If you have owned a Subaru for any length of time you may have heard the term “Piston Slap”.

In the video below I try to demonstrate what piston slap is and what causes it as well as the compression rings and oil control rings on a Subaru piston.   I want to stress that piston slap can be inherent in many other makes and models but because Subaru does not do too much in the area of sound deadening it can be more obvious in a Subaru than another make.

I also want to point out that in most cases piston slap poses no detrimental effect on the longevity of the engine and instead is just more of a nuisance than a concern.

Thanks for reading and watching.

Justin

Your Independent Subaru Expert