I bought a used 2019 WRX with 27k miles and I put another - AB
I bought a used 2019 WRX with 27k miles and I put another 21k miles on it before the motor spun a bearing between a connecting rod and the crankshaft, thus requiring a new engine (I bought an extended warranty). I had the car towed to Dulles Subaru of Leesburg on the evening of June 7th. I talked with Scott (manager of the service department) on June 10th. He confirmed my suspicions about the engine damage and said a new engine was necessary, but a Subaru inspector would need to come out to verify the warranty claim. The claim was approved and the engine rebuild was 15.7k dollars in cost, but luckily I only had to (initially) pay my deductible and use the warranty. On June 28th, after a lack of communication, I was told I would be able to pick up my car that evening. Before I left my house, I called in to confirm - the car was NOT READY. Scott told me that there were a few seized bolts they had to be cut between the exhaust and turbocharger and that it would cost me 1k dollars out of pocket. On July 1st, I got a call from a Leesburg Police officer who informed me that a tow truck driver (not affiliated with Dulles Subaru) hit my car’s trunk and caused some minor body damage while my vehicle was sitting in the dealer’s lot. My car was hit on June 21st, per the police report and it took 10 days for me to find this out from the officer and not the dealership (This is still an open claim and Dulles Subaru hides behind its disclaimer of not being responsible for any damage caused). On July 11th, I was finally told the car should be ready to be picked up with the new engine so I went there after work. Before I could take my keys back Scott told me that his technician(s) had misplaced/lost the Engine Underguard, which was a 150+ dollar part that they would order for me so I could come back and get it installed at a later date. I got the keys and on the short drive home I noticed the tachometer was higher at idle and it seemed to jump around a bit. The new engine was idling close to 2k rpm when previously it would idle at 500rpm when warm. I drove the 5 miles home from the dealership, parked in the driveway and let it be for a half hour. Later that evening I started the car and a check engine light greeted me, less than 2 hours after picking it up (I have a cheap ODB2 scanner and the two codes it threw were: P0507 and P0606. “Idle Air Control System RPM Higher than Expected” and “ECM/PCM Processor”, respectively). I was pretty frustrated, so I took Friday, July 12th off from work so I could get this taken care of ASAP.
The dealership determined that the engine had a vacuum leak and air was getting in causing the engine to run “lean”, hence the ECU was giving it more gas at idle. They could not find the source of the leak initially, so Scott offered a free loaner for 10 days if needed. I didn’t end up using the free rental for the full 10 days but I thought this was a kind gesture from Scott and is worth mentioning. On July 15th, I was once again told that the car should be ready to be picked up. Apparently one of the technicians had crossed vacuum lines, which cause the issue. I returned the loaner that evening and got my WRX. I drove home, but the next morning I started noticing what sounded like an occasional squealing serpentine belt or idler pulley. I dropped the car back off at Dulles Subaru in the morning before work on July 18th only for them to inform me in the afternoon that the clutch throwout bearing was going bad and it would cost 3.1k dollars out of pocket to fix, warranty not applicable. At this point I didn’t faith in the work Dulles Subaru would do so I called my regular mechanic (Mach V Motorsports) and they quoted me a little over 2k dollars for the same work assuming everything Dulles Subaru said was correct. On July 18th, I picked up my WRX and brought it to Mach V. I noticed that whoever took it on a test drive hit 16.0 psi of boost on a brand new engine… All in all it was a huge headache and a bad experience,
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