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There are parameters that will provide on the fly adjustments to fueling and ignition timing but these are reactive and not pro-active.

This is probably one of the most controversial topics that makes its rounds throughout the Subaru community.

There are a lot of theories and discussions on what causes these failures.

These include things like poor design, weak components, abuse, fuel line routing etc.

With so many opinions it can be difficult to really weed through everything and get an idea of what steps you can take to reduce the risk of having a ringland failure.

I do not in any way claim to be a guru or that I have the 1 size fits all answer to this.

But over my many years involved in the Subaru community and helping customers build their cars or rebuild after a failure I feel that its important to share my thoughts and experience.

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For those who dont know a ringland failure is usually as simple as a crack in the part of the piston that your piston rings sit on.

This in turn causes a loss in compression in that cylinder with symptoms of misfiring, smoking etc.

In its worst form if you get 2 cracks on a piston it can eventually break a chunk away and damage the cylinder walls.

Maintenance The first and most important aspect to preventing a ringland failure is going to be the maintenance and care for your Subaru.

The single most important thing you can do is to be proactive about maintenance.

Regular oil changes with good quality oil (Motul, Total etc) and a good quality oil filter (Subaru OEM or equivalent).

Keeping up with the other aspects such as spark plugs, air filters, PCV valve are also important.

If your car is modified you should be reducing the service intervals from what the service manual suggests.

For example Subaru recommends changing your spark plugs every 96,000KM for most turbo models.

If your car is modified I would reduce this down to 60,000KM.

PCV valves are meant to be inspected, cleaned or replaced every 48,000KM but I would bring this down to every 30,000KM or once a year.

While most turbo Subarus are meant to be run on minimum 91 octane, it does not hurt to run higher octane such as 94 octane we have in Ontario.

The additional knock resistance of the higher octane fuel will reduce the risk.

While the factory ECU is constantly learning based on the information from the O2 sensor, knock sensor etc it also takes time for these changes to take effect.

An example would be if youre tuned on 94 Octane and have to switch to 91 octane level due to availability.

In this scenario I would recommend switching to a 91 octane map if you have one or driving the car as mildly as you can.

If you drive the car aggressively without a map change the probability for detonation is going to be quite high before the ECU can try to protect the engine.

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