STI/WRX Owners Beware (oil pickup tube)

[disneyd]

The last week or two I noticed that my oil pressure dummy light would stay on about a second longer when starting the car. It would also sometimes flicker once right after it initially went off on startup. Other than that, it never came on at idle or any other rpm/load. It made me suspicious, so I dropped the pan last night. See what I found in the next post.

[disneyd]

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1390913701.652543.jpg (270.39 KiB) Viewed 4138 times

[disneyd]

This was on a 70k mile 2006 STI. The crack ran about 3/4 of the way around the tube. The pic was taken after I twisted it. As it came off the car it just looked like a hairline crack. I'm hopeful that it was able to maintain a decent pressure since it hadn't separated. Would the vacuum from the oil pump tend to try to suck the crack shut?

I didn't find any sparklies in the oil that came out and the car was running fine... no noises, oil consumption, boost loss, or power loss. So, hopefully I caught it in time.

What is really strange is that one of the baffle spot welds in the oil pan had also broken in two spots and dropped a 1/4" x 1/2" piece of the baffle into the bottom of the pan. It was way too big to have ever gotten through the pickup strainer so I'm not worried about that. Fortunately Grayson had the oil pan in stock, so I can get it back together tonight.

Oh, and stupidly, I've had a Killer B oil pickup tube on the shelf in the garage for a year or more. Waiting on whenever I had time to install it. I just bought it as insurance against what I heard was a very rare problem.

So, my point to this whole thread is... if you have a WRX/STI, get an aftermarket beefed up pickup tube and install it. Apparently this issue has been seen on 2004 through at least 2012 turbo'ed Subarus. Seems most prevalent on 2006 cars and Subaru hasn't changed the pickup design in 8 or 10 years.

[Wheelman_13]

I wonder what causes that? The typical Subaru drivetrain shudder over time?

[disneyd]

I don't think so. I think there is some sort of weird harmonic thing going on with the rotating assembly or the oil pump. Combine that with a weak oil pickup design (it is brazed together and .030 wall tube) and you get failure when the harmonics are right. At least that's my theory.

Oil pan is back on and waiting for the sealant to set. I cut the filter open and didn't find anything worrisome in it. I'll probably do an oil analysis in the near future to see if anything is going on.

[disneyd]

Drove it today and everything seems just peachy.

[thrdeye]

That's awesome. Although, part of me was wondering what someone like you might do were you to replace the engine in that car. A built motor can make about 500+ HP without too much work.

[disneyd]

How much can the stock drive train handle?

[thrdeye]

the axles are the weak spot i think. Don't hear about diff or transmission issues too much.

[black16g]

I've read about this issue and thought about going with the killer b setup. It's a pricey piece but nothing compared to a new engine. Seeing those pictures make me paranoid and I believe I'll be ordering one soon. How bad was the install? Did you have to raise the engine some?

[disneyd]

I did unbolt the motor mounts and raise it about an inch. Otherwise you can't get the pan off around the pickup and you have to drop/install the pickup and the pan as a unit. That's just insane... don't know why anyone would do it that way.

It's not a bad job, but I did it on a lift. The biggest pain was breaking the seal on the pan. You can't get around it with a putty knife at all with the exception of one corner. I got a putty knife in there and then wedged a screwdriver between the pan and the putty knife and twisted. Then it came off. The pan lip is pretty rigid and my approach didn't bend it at all.

The four bolts in the back of the pan, above the crossmember, weren't a big deal with a 1/4" swivel and socket. They went back in easy too (or I just got really lucky).

[Scoob]

the axles are the weak spot i think. Don't hear about diff or transmission issues too much.

Unless your first name is Greg and your last name is McCance...

[thrdeye]

5 speed in the fastndrunk car. STi 6 speed is a different story.

[disneyd]

I'll probably build it if it ever has the #4 piston ring land problem. Seems like that is mostly a 2008+ issue, but I know Gebbia and a few other autocrossers have had the issue on earlier cars.

I'm just glad I didn't have a catastrophic loss of pressure, as it would have most likely meant the heads and turbo were trash as well as the main bearings and whatever else.

I've seen some pretty gnarly pics of some failures where the pickup completely broke and misaligned at high rpm. Looked like a confetti bomb went off followed by a grenade.