I'm looking at a 2022 Subaru with their 2.5L Boxer engine with Direct Injection. What does Subaru do to eliminate or minimize fouling of the intake valves and throttle body from the PVC (crankcase vapor)? Would you recommend an oil catch can? Or should I just avoid Subaru?
Subaru currently has two different and distinct direct injection systems.
The one on the 2.4L FA24D is a system developed by Toyota and that one eliminated carbon buildup by adding port injection.
Wether that system is effective is still unknown - Ford tried to pull off a similar thing for the European market "Dragon" engine and it just ended up causing terrible carbon build up on the exhaust valve instead.
The other system, on the FA20F/FA24F has been around for about a decade - in the case of these, so far there's little to no evidence of carbon buildup (Just the regular Subaru burning and leaking oil while being intolerant to low oil levels, the regular VVT system failures) but this time also quality issues with random component failures)
BUT, They aren't great engines by any stretch of the imagination and many of the cars they were installed on are JUNK. For example, the Subaru Ascent has been having insane reliability issues with electronics and transmission failures. (And although I don't think that consumer reports should be trusted, in many cases they have been incorrect, they gave the Ascent 1/5 reliability score - and it deserves it)
In other words, I wouldn't be too concerned with carbon buildup - form past experience with Subarus that's often the least of the worries when it comes to their powertrains.
1. I wouldnt buy a 2022 ANYTHING
2. Subies 2.5 are excellent engines that "HAD" a history of overheating (though the fix is a wrx head gasket)
(fwiw i have 3 2.5 subies that have not given me any problems)
3. 2022 is a cvt trans and I avoid those
hth
I’m with @dan, mostly. Intake valve fouling is not a major problem with Subarus. I also agree that the Ascent has had too many problems; IMO, that’s mostly because they tried to drive too heavy a vehicle with too light a drive train.
But I think their other vehicles are fine for what they are. They are intended to be basic transportation + outdoorsy, and they pretty much nailed it across their product line. The trade off is not reliability (which is above average), it’s NVH (noise, vibration, harshness).
I mean I wouldn't say that the Ascents powertrain is too weak 240 horsepower is a lot, and Subarus' larger CVT model is rated to withstand that kind of stress. A lot of European cars with roughly the same size in the same category have good reliability with a 1.2L 3cyl.
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As much as I'd like to love Subaru I just don't think they've done a good job, sadly I think that the RAV4 beats the Forester in almost any way (design, outdoorsiness, drivetrain,...) , and that the CrossTrek is just a less appealing car then a Corolla Cross.
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I don't have anything against Subaru, but their cars are just too expensive for what they are...