JL sent us over an email from Subaru of America that's instructed dealers to immediate cease sales of all Subaru models equipped with the turbocharged, 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine. The directive effects some 2008 and 2009 models built in January and February, including the Forester, Legacy 2.5GT, LTD, 2.5GTB and Impreza sedan and wagon.

The issue involves reports of an "engine knocking noise" that's been affecting vehicles outside the U.S. market, and an initial investigation has found that there is some kind of internal wear that may be causing the noise.

Currently, no U.S. vehicles have been affected, and a Subaru spokesperson told us that the stop sale has been issued as a temporary measure to nip it in the proverbial bud and that once the issue is addressed sales will begin again. You can read the full directive and see the exact production dates of the affected models after the jump.

IMMEDIATE STOP SALE ORDER
TO: GLR-- MAR-- NWR-- SCR-- SDC-- SWR Dealers
FROM: Subaru of America, Inc.
DEPARTMENT: Service
DATE: 04/07/2008

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Legacy vehicles have been added to the Stop Sale

We regret to inform you that we must place an immediate stop sale order on all of the 2008/2009 Subaru Impreza, Forester and Legacy vehicles equipped with a 2.5L Turbo Engine produced with the beginning chassis number and later as shown below.

Model
Body Type
Chassis Number
Production Date

Forester Wagon 701045 or later 2008/01/08 or later

Legacy 2.5GT-LTD 222825 or later 2008/02/04 or later
2.5GT-B 222958 or later 2008/02/04 or later
OBK 2.5XT-LTD 353835 or later 2008/02/01 or later

Impreza Sedan 523363 or later 2008/01/08 or later
Wagon 825183 or later 2008/01/08 or later


The reason for this immediate Quality Assurance action is that there have been several reports of "Engine Knocking Noise" from other markets on vehicles produced after the production dates listed.

Initial investigation confirms an internal wear issue on the failed units.

In the interest of preventing any possibility of failures for our customers, we have chosen to isolate any potentially affected vehicles by ceasing sales of the potentially affected units until the root cause and correction can be identified.

All the other displacement engines and the 2.5L Natural Aspirated Engine are excluded from this action.

Your region/distributor will be contacting you with a detailed list of affected vehicles assigned to your dealership. However, dealer trades cannot be tracked so please be aware of the affected VIN range.

If you have a vehicle in inventory that falls into the affected vehicle range, please ensure that your sales and service staff are immediately notified that the unit is un-saleable until further notice from SOA or your region/distributor.

If any of those vehicles has an unusual engine noise, please notify the SOA Technical Helpline immediately with all of the details and submit an E-QMR.

Should a customer bring an affected vehicle into your service department for an unusual engine noise, please immediately arrange that they are given the use of a clean SSLP vehicle and notify the Technical Helpline and submit an E-QMR.

You will be contacted shortly thereafter on how to proceed.

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