[unclejemima]

I searched this a while back, and did not find anything.
I apologize if this is a repost...

Is the 08 pickup tube different in ANY way from the 07 and 06 STI?

Does anyone know if the part # is different or if the unit itself has been beefed up/modified?

This is the only big thing holding me back from getting an 08...that and the crappy stock tune, which if i understand is not actually as bad as the 07's, but still not good. Thats another subject all together...back to the oil pickup tube

Thanks kindly for your response,
-mark

[mofoSTI]

I plan on buying an aftermarket pick up tube when I do my tomei headers

[sponaugle]

Originally Posted by unclejemima

I searched this a while back, and did not find anything.
I apologize if this is a repost...

Is the 08 pickup tube different in ANY way from the 07 and 06 STI?

Does anyone know if the part # is different or if the unit itself has been beefed up/modified?

This is the only big thing holding me back from getting an 08...that and the crappy stock tune, which if i understand is not actually as bad as the 07's, but still not good. Thats another subject all together...back to the oil pickup tube

Thanks kindly for your response,
-mark

Oil Tube Pickup Part Numbers:

15050AA050 2002,2003,2004,2005 WRX

15049AA070 2004,2005 STI
15049AA110 2006,2007,2008 STI & WRX

To answer your question, the pickup is the same in the 2008 vs the 2007. If the only thing holding you back is this.. well... interesting....

Jeff

[Mykl]

Originally Posted by sponaugle

If the only thing holding you back is this.. well... interesting....

Jeff

It's a valid concern. Had I known that there was an issue with such an important part on the car I certainly would have reevaluated my options before I got my STi. Enough of these things have failed to make me worry about my own car. Thankfully there's an aftermarket option in the works.

[pwn]

So for those of us that aren't familiar with this problem...?

[HRCboy]

Originally Posted by pwn

So for those of us that aren't familiar with this problem...?

^^^

+1

[sponaugle]

Originally Posted by Mykl

It's a valid concern. Had I known that there was an issue with such an important part on the car I certainly would have reevaluated my options before I got my STi. Enough of these things have failed to make me worry about my own car. Thankfully there's an aftermarket option in the works.

Interesting. I am not sure of the statistical evidence to back this up. There have been some failures, but I would rate several other things as greater concern in terms of long term reliability.

If you are worried about it failing, don't modify the car and warrenty will cover it. If you do modify the car, and this kind of failure concerns you (with or without a statistically strong case), by all means reevaluate.

How many STIs have had this failure, given the 20,000+ or so STIs produced for the US market, as well as the 2.5L STIs produced for the overseas markets. Actually you would have to count all of the Foresters and Legacys with the EJ255, as it uses the same part.

How do the statistics compare between the two different part numbers? How would you rate the comparative risk of piston failure to pickup failure? How does the pickup failure relate to level of modification?

Jeff Sponaugle

[maron10]

Originally Posted by sponaugle

Interesting. I am not sure of the statistical evidence to back this up. There have been some failures, but I would rate several other things as greater concern in terms of long term reliability.

If you are worried about it failing, don't modify the car and warrenty will cover it. If you do modify the car, and this kind of failure concerns you (with or without a statistically strong case), by all means reevaluate.

How many STIs have had this failure, given the 20,000+ or so STIs produced for the US market, as well as the 2.5L STIs produced for the overseas markets. Actually you would have to count all of the Foresters and Legacys with the EJ255, as it uses the same part.

How do the statistics compare between the two different part numbers? How would you rate the comparative risk of piston failure to pickup failure? How does the pickup failure relate to level of modification?

Jeff Sponaugle

Word ?

[unclejemima]

Originally Posted by sponaugle

If you are worried about it failing, don't modify the car and warrenty will cover it. If you do modify the car, and this kind of failure concerns you (with or without a statistically strong case), by all means reevaluate.

Jeff Sponaugle

Agreed, i will defiantly not argue any posts from you Jeff, as your experience is far greater than mine will ever be. Thank you kindly for your reply...

The only troubling thing about the warranty issue is, it usually happens when the car is our of warranty, and in its higher mileage state(from what i have read so far).

Your response puts my mind at ease though, i probably have a better chance in winning the lottery, than having my oil pickup tube break, especially if i keep my car stock (which i will). I'm not sure if, but most, if not all oil tube pickup horror stories that i know of are from modified cars? Correct me if I'm wrong...???

I plan on keeping my car bone stock, and i know the STI has very good and strong components, perhaps this is nothing to really work about, it just a peace of mind.
If, and when, then come up with an upgraded (aftermarket) engine pickup tube assembly, would installing one in a stock engine void warranty?

Thanks kindly,
-mark

[deputychino]

Originally Posted by unclejemima

Agreed, i will defiantly not argue any posts from you Jeff, as your experience is far greater than mine will ever be. Thank you kindly for your reply...

The only troubling thing about the warranty issue is, it usually happens when the car is our of warranty, and in its higher mileage state(from what i have read so far).

Your response puts my mind at ease though, i probably have a better chance in winning the lottery, than having my oil pickup tube break, especially if i keep my car stock (which i will). I'm not sure if, but most, if not all oil tube pickup horror stories that i know of are from modified cars? Correct me if I'm wrong...???

I plan on keeping my car bone stock, and i know the STI has very good and strong components, perhaps this is nothing to really work about, it just a peace of mind.
If, and when, then come up with an upgraded (aftermarket) engine pickup tube assembly, would installing one in a stock engine void warranty?

Thanks kindly,
-mark

I know that this issue does have me concerned as well. While the chances that this will happen are probably very slim, I still want to install an oil pressure gauge to be able to keep an eye on it all all times.

[sponaugle]

Originally Posted by deputychino

I know that this issue does have me concerned as well. While the chances that this will happen are probably very slim, I still want to install an oil pressure gauge to be able to keep an eye on it all all times.

Originally Posted by unclejemima

Agreed, i will defiantly not argue any posts from you Jeff, as your experience is far greater than mine will ever be. Thank you kindly for your reply...

The only troubling thing about the warranty issue is, it usually happens when the car is our of warranty, and in its higher mileage state(from what i have read so far).

Your response puts my mind at ease though, i probably have a better chance in winning the lottery, than having my oil pickup tube break, especially if i keep my car stock (which i will). I'm not sure if, but most, if not all oil tube pickup horror stories that i know of are from modified cars? Correct me if I'm wrong...???

I plan on keeping my car bone stock, and i know the STI has very good and strong components, perhaps this is nothing to really work about, it just a peace of mind.
If, and when, then come up with an upgraded (aftermarket) engine pickup tube assembly, would installing one in a stock engine void warranty?

Thanks kindly,
-mark

I meant to post back sooner, but got distracted. This particular failure mode is of course very disturbing. If it happens, it could be very catastrophic quickly. My post was primarily aimed at putting the risk into perspective to other risks. I have seen pictures from the failure, and indeed it does look like a fault in the design of the part. I would suspect given the large number of modified engines, combined with the good concentration of Subaru users in the few primary forums, that failures like this will pop to the surface.

When evaluating this kind of failure, you have the weight the equivalent concerns in other cars… and that is where the difficulty lies. You need would need to find a similar ratio sized community, with similar levels of modifications. There are few of those. The EVO comes to mind, although the sample set is much smaller. Sure enough the ‘strength’ of the 4G63 motor comes obvious.

If I were rebuilding a motor, and spending a good sum on parts, I would look at and upgrade in this area. However, there are other upgrades that would come first, and like everything in life the dollar runs out somewhere.

As for the breakage in modified cars, I have not analyzed enough to see a trend. There have been some Stage 2 failures, which are hard to attribute to modification. It is hard to say about the warranty issues of installing the part on an otherwise stock car. Certainly if a new part comes out, I’d let it play in the marketplace a bit before jumping. It would be a real bummer to put on a part that ends up having a greater statistical failure rate.

Jeff

[sponaugle]

Originally Posted by deputychino

I know that this issue does have me concerned as well. While the chances that this will happen are probably very slim, I still want to install an oil pressure gauge to be able to keep an eye on it all all times.

That is a good idea... I believe in at least one case, oil pressure was a bit lower then normal for some time before the complete failure.

Jeff

[mofoSTI]

Its the main reason I sold my 04. Just the thought of seeing that engine oil light come on again wakes me up at night.

[twigg107]

Originally Posted by mofoSTI

Its the main reason I sold my 04. Just the thought of seeing that engine oil light come on again wakes me up at night.

Same here.....

[wchow16]

Jeff,

Based on the fact that the part number has carried forward from 06 to 08 wouldn't that suggest that the occurrences of this failure have not been that great (for 06 to 8 anyway)? Otherwise you would think Subaru would redesign the tube which I would guess would not be that difficult or costly.

Second point, if we do install an aftermarket PU tube were out of luck if the new tube fails in term of warranty. It may be safer to keep the stocker on there to have that coverage. However if your car blows up because the PU tube has failed, will SOA warranty a modified car? If the failure is linked to a broken oil PU can they argue that mods contributed in some way to the failure to void coverage?

Originally Posted by sponaugle

I meant to post back sooner, but got distracted. This particular failure mode is of course very disturbing. If it happens, it could be very catastrophic quickly. My post was primarily aimed at putting the risk into perspective to other risks. I have seen pictures from the failure, and indeed it does look like a fault in the design of the part. I would suspect given the large number of modified engines, combined with the good concentration of Subaru users in the few primary forums, that failures like this will pop to the surface.

When evaluating this kind of failure, you have the weight the equivalent concerns in other cars… and that is where the difficulty lies. You need would need to find a similar ratio sized community, with similar levels of modifications. There are few of those. The EVO comes to mind, although the sample set is much smaller. Sure enough the ‘strength’ of the 4G63 motor comes obvious.

If I were rebuilding a motor, and spending a good sum on parts, I would look at and upgrade in this area. However, there are other upgrades that would come first, and like everything in life the dollar runs out somewhere.

As for the breakage in modified cars, I have not analyzed enough to see a trend. There have been some Stage 2 failures, which are hard to attribute to modification. It is hard to say about the warranty issues of installing the part on an otherwise stock car. Certainly if a new part comes out, I’d let it play in the marketplace a bit before jumping. It would be a real bummer to put on a part that ends up having a greater statistical failure rate.

Jeff