeling quite loudly (due to the belt moving over a siezed pulley & would start to overheat after awhile. Not quite common, but not totally unheard of.
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Old 11-11-2010, 10:44 AM   #14
yuekon
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was there any damage to the valve train?
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Old 11-11-2010, 02:23 PM   #15
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no damage to the valve train--the belt continued to stay in time mostly due to the fact that the water pump pulley is smooth. the timing belt did need to be replaced due to excessive glazing from running across a smooth/siezed pulley, but no other damage. i'm sure if run long enough the belt would eventually give up. i hope yours doesn't have any damage. it shouldn't even with a partially shredded belt as long as everything stayed in time. best of luck.

Bret
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Old 11-12-2010, 04:22 PM   #16
yuekon
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Well, the dealership just called and said it's ready to be picked up. Apparently there is no damage to the valve train and it is running smoothly. Off to get the WRX!!! Keep your fingers crossed!
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Old 12-08-2010, 01:17 AM   #17
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Well, scratch that. WRX is back at the dealership with a mysterious "ticking" sound. They are bringing in a Subaru investigator to figure it out this time. Hmmmmmm
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Old 12-20-2010, 10:45 AM   #18
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Default Strange...

This just happened to my wife's '08 WRX with the water pump failure, shredded timing belt, melted timing belt cover and a few other issues that needed to get fixed because of the engine overheating. We just picked up the car this past Saturday and now we're also hearing a strange ticking noise and also experienced a misfire while driving on the highway.

Just hitting 60k miles and purchased this car brand new. Getting a little annoyed since my '06 WRX hasn't experienced as many problems as her previous '08 2.5i and current '08 WRX.

Did you receive any information from your dealer on what caused this? I haven't yet.
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Old 12-20-2010, 10:53 AM   #19
yuekon
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Mmmm. Dealership pulled the motor and resurfaced the heads. They also said the valves were out of adjustment. I should (hopefully) pick it up this week. I would suggest your go back to dealership as well. No sense playing around with the valve train.
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Old 12-23-2010, 11:41 AM   #20
yuekon
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Ok, got the WRX yesterday. Final result was all 8 valves were bent. Wow, big change from the initial report..... Engine is a little more throaty now, could from the slight increase in compression from the surfaced heads. Maybe....... We'll see what comes in 1k miles or so.....
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Old 12-26-2010, 09:37 PM   #21
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very cool
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Old 12-27-2010, 12:14 AM   #22
ericv
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This happened to my '08 wrx as well at 59K. The pulley froze and caused the timing belt to break teeth off, go out of timing, spatter/stutter and smoke from a burning belt. Thankfully, it all was covered under warranty. Ran without problems after repaired.
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Old 01-13-2011, 10:54 AM   #23
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So we got the car back, and not even a week later she starts hearing a buzzing noise (like an electric saw) whenever she accelerated in gear. Took the car back to the dealer again and it turned out to be the turbo. Luckily the work before was covered by warranty and the the turbo was covered by our "Added Security" coverage. Relieved that I didn't have to pay for anything, but still annoyed that these problems keep coming up.
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