Who's right?

Hi,

I'm hoping you can help me sort out a disagreement my coworkers and I have.

I recently bought a 2017 WRX STI. I have 4200 km on it now.

They're telling me I'm babying it to the point where it's bad for the car. I barely ever go above 3000 rpm (where I shift). Once a week I'll go up to 5000 of the 6700rpm redline.

They're telling me that the STI needs to be driven hard frequently to spin the turbo clear out carbon, etc.

I'm saying it's not in the manual, so it can't be necessary to maintain the engine. I know this engine is super fragile, so I'm trying to not abuse it.

The odd time I do get near the redline, a smell of farts enters the cabin, so I'm thinking it's probably not good for the car to do often.

Who's right? We all work in a dealership so we all know a bit about cars. Should I be driving the car harder?

Pic related, it's the sort of girl who is attracted to proper vehicle maintenance.

Wow I re read this and I sound like an RPM counting autist.

Anyways, who is right?

He's full of crap. It isn't granny's carbureted Nova where it'll build a quarter inch of carbon in the combustion chambers if you don't wind it out a few times per week.

If it's direct injected (dunno, can't be arsed to know about cars I don't really like) it'll build up trash in the intake either way, but not the turbo.

Thanks!

That's what I thought. So there's no reason I should ever have to floor it for longevity purposes, I take it.

i'd eat a mile of her shit just to see where it came from.

Her ass, presumably. You can save the hassle of the eating in knowing this.

I'd eat a mile of her shit just to see the toilet she used

Tbh I would probably eat Victoria's shit if she just asked me to.

you bought an STI CVT?


hmm

lol

I don't know how well modern subarus are designed because like I said, can't be arsed, but no car worth its iron will be harmed by going WOT on a regular basis.

That looks risky

What

It's a Manuel

Like every other STI

Yeah it got away from her a little and you can see her pubes.

She's hot AF

> Tries to sperg - something something not real enthusiast if not manual something

> Doesn't know sti only comes in manual

Hmm

Looks damn tall, too

Ok after seeing that I will too, meet you there

>. It isn't granny's carbureted Nova where it'll build a quarter inch of carbon in the combustion chambers if you don't wind it out a few times per week.

No, of course not, it's a modern direct-injected turbocharged car that ABSOLUTELY WILL build a quarter inch of carbon in the combustion chambers if you don't wind it out a few times per week.

OP's tech is not wrong and yes OP you are very slowly destroying your car by driving like a granny. Give it the beans every now and then, that's what the engine is designed to do.

t. an actual automotive technician

You bought a fucking performance car. Fucking use it bitch

Has a manuel sti and drives it this slow.
10/10 bait user.GJ

By the way, these problems are so prevalent on Subarus that the company bottles and sells their own Seafoam, valvetrain cleaner and injector cleaner.

Also if you are shifting at 3000 RPM you are bogging the engine down and producing excessive boost trying to accelerate and you WILL experience premature engine failure. Shift at 5000 instead and try to stay in the powerband.

You should probably just trade that STI in for a Corolla, if you are going to drive it like a fucking idiot.

...

Troll thread, clearly.

5000?!?! I know about the boost under low load causing ringland failure, so I just don't ever make boost under 3000. I barely ever make boost desu, I live in a major city.

When you look at other resources, everyone mentions they shift around 3000 when just puttering about

As long as your revs don't drop below 1000rpm you should be fine.

unless you have your hand in the intake holding the turbo vanes still you are producing some amount of boost almost as soon as you put your foot down. The turbo is not an on/off thing at a certain RPM, it spins as soon as the exhaust temperature is hot enough to create a pressure differential in the pipe.

The turbo vanes may be spinning but it doesn't produce boost until the turbo itself reaches a certain RPM.

How is it such a cognitive burden for you to wind out the engine in second or first once every drive long enough to fully warm the engine? That is the point of 4 pot. Get a small displacement NA v8 to putz at 3k like you are more comfortable doing.

The RENESIS engine needs to be fully heat cycled to redline every drive. Your boxer as the tech attests needs to be fully heat cycled, more than once a week if dailyd. Heck all that cooling system probably needs such regular flow, not just the carbon buildup spots. Especially in cooler temperate weather.

Better yet get a diesel three cylinder tractor, that is carriage with a 3000 rpm duty cycle.

Why did you buy a decently powerful car if you aren't gonna go full throttle every now and then?

Well fuck me dead I've been thinking I was okay gently accelerating and cursing about under 3000rpm as long as my boost gauge was under 0 PSI

I wish I had my Mustang back this thing is too much headache with all its rules and regulations

The main issue with this is that I only live 10 minutes from work in a major city, so I actively have to seek out an area to go faster than 70km/h. The engine barely gets up to operating temp by the time I get to work, and from what I've read the oil takes even longer to get to ideal temp. So it's actually really difficult to find a situation where I can do this.

I understand from what everyone is saying. Wring it out once a week or so.

Oh god man, just sell it and buy an econobox or a fucking regular Impreza Instead. With that kind of driving cycle you are going to destroy that engine or cost yourself a lot of time at the dealer. That is a complete waste of your money.
That car is meant to be driven aggressively. You don't need to break the speed limit or actually drive _fast_ but wind out the car more in 1st before shifting to 2nd, so you end up in second at a higher RPM, then slowly start shifting sooner and sooner as you approach the speed limit.

DO. NOT. shift from 1st to 2nd at 3000 RPM, try 5-6k, then shift from 2nd to 3rd at 4.5-5k, 3rd to 4th at 3.5-4k, etc. By the time you get to 5th-6th you will be cruising at a low RPM which is what you want.

With a turbo car you really need it to come up to operating temp before you drive it, and let it cool off after driving it (less important now with hybrid oil/coolant cooled turbos but still). If you can't do that regularly, don't drive it at all.

OP is going to have a ton of carbon build up on the intake valves. No, fuel additive doesn't do anything because DIRECT INJECT.

Your coworkers are correct. Subaru's FA20DIT needs to be wrung out regularly to mitigate all the shitty blow by products of the crank case, from the EGR system, and elsewhere.

Oh god, this is a disaster. I wanted one of these things forever, and now I can't drive it to work without destroying it. I even gave up my demo Q60 for this.

I did buy a 6 year warranty though. So if I do cause it some trouble, at least it will be covered.

But it has a EJ257. Same issue?

Oh, nvm then. EJs don't have the intake valve carbon issue that direct injects do.

this world is so full of goddamn pussys it hurts

i fucking redline my car atleast once a week and its a fucking subcompact

>EJ257
Ah, so it's not a DI engine? Great. You are still dealing with EGR and PCV contamination of the intake but at least you won't get carbon fouling. One less thing OP needs to worry about. You can avoid EGR fouling by driving spiritedly, since it usually only operates at low engine load and steady speeds.

Now if only we can correct OP's granny shifting habit, this car might make it to the end of the warranty.

Then you should have known that driving a turbocharged car is an entirely different experience than a normally-aspirated one. You have to be mindful of what the engine is doing and actually care about it.

Thanks for the advice, I appreciate your help.

It is at this point I should mention that I learned to drive manual in this car so I'm not familiar with what "granny shifting" is or how to not do it.

Never mind I just googled it, I'm retarded.

>cursing about under 3000rpm as long as my boost gauge was under 0 PSI

All engines actually have what's called vacuum, which is created by the pistons pulling air into the cylinders. When you make boost, you are pressurizing the intake manifold after the pistons have sucked the air out of it.

So if you are at an indicated 0 PSI, you are probably making a little bit of boost to overcome what is probably -9 psi (20 in/Hg) of vacuum.
I don't think the boost gauge in the WRX STI even indicates vacuum, so you should not use that gauge to judge whether or not you are making boost, it is basically cosmetic. Get a Bluetooth OBD reader and an old cell phone with Torque if you are actually trying to stay off-boost.

The only fucking rule applies to EVERY car. Drive gently for the first 15-20 minutes until the oil and engine are warm. Then stop being a god damn pussy.

this


cars are designed and built to be used, if it can't handle being driven hard without catastrophic failure then it's not worth the metal it's made from.

It's an sti not a fucking rotary

this guy knows some shit but has to get incredibly assblasted at other people on an Italian pasta making forum. You do need to change your shifting habits, however. You have a turbo awd 4 cyl sedan and you need to drive it like it was meant to be driven. You won't even have proper traction if you're shifting that early and it definitely will build carbon and deposit oil/coolant sludge in places if not driven properly. Yours, however, is fairly new and won't have a problem as long as you fix it now. You need to make boost when you drive, the engine is designed to do that and will definitely have problems if you're intentionally staying out of boost when it should be in boost at a lower gear, you've probably noticed the engine lugging some when you're cruising in a higher gear at low rpm. 10 minutes is plenty to warm up, take the long way if there is one. Just make sure you hit 5kish (depending on redline) in 2-3 when you're driving each day and rev it up to at least 4k on regular commuting shifts. The other guy was spot on with his advice though, I would definitely invest in a way to read the ecu (phone with Torque app) or similar because monitoring the temps, figures and other stats of a brand new turbocharged possibly DI engine is always a good idea