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'16 Crosstrek dead at 54k miles


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My mom let me know her '16 Crosstrek was running like crap when she started it one morning and had a repetitive chirping noise from the engine.. I looked at it and could not even get it started. Compression lost on at least one cylinder and the starter was laboring on the up stroke. Had enough oil in it. Told her to call dealer and have it towed.. Pretty sure some of the valve train came apart, read a couple complaints of cam followers dropping out and causing a mess on #4. Either way it's at the dealer, and for sure under warranty although they are not admitting anything yet ( they are looking at it when they open Monday )

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You have to get back to us when you have specific information.  We need the codes for example.  If the compression test was done correctly, then the valves are shot on at least one cylinder.  But how could they have failed?  No way to figure it out with information provided. 

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How did you determine lost compression?  Did you do a compression test?

 

And what do you mean "starter laboring on the upstroke?  You do realize that there is ALWAYS 2 pistons on an "upstroke"? One compressing, one exhausting.  And when those start to go down, the others are coming up........SOOO.......

 

Not sure that saying "its laboring on the upstroke" is descriptive of anything....not accurately anyhow.  I am skeptical that an engine with 54k miles would suddenly lose compression.

 

Let us know what the dealer says when they do some actual testing.

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I didn't test anything. you can hear that it had lost compression on 1 cylinder from how it was turning over, and the fact that when running it had a skip. Something pretty bad has gone wrong internally.. Since it's under warranty I did not want them to void it for any reason, and had her call them and have it towed.. I found a thread on the XV forums about a Crosstrek's FB20 having cam followers dropping out causing all sorts of carnage with the camshafts and I'm pretty positive that's what happened..

 

And by laboring on the up stroke, you can hear it skip compression on a cylinder, then right after that it's laboring like something is seriously binding inside.. I wish I could check but it's up to the service department.. 6k more and it woulda been SOL, so it's good it happened now.

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 I found a thread on the XV forums about a Crosstrek's FB20 having cam followers dropping out causing all sorts of carnage with the camshafts and I'm pretty positive that's what happened..

 

Ughhh.......

 

Well i guess that's possible.  Why did they revive that miserable design from the EA82 era?

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I said cam follower, because that is what I was thinking, but I looked again and it was the rockers fallen right off. http://www.subaruxvforum.com/forum/engine-drivetrain/64386-fb20-failure-follow-up.html

 

What's weird is that while it is just under 1 quart low it was within the 7,500 mile oil change interval SOA requires but is just past due her normal scheduled  by a few hundred miles. This engine has never used oil so the fact it's now 1qt low is suspicious, but it wasn't run out of oil for sure

Edited by matt167
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  • 2 weeks later...

Dunno. They put a brand new cylinder head with all new parts on it. They did not say exactly what went wrong to cause the valve spring to free itself. Service writer initially said it went through the cover, but the work order said it had gotten mangled in the camshaft and lost compression on #4, which explains the chirping. Getting a brand new cylinder head would suggest a casting defect in the original I would think... Either way, it actually failed again right after she picked it up. 1/2 way home ( 45 min drive ) is when it started ticking, and it was hammering when she dropped it off again. The starter didn't sound quite right from the start but  the car was picked up after service hours anyway,

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wow. 

 

 it actually failed again right after she picked it up. 1/2 way home ( 45 min drive ) is when it started ticking, and it was hammering when she dropped it off again.

 

I'd first guess the first and second failure are both related.  what ever caused, or resulted from, the first failure precipitating the second.  

 

 

 Getting a brand new cylinder head would suggest a casting defect in the original I would think..

Maybe, who knows.  shops routinely replace parts, or assemblies, that can be repaired, particularly dealers.  i wouldn't assume too much from a part replacement.  like fairtax said it's good practice and there's quite a few reasons they may have chosen that. 

Edited by idosubaru
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I've had bad experiences with East Coast dealerships.

 

They WANT your treat cars with 60k plus miles as "high mileage" and "old" and will purposefully not do good jobs, and then pitch the idea of "trading in" for the new model as a better option.

 

Dealt with this with a PA dealer "reflashing" the TCU software on a perfectly running car (reflash was done without customer knowledge or approval while car was there for remote start install)

 

After Reflash, trans would not shift, and solenoids in the trans were fried.  TCU and Valve body had to be replaced to the tune of $3500!  

 

Dealership tried to get my cousin to "trade in" and finance new model.......The car was 7 years old, but only had 64K miles, AND WAS PAID OFF already.  I got SOA involved and SOA covered 1/2 the repair cost......still my cousin was out $1700......that was a damn expensive remote start.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, dealer was done with it. work order states camshaft was gouged ( so that would be technician error ), so they R&R'd the intake camshaft... STILL making noise. Service dept was actually closed with only one of the young ladies there to get the keys, so everyone there would be barking up the wrong tree... Bottom line is I'm thinking the only sensible repair is a new complete long block. who knows how bad metal filings got in the bearings. I know being in the valve cover it's probably not a problem but it could be. Either that or it's a pretty solid lemon law case for the state of NY

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They did all that and installed brand new heads and everything except cams the first time in. Then when it went back for valve rapping they found the intake cam scored and just replaced it. Pretty obvious technician error right there. He either missed it, ignored it or assembled it wrong. She told them if they don't just replace the long block at this point, she will pursue lemon law. Needless to say they are at least being very nice.

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