YouTuber Exposes the Nightmares of Botched Engine Rebuilds
Being a mechanic can be a challenging job. It requires a deep knowledge of and passion for cars and a lot of skill. However, every car owner knows the value of having a good mechanic work on their vehicle.
If someone unskilled attempts to do something like rebuild an engine, their shoddy repairs can seriously threaten the life of a car. That, unfortunately, is the case with one owner’s Subaru WRX.
Engine Failure
The engine is a FA20DIT turbocharged boxer–four from a 2016 Subaru WRX. Eric, the host from the YouTube channel I Do Cars, bought this car with 80,000 miles on it, and despite that low mileage, the engine is entirely kaput.
Before commencing with the engine teardown to see what went wrong, Eric shared the sage advice for Subaru owners: “Make sure it’s full of oil.” While that advice may seem like a no–brainer, some people believe they don’t need to pre-fill their oil filters. It’s worth it for Eric to stress this to car owners.
The Teardown
The first sign that things were not in excellent working order was when Eric attempted to get the engine to turn over manually, but he noted that things didn’t feel right. After removing the spark plugs from the engine, he found that things still didn’t feel right.
After removing the intake manifolds, he found the intake ports and valves had plenty of wear. However, the FA20DIT is a direct injection engine, so that’s par for the course. As he removed the alternator, fuel rail, and timing cover, nothing appeared out of the ordinary with the engine. However, upon draining the oil, he found the culprit behind why this FA20DIT engine failed.
Sparkles in the Oil
Finding sparkles in a vehicle’s oil is not a good sign. After seeing sparkles in the oil pan, he saw more metal bits in the oil when inspecting the engine’s cylinder heads. Upon removing the oil pump, Eric found more metal bits in the oil. At this point, he suspected those metal bits might be damaged parts of the bearing.
He found damage on the camshafts on both cylinder banks and more metal bits in the oil. Metal has been through the engine’s oiling system. Having metal pieces circulate the engine and scraping various components is a great way to cause significant damage.
Turbo Problems
While taking the turbocharger apart, Eric found the impeller nut loose inside the unit’s inlet pipe. Upon further inspection, he found damage to the housing and the impeller wheel. There were clear signs from the wear on the impeller wheel that its blades had been running against the housing. It was not a pretty sight.
After investigating this turbocharger, Eric discovered that it was an aftermarket unit. He noted what a shame it was about the turbocharger’s condition, aftermarket or not. In particular, he said that the unit was “a pretty good size turbo for a two–liter” engine. Too bad it was not in better shape.
A Poor Rebuild
Whoever had taken apart and rebuilt this engine before thought it was a good idea to use a rollock wheel to resurface the cylinder head. As Eric aptly summed it up to his YouTube viewers, “That’s not how you do it, folks.” It’s unskilled, lazy workmanship.
Eric also found some parts of the FA20DIT engine to have an amount of sealant that’s uncharacteristic of how Subaru manufactures their vehicles, reaffirming that this engine underwent a rebuild by someone who did not know what they were doing.
After removing the pistons from the crankshaft, Eric found a mostly disintegrated, spun rod bearing, the main culprit behind this engine’s damage. He also found a broken piece of a piston ring as he finished draining the oil pan. However, it didn’t come from any cylinders in this engine because all their piston rings remained intact. That means whoever rebuilt this engine did not properly clean it out when repairing it.
Videos such as this make it clear why it’s essential only to have highly qualified and skilled mechanics to work on your car. Otherwise, you might have an engine that fails after only 80,000 miles.
