Thread: Subaru Guys - Save a turbo, remove the banjo filters!

This is the #1 reason Subaru turbos die often, second reason is Uppipe cat that breaks up over time. For some reason Subaru thought it was a great idea to put a fine mesh filter into the turbo and AVCS oil feed lines.

AVCS Filters
AVCS filters are the easiest to get to and check. Some Subaru's will have the mesh filters right before the AVCS, these have a tendency of getting stuck in the AVCS mechanism.



05 LGT bolt didn't seem to have the filter, but my 04 FXT definitely had them and they poped out of the banjo bolts. Dig around in the AVCS oil hole to make sure the filter is not in there, on my FXT, both filters fell out of the banjo bolt and was inside (hard to spot since they are black like the oil).




Turbo Feed/AVCS Feed
This one is the most important one, if this one is clogged it restricts oil flow to the turbo which causes to starve and fail. Most shops will replace the turbo afterwards without fixing the root cause, clogged turbo feed banjo bolt. Because of this most replacement turbos will fail within the next 10k miles.

Remove the bracket that bolts to the up pipe and to the block.



Then you can see the oil feed banjo, use a 17mm ratcheting wrench to make your life easier.



Filter is still in... pull it out and install the bolt without it. The hard lines have a built in restrictor for the turbo.



This filter is definitely clogged, this caused my car's turbo to go out, sadly the previous owner didn't pull it out, thus the replacement turbo might be in a bad shape too.


Driver Side Head AVCS Feed
This one requires the most work to remove, it's best to do it while you are replacing the timing belt and the cam seals.

Here is a pic of how close the Banjo bolt is to the timing cover, there is simply not enough room to remove it on car without damaging the timing cover. If you grind the hump off, you will have more room to get the banjo out.


This plastic cover is in the way and can only be removed with the cam gears removed. You will need to loosen the dip stick tube to get the plastic cover out.


Finally easy access to the bolt


As expected the filter was in place still


And very dirty, if this was on the turbo feed/avcs line the turbo would be dead due to oil starvation.


I removed the whole hard line, notice that the bolt that goes into the AVCS side itself doesn't have a hump. That hump makes it impossible to remove this banjo bolt with the timing cover on.


I'm going to put the humpless bolt on the head, I also shaved one side of the banjo bolt so that I could squeeze it past the timing cover if I ever have to deal with it again. Do yourself a favor and use new seals on the head it self, you can try to reuse the old seals on the AVCS end, they are easy to replace if they leak.


All done and happy!

lol @ filter. wtf?

Is that oil feed line after or before the engine oil filter?

It should be after, because it's getting feed form the head. You will have small particles anyway, from sludge to cheap FRAM filters. We never run these stupid banjo filters on our SR20's and we have no issues, Subaru was just trying to be overly cautious and outdone themselves.

Exactly, that sounds like a bad idea. wow. I could maybe understand this for oil before the engine filter, but not after. I'm assuming cleaning that out isn't part of any maintenance manual?

-G

I think it's part of the unspoken manual, were people who think Subaru put the filters in for a good reason, will clean every 30k miles or something silly like that. I say just pull it and forget about it, like any other turbo car!

Subaru might have it in their manual to replace the whole bolt (filter is sold with the bolt only).

as a subaru tech, they say to replace the screened bolt with every turbo replacement, if oil changes are done properly the screens dont really plug up, the the ones that abuse the vehicles with lack of oil changes and not giving the turbo down time is what plugs them. there are 2 screened ones on the turbos, the one near the turbo, and the one behind the drivers side rear timing cover. hard to get to but you can sneak it out without pulling the cover.

So Subaru want's to be lazy about it and wait till the turbo fails before replacing the filter? Either way, IMO you should clean/replace the filters every 30k miles, seeing how crucial it is to making your turbo live. Keep in mind that Subaru suggested 7k dino oil changes for these cars up until pretty much 2010 too.

Ah yeah I was wondering about that one, I will be pulling it after I do the timing belt, I'm sure it is clogged too, which means the driver head's cams are not advancing/retarding like they should.

basically, subaru relies on the owners to maintain there vehicles a lot more than they do, its weird subaru would recommend the 7k oil change, they only actually recommend it here in utah at 7500 on the 13 and newer with synthetic, but from what I seen millions of times, with them running dry and the old nasty oil ruining the rings, I would change it at 3k regardless of what oil is used.

I would also just pull the screens out completely, every time i go to subaru training all the people there do it. you have any questions let me know, I can give you stuff to look for and what you will probably see go bad. i hate subarus but the forester turbos are probably the most solidly built.

Just an fyi, i would definitely recommend to replace the tensioner and all pullies, when doing your timing belt, even the little 12mm bolt pulley, if those seize while your driving say goodbye to your entire top end, even if subaru says its non interference. the water pump I would wait til' it pours out of the weep hole, and use subaru coolant and the additive if you drain and fill it, subaru says that the coolant that is not silicone based will damage subaru seals.

Yup I say just pull the filters and not worry about it. I plan on replacing all of the pullies when I do the timing belt. What other issues are you used to seeing? Besides wheel bearings...

These filters may be of use for the de>Ve oil feed lines on the sr20s. Is there any other in line style oil filter available on the market?