[Datadatum]

Austinpike - that is your AVCS cam sprocket! Great pics by the way.

I had a related problem myself... AVCS Sprocket Failure

[austinpike]

^^^ good read, thanks. At least they gave a me an Outback rather than a Camry to drive. Just a 2.5i though, and still pretty floaty.

That section diagram you posted is really helpful. One thing that had been bugging me - in my first photo, the flange on the sprocket is near the engine, with the controller sitting in the open side. But the dealer had indicated that the end of the camshaft mates directly to that cavity in the sprocket (which makes sense with the section.) Apparently the assembly is flipped on the passenger side, with the controller stuck on the outside.

So I'm not exactly sure what they were referring to as being "full of oil" - maybe it was just that little cavity under the bolt cover... since it looks like the timing controller is supposed to fill with oil.

Does the center cavity on the camshaft run the entire length, or is it just deep enough to receive the bolt?

[/i]

[91TB78]

When do most start to see oil consumption? I've driven mine using motoman's break-in tips (putting higher revs on the engine early on) and my 05 has about 2600 miles on it. I've yet to see any consuption, so how do I know that it "isn't safe" to swtich to synthetic?

BTW..I changed the oil at 300 miles to more 5W-30 dino...using the same filter.

[bah14]

I'm at 179mi and i love his break-in protocol. I also love what's being discussed in the thread and agree with it as well. Personally, i'll be waiting to make the move to syn. I see no reason to hurry.

-Brett

[austinpike]

fwiw, I did a some WOT runs pretty much off the lot (progressively higher RPMS) and got a dino change at 50 miles. (they looked me like I was crazy for that one.) Then synthetic at ~1700 miles. The tech said the synthetic had nothing to do with my leak; frankly the more I read about it the more I think it doesn't really matter; switch whenever you feel like it. But there is no reason to rush it.

I have had no consumption since they got this taken care of.

[MKIVSupra]

Hey Flycaster, just curious, what's your mechanic's view on engine break in. Follow the owner's manual or break it in hard.

The rest of yous, I asked Flycater for his mechanics opinion so don't anyone post a link to that mototune site.

[bah14]

lol

[Rev]

Scary ... missing a seal on a cam sprocket ...

austinpike, what mods do you have, by the way? I ask because they accepted your warranty claim without hassles it seems ...

[jaybara]

Originally Posted by 91TB78

When do most start to see oil consumption? I've driven mine using motoman's break-in tips (putting higher revs on the engine early on) and my 05 has about 2600 miles on it. I've yet to see any consuption, so how do I know that it "isn't safe" to swtich to synthetic?

BTW..I changed the oil at 300 miles to more 5W-30 dino...using the same filter.

I changed my oil at 500 miles, and then at 3,000, both with dino oil. I haven't noticed ANY consumption and the car has about 4k on it now. I've pretty much driven it hard from day 1, just not quite as hard for the first few hundred miles.

[Rev]

Originally Posted by 91TB78

When do most start to see oil consumption? I've driven mine using motoman's break-in tips (putting higher revs on the engine early on) and my 05 has about 2600 miles on it. I've yet to see any consuption, so how do I know that it "isn't safe" to swtich to synthetic?

BTW..I changed the oil at 300 miles to more 5W-30 dino...using the same filter.

I remember I burned about a quart during the break-in period ... I used Castrol 5W-30 dino to top off ... Then I changed to Mobil 1 at 2800 miles ...

After that, I stopped burning oil at about 4k miles .... Now at 23k miles, I don't burn a drop ...

[austinpike]

Originally Posted by STi_Thunder

Scary ... missing a seal on a cam sprocket ...

austinpike, what mods do you have, by the way? I ask because they accepted your warranty claim without hassles it seems ...

When I picked up the car my service advisor and tech were gone for the day, so I never found out exactly what the problem was. (the "missing seal" was just a guess they had) - at any rate they replaced a bunch of stuff and the leak went away. I have no mods so warranty work wasn't an issue. (working on modding the driver first )

[bah14]

i do loves me a good oil consumption vs break-in thread. There's just so many unknowns and the potential to learn things.

i love theis freaking car!

[AndyH]

Originally Posted by austinpike

Just got back from an oil change at the dealer, apparently the front crank seal is leaking oil. This is an '05 with ~9000 miles.

Question for you...how did you determine you had a leak? Did you notice spots of oil underneath where you park? Or did the dealer notice the leak?

The reason I'm asking is that I noticed a bit of an oily film on the bottom of the black plastic cover which I *think* hides the pulleys and belt shown in this pic:



If I do have a leak, it's pretty small as I never notice any oil drops where I park and it's really just a small bit of oil that forms on the bottom of the cover (driver's side) during my 2,500 mile oil-change interval. I'm curious to hear if this is what you noticed with your leak? Or was your leak much more pronounced?

[austinpike]

I never actually saw anything on the ground since the plastic shroud underneath (or that black plastic cover) caught the oil. Dealer noticed it when they did an oil change. It sounded like more oil than what you are describing. Plus getting on the belt it kind of got thrown all over in there, so it wasn't real obvious where it was coming from.

[AndyH]

It sounds like your leak was more obvious. However, I think I'll have the dealer check it out when I finally bring the STi in for service (so far (7,600 miles on my STi) I've done all of the maintenance).