[Stile]

Just wondering if anyone could shed some light on the following:
While driving the STI this morning in heavy rain the enging started to missfire under heavy acceleration, (Felt similar to a fuel cutoff) around 4500 rpm in 3rd gear and 5700 rpm in 4th gear. Also happened after accelerating from a standing start whilst raining. The only cause that I can think of is ingestion of water through the intercooler (ie due to the large amount of heavy and continuous rain). When I drove the vehicle this afternoon (no rain) it ran fine and showed no symptoms of the above... :-? If this is the case I would have thought Subaru would have solved this problem before produciton.... Does anybody know if fittting the Group A rally bonnet with the open mesh insert prior to the intercooler inlet would stop the excess amounts of water from making its way to the intercooler and thus the engine ??? Or if anybody has any other ideas as to what the problem might have been or possible soloutions they would be most welcome..

P.S. hopefully some pictures of the new toy can be found in the photo section soon.

Regards

Stile

 

[91TB78]

It couldn't be the intercooler since there is no opening for water to get into...its just like a radiator, or should I say IS a radiator but for the turbo cycle. It cools the air, nothing more nothing less, its not like an intake.

 

[JJ]

You should be able to immerse the intercooler in water (ok maybe not immerse). Water should keep it cool and cause no problems.


However, where the intake is I do believe there is a possibility of water getting in there if it is a heavy enough storm. I would get it checked out by a dealer...


Send me some pics of your new toy at [email protected] and I will put them up in our Owner's section.

JJ

 

[Stile]

In addition to my previous post re Loss of power in current model STI, just to clarify my thinking re water and the intercooler…. does the intercooler water drain plumb out anywhere that could cause the ingestion of the water ??? and hence the power loss?

 

[StiScoobySteve]

What i wanna know is why are you reving it out to 5700rpm when you've only had it just over a week?

 

[Marine06]

well that would explain the abnormal behavior...

 

[91TB78]

umm, yeah I think not breaking the car in correctly could cause some trouble for you.

I have a bud who owns a WRX and hasn't really taken it easy..not horrible, but he smelled burning..I told him it was his oil being burnt to the turbo...so change the oil to semi-synthetic and take it easy...oh yeah get a tt..

 

[BuDDyLeE]

need a place to wait list

..oh yeah get a tt..

audi?

 

[Stile]

Don't worry people I've already covered all the necessary miles "re the running in period" - and they were completed before I had the above mentioned problems... As for the turbo timer - they can't be fitted to the Australian Spec STI which incorporates a keypad type alarm system, without going into too much detail if any door is opened while the vehcle is running it perceives this as a car jacking and immediately goes into anti hijack mode which shuts the vehicle down and sounds the alarm etc etc.... I've even spoken to Subaru Australia (and the alarm manufacturer) and they say fitting a turbo timer with this alarm system cannot be done.... In getting back to the main question of this thread, I have been told that the possible problem is that the ignition coils are mounted quite low in the STI and hence are prone to ignition problems in very heavy rain / wet weather, due to the amount of water being splashed back up into the engine bay... seemed strange to me but it is being sent to the dealer on Thurs (they agree that this could be the problem) and they are going to check it out. Will let you know how things go.

 

[91TB78]

Buddy:
turbo timer =tt

Well, sorry to hear. I sure hope that other STis around the world can be fitted with a tt. I would hate to not have one fitted on mine after a hard run...otherwise I suppose I can just sit with the car idling...that would work just as well, just not as conveinent.

 

[alfredob1]

As for the turbo timer - they can't be fitted to the Australian Spec STI which incorporates a keypad type alarm system, without going into too much detail if any door is opened while the vehcle is running it perceives this as a car jacking and immediately goes into anti hijack mode which shuts the vehicle down and sounds the alarm etc etc....

So everybody has to be in the car before you start it up? Meaning you can't jump in first, start it up, and then whoever else is coming can't open the door without the anti-hijacking mechanism kicking in.

 

[ABCDriver]

Current Ride

That's Awesome!

I'd have so much fun doing a chinese firedrill and disabling some poor sob's STi, just by opening the back door.

 

[Scooter]

I have an 02 STi and drove it recently in torrential rain for about and hour and it ran fine. I have even removed the rubber strip in front of the air intake. Might be something else that needs looking into???