Are you a Subaru tech? These engines are infamous for all of the issues I cited.
Iāve been accused of it and Iāve owned 3 Subarus in the past.
Iām just saying that Iāve never seen these particular problems. From what I glean from an internet search the common threads seem to be turbocharging, hard driving, altering the state of tune, and even oil in the combustion chambers.
I might point out that oil in the combustion chambers essentially lowers the octane of the fuel/air charge and which can then affect pinging.
Offhand, it sounds to me like the ones with the problems are being flogged. That wouldnār surprise me as Iāve seen 3 near new turbo Subarus being hammered for hours at the local drag strip.
Two of them still had the dealer paper plates on them and I can just imagine the conversation at the dealer the following week when there are issuesā¦
I donāt deny that the issue is typically associated with turbocharged cars driven hard. Then again, something about Subaruāsā marketing of the WRX suggests hard driving is OK.
What they donāt mention is that these engines burn oil, run hot, have several points of lubrication failure, have no low oil pressure indicator, etc.
Hard driving increases the rate of wear in a typical car. In a Subaru, it leads to expensive, catastrophic failure.
Imagine dropping a medium-sized payload into your late model pickup and having the bed fall off.
The marketing departsments of ALL car manufacturers suggest a lot of things. Most are not true.
Some ads show 10 tons of rock being dropped from up high into the bed of a truck with no harm done either.
Dropping 10 tons of stuff onto a truck from up high is something few have the resources to do and even fewer would think to imitate. The consequences of this behavior should be obvious to anyone. Besides, what is the practical application here?
On the other hand, driving fast is available on-demand to everyone with access to a running car. Everyone has done it. A visit to the Subaru WRX page today invites viewers with access to a WRX to āDrool Sidewaysā. A few SECONDS sideways in a WRX can lead to oil starvation and spun bearings.
And you, having been a Subaru tech, are no doubt familiar with Subarus tendency to deny warranty work due to owner āabuseā or āneglectā
This is coming across as a bit asinine. Hereās a cut and paste from the Subaru warranty policies. I donāt see much room for obfuscation there at all; and ALL car makers will have the same language in their warranty policies.
"Damage Caused Due to Use of Vehicle in Competitive Events
These warranties do not cover damage to any component that is the result of operating the vehicle in any competition or racing event."
I note one of the whiners carping about piston failure was running 22 pounds of boostā¦a.k.a ticking time bomb.
If someone chooses to jump the fence and play with the bull in the pasture then they should not go sniveling when they get gored.
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@badmike, you seem to be predisposed against subie to some extent
I owned 5 Subarus, from which 4 used to have 25EJ engine, sold them with mileages between 80 to 180 K miles, never had ENGINE issues, but I did care about maintenance a lot: good fluids on reasonable 5K schedule for engine oil and 30K schedule for transmission and other fluids
I was also talked into helping a friend of mine to buy a used Subaru for his wife, where we bought Outback with 110K miles on EJ engineā¦ 6 or 7 years layer I was telling him āhey, why donāt you dispose it, you gonna hit an expensive repair soon as you get close to 200Kā, but he wants to keep it as with regular maintenance and good fluids, it keeps going strong and so far passes smog inspection
as @ok4550 pointed, some of Imprezas, especially WRX/STI lines tend to be abused, and then, yes, all bets are off and you can not blame the overall good (although unorthodox) design based on these cases
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I absolutely am āpredisposed againstā Subaru. Arbitrary arguments in favor of Subaru because you happen to like your car carries considerably less weight than actual evidence. Hereās some:
Hereās a 2100+ reply thread on Subaru rod bearing failures and why they happen:
These two items should help you and ok4450 better understand the issues Iām describing. Although I suspect neither of you want to understand.
ok4450 - Donāt change the subject. No one said anything about competition and racing and no one has any sympathy for the guy that modded his motor past is capabilities. Thatās a red herring.
The blame-the-consumer culture that has grown up around Subaru engine failures is a ridiculous farce. Subaru had a responsibility to remedy these issues. Instead they did the math and and elected to ignore the issue, deny as many warranty claims as legally possible, and keep the money.
I nominate the engine in my brotherās Mazda RX3 as the worst engine ever.
First off; class action suits mean nothing to me. Thatās a game for lawyers and whiners who choose to deflect attention away from their maintenance habits; or lack thereof. Try changing the oil more often.
Second; and just to pull a few points out of that story below.
An oil pickup tube is not going to fail unless the oil pan has been whacked. Not gonna happen.
Regarding the bogus bit about oil clearances on the rod bearings. It refers to them being loosened from .0014-.0018 down to .0012-.0018. That is absolute hogwash to put it in polite terms and makes less than zero sense.
Iām not changing the subject. Iām just pointing out that in every story involving these alleged problems that high speed thrashing seems to be involved. I see no complaints from average John and Jane Doe who drive their car in a civilized manner.
And yes I do understand just fine. I have a considerable amount of engine knowledge and experience so I feel like I know what Iām talking about. ASE, certified in VW, SAAB, Nissan, and Honda engine repair along with being a Subaru Master Tech. I also hold an FAA A & P license; or aircraft mechanicās license for those not aware of the designation.
Seriously, that rod bearing clearance BS is laughable. Seriously.
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thatās a little bit overly-heavy artillery you use, Mike!
Iām not sure we gave you that much of reason to play this blame card
so, it looks like it was some problems about:
FB engines are the 2.5-liter engines in the 2011-2014 Forester, 2013 Legacy and 2013 Outback and the 2.0-liter engines in the 2012-2013 Impreza and 2013 XV Crosstrek
It is indeed quite a lot, but you make a generic statement about ALL Subaru 2.5L engines based on this? really?
even for these engines, I bet 99% are just fine, defect might be in some of part supplier chain, and they do not know which would be affected, and which will live happily for 200+ thousand miles, as the rest of their ilk
I can not imagine ALL these cars are affected, manufacturer will extend warranty and make extra assessments under this Class Action Suite, good for us, consumers. Have you ever seen any manufacturer to do so voluntarily, especially on this scale? Yehā¦ 
Unfortunately āblame to consumersā culture is here, same as manufacturers see āblame to manufacturerā in blatant abuse cases. Very entertaining and proves nothing.
Some time ago, Subaru used to run commercial with a message of ā97% of all our cars produced in last 10 years are still actively registered and are on the roadā. Until somebody proves them to be wrong, this is the best testament that they at least NOT the āworst engine everā manufacturer.
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āFirst off; class action suits mean nothing to me.ā
āSeriously, that rod bearing clearance BS is laughable. Seriously.ā
āeven for these engines, I bet 99% are just fine,ā
āI can not imagine ALL these cars are affectedā
As I said, neither of you want to understand.
But seriously, weāre gonna agree to disagree here, 'cause I have no inclination to upset anyone or to keep revisiting this thread.
I understand fine; as long as thereās some logic involved.
Unfortunately and in the case of your posts, there is precious little of that.
At some point (the ridiculous rod bearing oil clearance BSā¦) it becomes a horribly bad joke.
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Thank youā¦
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Well I would have to vote the vega aluminum block engine as the worst, have a bud with a subaru, bad head gaskets, covered under warrantee, but upsold him to the turbo engine head gaskets, $300 or so. Then he was like we were planing a vacation and now I am afraid to drive the car, I was like you will be fine.
Doesnāt exist.
My vote for worst engine ever goes to the '71 Vega engine. But I still liked my Vega (a '72) even though the engine had a plethora of problems, some serious. I was in the military, and GM wrote to me more often (recall notices) than my parents! 
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At least the Vega engine could be rebuilt here in the US; with iron sleeves even.
That wankel became a devout paperweight.
The wankle has always interested me. Itās a fabulous concept on paper, but manufacturability, reparability, and rebuildability suffer with the odd chamber shapes and apex seals, Cylindrical shapes have great advantages there. The wankle never could overcome a tendency to draw oil into its chambers and the challenges in rebuilding when the time came.
I read that Mazda is going to bring the wankle engine back, but I personally think itāll be moot. I think EVs will make the whole idea obsolete. They also eliminate reciprocating masses, much better even.
I have a 2007 Impreza - 2.5 L 4 cylinder. I just replaced the head gaskets for $2,000. I also did the water pump and timing belt ( included in the cost of $2,000). Iām at 117,000 miles. The timing belt and water pump were replaced at 66,000 and I just had it done again while they were in there. The drivers side head was showing evidence of a leak so I just bit the bullet and had it done. I think I would buy my car again despite this cost. I got it for $10,000 at 66,000 miles (salvage title). It has been a great car and very reliable despite this incident. I enjoy the all wheel drive. It handles the snow real nice with my studded snow tires.
Worst engine ever? How about the 3.0 L Mitsubishi engine that was widely used in Chryslerās minivans years ago? I remember sitting behind many such a minivan that emitted oily smoke at idle. When, years later, I was in the market to buy one I was advised to get the domestic 3.3 or 3.8 L and avoid the 3.0, which burned oil, leaked oil, and had some expensive sounding valve train problem to boot!
It was an eye-opener for me. When I first heard Chrysler minivans would be offered with a Mitsubishi-built engine, I assumed it would be a better engine than the domestic alternative. So many Japanese cars had earned reputations for high quality engineering at reasonable prices. That 3.0 was a surprise!