Under cover melted, now what?

[Val Demar]

2010 LGT. Drove it for 6 hours straight last Sunday, hasn't been driving it since. Looked under the car today to discover the front under cover melted. Seems like an exhaust leak, if I were to guess from looking at the diagram it is leaking from under the turbo inlet gasket, I guess I should feel lucky the car hasn't burned in the middle of nowhere.

 

I had the timing belt done not long time ago at a dealer, and shortly after I noticed new noises coming from the engine bay, nothing major but noticeable with windows down driving next to walls or structures. It sounded like a bearing starting to go, so I thought maybe the alternator or the AC compressor will fail soon, but I now realized could have been this leak. I read the turbo needs to be moved around on these engines during timing belt replacement. Could the dealer mess something up in the process? In the past I did have multiple issues with them forgetting to properly attach various things, fortunately those were just relatively minor cosmetic issues, but who knows maybe they forgot to torque the flange bolts properly this time.

 

What harm to the car could have this leak done apart from the ruined under cover? Should I be worried about turbo lines being burned? Any idea how much $$$ am I looking to get it fixed?

 

 

[stewdogg]

The turbo doesn't get disturbed when doing the timing belt.

 

Do you have a check engine light or is the exhaust louder than normal?

 

There is supposed to be a heat shield where you see the headers in the pic. I imagine that is your culprit. Just skip the heat shield and plastic skid plate and go with an aluminum Primitive racing skid plate. I got rid of my rusty heat shield and now just run the Primitive skid without any fires.

 

http://get-primitive.com/skidplates/112-front-skid-plate-2010-2012-legacy-gt.html

 

Seems like they don't carry the cheaper/thinner plate anymore. I got the 3/16" when they offered the 1/4" one anyway.

 

https://parts.wildesubaru.com/showAssembly.aspx?ukey_product=49251429&ukey_assembly=6021266

 

16183 and 44643A is what you would need to put it back to stock.

Edited July 6, 2019 by stewdogg
adding links

[Val Demar]

I did think something was missing there. No CEL and no excessive noise, so yeah likely not a leak after all. I just looked at the timing belt job invoice, it lists 2x exhaust manifold gaskets 14038AA000, for some reason they decided to change them at the time they they worked on the timing belt, so they definitely had to muck with the exhaust manifold to get those in. I did notice some signs of recent work on the turbo exhaust cover when I changed oil last time, so they were definitely working in that area. Wish I had realized the heat shield was missing at that time. Given my history of mishaps with them I have a bad feeling they just forgot to attach the heat shield. As far as I know no one has ever touched that area on the car since new, and I couldn't just lose the heat shield. I guess it was fine for driving around town, but at highway speeds and frequent passing in 5th and sometimes 4th gear for 6 hours, it did heat things up considerably more.

 

There is some blackening of the manifold which made me think exhaust gases were escaping from around the turbo inlet flange, but I now realize it would have been very noisy if that were the case.

 

Edited July 6, 2019 by Val Demar

[stewdogg]

That's weird that they did anything to the exhaust manifold unless it was leaking. I would find another repair shop if they are doing some questionable things with your car.

 

That heat shield is notorious for rusting to bits and falling apart.

[Val Demar]

That's weird that they did anything to the exhaust manifold unless it was leaking. I would find another repair shop if they are doing some questionable things with your car.

 

That heat shield is notorious for rusting to bits and falling apart.

 

Not in Southern California I would think. Plus, if they were removing it 4 months ago and the heat shield was falling apart they should have notified me. If it was missing already they should have notified me as well. I'll head there on Monday and make some stink about it, we'll see what happens. I've been thinking about another repair shop, but they are all expensive here and probably lacking experience working with these cars, at least these guys fix their messes no question asked.

[cww516]

I know there's supposed to be some sort of a heat shield blanket thing stuck to the engine side of that under tray, is there any evidence of that still being there? Mine's soaked in oil and trying its level best to fall apart, but I haven't noticed the tray melting or anything. The heat shield that bolts to the headers and turbo is pretty swiss-cheesed, too, so I don't know that that'd be it. If you're suspecting a leak and have a way to get under the car with the engine running, you could hold a lit candle near any joints in the exhaust, and that'd make it pretty obvious if there's a leak.

[Val Demar]

The shield is just not there, no traces of it falling off like remaining bolts, etc. This is what you get for paying $135/hr.

 

This is how it's supposed to be:

 

And mine with the melted plastic cover off:

[Val Demar]

This is what I referring to when I said turbo needs to be moved around when replacing the TB. Sounds like you don't have to do it, but dropping the exhaust manifold make things whole lot easier. This would explain why they decided to replace the exhaust gaskets.

 

https://legacygt.com/forums/showpost.php?p=5863110&postcount=17

 

The turbo models timing belts are quite a bit more labor intensive than the 2.5i EJ253, because the additional turbo piping, dual overhead cams and one of the water pump bolts is practically impossible to because the downpipe block it. (so you have to remove the downpipe which is easier to just drop the turbo and exhaust manifold/downpipe assembly together.) The are a couple thread that discuss the GT timing belt DIY procedure.

[dgoodhue]

The turbo doesn't get disturbed when doing the timing belt.

 

If the water pump is being replace it can be. Either the downpipe has to be remove of the turbo assembly dropped down to access the water pump pipe and the heatshield bolt.

[Val Demar]

If the water pump is being replace it can be. Either the downpipe has to be remove of the turbo assembly dropped down to access the water pump pipe and the heatshield bolt.

Yes, the water pump was replaced, I should have mentioned it.

[DrD123]

the undercover thing on my car also has some insulation on it to protect the plastic - it doesn't look like that is on yours, either. Not sure if they started doing that in later years, though (my car is a 12, vs. the 2010)

[Val Demar]

I am wondering if the temps there were high enough to ignite the plastic, the front of the hole looks somewhat charred.

[Sarang]

FWIW, I second the primitive racing plate. You can also get the plastic under cover from the 2.5i models and it helps to seal everything up. (that's what I have)

 

The confrontational part of me wants you to take it back to the dealer and tell them that they're the ones who took it off so they owe you a new heat shield and plastic under tray. The charge for the exhaust manifold gaskets is your proof.

[Val Demar]

FWIW, I second the primitive racing plate. You can also get the plastic under cover from the 2.5i models and it helps to seal everything up. (that's what I have)

 

The confrontational part of me wants you to take it back to the dealer and tell them that they're the ones who took it off so they owe you a new heat shield and plastic under tray. The charge for the exhaust manifold gaskets is your proof.

Yeah, no way I'm letting them off the hook

[Val Demar]

Stopped by the dealer this morning. They will take care of it, but they also think the heat shield was missing before I brought the car in as the bracket in front of the turbo is broken and they say the threaded holes where the bolts supporting the shield go in are rusted inside which indicates they did not remove the bolts. I have no problem giving them the benefit of the doubt, but I had this car for over 2 years now and drove more than 20,000 miles since I got it including this same route where it happened, so my side of the story has some weight too. I don't race it, just normal driving. Regardless, even if the shield was missing it should have been noticed, so I have the right to be mad about it.