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Anyone with an OEM blown turbo please post!


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Currently I (as many before) have a blown OEM turbo on my 2005 LGT with 58,000 miles (please see my other post for details: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=82761) that the dealership claims failed due to a lack of oil.

 

However this seems to be a very common fate to most Subaru owners, since the oil filter screen built into the factory oil feed banjo bolt at the cylinder head starves the turbo of oil and does not cause the oil pressure warning lamp to come on.

 

Now my purpose with this post is to hopefully gather a consensus of how many LGT owners have had their OEM turbo fail and what the cause of the failure was.

 

So please post the following.

 

Name: CHROSB

 

Make: 2005 2.5 Outback Limited

 

Mileage: 58K

 

Time Out Of Use: Not yet known

 

Problem And Likely Cause: Second turbocharger blown

 

Modifications: None

 

Submitted For Warranty Work (Yes/No): Yes

 

Reason Given For Denial (if applicable): Covered the first one, initially balking on this one - claiming lack of oil changes, low oil and the like

 

Your Story: First turbo started whining at about 35K. Dealer replaced before it blew, but only after a bunch of crap about me maintaining my own car and suggesting that my failure to do it caused the filter to plug. Second turbo blew without notice, and has done lots of engine damage. Dealer claims oil was 1.5 quarts low (it was, but because of what blew out of the turbo) and that it was filty because I failed to maintain the car(change the oil) regularly. BUNCH OF TOTAL CRAP. THE OIL WAS DIRTY BECAUSE OF THE FAILURE. I AM RELIGIOUS ABOUT CHANGING OIL AND DO SO MORE THAN EVERY 3K MILES. TEH OIL IN THE CAR WAS ABOUT 1K OLD! I AM NOT PUTTING UP WITH THIS, AND I WILL SUE SUBARU IF I NEED TO. THAT TURBO AND FILTER DESIGN IS OBVIOUSLY DEFECTIVE . . . PERIOD!

 

 

Mods - This is also posted in the turbo forum as well. Please do not delete. I'm trying to gather as much input as i can. Thank You

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My car shut off while driving down the high way and would not turn back on. Just replaced turbo last month and Subaru says I have to get a full engine replacement putting a hole in my pocket . Unfortunately, I have had way more problems than I ever intended to deal with. I'm going to have to part with it. I was just going to have to put my car up for wholesale but I figured I'd put it on here for cheap and see what happens. It's a 2005 Black GT limited. The car could be used as a parts car or the good engine party could be used. I have a cat back 3 inch GReddy exhaust, accessport, and 18 inch r-1 rims that are gunmetal black. I'm just going to throw a number up there of $5,000 for the car but if your interested we can talk more about it. Thanks for your help guys.

 

Ben

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Brian Tuominen

mileage: 70k

time out of use: going on 3 weeks

no mods

 

I have an 05 legacy gt wagon, my wifes car. xmas eve driving to my inlaws 2 hours north of Minneapolis, the speed starts to drop, its -10 degrees below 0. It drops to about 25mph and stabilizes. in limp mode about 25 miles from my destination. I finally get there and arrangev to have it towed. If soa does it it will cost amost $300. GEICO does it for about $20. the dealership in St. Cloud calls and asks fro proof of maintqainance records because the sticker in teh window from rthe 40k service is still there. I am not anal when it comes to keeping reciepts unless its for my bike. So here I am we have the exte\nded warranty and they will not do the repair. Im told the return oil line from thte turbo came off, but they won't tell me anything else. Except it will cost $2500 for just the turbo.

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Name:

 

Make: Legacy GT

 

Mileage: 59600

 

Time Out Of Use: 2 days

 

Problem And Likely Cause: Blown due to lack of oil

 

Modifications: N/A

 

Submitted For Warranty Work (Yes/No): Yes

 

Reason Given For Denial (if applicable): Failure to provide sufficient maintenance receipts

 

Your Story: Turbo started making a strange intermittent whooping sound. Took it in to the dealership to check out strange noise and get 60,000 mile maintenance. Said they could not duplicate problem. Thought it might be a fan or engine belt (that was replaced) and to bring back if problem persisted. Next day the turbo blew on the way to work. Called dealer and told symptoms. He said that I should drive it in. I asked if that would be wise since I was 20 miles away and the car was smoking really bad and sounded like crushed marbles in the engine. He said it's no problem as long as I don't engage the turbo while driving - the smoke is from turbo oil squirting on the engine. I called a tow truck anyway. As soon as I pulled up a mechanic came out of the garage saying "I knew it!" and that he told the service manager the turbo was shot. Then service manager came out and gave him a dirty look and took me inside. Said it's under warranty and not to worry about it. They shuttled me to work and then called me later to say they needed maintenance receipts. Said they needed proof of 15 oil changes and I said I could only provide 10 at best. So they made me pay. Picked it up and service manager said I might have future problems due to pieces of metal potentially getting in the engine. I said you'll have a serious problem on your hands if that's the case being that you told me to drive it in. He said "I know, didn't realize the turbo had blown that bad." I said give me my f'ing invoice and went to pay.

 

Truth is, I changed the oil around every 5,000 - 6,000 miles in so cal freeway conditions - so I figured it was my fault anyway. I just thought they would at least pay for the labor or something after totally wasting my time by not fixing it the first time and telling me to drive it after the turbo blew.

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Saw everyone's posts, pretty much describe my situation to a T.

 

CEL w/flashing cruise control light, followed by intermittent whooping sounds (turbo going down) and ultimately some grinding, rattling noise from motor (this only started in the parking lot of dealership so I'm hoping motor not damaged).

 

Dealership says no oil is the cause, puzzling to me since I am meticulous about getting oil changed every 3-3.5K and it was right at 3.3K since last.

 

Car has 70,347 and is not under warranty and I am the original owner. Have had all major maintenances (last one at 60K) at the dealership but most oil changes at Jiffy or Valvoline.

 

Do I have a leg to stand on, is it worth haggling the dealership and ultimately SOA if I have to?

 

Any and all advice appreciated. Thanks, Jerry

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Car has 70,347 and is not under warranty and I am the original owner. Have had all major maintenances (last one at 60K) at the dealership but most oil changes at Jiffy or Valvoline.

 

Do I have a leg to stand on, is it worth haggling the dealership and ultimately SOA if I have to?

 

Any and all advice appreciated. Thanks, Jerry

Looks like you answered your own question.

 

Why would you need to haggle or go to SOA?

Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!

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Make: Legacy GT

 

Mileage: 59600

 

Reason Given For Denial (if applicable): Failure to provide sufficient maintenance receipts

 

Said they needed proof of 15 oil changes and I said I could only provide 10 at best.

...

 

Truth is, I changed the oil around every 5,000 - 6,000 miles in so cal freeway conditions - so I figured it was my fault anyway. I just thought they would at least pay for the labor or something after totally wasting my time by not fixing it the first time and telling me to drive it after the turbo blew.

 

What year is your Legacy? Only 2006 and newer had OCI officially changed from 7500 to 3750 miles.

 

What oil have you used?

 

Krzys

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SubiGT, So I guess you are saying I'm SOL?

 

Reason I'm asking about negotiating with dealership/SoA stems from comments from folks posting to this list with same problem who are on/just off warranty. The comment from these folks was that they received a "one-time goodwill gesture" by SoA which paid for their new turbocharger unit (not labor) or some such defraying of the repair cost.

 

Also since apparently, this seems to be a design flaw of the motor (according to a number of posts on this list).

 

I really like this car and treat it quite well so am a bit shocked and disappointed at recent events.

 

-Jerry

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Saw everyone's posts, pretty much describe my situation to a T.

 

CEL w/flashing cruise control light, followed by intermittent whooping sounds (turbo going down) and ultimately some grinding, rattling noise from motor (this only started in the parking lot of dealership so I'm hoping motor not damaged).

 

Dealership says no oil is the cause, puzzling to me since I am meticulous about getting oil changed every 3-3.5K and it was right at 3.3K since last.

 

Car has 70,347 and is not under warranty and I am the original owner. Have had all major maintenances (last one at 60K) at the dealership but most oil changes at Jiffy or Valvoline.

 

Do I have a leg to stand on, is it worth haggling the dealership and ultimately SOA if I have to?

 

Any and all advice appreciated. Thanks, Jerry

 

 

Looks like you answered your own question.

 

Why would you need to haggle or go to SOA?

 

Well

 

It seems that JerryD maintained his car using schedule suggested/required by manufacturer.

I assume that he used oil approved by manufacturer (not hard to find oil that meets SOA requirement).

Nowadays customers expect 100K miles from properly maintained engines.

 

It does not hurt to ask SOA for help even as "one time goodwill" yadda yadda.

 

If it were me I would have called them and ask. I would mention that I am disappointed with lack of reliability of the engine and that next time I would probably not buy Subaru because of this.

 

 

Now to conspiracy theory.

 

Let's assume SOA is more concerned with CAFE than logetivity of their engines.

SOA also does not want to be perceived as "expensive to maintain" brand.

 

What could they do?

Specify oil that gives better milage (read thin oil) but may not protect engine as good as thicker oil would.

Specify oil change interval that is ok if thicker (maybe, dare I say, synthetic) oil was used but it dangerous if CAFE fulfilling, regular oil is used.

 

Just an opinion.

 

Krzys

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SubiGT, So I guess you are saying I'm SOL?

 

Reason I'm asking about negotiating with dealership/SoA stems from comments from folks posting to this list with same problem who are on/just off warranty. The comment from these folks was that they received a "one-time goodwill gesture" by SoA which paid for their new turbocharger unit (not labor) or some such defraying of the repair cost.

 

Also since apparently, this seems to be a design flaw of the motor (according to a number of posts on this list).

 

I really like this car and treat it quite well so am a bit shocked and disappointed at recent events.

 

-Jerry

 

ABSOLUTELY YOU FIGHT :argue: FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF REPAIR!!!:mad:

 

If you look through this whole thread you will see an earlier message that gives a link to a class action suit against VW regarding oil changes and turbos. If need be you contact the lawyers handling that suit and ask about the possibility of suing SOA. SOA will want to settle any claim before there is a legal precedent requiring them to fully warranty ALL turbo engines that have a turbo failure. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by fighting for coverage.

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Hi,

 

I'm a new owner of a 2006 Subaru Outback 2.5XT and after about 3000 miles of ownership I have a blown turbo at 68,000 miles. Does anyone have more information about the CARB emission related warranty? My car was sold in massachusetts and has an SULEV sticker (not sure if it has a CARB sticker - it's 100 miles away due to a breakdown during a roadtrip).

 

Previous owner did his own oil changes every 3000 miles (no records).

 

Ken

 

::UPDATE 12/19/08::

Warranty claim was approved as a one time good will gesture. All repairs to be performed by dealership. Additionally, to those who tout the "page 47 lack of receipts loophole", it only applies to 2.5i vehicles with a SULEV rating from the California Air Resources Board. However, for California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont; if your vehicle carries a CARB compliance sticker, your turbo is covered for 7 years or 70,000 miles as an emissions control device, and there are no options for SOA to deny warranty coverage based on lack of maintenance records, or even lack of maintenance period. This may be the one time CARB comes in useful for anyone.

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Hey, my name is Ben Flury and I got a blown turbo around 60k miles. Subaru refuses to pay for it bc they said there was a lack of oil in the turbo. I had changed my oil every 3,000 to 6,000 miles. I used mobil 1 synthetic mostly every time. I used to work at Pep Boys so there was about a year where I changed my own oil. There is a 16,000 mile gap in maintenance records. They will not accept the fact that I changed the oil myself and said that it was my fault for not maintaining the car properly. I have had a cracked valve cover previously, which Subaru claims that they have fixed, but when I took it into another shop, they discovered that it was broken. Subaru also told me that my engine is burning oil and that the Turbo blew because of that reason, lack of oil to the turbo.
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ABSOLUTELY YOU FIGHT :argue: FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF REPAIR!!!:mad:

 

If you look through this whole thread you will see an earlier message that gives a link to a class action suit against VW regarding oil changes and turbos. If need be you contact the lawyers handling that suit and ask about the possibility of suing SOA. SOA will want to settle any claim before there is a legal precedent requiring them to fully warranty ALL turbo engines that have a turbo failure. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by fighting for coverage.

 

Contacted SoA cust.serv.rep.; of course it's all my fault, because I did not properly maintain the car hence the turbo blew (the rep. confirmed this by calling dealer who's working on fixing the car and who told him there was insufficient oil in the motor). Predictably, the rep absolutely unwilling to entertain the idea that a design flaw (banjo bolt/OCI issue) starved turbo caused it to blow and that is the reason there is inusfficient oil in motor. Chicken or the egg arguement. Sound familiar?

 

Even though I have 10e6 things I'd rather be doing, I will be aggravated with myself for a long time to come if I don't do something about this so am going to follow through on this suggestion to contact lead counsel for the Audi/VW suit. Drafting letter and will call them ASAP. I suppose it will be worthwhile to cc SoA and dealer.

 

Meanwhile, tomorrow I pay through the nose to get my car out of the shop...

 

-Jerry

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Fight it. SOA needs to stand behing their cars, or quit selling FI cars.

 

I need to look it up, but there is a letter from SOA to EPA explaining high rate of turbo failures on 05 Legacy/Outbacks. Turbo failures spitting oil into cat obviously damage them, so by law they were required to report abnormal failure rate to EPA.

 

Could be a good supporting document.

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