TOTAL TRASH! Subaru WRX FA20DIT Failed Engine Teardown. How NOT To Rebuild A Turbo Subaru Correctly 

This was my engine, I'm sure some of you are wondering the background. I bought the car with 75k miles, and it was completely stock. not even an intake. I had fun with car and occasionally drove it hard, but also did my oil change every 3k miles and I replaced spark plugs right after I bought it. One day I was cruising at 45mph and my oil level light came on. i pulled over and turned it off. My dipstick was popped out and oil was everywhere. I topped it off and continued driving, however anytime i got in boost the dipstick would come out again. Did a compression test to find out I lost compression on cylinder 1. I purchased a used motor from cheap on facebook and drove 3 hours to get it. Big mistake. Dude told me there was a head issue, so i said sweet, i just need the block. ended up having having a spun bearing. Cylinder 1 piston was blown apart (assuming from detonation) in the motor that was in my car. With no more money and 2 torn apart motors, and borrowing someone's garage (which i had 2 more days before i had to leave) i threw a "good" piston from the motor i bought into mine, hoping it would last long enough for me to get rid of the car. Didnt last a day XD. I had to suck it up and buy a legit good motor (using the rest of my savings) and swapped the good motor in. now the clutch is slipping and it isnt exactly running right so i havent been driving it. (I owe 22k on this car). yeah i know i messed up several times, and honestly i dont think i should have bought that wrx in the first place. I just dont make enough money.

Having worked at a pacific northwest Subaru dealership service department and I can attest to the fact that kids buy WRXs that can barely afford them and then can't afford to maintain them and roast the engines on a regular basis.

The problem with turbo scoobies is typically someone gets a hold of one and instantly becomes a “tuner”. They bolt on stuff that requires a lot of ancillary work without doing said work and they cheap out on doing stuff like properly decking the heads. They then take their 400 hp hand grenade out and beat the living snot out of it and are shocked when parts of the rotating assembly reach escape velocity!

"Sparkle Sensor" That actually exists in aviation. Helicopter transmissions have "chip detectors", which sense the forbidden glitter and let the pilots know they are about do to an autorotation......

Soon as we heard this came from a WRX, it was obvious what we would find. WRX owners, after all, never modify their cars and always drive moderately only to church on Sundays.

The best part today: "that metal has oil in it", that is a new level.

Yes, I think the MGT2259S is the OEM turbo for the Forester XT and WRX during those years.

holy smokes! with the oil pan sitting directly over the exhaust, these engines must absolutely cook the oil.

I thought the Bering Sea was between Alaska and Russia not in the bottom of a Subaru oil pan 😱

Thanks for the Shout out Eric, and letting me be apart of the video. To those who wish to bring up a forum post about Pmp from 12 years ago, Give it a rest... this is a salvage yard, not a puppy and kitten adoption center, we will never make 100% of the people happy 100% of the time. Thanks!

" Somebody's been in there" is the boxer engine death sentence

Watching you admire timing chains as if they were high quality gold ones will forever be one of my favorite bits of this channel.

That turbo impeller looks like it came off an airplane after a bird strike. Don't know that we've ever seen one THAT wrecked!

Owned a 15 Forester XT with this engine, the Forester gave me more problems than this engine. Strangest quirk about the whole car was that it really disliked having a weak battery, even giving engine lights over it. That car wore its wheel bearings and broke studs on the front passenger side consistently. Plugs looked a lot better than that when I changed them in this video. Oh and these cars lose the refrigerant every 2-3 years in Florida but generally the cooling system held up. The A/C pump gets noisy when its low. I gave that thing every little preventative service, which I think is the most important thing, nothing runs long without keeping the changeable fluids and parts out today.

What's amazing is just how BIG that 4 cyl engine is.

That lil chinga dera hanging off the cam is a brake booster vacuum pump Garrett Honeywell makes the oem 15-21 turbo.

I own an EJ25 that i did a roll disk resurface on. Not for lack of money but lack of time. Every machine shop was weeks out and i had about a week to get the heads done and car back together. So together it went after checking with a straight edge. That was 80k miles ago. No problems yet. I feel like i won the lottery on that one.

This channel is so relaxing. It's ASMR for gearheads. Gnight 309 wherever you are.❤

My favorite part of Saturday. Cheers Sir

Eric sloshes his hand in the waste oil searching for the dropped socket extension, and I'm thinking "Doesn't he have a magnet on a stick?" And shortly thereafter, he's splitting the block and fishes out bolts with... a magnet on a stick! What time do you film these awesome teardowns that you're thinking so clearly?

As a Toyota Master Tech, ive done enough of the Scion FRS/Toyota 86 they are the FA20 Non-Turbo, They all do this. They all blow up. THEY ARE JUNK!

You know the teardown is going to be a good one when Mardi Gras oil is used.

My stock ‘17 WRX blew off two pieces of the #4 piston skirt at 113,000 miles which then fell into the oil pain ruining the bearings. No I didn’t race it, auto cross it etc it just blew up. As I stated it was stock. I also maintained it diligently trying to avoid a catastrophic engine failure. I’m not a kid either I’m in my 50s. I’ll never buy a Subaru again.

Owner of 3 Subarus, one of which has this exact motor in it, and it was great seeing a full FA20 teardown! I'm so glad you showed the intake valves, as I wasn't able to find a reliable source on how bad the carbon can get for a long time. Much LESS worried now having seen this, as we are clearly nowhere near Volkswagen / Mini levels of DI filth. Ironically it's my H6 Subaru engine that gives me the most grief, though to be fair that IS because it's 30 years old! (Definitely support the H6 recommendation, a shame Subaru stopped making them). Specific to what Eric found here: the wet plugs is a common phenomenon on FA20s if I understand it correctly. One of my driver side plugs had a similar look to it when I replaced them last year. Seems this unit was the same. Also this engine was definitely mangled by someone before it got to the stand of shame. Only heard of one type of 3M rollock wheel being approved for use by Subaru, and that was only for removing RTV, not for..."re surfacing" the heads (I'd probably stick with a razor blade anyway, just to be safe). Would love to see an FA24 teardown once one inevitably ends up in your shop! Curious to see the differences in valvetrain and connecting rods, two areas Subaru supposedly tried to improve after people started finding the limits of the FA20. PS - Don't let the memes scare you, modern 4 cylinder Subarus are not all time bombs, and any ordinary Subaru that's been well maintained by a normal person should serve you just fine as long as you pay attention and take care of it. You can even find relatively un-ruined 2015+ WRXs easily enough if you dig a little because chasing big power without port injection is prohibitively expensive for a lot of people. Just try and avoid buying someone else's instagram build and you'll likely be fine

Fun fact about that turbo location, it is not new to the FA platform. There were also bottom mount turbo EJ engines available on the 2010-2012 Legacy GT which was also mated to the new 6 speed transmission that replaced the old 5 speed. It is almost identical to the 2015+ WRX unit.

Knock knock . Uncle Rodney ? I choose option 3 , someone definitely assembled the engine wrong

"Debris... took off the tip" well played. Also, nice jab at Ray!

17:30 The sign says the turbo is made in Wuhan. That's right, that famous place !

I really thought the water pump was going to go through the rear window of the car.

I can attest to how good the H6 is. I had to replace a timing chain on an early 2000’s Outback. The job was a complete nightmare (I had never done one and the entire powertrain had to be dropped and I was working in an aftermarket shop). But, this engine ran very well and it had just under 250,000 miles on it. I was quite impressed by it, which is saying something because I am not a Subaru fan.

I have an FA20 DIT 2.0 turbo in our daily driver, a 2015 Subaru. It's fun to see it torn down, thanks for your effort.

117k on my full bolt on FA20 running e50 and making 360/350 on an unequal length header and stock turbo, 4 different dyno sessions throughout the modification process. they're good engines if taken care of right. I've had mine going on 7 years and the only issue I've had is a bad OCV which was $50 bucks. I take it to plenty of mexico nights and play when I want to but take care of it and drive normal most of the time. That was the stock turbo btw.

That engine was lovingly gone through by an expert.

Handywell turbos from Temu are ok if you don’t use them.

Performance Shop by me gets so many blown WRX’s they keep rebuilt long blocks on the shelf ready to go.

As always Eric, a great Saturday night video. Thanks for my entertainment on a rainy Saturday night.

The disptick did not even put up a good fight this time. Good water pump skit there 😂

Maybe other people have suggested this and maybe you have done one before but I’d like to see a 2.7 out of the newer silverados/colorados/caddy at4

As always thank you Eric. A great way to relax watching to see the damage.

Great video! Thank you for the great job all the time!

My wife owns a Subaru Outback. I'm gonna rip the engine out right now and set it by the street. Thanks for the heads up.

@9:10 - I had a Fumoto locking ball valve on my old 99 Forester. Made changing oil a toolless prospect. DO NOT take your car to a lube place without first explaining what the valve is. A friend did this and the oil change place did a Fumoto delete on his car because they couldn't figure it out. They also charged him for a new oil drain bolt and crush washer.

Enjoyed this, as I do all of your videos, very much!

Hello from Texas. Love the videos

@20:28 - Well timed and well placed circumcision joke right there. Very nice.

It looks like that engine has suffered one or more mechanical insults I’ll bet you there’s more to the story of this engine than we know

Great tear down Eric. Nice catch on that water pump Pete. Take care all.

It may go against some of your ideals but I would like you to tear down some high mileage running engines, like some toyota and LS with like 500k miles. See what some well cared for engines that are getting toward the end of their useful life and note the difference from the ones who meet a destructive end. Love the content

I have the exact same engine and same model year Subaru. If you modify it( like mine heavily) you MUST have it professionally tuned on a dyno to accommodate the changes. Otherwise they will blow like this one. Maintenance is also imperitive on these, especially turbo models. An IAG air/ oil separator is a must to decrease buildup on intake valves. Then you just pray!! I got 65k on mine and it's smooth as butter

I must have a unicorn. 120k miles so far and it’s been happy.

You are always interesting and I learn good information. THANKS! That engine is too complex for anyone not familiar with the brand. Congrats on that long distance water pump toss.

I knew what you meant when yo usaid "worstly" - You still have the bestly channel on teardowns.

Love the LS cam bearings comment!😀👍Was that a reference to Rainman Rays teardown by any chance?

Here are a couple engines you should tear down just for fun. GM 1.5L Turbo 4 (LYX) Ford Godzilla 7.3L V8 Chrysler 2.4L Tigersharl MultiAir I4 Toyota A25A-FXS (Camry or RAV4 hybrid) Chrysler Pentastar 3.2L V6

I changed the oil on one of these today. Glad to see its guts.

I have this engine in my Forrester XT, and when I was looking at buying it, I talked to my mechanic about the reliability and the one thing he said was check the oil and check it often.

I bought a subaru off a Subaru mechanic. He blew a headgasket and replaced the engine. He was selling it because that engine blew a headgasket. He also stopped being a Subaru mechanic

There is a tech on the line at Subaru Mr. Stripymoto San who makes sure bolts come rounded from the factory.

Moto IQ does a great job on explaining Subie engines

Ah, my Saturday night is off to a good start!

i love those fumoto drain valves. made oil changes so easy. never leaked a drop.

It does look like Subaru took a lot of feedback from the previous engine generation and applied it here. I think they used chain because the VVT is oil pressure fed, and less likely to leak since there are no camshaft seals.

subbed! love this channel 🙌

When I worked at a garbage dump, the policy was if you were the first person to operate a vehicle for the day, you were REQUIRED to check oil, water and air pressure in tires. Then, whenever you got in a vehicle before you moved it, you checked the oil. Our equipment never failed.

That water pump looks like a snail. That's the word you were looking for. 😉

Yaaaaay, finally my engine on the channel (not my actual engine, yet). I have a 2016 with 140K, original stock long block, has every mod you can imagine. I bought it brand new in 2015 and has been modded since first pulling it into my driveway. As with any other turbo engine, change and CHECK your oil more often than recommended and it'll serve you well. Also get a tune that suits your location/weather/seasons, the engine runs so much healthier when it's not running the stock tune, modded or not.

Thank you Eric!👍

The next first thing I’d like to do is like this video, and subscribe… engine teardown videos and wordplay, love it!

Is it possible to see the ecu output at the time of failure? Like rpm and error codes? It would provide a nice picture of why they fail. Like a black box

I owned a 2016 WRX and it was the biggest piece of junk. The FA20DIT is the worst engine subaru ever made! No power after 2nd gear. The cam sprockets for timing chain ending losing teeth and would make an awful noise every time I started it. Dealer fixed it under warranty and I traded that garbage in.

Eric, when you had discovered a piece of compression ring. Not only was that funny. Based on how they “resurface the head” . Along with multiple bolts being clearly loose. I found it funny when you mentioned at the end when you said when you were talking about the split block being any good. “if anybody would rebuild these engines“. Clearly, somebody made a very poor attempt and you see the results.LOL

Man, that is a real Rube Goldberg-looking contraption you've got there! I wonder what the total parts count is for that thing?

Eric...now I know why they blow up! Nobody wants to tackle an oil change on that thing!

The water pump gig's never get old 😂

This is a nice watch as someone with a fa20 wrx. I've been thinking about planning to replace the engine and have been looking at cost of going with a stock block or getting a core and building it

"someone has been here" is an understatement. love this engine - great video!

I so want Snap-On to make a vice-grip head for their torque wrenches.

Love you channel Eric. The pipe grip part of you vice-grips will grab better mostly because there is more leverage closer to the pivot, not just 'cause the teeth are sharper.

Thanks Erik, I was waiting for you to do a FA20F. 5:10 - People do remove the diverters if they are deleting the tgv's, otherwise it is bad to take them out if not tgv deleted. 9:10 - There is nothing wrong with a regular drain bolt, people put these Fumoto valves on for absolutely no good reason. 15:20 - That would be an exhaust leak, there was a recall on these for the exhaust manifold nuts loosening for the earlier production years. 17:30 - factory turbo, maybe a re-maned one, wonder how that nut came loose? 30:00 - Oil level sensor was a nice addition to the FA motors that the EJ does not come equipped with. Like that you capitalized on the ease of serviceability that Subaru designed in, pretty rare to see improvements made from previous motor designs when comparing to other manufacturers in today's disposable world. You did miss some opportunities to show the filter screens in the cam carriers and avcs/turbo feed line banjo bolts.

I applaud Subaru for the serviceability upgrades. The older versions that you tore down were just bizarre. I work on flat aircraft engines all of the time but they are almost lawnmowerish compared to flat automobile engines!

the "my buddy can do it cheaper" here was on full display.

I always smile when you handle timing chains like it is fine jewelry.

Very educational indeed. Thank you. By the way what engine do you think is build like a tank?

We have a GM 2.7 4 cylinder out of a 22 Silverado 1500. Really want to see what’s in it, but the $1200 core charge is stopping me.

Part of the reason some engines blow up is they are attractive to wannabe tuner cheezebags. Certain cars I tell people never to buy - modded cars, cheap sports cars, trucks with Bro-Dozer makeovers, European....anything, cars that have the glue on "upgrade parts" listed in the ad including "Subs available for extra", cars with known bad engines or transmissions (GM 3.6, Kia, Nissan with CVT pattern failures etc.) Many performance cars, mostly those owned by a young person - HAVE been thrashed. Stay gold.

I would love to see you tear down a 2.4 SRT4 that came in the 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser GT with the aluminum intake. If you can get your hands on one. Great video as usual.

Would love to see a vid introducing the other employees at the shop - but loving the cameos they make here and there

The inside of the oil pan looks like a Nevada silver mine

I have found myself checking my oil level more thanks to these videos. My VW was a quart low yesterday. Just think of all the engine lives you have saved.

I had one of these for 70k tuned. Did autox a few times a year with it. Kept on top of oil bit overkill, every 3k. Was running fine when i traded it in. I liked that engine/car. My wife hated it though.

Love your videos…. “I call it dispersed bearing”. That was hilarious!! 😂

I know you're in touch with Rainman. Could you please let him know that he's gonna get an infection if he keeps going back to front on teardowns?

Yes, you can’t blame it on head gaskets anymore now it’s just front cover leaks….

Glad my phone reminded me, in Nashville and too many beers may have had small part of not remembering! ha

Ive seen turbo failures like this. I would not trust any major engine part. This is a classic demonstration.

I’ve owned 2 WRXs. My 2005 had 325,000 miles on it when it was sold. It had head gaskets around 150,000 and about 300,000 it’s started using oil to a point that it was ready for a rebuild. My send one is a 2020 and has been perfect this far. The thing with Subarus is there are no shortcuts to building power. My FA20 is built to produce 325 horsepower and it does so very reliably. HOWEVER, it was not cheap to get it there, and when it came time to “tune” the car I did not go with the off the shelf Cobb access port, but rather a professional shop that specializes in Subarus. They are amazingly fun cars to drive, are surprisingly quick and really are great in all weather conditions. The big drawback is they are relatively cheap cars to purchase, even new. So you get plenty of young and dumbs who don’t know what they’re doing and can’t afford to upgrade or maintain. I love Subarus, but I would NEVER purchase a used WRX or WRX/STi. You can almost guarantee that it’s been beat to death

What gloves do you use? I know I'm not the only one who would like to know brand of gloves those greeen gloves are.

The biggest issue with the H4, is how Subaru puts turbos on them, to keep up with the demand, especially on the Outback, and its fat cousin, the Ascent. I owned a 2009 Outback, with the H4, and it ran OK, but I could feel the engine constantly struggling to get the car down the road. I traded it in on a 2015 Outback, with the 3.6 H6, and the difference was night and day. When the Ascent came out, I thought it would come standard with the H6, or maybe Subaru would make an H8, but nope... Instead, they discontinued the H6, slapped a turbo on the smallest H4 they have, and called it a day... I totally understand Subaru's frustration with the CAFE standards, but good Lord, what a mess. I'll be keeping and maintaining my 2015 3.6 Outback, until the wheels fall off. But if they don't do something reasonable, like bringing back the H6, or maybe incorporating a hybrid system, that aids the H4 in acceleration, and stop with the turbo foolishness, I won't be purchasing another one. Don't get me wrong! I don t mind the turbo charging, but only for the sport models. People who buy sport models, understand, that the engine will be pushed to its limits, and that it also won't last very long, because of the performance boost. But when you boost the performance of an engine, just to get it to propel the car down the road, you've basically made the car junk in 5~7 years.

H-6. The only Subie I will work on.. because it’s moms. I was waiting for “ I’m sure this would be easier in the car.”! 😂