Absolute pleasure to meet you Scotty!
I just have a few questions regarding my Subaru's engine. I own the NA 2L Boxer 4 engine that's lived just over 200,000km. Since where I live is mostly country, we have a lot of high speed roads, how much does full power and/or high rpms hurt these things? I replace the oil every 10,000km and have found no leaks or weird sounds at all around the engine and it still has some buzz left in it.
Cheers!
If the original head gaskets have not been replaced they will likely start leaking soon if they have not done so already. (Usually they develop external drips before failing internally.) Change coolant every few years and be sure to replace the timing belt on schedule. As @yaser says, running it full bore all the time will certainly increase wear.
Generally speaking, using full power is not good for any engine and transmission (especially if it is an automatic transmission).
Thanks again for the reply!
Just to be safe I'll replace the coolant as soon as I'm able to.
I had purchased the car from those private car yards and after a few weeks I noticed missing bolts out of the bell housing, the clutch was damaged, and much of the service history was simply missing. I wouldn't be surprised if they skipped out on the coolant for a couple of $. As for the timing belt I'll try to do everything from inside the engine bay if that's possible, and look for any fatigue.
Just to be clear I don't drive this car hard often just for over taking and high speed pulls, I may use 70% throttle for a minute tops and I don't exceed 5,000rpm. I'm aware that 100% all the time is torture for any engine (except for nascar😂)
Cheers all!
Cheers for the reply!
I drive the standard 4 speed with overdrive
Unfortunately I'm not lucky enough to afford to do any major engine jobs like engine belt inspection's as I can barely afford a new clutch for the thing. Only information I have is I can't see any engine leeks whatsoever. I check my engine oil WEEKLY and can't see any noticable loss of oil. I also spend alot of time listening to the engine from both sides (including from the middle of the car since there's a pair of cylinders on each side) and can't hear any evidence of "Rod Knock" or "Piston Slap". I'll get on to the engine coolant when I can afford it but the temp gauge sits nicely under half way. My question specifically is much does full power (for a short period) hurt the engine? if there's a exact or strong answer. I love Subaru's but I'm aware these engines are an old, fragile design.
If anyone is interested in more detail of the cars condition? I'm always looking for advice and if I need to adopt any changes to my driving style. I also have plenty of questions.
Regards!
It's really hard to say. Probably full throttle for brief periods is not going to do noticeable damage but it does put a strain on everything. Temperature gauge by the way doesn't tell you the condition of the coolant. All of the anti-corrosion additives could be worn out and your temperature gauge will still say all is OK, until corrosion causes an overheat condition.
That's an all-aluminum engine with a weak head gasket design, and it is critical that the coolant be properly maintained. It's not an expensive or difficult DIY job and if your coolant is more than a few years old it should be done ASAP. Likewise if the timing belt is weak and it snaps during one of your pedal-to-the-metal, high-rpm runs, it's goodbye engine. (If it snaps at any time, even at idle, it's goodbye engine but high speed will make it more likely to break.)