Impreza 1999 Turbo Seized

[richardclive]

My Impreza seized up in Scotland a week ago. It had done 72,000 miles
and had been regularly serviced by Subaru dealers from new and had only
come back from being serviced five days before it broke down. The
garage has shown me the end cap and part of a conrod that had broken
and dropped into the sump pan. No oil pressure warning light came on
and the engine showed no signs of overheating before stopping. Earlier
I had noticed a metallic tinkling noise but had put that down to an
exhaust heat guard that I had had trouble with before. I was hoping
that somebody might have an idea as to why and how my engine should so
suddenly die! For those of you who don't know Scotland it is a country
crammed with police radar traps hidden around every bend! That is my
way of saying - I wasn't thrashing the car and was cruising well within
the 60mph speed limit! I am baffled, and so is the garage who say it
was just bad luck that it happened. Very expensive bad luck!

 

[Edward Hayes]

You mentioned the car was just recently serviced. What kind of service
and how many miles since the service?

 

[richardclive]

The car had only been about 170 miles after the service which had been
a small one - oil change and filter etc. When the car broke down I was
so pi..ed off I forgot to check the dipstick - which was rather silly
of me. Someone has suggested that an overfill of oil can be almost as
lethal as having no oil. What surprised me was that that no smoke or
steam appeared from the exhaust, and the engine looked externally
clean. The only sign of things being amiss inside was water coming
from the cooling overflow, although the engine didn't smell
particularly hot. I have had blown head-gaskets, had radiators leak
and other such nasties in the past(not Subarus!) so was surprised by
the apparent seizure without warning. Anyway, thanks for your interest.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

The car had only been about 170 miles after the service which had been
a small one - oil change and filter etc. When the car broke down I was
so pi..ed off I forgot to check the dipstick - which was rather silly
of me. Someone has suggested that an overfill of oil can be almost as
lethal as having no oil. What surprised me was that that no smoke or
steam appeared from the exhaust, and the engine looked externally
clean. The only sign of things being amiss inside was water coming
from the cooling overflow, although the engine didn't smell
particularly hot. I have had blown head-gaskets, had radiators leak
and other such nasties in the past(not Subarus!) so was surprised by
the apparent seizure without warning. Anyway, thanks for your interest.

Did the shop also service the coolant in any way? Does one plug have a
distinctly different appearance than the other 3? I'm thinking
internally blown head gasket. Though I think the '99s are more prone to
external leaks, may be a different year/switch in GB.

I dunno - could just be bad luck.

carl


Carl

 

[David Betts]

My Impreza seized up in Scotland a week ago. It had done 72,000 miles
and had been regularly serviced by Subaru dealers from new and had only
come back from being serviced five days before it broke down. The
garage has shown me the end cap and part of a conrod that had broken
and dropped into the sump pan. No oil pressure warning light came on
and the engine showed no signs of overheating before stopping. Earlier
I had noticed a metallic tinkling noise but had put that down to an
exhaust heat guard that I had had trouble with before. I was hoping
that somebody might have an idea as to why and how my engine should so
suddenly die! For those of you who don't know Scotland it is a country
crammed with police radar traps hidden around every bend! That is my
way of saying - I wasn't thrashing the car and was cruising well within
the 60mph speed limit! I am baffled, and so is the garage who say it
was just bad luck that it happened. Very expensive bad luck!

It certainly is, but they are probably right. I take it the car is not
'chipped'. The only low-mileage, catastrophic engine failures I have
ever hears of have been on chipped cars.

David Betts
(e-mail address removed)