Picking the right mechanic is one of the most daunting parts of car ownership. Get it wrong, and you can be out thousands of dollars thanks to shoddy repairs. That’s likely what happened to the owner of this WRX engine.
Eric from the I Do Cars YouTube channel recently got his hands on this FA20DIT turbocharged boxer-four from a 2016 Subaru WRX, with plans to dismantle it for parts and scrap metal. While the engine looks fine on the outside, draining the oil reveals an abundance of metal shavings—not a good sign.
As Eric makes his way through the motor, there’s more metal shavings to be found, including in the heads and in the timing chain area. Scoring on the camshafts means metal entered the oiling system and spread throughout the engine, scraping along delicate moving parts and causing serious damage.
After removing the heads Eric discovers this engine had been apart before, pointing out a lazy head resurfacing job. He also finds the turbocharger is an aftermarket unit. Pulling off the oil pan reveals even more metal shavings, plus a huge piece of piston ring.
But weirdly, it seems this ring chunk didn’t come from any of the cylinders. As Eric points out, all of the pistons still had their rings intact, meaning this piece must’ve already been in the engine when it went back together during a previous repair. It’s likely this piece simply wasn’t cleaned out before the engine was reassembled. Yikes.
As the pistons are removed from the crankshaft, the main culprit of the damage, a spun rod bearing, is revealed. The bearing is mostly disintegrated, and likely caused the engine to make a horrific knocking sound (if it was still running, that is).
Take this video as a warning. Do your research before you bring your car to a mechanic. You don’t want to end up like the owner of this engine did.
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