2012 Outback, 16K and blown engine!

[MRausch82]

My wife and I bought a 2012 Outback brand new at the end of April 2012. about 3 weeks ago, we were headed out to breakfast when we heard a noise that sounded like gravel, nothing metallic, just like a light gravel or dragging sound and the engine quit 1/8 mile out of our driveway. We coasted to a stop and the motor locked up without warning! I ran synthetic oil and good filters, either Pure One or Napa filters since 748 miles. The last oil change, which had 1600 miles, was with Pennzoil synthetic 5w30 (I usually use Mobil 1 5w30 and Purolator filters). I pulled the dipstick, and it had plenty of oil and no signs of coolant. Had it towed, using roadside, 60 miles to the dealer... we live literally in the middle of nowhere too. This past week I stopped in and they said the motor was trashed. They drained the oil and some blue coolant came out with the oil. No idea what happened, but they are replacing it under warranty. It should be finished this week. I asked if they needed receipts for the oil changes as I keep very detailed records and receipts. They said nope, don't need em. They had the motor out and were putting in a brand new one from Subaru, and the reason it was taking so long was that it took a while to get the engine.

The Outback is a 2.5i with a 6 speed manual.

We're going to trade it in around 30-35K and get a 2013. My wife drives roughly, at this time, 40K a year. She wants a different color and some other options as well.

Will update when I have more details on this mishap...

[Saint J VT]

Does she drive hard enough to warrant installation of a Nitrous Oxide kit?

[MRausch82]

Nope. She and I both do 100% highway driving. Most is rural highway. She drives up to 950 miles a week. I do all maintenance on it, and yes, I check the oil regularly. I changed the air filter at 15K when I changed the oil. I take pretty good care of it. I think it was a fluke since nobody else has heard of this before.

[Saint J VT]

I mis-read your statement when you wrote "my wife drives roughly, at this time, 40,000 miles a year"

I read it as "my wife drives roughly, at this time," "40,000 miles a year!"

[Saint J VT]

I would think Subaru would want the best technicians to take that original engine all apart to find what actually happened to such a new engine! That thing was just about broken-in, not much past that!

[4wheeldog]

Luck of the draw.....Just be happy it did not wait another 20k miles. It would be interesting to know what broke, but obviously, something just failed, catastrophically. Since it seized, and had coolant in the crankcase, I am betting a rod failure that broke the block.

[MRausch82]

Originally Posted by 4wheeldog

Luck of the draw.....Just be happy it did not wait another 20k miles. It would be interesting to know what broke, but obviously, something just failed, catastrophically. Since it seized, and had coolant in the crankcase, I am betting a rod failure that broke the block.

Didn't sound like a rod at all. The dealer said the same thing, Subaru will likely want to see what happened and will probably take it apart. I'd be curious to know what happened myself. And no, she does not drive it "rough", I meant, it as a roundabout number for mileage, not in terms of how she drives...

[Wagondude]

Gravel sound? like a timimg chain? The 2012 has the chain, right? Water pump failure in some strange way could have cracked the block. That pump is chain driven and anything failing with the chain would give a gravel sound.

[MRausch82]

Originally Posted by Wagondude

Gravel sound? like a timimg chain? The 2012 has the chain, right? Water pump failure in some strange way could have cracked the block. That pump is chain driven and anything failing with the chain would give a gravel sound.

Nope, the '12 has a belt, the '13 got a chain. Part of the reason we want a '13 is the chain... should, in theory, be less trouble, haha.

[edawg]

Mrausch82, We're glad it didn't cause an accident for you and also very eager to hear what the root cause was on this one. I'm eager to see if the dealer or SOA actually clue you in on the cause or just do their investigation without giving details... After the boxer head gasket issues of yore on this forum, SOA may be sensitive to such situations...

But if you do get a full root cause report, that's really encouraging that the new Subaru/Toyota cultures are working together to make the brand better... I recall Mr. Toyoda's apologies during the "sudden acceleration" fiasca at Toyota for example... That was a tough pill to swallow, but the company has improved for the experience.