Scooby WRX questions / problems....?

[Ben Bax]

I recently (1 week ago) picked up a 2001 WRX Sportwagon.

So far, I like it but..... A few things are worrying me. If anyone can help here or offer some advice I'd greatly appreciate it.

1. I think i'm experienceing Clutch Judder, which i found discussed on the SIDC website. Mine does it when cold more so but also when warm. Could changing spark plugs help this? Or maybe a higher grade clutch fluid?

2. Also spark plug related (Maybe) - Under full throttle, it's quick enough alright, but I feel power delivery could be smoother. It's a bit jerky in traffic too, when changing gear and going on / off the throttle. Spark plugs and HT Leads??? I think they are due replacement.

3. This is where I get worried... If I change into 1st gear and put my foot on the clutch to depress it, there is a whining noise. It sounds like you would expect a car to sound if it was in reverse? Has anyone else expedrienced this?

4. Since this discovery, I've also noticed a much feinter 'whining' noise during more general driving. Say pottereing along in 5th at 50 or 60. I've never had a AWD car before but didn't really expect this. It's not a bad noise but is this normal?

5. A few times now when we've parked the car up, it smells really hot. Like a burning smell. Vaguely of hot oil but not quite??? Bizarrly, i've only noticed this directly after using reverse gear to park the car. Reverse can also be tricky to get into gear.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. I'm worried we've bought a car with dodgy transmission, which would be very depressing!

[Evil.soup]

I dont have much advice for you sorry, but welcome to the world of scooby ownership

I believe ScoobieWRX will be along soon. He has a wagon WRX and has a large amount of knowledge on the subject. He will either put your mind at rest or give you some good pointers. The whining at 50-60 mph may only be the sound of the turbo though, i know its not the same model, but i get a simular sound from the turbo at about 70ish mph.

[_Al_]

1. Clutch judder caused by the flat 4 engine. It fires two cylinders at a time (most engines fire them slightly offset to smooth the power delivery). As a result you get torque spikes. Best solution is to rev it higher and use a lighter clutch engagement pressure.

2. As above. Twin-fire engine is not very refined at all.

3. Not able to help I'm afraid. Sounds like clutch release bearing.

4. Mine's the same, as are all the ones I've sat in. Admittedly I've never been in one younger than a 1998 though. Mine is particularly loud in 3rd.

5. Check for fluid leaks above the exhaust or turbo.


Edited to include usual disclaimer that this is just what I've been told/read etc. Also to make statement that sparks/HTs will do nothing to help.

Edited by _Al_ on Monday 21st January 23:57

[ScoobieWRX]

Ben Bax said:

I recently (1 week ago) picked up a 2001 WRX Sportwagon.

So far, I like it but..... A few things are worrying me. If anyone can help here or offer some advice I'd greatly appreciate it.

1. I think i'm experienceing Clutch Judder, which i found discussed on the SIDC website. Mine does it when cold more so but also when warm. Could changing spark plugs help this? Or maybe a higher grade clutch fluid?

2. Also spark plug related (Maybe) - Under full throttle, it's quick enough alright, but I feel power delivery could be smoother. It's a bit jerky in traffic too, when changing gear and going on / off the throttle. Spark plugs and HT Leads??? I think they are due replacement.

3. This is where I get worried... If I change into 1st gear and put my foot on the clutch to depress it, there is a whining noise. It sounds like you would expect a car to sound if it was in reverse? Has anyone else expedrienced this?

4. Since this discovery, I've also noticed a much feinter 'whining' noise during more general driving. Say pottereing along in 5th at 50 or 60. I've never had a AWD car before but didn't really expect this. It's not a bad noise but is this normal?

5. A few times now when we've parked the car up, it smells really hot. Like a burning smell. Vaguely of hot oil but not quite??? Bizarrly, i've only noticed this directly after using reverse gear to park the car. Reverse can also be tricky to get into gear.

Any thoughts on this would be appreciated. I'm worried we've bought a car with dodgy transmission, which would be very depressing!

1. Very common. I replaced the OEM clutch that was giving me bigtime grief for an AP Racing clutch rated to 350bhp. Job Done!! I reccomend that if your clutch judders very badly you need to give it a couple of almost full bore standing starts to clear some of the crap off the flywheel. The juddering is caused by the hotspots created on the flywheel from general use, and mine used to hate being stuck in traffic jams, having to ride the clutch from time to time, up down up down in traffic, getting very hot and not enjoying jams at all.

Dump the OEM clutch and get a decent 3 piece clutch kit by Exedy or AP, or a few other reputable manufacturers and make sure you get your flywheel skimmed while the gearbox is out of the car, or get a new flywheel.

2. Change plugs - absolutely (DENSO or NGK Iridium, not cheap but well worth the dosh and will last), generally coil packs don't go much wrong either although someone may correct me on that. What you need is a mild and gentle re-map even with the car as standard, and you should run the car on 99RON only.

3. The whining noise from the clutch when you depress clutch pedal could be the release bearing which sounds like it might be well knackered if it's that noisy, in which case goto point 1. and get a new clutch kit. You should be fine after that.

4. Mine does that too,mostly from the rear end of the car, and it has been diagnosed as tyres. When they start to wear a bit you start to get a bit of a whine from the back almost as if the rear diff were whining, however if you want real proper whining, give it some beans in first and 2nd for that rally style gearbox whine.....i love it

5. when these gearboxes are running well they can be a delight and very positive to use, as mine generally is, but mine has been a problem gearbox recently although it doesn't seem to hamper progress. Sometimes it has a hard time going into reverse, plus i get the odd little crunch from 3rd now and again. I recommend Redline Heavy Shockproof oil for the gearbox (3 quarts) and that should help bigtime. It won't cure it completely but it will make the gearbox a bit quieter and make gearchanging and going into reverse a much nicer experience.

As for the hot oily smell after having just put it into reverse, not sure about that. It's a new one on me. Does the car leak any oil onto the floor that you have noticed or does it use much at all. Don't forget it's got a Turbo and that gets pretty hot, but then again maybe you should expect a hot smell from under the car when you have been caning it Maybe the gearbox has a slight leak on it and it's dripping onto a hot exhaust. You need to get under the car to have a good look for any signs of oil leaks. Hard to tell without actually being there and seeing it for myself.

Don't worry too much about the car as it sounds like it's probably absolutely fine, and there is nothing or not a lot there that is going to die on you any time soon. Scoobys are pretty tough cars, built to last and take some stick, although they aren't immortal however, yours sounds OK and nothing unusual there to worry about that can't be sorted out in time, easily and inexpensively.

Hope this helps, and enjoy the fact that you are now in a very exclusive club driving one of the genuinely fastest estate type cars in the world!!

These are just my honest and humble opinions so if your car blows up tomorrow, it wasn't my fault If you are still unsure go and see/talk to a scooby specialist

Edited by ScoobieWRX on Tuesday 22 January 02:25

[StevenJJ]

Ben Bax said:

5. A few times now when we've parked the car up, it smells really hot. Like a burning smell. Vaguely of hot oil but not quite??? Bizarrly, i've only noticed this directly after using reverse gear to park the car. Reverse can also be tricky to get into gear.

a) Check offside cylinder head 'rocker cover' gasket
b) Check power steering pump/connections

[Orangecurry]

Before you change anything:-

mileage?

service history? Full, patchy, 'done by ex-subaru mechanic which is why there are no stamps'?

how many miles ago were the plugs changed? What plugs are they?

original clutch?

[Orangecurry]

ScoobieWRX said:

Dump the OEM clutch and get a decent 3 piece clutch kit by Exedy or AP, or a few other reputable manufacturers and make sure you get your flywheel skimmed while the gearbox is out of the car, or get a new flywheel.

common and excellent advice - when my original clutch finally goes this is what I'll be doing

ScoobieWRX said:

2. Change plugs - absolutely (DENSO or NGK Iridium, not cheap but well worth the dosh and will last), generally coil packs don't go much wrong either although someone may correct me on that.

Coil packs can apparently 'crack'; but the symptoms of this are generally hesitation when under power, rather than jerky gentle driving. Dirty boost solenoid, dirty/knackered MAF, or even some types of petrol can give the same symptoms - i.e. full-power hesitation.

Post your questions up on scoobynet and SIDC and get as much opinion as possible.

[_Al_]

Well that blew my post into a cocked hat.

Note to self: Too much time spent working, to little on owners clubs...

[Ben Bax]

Orangecurry said:

Before you change anything:-

mileage?

service history? Full, patchy, 'done by ex-subaru mechanic which is why there are no stamps'?

how many miles ago were the plugs changed? What plugs are they?

original clutch?

Thank you all, I really appreciate your help and comments....

Mileage 69000

Service History - Subaru stamps from new up to 16/10/06 when it had 50k service doen (at 56,000) miles which thank fully included cambelt etc.... Since then and independent mechanic did a service at 68,000 miles and all the filters look brand new and would support this.

Dunno when plugs were last changed or what type they are.

Original Clutch? Quite possibley

Also, when I picked the car it had a full tank of petrol, which can from the nearest Morrisons who had no super unleaded. Could be reason for less than smooth power delivery?

[Ben Bax]

4. Mine does that too,mostly from the rear end of the car, and it has been diagnosed as tyres. When they start to wear a bit you start to get a bit of a whine from the back almost as if the rear diff were whining, however if you want real proper whining, give it some beans in first and 2nd for that rally style gearbox whine.....i love it

Edited by ScoobieWRX on Tuesday 22 January 02:25

[/quote]

Took my car to my usual mechanic today - He's no scooby specialst but a good and crucially honest mechanic. He was impressed generally, said in was in very good condition underneath, no signs of any leaks from anywhere etc... He did say the transmission whine was louder than he had heard on other WRX's though and pointed me in the direction of a transmission specialst who has worked on lots of scoobs. He's agreed to do a free road test to try and diagnose teh faults i'm reporting, so hopefully then I'll at least know where I stand.

I gave mine a bit of a trash along a country road on the way home. It's certainly a quick car, but I just expected it to be more responsive on the throttle. I don't think I'm getting confused with turbo lag, even when the power comes in, it's almost in little fits and starts as opposed to a big surge of power.

[Orangecurry]

Ben Bax said:

Orangecurry said:

Before you change anything:-

mileage?

service history? Full, patchy, 'done by ex-subaru mechanic which is why there are no stamps'?

how many miles ago were the plugs changed? What plugs are they?

original clutch?

Thank you all, I really appreciate your help and comments....

Mileage 69000

Service History - Subaru stamps from new up to 16/10/06 when it had 50k service doen (at 56,000) miles which thank fully included cambelt etc.... Since then and independent mechanic did a service at 68,000 miles and all the filters look brand new and would support this.

Dunno when plugs were last changed or what type they are.

Original Clutch? Quite possibley

Also, when I picked the car it had a full tank of petrol, which can from the nearest Morrisons who had no super unleaded. Could be reason for less than smooth power delivery?

spark plugs should be changed every 30k, so I doubt yours need doing ETA as I would have thought SubaruMD would have done it at 56k - Look in your service schedule to see when they should have been done for the MY01, and ring up the garage in question and ask.

ps Oil (change) service should be every 7.5k miles, even for a MY01 AFAIK.

This is a MY00 schedule.


The first thing to do is run the petrol tank low, then get to your nearest Tescos and fill up with 99RON.

Then do an ECU reset - you might have to pop to Subaru to do this.

Until you do this, you may well be wasting money for no gain if you change/replace anything.

Is the MY01 a Denso or JECS ECU?
http://www.scoobypedia.co.uk/index.php/Knowledge/E...
look for the green and black leads under the dash of your car to be sure.

If the petrol and ECU reset do nothing, go onto the SIDC/Scoobynet forums and get advice on cleaning the Boost solenoid and pipes (with carb cleaner), and diagnosing MAF problems or cracking coil packs.

IMO the underbonnet area looks like someone has dumped a load of washing-machine parts in to fill it up, but with patience you'll be able to go through some of the basic jobs yourself.

Boost solenoid top-left attached to the body with the three shock-absorbing screws/rubber gromets


Once you are through your clutch/gearbox worries, start saving for a few mods. IMO the PPP pack is superb, and can be fitted at any Subaru dealership - if you happen to be geographically close to one of the recognised indie specialists, they do similar packs for slightly less money; the PPP cost me 1600 GBP incl VAT.
I love it.
Driving back from the dealers the day it was fitted (along the A272) was a truely unforgettable experience. By the time I got home, my face literally hurt from grinning - really.

Edited by Orangecurry on Tuesday 22 January 22:34

[ScoobieWRX]

Get through a couple of tanks of 99RON before you get the reset, that way the 99RON will have a chance to clean up your valves and other important bits before you reset to get the best from the 99RON as ordinarily it can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks before the car has self-adjusted to running on decent fuel.

If you were quite a bit closer Ben i would reset it for you. Scooby garage may charge £50 - £100, my charge £000000.00

See if there is anyone near you that has the right kit and do it for you FOC. It's very quick to do and for what you get IMHO Scooby garages rip you off bigtime. It should be an FOC service because they do bugger all apart from plug a cable into the ODBII connector below your steering wheel, press a button and hey presto. Takes seconds!!

[VladD]

Orangecurry said:

The first thing to do is run the petrol tank low, then get to your nearest Tescos and fill up with 99RON.

Unfortunately (from a Petrol stand point) Mr. Bax lives in Devon so travelling to a Tesco with 99RON would mean by the time he got back home he'd need to fill up again.

Shell V-Power or BP Utimate is the best we can do down here.

I run mine on either of these and a bottle of Millers Octane Plus, but then mine's JDM.

[ScoobieWRX]

I'd rather V-Power out of the 2 as i will not use BP Ultimate ever!! ( Ultimate time you put it in your tank before your car goes bang )

Around here there is a penny difference between V-Power and Tesco 99RON at the moment so at 50 - 60 pence difference over a tank full i may just go to shell rather than trundle the 3-4 miles to Tesco and use up that 50p driving it.

[Orangecurry]

VladD said:

Orangecurry said:

The first thing to do is run the petrol tank low, then get to your nearest Tescos and fill up with 99RON.

Unfortunately (from a Petrol stand point) Mr. Bax lives in Devon so travelling to a Tesco with 99RON would mean by the time he got back home he'd need to fill up again.

Shell V-Power or BP Utimate is the best we can do down here.

I run mine on either of these and a bottle of Millers Octane Plus, but then mine's JDM.

Bugger - I'm sure I got 99 from somwhere near Exeter when I was down that way last summer.

Mine runs noticably poorly on the Shell 'whatever it's called this week'-Power

If you only get 97RON down there, that must mean that the petrol is the from same distribution centre for every petrol outlet, so just get whatever supermarket is cheapest.

[VladD]

http://www.greenergy.com/tesco_99_octane/where_to_buy.html 

[tongue-in-cheek]By "Close to Exeter" did you means Weston-Super-Mare or Swindon?[/tongue-in-cheek]

Slightly OT, where's a good place to get my Type-R serviced in the Leamington Spa/Warwick area? Any locals around?

[Orangecurry]

VladD said:

http://www.greenergy.com/tesco_99_octane/where_to_buy.html 

[tongue-in-cheek]By "Close to Exeter" did you means Weston-Super-Mare or Swindon?[/tongue-in-cheek]

why you cheeky young whippersnapper!

actually that list is wrong nah nah na nahhh nah - I obtain Tescos RON99 in West Sussex at Shoreham (BN43), which isn't on that list.

Edited by Orangecurry on Wednesday 23 January 14:40

[_Al_]

Slightly dumbass question then, but does unplugging the battery for 10mins not reset the ECU?

It certainly clears error codes...

[Benjamonk]

_Al_ said:

Slightly dumbass question then, but does unplugging the battery for 10mins not reset the ECU?

It certainly clears error codes...

An excellent question (Although I am a bit pissed) Any one know the answer?

[ScoobieWRX]

Pre-Newage yes but you have to leave it off a good couple of hours so i understand. BugEye on> and you have to reset ECU via ODBII. If anyone lives near me and needs a reset i am happy to help out on newage - 2006 models.

After disconnecting both leads from battery and touching them together for a minute on Impreza and Legacy models this will reset car error codes like ABS light. Worked on mine after changing the clockspring in the steering wheel.