I am proud to say I have owned my STi since October ‘06 and have properly (respectably) beat the crap out of it since day one, and to this day it is still running the stock block and stock turbo at 135k being protuned at 300whp since 40k
@@tyree9055 ha my saab 9-3 has 205k miles and everything is original. Just do it respectfully and change your oil. People a dumb these days and cars die too young these days. I love Subaru and it will definitely be my next vehicle. It will be my offroader.
“Subaru’s are great cars. You just have to rebuild the entire oil system if you want to join your friends for a spirited drive in the blue ridge mountains.”
The audacity to say that it's your fault for a part failing because you don't know about it being a problem is crazy. You'd expect that the car would be fine like the others you've driven before right? How is that Donut's fault?
@@Boostedm3nace"inspired" key right there. I do agree though. Build a rally car for the masses but leave it plenty of ways to fail when driving in an enthusiastic manner? Sounds like cutting corners for profit.
I’ve been working on vehicles for years mail cars and other customers cars …the oiling system ..junk unless u are a guy who loves to constantly work on his car lol
My understanding is that the WRX was maximizing its stock parts already, while the STi was “over engineered” and could handle the performance adders. Which is why I wondered why they went for the model that was already maxed in it’s stock form, without complimentary mods.
@@jamesmaddison4546 The WRX 5-speed (indeed the GC8 era STi 5-speed) is already at the max. isn't it? The gears are physically very narrow. Hence why it is recommended to fit an aftermarket gearset, like the straight cut gears my GC8 had, or fit the 6-speed from the GDB-onwards STi.
My guess would be since every one modded or destroyed they’re sti’s the wax was the best option especially price wise. Your plotting to spend a fuck ton to get a unmolested sti. But that doesn’t really matter because the word is still hot garbage
Only the transmission. Not much different with the STI in terms of internals. I think they run a different crank and different injectors. But still, both need some things. Cylinder 4 cooling mod baffled pan oil pickup air oil separator etc etc etc
I usually hear people speak about Hondas being the cars that handle abuse. "That old Honda may be beat up, and it might not sound so nice, but it'll take it like a champ and at least run."
20 minutes @ 2,000-3,000 rpm is all you need to break in cams. Everything Mr. Subaru explains confirms that Subarus are very sensitive. AMS will tell you the same.
What break in period? I spent 10 years as a dynamics development engineer for an OE. I probably took 40 cars, brand new from the plant with 1-5 miles, and put 15k on them, with no oil change, and basically at WOT at a handling pad for all those miles. Never once had an engine failure. You know how the cars show up at the dealer with 10-15 miles? Thats cause the car goes on a rolls dyno on the line and they do WOT pulls with less than 60 seconds on the engine to check everything before it even makes it off the line.
@Bad Investment Builds there are many rebuilt engines that require a break-in period. There are many factory engines that suggest a break-in period. There are many variables that may lead to an engine requiring or not requiring one. And, in this case, Donut Media media mentioned one being suggested for this particular build. I would listen to the builder/manufacturer first.
Subaru are very reliable. They're always in top 10 reliability rankings. And beat most euro brands. Maybe you're just deaf or something, or you don't understand the difference between driving a car legally on the road, like a road car, versus tracking or racing a car, thus a race car.
@@Jez4prez1 let’s face it a boxer engine is no where near reliable as a k20 Honda engine I can drive the fuck out the k20 and still be fine hence true reliability now if you need to drive things a certain way and upgrade things it’s not factory reliability
@@victorgarcia8503 k20's get upgraded to fuck, don't lie. Subaru's and Honda's, stock vs stock, on the street, are actually very similar in rankings etc. You're just biased and probably fall for youtube memes or get all you info from youtube comments sections.
@@Theunrealbrettg No one buys a WRX expecting it to be a race car, unless they have a serious brain deficit. And the same thing applies to any car / brand in similar price ranges. Just because "car journalists" flog the crap out of every test car they are given and perform irrelevant tests half the time pretending everything is a race car, even family SUV's etc, doesn't make it so. Don't fall for that crap, and don't treat your car the same way either, regardless of what brand you have. 99%+ of cars on the road, including the WRX, are literally econo cars made and sold for public driving on the roads. The thing is, Subaru also have heritage in racing, and therefore have decades of R&D for it, hence the EJ can be built into a race motor. But that is the key term there, *built*. EJ's have immense aftermarket support and development, for essentially every component in the engine you can think of. If you want to race one, you need a built motor. It's not complicated. Race teams and professional builders have no trouble knowing any of this. Yet Joe Dotards on youtube never seem to understand this. This is definitely not a Subaru only thing either. This is really just a car thing. Basic car knowledge. Most car brands have done some form of motorsports in one capacity or another, and you aren't going to buy cars from those brands and expect them to be race cars, especially so depending on price range (for example if in the econo car segment, versus say a 'top end Porsche made and sold for $200k from factory specifically designed for track use'). The only leeway I'll give people, is that perhaps Subaru motorsport was too iconic, and one can argue it has even worked against them (attracting too many rally wannabes who have no idea about anything, compared to other brands - but you don't need to look far to see it's the same for lots of other brands also, BMW's in Europe for example, etc).
Lets be real. Some of this is on Donut and some on Subaru. Regardless of information being out there, the oil system was/is a bad design. Did Subaru really think a WRX wouldn't be tracked or pulling Gs?
I've seen many ej engines spin bearings on road courses. Always though it was a poor oil supply issue. Thank you for clarifying the causes and fixes for the failure points.
Pretty sure this is how my outback died. It is 2014, was going up a hill at about 90 mph, fairly steep incline, spun a bearing within 5-10 secs up the hill. Only had 94k miles on the engine. Just completely absurd this kind of thing should happen to what is a very good car over something so trivial.
I’m a tractor/equipment/light/heavy duty truck mechanic and I’m heavily involved in diesels as I’ve loved building diesel pickups since I was young. I’ve never seen the point in hating on brands except just jokingly. Every brand has goods and bads. Every mechanic has preferences me personally I hate working on GM products and I pick and talk my trash but they make their vehicles for the people who like them and it obviously works because they all sell
Ya but maybe ppl buy them cause most of them are cheap and convenient as they are domestic cars and parts are available pretty much at every local part store. With regards however to GM having good cars that's a HELL NO!
@Michael Rearick from my experience working on vehicles fords are typically solid chevy/gmc aren't terrible usually the duramax are a pain though and well dodge are ok if the body holds together and you can keep front end parts in them
Im a small time mechanic and i Find chevys are less of headache than a ford but i find fords drive and perform better in my experience. Owning Hyundais and volvos I hate imports because they are very sensitive and are stupid annoying to work on
yeah, I used to watch that channel back in the day, but they've gone full sh!thead since then it seems. I guess they've been smoking a lot of it since it went legal, and it killed their last brain cell. Proud stupidity. They can't drive for sh't either.
@@matthewklein9225 They have an oil pressure switch that throws the pressure light at about 7psi. Ideally the light should come on around 15psi minimum
I think Donut illustrated a good lesson, be knowledgeable about the platform you're getting into. If you just buy a car and start randomly modifying it for power, or try to thrash it, there's a good chance it will cause issues. Most cars CAN be reliable if you maintain them properly, as much as the community loves to shit on BMW's, Subarus, VW's, a lot of it is poor maintenance and planning.
@@JABelms I don't watch Donut Media, but quite a lot of people do Honda K24 swaps, rev them to 8000rpm (even though the maximum safe rpm is 7500rpm) and add boost to 400-450hp *and* yet it still seems to be a while before the engines break, lol!
My 03 VW gti was stage 2 ko4 with 150k with every bolt on possible and I floored it every day at every red light and it lasted me for 4 years even after I crashed it with no issues other than me doing water pump timing belt for peace of mind. My sisters bf had a newer 2014 wrx and modded it and his was knocking in a couple months after he modded it and he sold it. His was slightly faster than the gti I had but obviously wrx are not reliable bc he’s a mechanic and I hardly even changed oil and my gti was a tank
@@xaphan8581 The difference is that the Subaru has a boxer engine. They were always designed for a specific use case and either should remain stock, or you have to change quite a bit. I mean, the engines that are reliable from VW are basically R36, R32 engines, which were small iron-cast V6 engines, originally designed to be Diesel engines with far thicker engine walls. Honda/Toyota basically remained with iron-cast engines until the last few years when they changed to aluminum. Subarus are reliable too, if you buy the right engines. The Levorg petrol boxers that had a timing chain instead of a belt literally lasted, with the correct oil change for the CVT and engine, for 200,000 miles without any issues. Also, I've never heard a complaint from Legacy or Outback users, most likely because they do not beat sh*t out of the car.
I'm a mechanic... so I get it. But... I can think of a hundred cars that could be taken and "thrashed" without needing to replace the whole oiling system with "race parts". And you mean to tell me that all the Kias and Hyundais and Toyota and Chevys that happen to have factory baffled pans... have "race parts" on them from the factory?. No... just better engineering.
I think donut did a great job showing what happens when you approach a niche vehicle without tons of niche knowledge. Kind of like how a lot of people blow up rotaries or even import GTR owners. Those cars aren’t simple and they aren’t built to throw tons of hp out of the box consequence free. You really gotta truly love those cars and explore every aspect of what could go wrong and accept the challenge before buying them.
@@dietznutz1 I don't care how many cars they have built, everyone has access to Google. Anyone can look up what are common issues with any car, and get an answer in like 20 minutes max (if you want to dive into forums). They're more just generic influencers then actual car guys at this point imho
@@istvanlorinczi2817 not every niche answer is on google and if you don’t already know there’s a lot of wrong info on the internet even common beliefs everyone repeats that are wrong. I’ve built several cars and a lot of it comes down to experience and trial and error and seeing for yourself how things work.
I'm actually glad you posted this video. You're forgetting that there are another group of us out here that aren't for, or against Subaru, but are just trying to get the truth about these machines. Good content 👍
The fact that these engines are this old and so many people know about these issues and still after all these years, Subaru has still not fixed any of them is MIND BOGGLING.
It is such a joy to watch your content. I have a younger nephew that went out and purchased the exact same crosstrek that I own (2018). It is beat up, parts falling off, etc. The A/C no longer works, extra LED lights all over it. He is the kinda guy that wears flannel shirts and sits in parking lots with his other crosstrek buddies talking about motor swaps, steering wheel swaps, etc but doesn't understand the value of 3k-5k oil changes and maintenance. Your content is top notch. thanks!
Although I agree that knowledge of the vehicle and how to upgrade it is important, the other vehicles they had on HiLow also had what you called "street" parts and they didn't have those dramatic issues. Also what can you expect would happen on older vehicles with unknown maintenance history.
I agree, it’s like he’s saying the wrx has bad parts and shame on Donut for not knowing about all of them. More like it should be shame on Subaru for not making quality parts in the first place. Also he says certain parts are not meant to be raced on. Is the wrx not marketed as a sports car? I’d think a car marketed as such should be able to be taken to the track in stock form. Long story short, I don’t think the guys at Donut should get as much flak as this guy is giving them
Especially the Tacoma, that thing was built like a tank, stock engine and stock transmission even over a thousand pounds of weight on hi-car with how much accessories they put on it lol.
I rented a Subaru, once. Had 8500 miles on it. Got 34 miles into the trip, before it blew a head gasket. Came across this video, wanted to hear your take on it. I understand every car has its issues, but you explained a bunch of reasons why a Subaru is unreliable. Paired with all the blown head gaskets on the internet, plus my experience with a blown head gasket in a Subaru, I think you have to deal with all the unreliability of a Subaru to understand how to keep it from being unreliable.
this exactly. I'm not an expert, but it seems like the reasons these subarus tend to have issues is many of the engines are turbocharged, the engines tend to be harder to work on diy because the heads are hard to access, and the oil maybe cant drain back as easily to the sump because its flat. It also doesnt help that the people that tend to own sti's and wrx's tend to hoon them. there i said it...
Subarus are unreliable either way. There's plenty of engines that can survive a beat down before the "break in period" and still be perfectly fine. Why go through all the Hussle of a boxer that cost more on maintenance than a standard reliable v6, I6, or V8
I'm pretty sure they mentioned in the last or pre-last video of the series that they 'obviously changed their oil pan/system in the beginning' because like a gazillion people wrote that in the comments in the first video when the first engine broke down, maybe check that video as well for more details on that
Great video! I have an ‘02 wagon since ‘01. Stage 1 tune. Motor went to 176k then burned an exhaust valve. Still had hone crosshatch in cylinders! One rod bearing was down a few layers. Early cranks had less oiling holes for rods. 85k into the replacement oem short block- so far runs nice, oil doesn’t burn or get that dirty in the 5-6k intervals. Run Mobil 1 10w30 or 5w30 since new. Appreciate the oil pickup, baffle, windage tray advice! Tech opted to reuse original oil pump… should have that checked/replaced. Love the car generally! Handles like a sports car, great for snowy trips, practical aside from so-so mpg.
This is why I told my sister to never buy a used wrx from anyone. Even with a clear carfax history the engine generade after a week of owning it. People abuse these cars and don't care what happens to the next person in line. Like the man said, if you take care of them they will last you. I've owned Subarus. 1 05 Impreza RS, 3 Outbacks, 96,99, 05. 2010 Tribeca. Now a 2019 Subaru Ascent.
@@NotAdamSnider Subaru people tend to always buy Subaru. I got a Impreza and I love it so much! I’m currently in the process to bribe my mom to buy a 2023 ascent.
@@NotAdamSnider I was at a Buick GMC/ Subaru dealership in NYC. I was trained by all 3 and notice the Subarus were growing, (back in 02-04) So that is where passion grew for them. I did take a break from when I heard about the CVTs. But Mr Subaru 1387 changed my mind on them and my 2019 Ascent is a great buy. I had a 04 GMC Envoy XL with 408,000 miles on it before the tranny blew.
Thank you for confirming not to by a WRX. My Corvette did not need engine mods just to do a few track days. Yes , engine break-in is crucial, but your pointing out plenty of issues that should be addressed by the factory.
You shouldn't have to rebuild your oiling system and replace your transmission just to take a car on a couple of laps on a track. The way you defend this engine while saying all you have to do is change all these parts and replace the transmission and they're perfectly reliable is just stupid.
If you want to go to the track, get a Honda not a Subaru. You’ll save yourself from headaches and most importantly track time. I’m glad Donut made a video about tracking Subarus since it’s the exact experience I had with Wrx’s and Sti’s vehicles. I just went broke and became depressed. After switching to a 350Z and Honda civic si (8th gen), I never had engine problems for the past 4 years 🙏🏼 If you are a subi owner, please review this video and take precaution. Oil starvation kills EJ motors
Sounds a lot like you're saying "Subarus are piles of shit that can't go on track without extensive modifications to their basic running gear" which is pretty much what donut concluded lol
My take away was: They didn't break in the engine (Obviously bad, you have to do that) but then the rest was, they didn't change several parts with aftermarkets upgrades. Parts like the oil pans, intakes and oil pumps and simple fragile gearboxes. So if you were comparing cars in your mind (which i'm sure their doing of their experiences) you would still be justified in your bad experiences with these cars. I think its all well and good that these deficiencies with the cars are well documented and information is available online, but its no defence for the car or brand to say "you should have known those designs are bad" "Its your fault for driving them fast" I didn't know anything about the oil issues in the WRX and when I was thinking of buy one, I 100% would have loved to take it to a track day a few times in ownership. I would be salty if the factory designs caused the car to fail and the response was "You should have known to replace the oil pan" Still love the cars though, thats not going to change
Couldn't have said it better. They are criticizing Donut for "not taking into account oem deficiencies" like, bro the thing shouldnt be SO DELICATE. Its not bad its just they didnt do properly break in using rotella oil, a baffled pan, an improved pickup, an air oil separator, a better tune, an upgraded radiator, an extra catch can and so on.. "3k in upgrades just so it doesnt blow up after 2 laps".
I just want to thank you for educating me on the brand! I watch a lot of your videos and had before I purchased one. I ended up getting a 23’ sport crosstrek and I’m thrilled! Thank you for concise information on the Brand!
theres 3 versions of the oilpan and pickup 08 up pan pickup ave deeper pan and pickup tend to holdup better noticed one new thing on new va sti motors finding oilpumps over pressure valve binds and stuck in recerculate at low rpm
Donut has done this type of thing before and not really had these problems with a 350z. The oiling issues, only the screws backing out on the oil pump concern me as far as reliability is concerned. But in all reality these engines seem to eat head gaskets on stock engines right around 100k, but that's really about all Ive actually seen. Also if that little accident starved the motor enough to ruin a main bearing, shame on Subaru, I've seen way worse.
They did it with 2 350Z’s and neither the stock VQ’s or junkyard LS or brand new crate LS blew up even after adding turbos and making way more power than the subaru with zero break in. And they used them for drifting which has them bouncing off the rev limiter most of the time. This guy has severe mental issues trying to blame donut
Lol you’re so full of sh*t. It’s the NA engines that are known to blow gaskets, that true. The turbo engines don’t have that as a “common” thing. Yeah, modified, as in getting a bigger turbo, engines do tend to blow head gaskets.
I've owned many of these cars over the years. I work at the Indiana Plant and have since it opened. Our company is continuously dogged by TFL , Motortrend on and on. I also have never had a failure with mine . There are TOO MANY stories at our plant about horrible mistakes made at quick lubes / owner abuse and etc. I work in the Body Maint. Dept. and I'm here to tell you these cars are built like tanks compared to their competition. I worked on the Toyota line when it was here. Camry is built like a beer can compared to the Legacy. People hate on the Ascent but love the KIA and HYUNDAI >>WTF ?? Mr. Subaru if yer ever interested in a plant tour / let us know.
Proud owner of a 4S4 VIN here :) Subaru is the only Japanese brand I'm confident in buying one of their cars made in America. My 2005 Outback XT is at 400,000km and still going strong thanks to the work you guys did building it way back then !
One important missing info: in the beginning of the finally video they specify that they installed baffled oil pans in both cars after the first engine died. But still, they should have monitored the oil pressure.
I believe they reused the oil pans in all of the engines, which ideally shouldn’t be done if there was ever metal pieces in the oil system. It’s impossible to tell if you’ve cleaned all the pieces out before reinstalling
I don't know...I have my 06 STI at 151k miles... still going strong - original engine, turbo and clutch, also sees redline daily. Been to track several times, front gold Brembos have turned into brown-bos. I do burn 1 qt or so every oil change (3k miles) depending on the oil. Other than typical maintenance, the ones that went bad are - all four struts (replaced with coil overs), power steering pump, radiator, turbo inlet pipe, turbo up-pipe and had a leak on the valve cover gaskets. Not sure how many of these were due to the time at the track. Yes the maintenance is more than a typical Japanese vehicle, but but not too bad.
Tbh they all are similar issues with my (200km ej207). Think they are just common issues that anyone with Google and a brain can identify and fix. But most people just want to trash their rides and blame the manufacturer 😅
I’m not in the Subaru community but I have a bmw with 200k on it, the donut guys are after views people would rather see engines blow up then see someone do maintenance
@@ProfessionalRtard If I take a Honda of that same gen and track it, will it blow up like the EJ of this gen? If I take Miata of the same gen?, A Nissan Z, an Evo, an Audi, BMW Porchse, any other high performance model car? This car is marketed a a rally car for the street and thus should not blow up due to bad non-baffled oil pan issue from the factory. People joke how most performance cars are less reliable when modified except for Subaru's which actually require warranty voiding modifications in order to make the car last. (Stock tune running too rich, non baffled pan, etc)
I do like the fact that they went through with buying cars that not everyone knows how to work on them. Yes there are a lot of information out there, but as the same time there’s trolls that don’t want to help out. I also think if they didn’t have a timeline to complete the series, they would’ve done their research correctly.
People just need to face facts. Subie's and EJ's are just not good motors for 99% of people. Yes, they CAN be decent, but this requires a TON of knowledge and research. EJ's, arguably, can be even more annoying and less reliable than Rotaries. You shouldnt need to be a mechanic and scholar to own a mass-produced Subaru and be able to drive it as it is advertised. EJ's are okay in stock form, but the second you try to mod them, they become a ticking time bomb. They are just fragile motors in comparison to most 4-cylinder alternatives in its class. To run an EJ properly and be able to mod it and make it somewhat reliable, you need to invest a lot of time and money and upgrade many of the factory problems. All of my Subaru's were fun but they were a massive money pit. My STI was more money to Maintain than my BMW. Which should tell you something.
@@Maximus20778 Bud, are you trying to say the EJ is a good motor for power and mods? If so, you are in denial. It is not opinion at all. Even Porsche has come out and talked about the drawbacks and shortcomings of a flat boxer engine. There is a reason the EJ and Subaru's have such a bad reputation. And you cant blame it on the owner and driver. Honda's have a 10x worse customer base, and treat their cars far worse, and you dont see K's, B's and F series having this same rep.. And Subaru's key demographic for the WRX and sport models are older males on average with larger incomes. So Subaru has even less to go on in that area.
Are you going to do an update video they just released that after the first engine they upgraded the oil system (oil pump , oil pan, and oil pickup) plus upgraded the cooling system because they were told that's also a problem, just seems like these engines aren't reliable unfortunately
Good video! I was wondering if you would catch wind of DonutMedia! I’ve never owned a Subaru, so I can’t say anything bad, but it’s a damn shame Subaru had so many inherent issues you explain from factory. I get most if not all manufacturers have issues, but let’s face it, someone buys a Subaru for fun and speed, it’s a shame you have to spend so much money on the car (new) then still have to invest more money to fix what Subaru should have already engineered into it.
I think I agree with this but only in the case of the WRX. Since it’s supposed to be for rally (WRX: World Rally eXperimental), you would think they’d put a tougher transmission and a baffled oil pan stock. The other models I think are awesome in their stock form though. My Legacy runs smooth and I love it ❤.
@@makisitonga2530 Yes, the Aisin 6-speed manual should have been standard across the board. Not the Subaru 5-speed nor the Subaru 6-speed (which is just the 5-speed with an extra gear...). US market WRX STi could also have been supplied with the EJ207 with forged pistons instead of EJ257 with hypereutectic pistons. It's clearly cost cutting.
Porsche redlines engines at the factory with 0 miles on them. It absolutely should not be the case that a modern engine spins a bearing just from hard driving in break-in. Is it good for longevity? No, but people buy all kinds of Corvettes, Porsches, BMWs, etc. and track them straight off the lot and they don't spin a bearing at 200 miles. You correctly go through the reasons, but I think that's giving the engine's design a pass. I can go thrash a Yaris off the lot on a little track like they were at and doubt the engine blows up.
@mrsubaru1837 They actually just uploaded an update video. The car they totaled broke a timing gear, and an intake valve got bent from slapping the piston.
>it's their fault for not replacing every single part in the engine because they are faulty designs >There are full race series based around fully stock crown vics that are hammered every day and all they need is tires. Not sure how you can defend Subaru on this
"Aren´t that bad", proceeds to say "change these parts or they get fucked"... other platforms dont need all that tinkering just for running and tolerating stress as they should.
Several do actually if you want to have them be "reliable" long term. Toyota's GR Yaris can have rocker arm failure for example. Any car without retainers runs that risk.
I don't think you can blame donut too much. I'm coming into the Subaru world with a VB (which I'm enjoying a lot), but I'm learning a lot about how many issues the older Subarus have had. Definitely something that would keep me away from the older gens. Hoping the VB is rock solid. Although the RTV issue is scaring me.
@@onehundredpicks5531 Proof right here. 2001 Forester with 206k on the clock. Maintenance on sked. Still running strong. Had an '04 WRX back in the day which I tracked and autocross pretty much. Again maintenance on sked. No problems.
@@onehundredpicks5531 I know a guy that had over 200k miles on a Dodge Neon. Doesn't mean it's a car I'd own nor a reliable car for the other 99.99% of owners that constantly had issues. You shouldn't need to be a fanboy to keep a car alive and you shouldn't need to upgrade your car just to take fast corners without losing oil. Bad design is bad design and the engines being a pita to work on for even minor maintenance would and should scare many people away that aren't willing to put in the time to maintain a car that comes with issues from factory.
@@sirseriously wholeheartedly agree. I know someone who killed a corolla. Never changed the oil ran about 30k miles with no oil change. But the corolla is known for being reliable. Maintenance is key
@@Taalanos Mods without tunes, people putting cheap Ebay aftermarket parts onto their car, etc etc. (Putting stuff into the car which it was never engineered for.)
Every car has issues lol. Even Toyotas. It's something you need to take care of. And for the record, we have two 2003 Subarus that are almost to 350k, on the orginal engines, and have had little issues (mostly just suspension). They both run like a charm. I'd like to say we're lucky, but I also have a friend who has an older Legacy that's still kicking at almost 300k and no issues.
2004 version 8 USDM STi with 212k miles, original engine and transmission. Bolt ONS - stock tune - with religious maintenance and still runs like a bat out of hell 👍
My track 06 LGT 5M has been stellar, has power & weight reduction mods, and 205000 miles on the original block and a stock ish turbo. Burns oil but i hooked it up to an iv and it just won't die. 🤪 Oh yeah, and a big radiator, oil cooler, catch cans, nice baffle and oil pickup.
This is exectly why, if not me, I only let a former Subaru technician with 20 years of experience who owns his own shop solely dedicated to Subarus work on my car.
Bought the new Wrx with the brand new shiny fa24. All the research shows these engines are built to hold power reliably. Aaaaaaaand now it’s coming out that the oil pickup in these engines are getting clogged with excessive rtv gasket sealant that’s seeping into the oil pan. Lovely Subaru, you are the gift that keeps on giving.
I know some reputable guys (subaru engine builders) who have taken theirs apart because they kept hearing pepple bitch and basically explained how it isn't a big deal and people should chill out on it. Its their shop track car.
Don’t…… I’ve yet to see a person keep a subie longer than 3/4 years. Catastrophic failure after the next with their motors. Only ones that seem to last probably don’t get driven over 55 mph max and 5/10 miles in commutes daily…. And I had a coworker baby his and the motor blew up still.
@@Strider1Wilco „They wouldn’t sell these cars if they weren’t reliable“ doubt, look at the big brands that slowly drop in quality while the price rises because they come with a status
@@Strider1Wilco "they wouldn't sell them if they weren't reliable" >Hyundai has entered the chat >Kia has entered the chat >Nissan cvt has entered the chat
Alot of the hate for modifying these older subarus is because these engines are already built to the upper limits of what the engine can take with out major overhaul of the engine systems. Its not like many of the other imports like Nissan 350z or Toyota supras where the engines were deliberately undertuned and easily had 1 to 2 hundred more horses in the engine before needing to go back over with supporting mods. The trade off being if you do blow it up it is very easy to replace whatever you broke.
GREAT timing for these videos, I hope that the vast majority of people don’t see what we do in subarus and the prices don’t continue to go crazy. I honestly hope the subaru memes stay around so i can afford my dream subarus 😂
"It's all Donut's fault they kept blowing up Subarus! Oh by the way, the oil pickup, oil pan, oil pump and transmission all came bad from the factory for a sports car expected to be pushed hard. But shame on Donut! Subarus are reliable cars as long as you fix everything they did wrong from the start!"
Ive owned 3 GC8s , first was 145k miles, second was 156k miles both stock blocks and worked perfectly. My third and current one has 125k miles and is a 1993, did change the headgasket but it is a 28 year old car 🤷♂️ Edit: All 3 are WRXs with mods.
I have stopped watching fatbread media over 18 months ago and do not regret it. Thanks for the tipp for the baffled oil pan and the oil pump. I'll have them checked and/or modified on my WRX on it's next service.
I stopped watching a while back also. I found the channel early on and it seemed good but the fat guy yelling random lines would get annoying. Seemed like the more popular the channel got the more the fat guy would do his spontaneous yelling and I finally had enough. Unsubbed and moved on.
Had a 07 WRX, spent a lot of time trying to learn what to do to make a Subaru last while also making it quite a bit faster. Did just about every bolt on you can think of besides a bigger turbo (wanted the rest of the engine ready for a bigger turbo when I got one). Car had about 114k miles and was clearly neglected when i first got it, and at 150k+ with upgrades it ran like a champ and i definitely didn’t baby it but at the same time didn’t drive it like a maniac. The mods i give the most credit for keeping the engine strong and the mods i recommend every new owner starting with are a solid AOS, upgraded oil system (pan, windage tray, pickup), and the GetADomTune cylinder 4 coolant flow mod. Car had 262whp and 332wtq, with trans reinforcement it still blew through 3rd gear. Have an STI now and feels good having some peace of mind being able to apply all I’ve learned to something that’ll handle the power. Long story short, if you plan on modding a Subaru, get an STI.
Hi there I’m owner of 2021 STI with 12k miles on it. Will you recommend doing the upgrades you mentioned to increase the life of my engine? I use it as daily and do regular maintenance on it. Just want to make sure it lasts me for years. Thank you in advance
@@raminramin85 I’m not exactly sure the ins and outs of the ‘21 system or what to add i should say but yes absolutely. Every Subaru’s first mods should be an AOS, oil pickup at minimum for the oil system (i think killer b does a solid deal for their pickup+windage tray+pan system), and especially the GetADomTune cylinder 4 coolant flow mod. After that I’d look into doing a parallel fuel system and ELH but that’s kinda getting into the knitty gritty. Just focus on those previously mentioned mods and do your best to lower intake temps and control overall heat in the engine bay, along with regular maintenance your car will last as long as you want it to
I’m not trying to be disrespectful but the guys at Donut have pretty decent knowledge and I think they know what they are doing. They only built those because they wanted to have fun, not to be serious. If you watch the whole series you would know they are having fun and making memories.
Break in is mostly a thing of the past with flat tappet cams. People take their fresh engines directly to the track or dyno ALL THE TIME. You named 3 problems with the oiling system for a turboed sport car meant for spirited driving and the transmission is made out of glass. Those are all subaru's bad engineering lol this is not common for normal cars
367k miles on my gc turbo and proper maintenance has kept her running good. Only time it was down was 1 bad fuel pump and a turbo past its life. Other then that she has been good to me and quite liked by the local school community near by.
I have a 2004 Subaru outback I owned it for about 10 years now and the only work that I do to it has been oil change brake pads and I beat the hell out of it I had it on the never give me any problems I think the car that year it's been the toughes everbilt are all the Subaru and it's still going..
Sounds like my first car. I didn't know what I was doing, how to take care of it, had no help learning and set about turning a mole hill into several mountains. Too bad too because I paid 100% of the money for it and every bit of every bill I created in my ignorance.
I'd suggest you do some research on what a "homologation special" is. The WRX simply exists because of FIA rules that demand WRC cars to be production cars. The Toyota GR Yaris exists because Toyota needed their WRC car to be slightly larger.
@@BrunodeSouzaLino Sure, but up to the WRCar rules of 1998, the Group A rally car and road car (both Legacy RS and Impreza WRX) had to be very close. E.g., the same unequal length headers as the road car, the same turbo placement as the road car etc.
I didn’t really have any feelings for or against Subaru before this video and honestly the only thing this video decided for me was to stay away from Subaru.
We're on our second Subaru. Loved the first one so much we bought another. Like you said proper maintenance will work for all vehicles and don't beat the shit out of a car and expect it to last.
So are we arguing that Subaru is good because they can do things most cars can do from the factory after you put a grand in aftermarket mods on them or that Subaru gets a pass because everyone knows about these issues?
I was wondering if you were going to make a response video. Good info. Too bad all the haters commenting on the Subie Hi/low videos won't bother to watch this. I was looking forward to the series but got very disappointed toward the end. They gave Subaru a bad name, unfortunately. They should have done more research before thrashing on them.
But you can't really blame them tho, for example: for the first time when they have to get the baseline , they wanted to get it with the stock car (ie no prep mods for the track) cuz thats the state that someone would buy a subie (although skipping the break in is a very stupid mistake on DMs part)
subaru gave themselves a bad name by having poorly built systems and fragile parts from the factory. shouldnt have to sink money into a brand new (at the time) car just to make it run right
Nah I watched it, and it justified its name. Yes EJ is a great engine when used as intended. But it feels like such a cope by saying the reason probably half of them blew up is because the community proved this engine is a bad platform for anything outside of commuting, and you should install baffling, pickup mod, cylinder 4 cooling correction, and upgrade the oil pump, to be able to track and do something MANY other engines can do stock.
So if I buy a 25 year old C-5 Crvette, Golf, or Mustang, I can immediately take it to a road course for track day, but I need to replace the oiling system and transmission on a WRX because they are poorly designed and fragile. So noted.
"Subaru's aren't bad, their stock oil pan is just horribly flawed and can ruin your engine and so can the oil pick up rod. It's completely reasonable to expect people to replace such a basic item on a car."
So, what you're saying is, the WRX, from factory, is not capable of being used by enthusiasts. It HAS TO go through a long and laborious overhaul procedure in order to be close to the point where enthusiasts can use it for their purposes.
Out of everything in this video, the part where high-siding the car and starving the engine of oil is the most concerning. No engine should suffer a full failure from a few seconds of oil pressure loss. I've tipped over four-stroke snowmobiles, quads, and adventure bikes, with the engines running for quite a number of seconds at times, before I could shut them off. None even suffered even minor damage for the brief oil starvation. Heck, the old Detroit diesel in my one machine doesn't even indicate oil pressure for over a minute on startup. Clearly, Subaru engines have some sort of vulnerability that most other engines don't exhibit.
Sometimes manufacturers just miss the mark, and there’s car guys that aren’t biased and admit it… then there’s this guy. If oil starvation kills 4+ motors it’s engineering that failed not Donut. Break in “helps” it doesn’t prevent a motor from inherently starving itself of proper lubrication due to design 💀
You subaru guys really know how to cope about your terrible engines. The WRX and BRZ would really be great cars if they had quality engines powering them. Everyone I've ever known who's had a Subaru sports car has had major engine issues or failure. Driver's meeting at the last track day I went to, they joked that the red and yellow striped "debris" flag means another subaru has blown up on track. The word is out there and the inherent defects present in both the EJ and FA series engines are as a result of poor engineering and are not acceptable.
As a tech who now sells cars, this is with all sports cars. People mod cars then blow engines because they do not make sure internals and stock parts will work with it.
04 h6 outback enjoyer here. Donut used to be decent content but since they were bought out you can tell it's just not the same. MCM is the best place for subarus next to the one and only mr subaru.
This is s a good thing. We are missing the fact that this will help us get more subarus for us, lol. I, for 1, was looking for an older STI project. Hopefully, this drove down some cost.
Thankyou again MrSubaru. Great title and good insights. We don't all have the knowledge and understanding you are sharing with us. I just got a 2008 Forester and even though I'm not going to build a race car l find your channel to be very enjoyable at 68 years old. It's like being 16 again 😂. I still like the old Subarus, the ones that had high/low manual shift transfer case. I don't remember what they were called but like the first Brat/station wagon. Yeah, maybe that's what they were called, station wagon 👍😁🙋🤔
I don't own a Subaru. One day though. I took Donut Media's hi/lo series with the Subarus with a grain a salt considering they admit to not doing things correctly or having no knowledge of Subarus. If anyone is looking for serious "reliability", drive a Corolla. Talk about reliability... ;) :P Looking to get an Outback Wilderness sometime this year. :D
Personally I believe they hate and try to trash Subarus because they can’t deal with actually how great they are. I don’t listen to clown section….what do they know?
I don’t think cracking jokes about Subie’s poor reliability is the same as hating it. I crack subie jokes all the time, but I love them. I’d get one if they could handle mods more reliably, without building up a large expense in support mods like oil pan, oil pickup, oil pump, etc… But there’s many platforms roughly around the same price range that will make just as much, if not more power for a lesser cost, because they don’t require as many support mods. There’s plenty of unreliable platforms that people love, for example Mazda rotaries. But if you love something about the platform enough, you’ll put the time and money in to make it more reliable. I’d buy a Subie as a second vehicle any day if I had the money to do the right mods to it. But I don’t, so I chose a more reliable platform that can handle mods and still be a reliable daily that can also handle a few laps around the track without starving itself of oil. But yeah, y’all just gotta embrace the jokes. I embrace the jokes about the poor reliability of my German car’s over engineered electronics. Vehicles have their notorious problems. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them, and find ways to fix them.
Coming from a background in motorsports anything heavily modified is prone to breaking. I’ve built many ej255,257,205 Subaru engines it is almost as expensive as my Porsche stuff. They are fun when they work. If I didn’t know how to work on cars, I probably wouldn’t have a modified Subaru. It would be way too expensive. I have a legacy GT with a 20G turbo on e85. E85 has helped so much keeping stock engines together in my experience. I think people also underestimate how much oil a car consumes when you take it to the track with a not awesome oil pan. It doesn’t take very much to cause oil starvation.
What I heard was: 1. They didn't break in one engine properly 2. They didn't address this known engineering fault 3. They didn't address this other known engineering problem 4. They didn't add the necessary baffles in the oil pan that the factory engineers neglected to install and the cars aren't up for track duty without them 5. This mechanic has owned 100 Subarus that hasn't blown up, but he's not tracking them either. What I got out of this video is Subarus aren't up for performance driving unless you fix their problems beforehand.
