2018 Sti Stock Stumbles in WOT

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
There's a guy on another site that swears he's done this multiple times. Though I reeeeeeeeally doubt this will work, it might be worth a try if you know someone local:

"find a friend or someone who has a similar model year car with a cobb ap. unmarry it from their car, marry it to your car, then un marry it from your car. That will return your car back to a non lic unlocked factory map, and then give them back they ap and away they go."
 

Batmobile_Engage

Squirrel Meat Aficionado.
Staff member
Another thing to keep in mind...

If you're not sure what mods might remain on the car, flashing a stock tune (or replacing the ECU, and therefore getting a stock tune) and calling it a day could cause you some serious problems. If it were me and this were about to happen, I'd be looking for a local tuning shop to put the car on the dyno and do some investigation/tune modification. Depending on mods, you COULD verrrrrry carefully limp the car over there if nearby. Otherwise, it might be prudent to flat bed tow it.*

* NEVER tow a Subaru with two wheels on the ground. You either tow it with all four on the ground and the transmission in neutral, or loaded aboard a flat bed. IF you MUST tow a Subaru with two wheels on the ground, the driveshaft must be removed and the rear wheels will be the ones on the ground.

*FAILURE to heed this warning will result in catastrophic drivetrain damage.
 

SDblitz858

New member
Another thing to keep in mind...

If you're not sure what mods might remain on the car, flashing a stock tune (or replacing the ECU, and therefore getting a stock tune) and calling it a day could cause you some serious problems. If it were me and this were about to happen, I'd be looking for a local tuning shop to put the car on the dyno and do some investigation/tune modification. Depending on mods, you COULD verrrrrry carefully limp the car over there if nearby. Otherwise, it might be prudent to flat bed tow it.*

* NEVER tow a Subaru with two wheels on the ground. You either tow it with all four on the ground and the transmission in neutral, or loaded aboard a flat bed. IF you MUST tow a Subaru with two wheels on the ground, the driveshaft must be removed and the rear wheels will be the ones on the ground.

*FAILURE to heed this warning will result in catastrophic drivetrain damage.

Hey! thanks for knowledgable response, the car is currently in subaru dealership possession and awaitinf for the new ECU to come on tuesday next week they say. the car is super stock as they say it is because they actually took out everything from downpipe and checked everything for a possible adtermarket parts installed and there was none! and they where saying previous owner might have just tuned the car stock with open source and tuner locked the ECU. but then again if it was indeed stock tuned from open source, why is it hesitating to go above 5000 rpm on 2,3,4th gear? all same rpm? i never tried 5th but itll probably do it too. i still believe there was mods on it. but they did try flashing the car they couldnt since its locked.
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
With the ECU being "locked," are they able to see the name in text format of what map/tune is flashed on the car at all?

Man, the wait must suck, but at least you know that you'll have a sound car after all of this fiasco. Are they giving you a loaner in the meantime?
 

SDblitz858

New member
With the ECU being "locked," are they able to see the name in text format of what map/tune is flashed on the car at all?

Man, the wait must suck, but at least you know that you'll have a sound car after all of this fiasco. Are they giving you a loaner in the meantime?

Hey! all i the subaru techs and master techs said ?open source?? i didint ask anything else. yea the wait sucks at the moment. Also yes im with a 2019 Subaru Forrester as a loaner. the customer service is really nice and they actually let me go in the back and talk to the 3 guys thats working on my car, they said after all they certified the Sti lol. But in your own opinion, you think the ecu is the culprit being tampered? saw then leakdown test. cold 140 all cylinders hot 170 all cylinders. the wait sucks
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
Well, at least you get to experience the 2019 Forester in the meantime. :lol:

Open Source means a different tuning method was used to tune the car, like Romraider. There's another OBD2 tool out there called the Tactrix cable and it's used as an alternative method of tuning in comparison to the Cobb Accessport. It's absolutely possible the car was tuned in stock form (although it is pretty rare where an owner wants a revised tune with all stock components), as I mentioned 3 days ago. However, we weren't able to prove nor deny. Now.... we'll have to wait for the new ECU to come in and determine if that fixes the issue or not, especially if your engine is healthy per the leakdown test. I'm not certain as to what "locked" completely entails, therefore I can't speculate. We just have to wait for the new ECU.
 

Eagleye

Tinkerer
Well, at least you get to experience the 2019 Forester in the meantime. :lol:

Open Source means a different tuning method was used to tune the car, like Romraider. There's another OBD2 tool out there called the Tactrix cable and it's used as an alternative method of tuning in comparison to the Cobb Accessport. It's absolutely possible the car was tuned in stock form (although it is pretty rare where an owner wants a revised tune with all stock components), as I mentioned 3 days ago. However, we weren't able to prove nor deny. Now.... we'll have to wait for the new ECU to come in and determine if that fixes the issue or not, especially if your engine is healthy per the leakdown test. I'm not certain as to what "locked" completely entails, therefore I can't speculate. We just have to wait for the new ECU.

I've actually owned 2 subarus that were basically stock but tuned. They do weird tuning from the factory for emissions tax purposes.
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
I've actually owned 2 subarus that were basically stock but tuned. They do weird tuning from the factory for emissions tax purposes.

Then, you're part of the outliers! Very few people go that route.
 

SDblitz858

New member
I've actually owned 2 subarus that were basically stock but tuned. They do weird tuning from the factory for emissions tax purposes.

See here is my thing now, if it was tuned stock with open source, the car shouldnt be still running like that, hesitation on same rpm on all gears. it probaby had some bolt ons, got tuned for that, then got taken out, returned to stock and the ecu i have now is not tuned for stock sti. At this point im really hoping that was the case, its not like i have a choice now, because if its not, and new ecu comes and problem still persists then my motor getting pulled out.
 

Eagleye

Tinkerer
"this is bullshit" :lol: sorry I know it isn't funny for you and I wouldn't joke if it weren't covered under your warranty.

That is one I have never seen before. I'll be interested to hear what the final conclusions are.
 

SDblitz858

New member
"this is bullshit" :lol: sorry I know it isn't funny for you and I wouldn't joke if it weren't covered under your warranty.

That is one I have never seen before. I'll be interested to hear what the final conclusions are.

lol! i somewhat felt relief when i saw that video! it does exactly what my car is doing! i was bummed out lmao it seemed like i was the only one experiencing that problem. trust me i searched first before i found this bombass page lol. i wonder what he did to the car or how he fixed it tho.
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
Wow, I have never seen that before either.... As if the engine doesn't want to rev?!?!

I really hope the ECU is at fault here and your car will behave normally after this is all said and done.

Make sure the dealership properly allows the new ECU to relearn the variables before going WOT after they install it.
 

SDblitz858

New member
:::::::::::::::::BIG UPDATE::::::::::::::::

- Finally took her home today. The culprit ? ECM/ECU was locked with open source tune. Warranty covered it with brand new ECM/ECU that came from japan. took about a week to come. Also, due to i bought the Sti not being certified, and i only had the car literally 8 days of possession after the sale, they certified the car ! Changed all plugs/coilpacks/FPG/ and did whatever else needed for a certified vehicle. Now no more hesitation whatsoever! car feels soo alive and alot faster than when i bought it!! now it makes sense why its somewhat ?slow? compared to the certified used Sti from the other dealerships i test drove. To sum it all, i am very pleased and happy from all you guys?s help and morale support!! Thanks alot IGOTASTI !!

-Marc
 
:::::::::::::::::BIG UPDATE::::::::::::::::

- Finally took her home today. The culprit ? ECM/ECU was locked with open source tune. Warranty covered it with brand new ECM/ECU that came from japan. took about a week to come. Also, due to i bought the Sti not being certified, and i only had the car literally 8 days of possession after the sale, they certified the car ! Changed all plugs/coilpacks/FPG/ and did whatever else needed for a certified vehicle. Now no more hesitation whatsoever! car feels soo alive and alot faster than when i bought it!! now it makes sense why its somewhat ?slow? compared to the certified used Sti from the other dealerships i test drove. To sum it all, i am very pleased and happy from all you guys?s help and morale support!! Thanks alot IGOTASTI !!

-Marc
Awesome to hear that the life has been brought back into congrats dude

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk
 

IGOTASTi

System Operator
Staff member
Glad they stepped up and fixed it!

Congrats and enjoy!! -

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Eagleye

Tinkerer
Great end result, enjoy the car and don't be a stranger. We'd like to hear about all the good things going on from now on haha.
 

Alin

Diehard Car Enthusiast!
:::::::::::::::::BIG UPDATE::::::::::::::::

- Finally took her home today. The culprit ? ECM/ECU was locked with open source tune. Warranty covered it with brand new ECM/ECU that came from japan. took about a week to come. Also, due to i bought the Sti not being certified, and i only had the car literally 8 days of possession after the sale, they certified the car ! Changed all plugs/coilpacks/FPG/ and did whatever else needed for a certified vehicle. Now no more hesitation whatsoever! car feels soo alive and alot faster than when i bought it!! now it makes sense why its somewhat ?slow? compared to the certified used Sti from the other dealerships i test drove. To sum it all, i am very pleased and happy from all you guys?s help and morale support!! Thanks alot IGOTASTI !!

-Marc

Fantastic! I'm happy that they managed to detect the ECU as the culprit. You got hell of a value in terms of a new ECU, spark plugs, coil packs, and FPG! Not too shabby for some down time!!! :tup:

Give us another update in about another week or so. I'm certain things will be well! :tup:
 
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