[Aust] - Valve spring recall
 

Anyone here already been through it? how did it go?

or when are you lined up to get it done?


I am booked in for the end of April..

howdy Fudd, going in early May for the surgery which will inlcude some bits & pieces whilst it's all out, so to speak. Who knows what will come of it, hope no extra sealant included :|

What else are you getting done? I am getting my plugs replaced, since they need to remove them to do the job.. saves me a bucket on labour..

Hi all,

I've had it done and so far, no dramas. I live in a small town in central Queensland and the local dealership (Callide Valley Toyota) phoned me up and invited me to come to get it done.

Apparently there's special tooling required for the job that they have to send back, so they wanted to get whatever cars done they could while they had it available. Don't know if that is the case for larger dealerships.

I have a Harrop supercharger installed and I wasn't charged any extra for the additional work to remove and reinstall it.

I had the spark plugs changed while they was in there, all I had to do was pay for was the parts price.

Well i choose to wait and see if ten or more can be successfully done , here down under (with no problems caused , including dents and scratches) before i take the risk.
Just not happy with previous work done on my other cars.

I am going to photograph and go over the whole car before they work on it, also want some sort of warranty for the work in writing too..
I don't want to be left stranded if the motor dies after and them blaming my mods on it..
Already been down that road with the Subi dealership i bought it from, even though they knew the problem i had existed before I did any mods.

Plugs are due soonish so I'll get them replaced, apparently they have to come out anyhow. COP's & engine main harness will get inspected & replaced if necessary, TOB will be changed & re-greased properly. I'm asking my dealer if they can install a modded clutch disc plate to cure the racket it makes @ low revs/speeds even I can hear with my noisy rumbly exhaust. HPFP will be changed if they have a new version available.


Loan car will be provided, have requested for a new Camry Hybrid for testing ;)

I am trying to work out what you want to test it for? Uber driving?

my future DD . . . hachi rarely gets driven these days ;) my current DD is a V6 Camry.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133573
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133306
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133095
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133383
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133474
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133550

But i only care about Australians :p

I say that cause Subaru don't bring the cars into Australia, a 3rd party importer does, Inchcape, and they look after the warranty here.

Understood. The first link is referring to an Australian vehicle. The others are worldwide.

Have had mine done and ‘SO’ far it’s been fine and my car actually feels a bit more responsive for whatever reason. Perhaps the new springs allow more valve stroke and therefore more intake charge and exhaust extraction.

Have a Harrop install booked for late April so doing as many k’s in it as I can to check for oil leaks and issues. Mine was done by Essendon Fields/Airport Toyota and can’t complain about the job or the service.

Only issue, and it was out of their control, was that they couldn’t change the plugs over because there is apparently a ‘global’ shortage of them! Checked with the Subi dealer across the road and they didn’t have any either so perhaps it wasn’t bullshit like I thought!

Not a big deal since I’ve just clicked over just 35k kms in the six years I’ve owned the car and saved myself $180.

That's reassuring!
Which dealer did you go to?

Hopefully they have more plugs when i need to go, if they don't, ill find somewhere to get some from so they can do them!

Got the recall notice in early Feb. Rang the dealer I got the car from, they couldn't do it til mid May. So rang the dealer closest to work, they booked me in for mid March with a loan car. At the time I took mine in they had done 5 others so a bit of practice. I have just clicked over 900km since with no problems, did have a slight burning smell for a couple of days (wasn't an oil smell) but went away. I replaced the oil and filter yesterday so will see how it we go
sorry Fud this was done in Sydney

Essendon Fields. Bought the car from Anthony Smith is Sydney Road, Coburg but their care level was zero.

Yeah the plug issue was just ridiculous..

Good to hear, I am booked in with them, might ring them today to check they have plugs lined up!

There was one recall completed at a toyota dealer in sydney with no issues 1200km after recall.
So i only need to know about 9 others here before i build up the courage to take my brz in.

I'd be less concerned about dealing with a Subaru dealer than a Toyota. Subaru dealers deal with rebuilding boxer engines daily or at least weekly and the FA20 is used on multiple models in the Subaru range.

Mine's hit 700k's after recall and no issues. Have changed the oil filter at 500k's and will change both oil and filter after my Harrop install 0n 6/5 at, if my calculations are correct,1000k's give or take after the recall.

My car is at Subaru.

I am scared. :(


Dude who served me "we will give you a buzz if there is any oil leaks that need to be fixed"... seriously dude? have a look at my car, does it look like it would have leaks?

I am going to miss you.. was lovely having a working car!

https://i.imgur.com/fG0dyyj.jpg

Car is back, few little issues, not so much with the valve spring part, but with what else they have done
Wiped my tune, replaced fluids they were asked not to do (lease company wanted them to do the full 120k service)

Can anyone who has had the work done confirm if the engine oil was replaced at the time the valve springs were done?

Oil replaced yes BUT not oil filter in my case which is ridiculous! I replaced mine when I got it home and again at 500k's and will do it again at at 1000k's. Hoping they will catch any foreign material before it became an issue.

Never touched my OFT tune at all. Weird and puzzling why Subaru would ned to update the tune yet Toyota didn't.

What they did or didn't do is attach the pass side cam angle sensor connector properly or they dislodged a pin in the connector. resulted in a CEL at 957k's and 6 wasted hours at the dealership getting it investigated and sorted. FOC naturally given they admitted it probably happened when engine was being reassembled. Strangely car seems to be idling smoother than it was pre recall. Did feel a little rougher when initially got it back after recall.

Minor issue but worrying given this f**king recall. The first sign of trouble, even if it's probably not related to the recall, and you go in to panic mode!

Have you noticed any change in engine characteristics after spring job? Mine definitely felt a bit more responsive.

Hi all,

My engine oil and filter were replaced while my car had its recall done. I've done approx 1000km since and had no issues. Feels the same as it did before. My dealership is a small country dealer (Callide Valley Toyota) and I believe my car was the second one done.

Hey Fudd,


They wiped your tune - can you elaborate ? Did they re-flash latest revision of stock to your car ? What did you have before & how have you overcome it? I have an outstanding issue with mine & Shiv is slow to react with assistance.


PM me if you want.


Cheers ;)


ps: engine oil must be replaced, filter not - as was the case with mine. I have since replaced the oil filter after a few hundred kms.

Yesterday i received my second letter from subaru , and it tells me that they now have the tools,parts and technicians to replace the valve springs.
But they still don't have my confidence!
The last guy i spoke with , had the recall done by toyota and now is trying to sell his 86.

My car was done almost a month ago & done approx 1100kms as a weekender. Seems fine at this stage, won't give it the nod until it's done about 2500kms.

I got the recall letter the other day and contacted them about the engine failures after the recall. I also wondered whether you had to run the engine in/take it easy for a bit, apparently not according to them. I’d be reluctant to gun it straight after the fix. No warranty after the fix worries me as well. Anyone thought about not doing the recall? See their response below, names have been changed to protect the guilty.


Dear Dirty Harry,

Thank you for contacting Subaru Australia.

As you are aware the Valve spring recall is a Precautionary Recall, recalls are performed as a precautionary measure to prevent a potential failure from occurring, which does not automatically mean that your particular vehicle is faulty or that these circumstances would actually occur within the vehicles lifetime.

The probability of a concern developing in vehicles affected by the Valve Spring recall is approximately 0.03%. This recall is voluntary

We can confirm that this recall involves the valve springs being replaced and have had no reported incidents of the engine failures after the recall has been performed.

There will be no written warranty once the recall has been completed and the engine will not need to be broken in as the vehicle still has its original engine and the valve spring is only a small component that will be replaced.

If you wish to participate in this voluntary recall, please contact your preferred Subaru dealership directly to arrange a suitable booking date.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Kind Regards,

Ned Kelly
Recall Case Manager

^^ is this for real ? Ned Kelly is a fair dinkum person working @ Subaru ?


The work is guaranteed @ Toyota afaic - 12months/24K kms, Subaru ?

Lol, nah names have been changed to protect the guilty as mentioned. Didn’t think it was right to put their real name on the post, without their consent etc.

As for the warranty, hmmm interesting. They’re saying no according to the email response. I’m booked to go in at Glen Waverley July 2020 that’s how far out it’s booked now.

I realize it may be different in Australia but I can confirm that the repair in the US has a 12 month/limited mileage warranty on it. There have been engines with botched jobs repaired and replaced under that warranty.

Just took my car back to the dealer and left it with them. *Knock knock knock*. recall was done 379km ago.

hey mate,

sorry, haven't been back on here for a bit.

The ECU had the stock tune on it when i picked it up, the service manager had no idea how it would have happened, gave me an excuse that it could be cause the battery was disconnected..

Anyway, i keep my tune handy on my OFT, so just re-flashed it that night and done.

i have now done 2000-3000km with no noticeable issues, it does seem to have a bit of a harsh noise at 6.5-7k rpm, i need to log it and see if i can work out what it is.

Have just ticked 2k kms in my car and have booked it in for a Harrop on 5/8. So far so good and oil pressures and temps all look good as are the AFR's. I do have a weird and intermittent indicator issue thats developed a week or so ago.

I have a full LED setup and have had a previous issue with a faulty flasher LED unit that was replaced, but this new issue just seems a little different.

It's prob no more than another shitty Chinese flasher unit issue, and I have a decent one waiting to be installed, but this is a psychological effect of the recall. You become so paranoid and hyper vigilant that you instantly and automatically blame the recall for every noise, burp or fart your car will experience from now till you sell it.

I also have just ticked over 2K kms & it's all sweet. Gray sealant everywhere, no leaks & seems fine just as it was. OF sorted out my OFT comms with the car - they screwed up on their last firmware update :/

My only concern is the coolant is taking forever to get to normal temp. I haven't daily mine for about 3 years now so even I'm not certain it's normal to me but it's taking 12-15min to get to 88C & oil soon after (have oem heat exchanger/cooler plumbed as per factory) which I find abnormal, thought it was more like 5-7min to 88C. What's everyone elses take on this ?

Sorted your OFT out yet? Needing to flash mine back to stock before I have the Harrop installed and go EcuTek. Other wise it's no more use to me than a brick!

^^ Yep all good, as you quoted me saying ;)

Oh yeah. Hope there's no issues re mine. Dreading reverting to stock..

Mine was done about 3 months ago and touch wood, it's been fine. About 2500kms.

Mine seems ok as far as the valve job goes BUT car has now got a noisy thrust bearing that’s being fixed next week. Doing the clutch and spigot bearing while the box is out. OEM clutch plate is prob fine but why bother doing half the job..