2008+ STI Piston Ring Land Failure List

[synolimit]

Originally Posted by RobNJ36

Thanks for the comments, they are appreciated.

What do you think about the comments with Cosworth.........50 hours continuos on a dyno.......that would give a "built" motor a workout....you would think something would pop up .....no?......BS?

probably not BS. but at what specs? they could of run no boost or timing and it could of run 100 hours.

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[GrumpyPitbull]

Originally Posted by RobNJ36

Thanks for the comments, they are appreciated.

What do you think about the comments with Cosworth.........50 hours continuos on a dyno.......that would give a "built" motor a workout....you would think something would pop up .....no?......BS?

I don't think it's BS necessarily.

We all know that the overwhelming majority of ringland failures come from cars at or above Stage 2 mod levels. Sure, there have been a few stock cars that have had the issue, but very few. And let's face it, some of the guys messing with Subaru's are not the brightest bulbs.

Really, the ringland issue is so inconsistent and has so many possible variables that no one will ever discover the cause. And honestly, I think it's exaggerated on the internet forums.

Personally, I blame Obama ... since he coincidentally took office in 2008. Before Obama, no ringland issues on interweb ... after Obama, ringland issues.

[RobNJ36]

I would assume since it's Cosworth they didn't just let it sit there and idle for 50 hours........continious dyno tests are pretty much to see what the engine can take.......they are trying to "blow it up"........but I hear your point.

[RobNJ36]

@ Grumpy.............That was my thinking....but we may be wrong.......I tell you......I see some of the videos on you tube......staging the car bouncing it off the rev limiter.....tach buried through the gears.......motor pops...and the guy is like the car is a POS.........I'm like dude....want to know why your motor went south?.....Watch your video

Good comments.........I was hoping for both sides

I was so close to buying one, but I said ehh let me do a little more research, and came across this site and various others....which had a wealth of knowledge.....(great site) and of course I had to come across the piston problems.......Kinda sank my sail........so I guess i am just trying to figure out if it is exaggerated.

It's funny....i don't even like gasoline engines....I'm a Diesel Truck guy........but tastes change, families grow........the one gas vehicle I would consider......has to have an "issue"....and a potentially big one.....if it's as bad as everyone says.

[GrumpyPitbull]

Originally Posted by RobNJ36

@ Grumpy.............That was my thinking....but we may be wrong.......I tell you......I see some of the videos on you tube......staging the car bouncing it off the rev limiter.....tach buried through the gears.......motor pops...and the guy is like the car is a POS.........I'm like dude....want to know why your motor went south?.....Watch your video

Good comments.........I was hoping for both sides

I was so close to buying one, but I said ehh let me do a little more research, and came across this site and various others....which had a wealth of knowledge.....(great site) and of course I had to come across the piston problems.......Kinda sank my sail........so I guess i am just trying to figure out if it is exaggerated.

It's funny....i don't even like gasoline engines....I'm a Diesel Truck guy........but tastes change, families grow........the one gas vehicle I would consider......has to have an "issue"....and a potentially big one.....if it's as bad as everyone says.

Don't let it scare you off. I am on my 3rd turbo Subaru, and I have never had any major mechanical failures. In fact, I will say with full confidence that my Subarus have been the most reliable vehicles I have ever owned. There are many others out there like me who also have owned Subarus for quite awhile with no issues. People who are not having problems rarely post on forums about, but those that have issues usually scream it from the rooftops.

Of course, I do not use launch control, flat foot shift, auto-x, or drive my car like I am in a rally race. I do mod my cars, but not extensively (usually stop at a safe stage 2), I just like having a practical vehicle with some spunk. Also, I do my own maintenance and am constantly checking my fluids and such ... habits from my younger days of driving old muscle cars.

That stuff said, if you still nervous about the Subaru and still want a similar vehicle, take a look at the Ford Focus ST. As much as I love my scoobies, if I were looking to buy right now I would give that vehicle a very hard look. For 28k it comes fully optioned with similar power numbers to the WRX, and the interior is WAY better than what Subaru offers.

[RobNJ36]

Yea.......my mother works for Ford lol.......Not really liking the Focus. I had an 01' 2.5 RS before I got into the trucks and loved it. I would only buy AWD.
I think I'm gonna go for the STI....try and find a 10' or 11' one owner CPO with like under 35,000. By me I believe the CPO offer a 6 year 100,000 mile warranty....so should be good .......Thanks again for the insight !

[mejifair]

Originally Posted by RobNJ36

@ Grumpy.............That was my thinking....but we may be wrong.......I tell you......I see some of the videos on you tube......staging the car bouncing it off the rev limiter.....tach buried through the gears.......motor pops...and the guy is like the car is a POS.........I'm like dude....want to know why your motor went south?.....Watch your video

Good comments.........I was hoping for both sides

I was so close to buying one, but I said ehh let me do a little more research, and came across this site and various others....which had a wealth of knowledge.....(great site) and of course I had to come across the piston problems.......Kinda sank my sail........so I guess i am just trying to figure out if it is exaggerated.

It's funny....i don't even like gasoline engines....I'm a Diesel Truck guy........but tastes change, families grow........the one gas vehicle I would consider......has to have an "issue"....and a potentially big one.....if it's as bad as everyone says.

I think there were more periods in this post than actual words. Made my head hurt.

[RobNJ36]

Maybe you should take some aspirin then

[moonrider_99]

Originally Posted by b1aze

Catback =/= downpipe

Sorry my bad. Read it too fast.

[Fish]

Originally Posted by Fish

Friend of mine got a used 2011 4dr and I'm pretty sure that at 8k when it bought it the ringlands were already cooked.
I saw him with it for the first time and noted the start took a few too many turns and was uneven sounding, slight smoke on startup and CE codes. I told him to get it in there now because it was kinda alarming how off it seemed to me.

The dealership he took it to tested compression and got 0 on #4. The car is bone stock so they have already replaced the piston. He got the car back and had already recieved a wastegate code he'd been seeing. The misfire code wasn't specifically caught with a CE tho.
they're doing another compression test on it and flashing it to the 12' ECU.

Update:

The code was the wastegate code, dealer went ahead and replaced the turbo but the code persisted.
He's been in touch with SOA and they shed more light on the situation as they had the car previously flagged at a dealership for heavy modifications. The orig owner attempted to sell the car at a Subaru dealer and the dealer wanted to charge money to revert to stock. The owner declined and thusly sold it to chevy dealer.

The only part SOA really indicated was a Aftermarket ECU.. They were going to swap it out for a factory unit. there may be other parts lingering he didn't mention but they will be removing that as well.

So I revert my claims this thing was stock.. it was modded incorrectly and no doubt abused.

I'm glad SOA is still seeing to take care of him.

[VicsSTi1288]

I just order a 2013 STi , and I live in Colorado . I was just wondering if the high altitude could cause the STi engine to run lean--- cause knock--- and then ultimately cause ring land failure?

Here in Colorado , the highest octane gas we can get is 91.

Would it be worth it to get it tuned , Cobb acessport stage 1 tune?

[freddy121389]

Originally Posted by VicsSTi1288

I just order a 2013 STi , and I live in Colorado . I was just wondering if the high altitude could cause the STi engine to run lean--- cause knock--- and then ultimately cause ring land failure?

Here in Colorado , the highest octane gas we can get is 91.

Would it be worth it to get it tuned , Cobb acessport stage 1 tune?

Dude you're in colorado, look into torqued performance, eric minehart does etune for wrx's (currently what i have on my car and i live in maryland) but im sure he can protune you. Torquedperformance.com, give him a call and see what he can do for you. The AP is an amazing tool but a protune can be achieved for the same price as the AP and you'll have better numbers and a safer tune that what the AP can produce.

[VicsSTi1288]

Ok cool!!! I'll check them out!!!

That's cool he did you the tune for you!!

How is your WRX ???

[whiteboy843]

08 sti.
27000 miles.
stage 2+.
smoke from the oil filler tube.
im sure its ringland failure.
i drive like a girl. got a lot of parts to take off before i take it to dealer. but i know im fxcked.

[baratinha]

i have a 2008 sti and cracked my piston like a year ago.... fixed under warranty cal # 4 cracked .... now my car went back to the dealer and i believe is the same problem .. was a white smoke come out of the exhaust and no power at all.... i got extended warranty but i dont know if the r gonna fix at this time tho .... cause now i have stage 2 on it with cobb eccessport .... anyways is anyway to avoid this **** from happen againg ??? cause even if the dealer don't pay for it im have to pay out of my pocket..


i was thinking of doing forged piston ,rods , ring and cams .... than i wanna see this brake again lol let m know plzzzzz

[Louie]

Originally Posted by baratinha

i have a 2008 sti and cracked my piston like a year ago.... fixed under warranty cal # 4 cracked .... now my car went back to the dealer and i believe is the same problem .. was a white smoke come out of the exhaust and no power at all.... i got extended warranty but i dont know if the r gonna fix at this time tho .... cause now i have stage 2 on it with cobb eccessport .... anyways is anyway to avoid this **** from happen againg ??? cause even if the dealer don't pay for it im have to pay out of my pocket..

i was thinking of doing forged piston ,rods , ring and cams .... than i wanna see this brake again lol let m know plzzzzz

I think the only prevention is buying a Mitsubishi

[the suicidal eggroll]

Originally Posted by baratinha

i have a 2008 sti and cracked my piston like a year ago.... fixed under warranty cal # 4 cracked .... now my car went back to the dealer and i believe is the same problem .. was a white smoke come out of the exhaust and no power at all.... i got extended warranty but i dont know if the r gonna fix at this time tho .... cause now i have stage 2 on it with cobb eccessport .... anyways is anyway to avoid this **** from happen againg ??? cause even if the dealer don't pay for it im have to pay out of my pocket..


i was thinking of doing forged piston ,rods , ring and cams .... than i wanna see this brake again lol let m know plzzzzz

Forged pistons are the answer. Rods are unnecessary unless you're looking for a lot of power, and cams are unnecessary unless you're looking for even more.

The stock hypocraptectic pistons on the WRX/STi are usually the issue, and swapping in forged slugs for a few hundred dollars fixes the problem. I don't know why people make such a big deal out of it...

[the suicidal eggroll]

Originally Posted by Louie

I think the only prevention is buying a Mitsubishi

I hope that was a joke...

[arf80]

From talking to various local shops (who are vendors on Nasioc), it's at least 2 to 3 grand for a shop to pull the motor, split the block and hone it for the new pistons, re install and reassembly, plus a few hundred for the pistons themselves. Even drop in pistons without splitting the block are over a grand in labor. Fingers crossed that I'll never need a motor.

[Boostedbob]

Ring land failure on cylinders #2 & #4 granted I was stage 2+ so it was just a matter of time. This was on 67k miles and I was stage 2 at 37k miles.

We know it will happen just know you have to pay to play. Now I'm on a built bottom end

[Sover]

Originally Posted by VicsSTi1288

I just order a 2013 STi , and I live in Colorado . I was just wondering if the high altitude could cause the STi engine to run lean--- cause knock--- and then ultimately cause ring land failure?

Here in Colorado , the highest octane gas we can get is 91.

Would it be worth it to get it tuned , Cobb acessport stage 1 tune?

So did you end up getting this car? What'd you do with the tune, interested to know looking for a tune in CO, Torqued Performance as mentioned later is moving to Portland

[roadtrip1098]

I traded in my 08 WRX when it started behaving badly (Smoking filler tube, smoking exhaust, ect). The last dyno was 410HP on it and I had been running it on stock internals with the aftermarket turbo, headers, DP, IC, and all other supporting mods for about 60,000 miles. The guy that ended up buying it got the extended "used car warranty" that the dealer offers. Motor blew 3 days after he bought it. Dealership went good on the motor, actually put an STi long block instead. The car was pretty tough though. If you look at the history, the ones with the ringland issues are usually ones that had the throttle hesitation/stalling issues that Subaru tuned out like the 07 STi. My 08 also had the stalling issue before it was protuned.

[myblusti]

might as well toss my name in the hat. actually ill give a breif story. i bought the car from a ford dealership. WRB 2010 hatch with the gold bbs's. feel in love with it before the test drive. if i hadnt it might have saved me some greif. the car looked pristine. however the car had an intake, and a turbo back system on it with no tune. drove the car off the lot didnt even make it to the house and the dash lit up. drove it back they said they fixed it and i got it back a couple days later. wouldnt you know it the same thing happened. drove it back again. this time they said they noticed some smoke from the exhaust. fixed the light and the head tech told me the turbo may be on the way out. drove it home and this time the light didnt come on for a another day. so at this point ive had the car for 3 weeks and have put almost 200 miles on it which is all from driving back and fourth from the dealer ship. this time they replace the turbo. im thinking yay me, new turbo all is well so i go about my buisness. the head tech also stats as im picking up the car that i should be keeping an eye on it as he beieves the previous owner was a n idiot and may have blown the rings but not bad enough for subaru to do anything yet. so now its been almost 2 weeks and im getting a small amount of smoke from exhaust and blowby out the filler cap. so its back in the shop and he's doing a compression and leakdown test. as soon as i get the numbers im calling ford and raising hell. as this is obviously going to kill the resale value and ive barely made one payment.

[V8sPFFF06sti]

The extreme irony of me posting this in this thread... if you need a perfect definition of irony this right here is it kids.

2008 STi
12,500K miles
Blouch 20G-XT
Turbo XS FMIC
Pro-Tuned - 350 awhp
(plus all supporting mods intake, exhaust, ect.)

[garudatwo]

I don't get what's ironic about that?