Valve spring recall can’t start car
 

More than 2 weeks ago I took my ‘13 frs to the dealer to get the valve spring recall done. My car has unequal catless headers, exhaust and a e85 stage 2 oft tune running e85. I had disclosed all these mods to the dealer and they said it’s no problem. I also asked them to get the spark plugs changed.

They estimated 5 days for the work. Fast forward a week and half later I get a call from the service department and the rep told me that the work is done but the car won’t start, and that the tech working on the car thinks it has to do with the tune. He said something about disconnecting the battery messed with the aftermarket tune. I explained to the rep how that is unlikely and the said that they will look into it and “find a workaround”. And that it will take a little more time.

Another week later he called me again. And he asked if I can flash the car back to stock ecu. I said no because the car is full of e85 and e85 is in the fuel lines so I cannot just flash it back. He went to talk to the mechanic and then said maybe the ecu is fried and may need a new ecu.

So today no call from then and I may go there tommorow and try to reflash the e85 tune to see if it will start. Just wanted to see anyone knows what might be going on. I’m getting a bit worried and getting sick of the Corolla hybrid they gave me as a loaner.

I'm not even going to read all that but just say why did you do the recall. Consider yourself lucky it wont start. The motor cant blow up if it's not running.

Didnt you know these things grenade after the recall is performed? There was nothing wrong with your valve springs, why change them.

Jk I read your post, and techs that think it's ok to run a stock tune with e85 in your tank are working on your car, nice.

I'm not gonna write all that rant without offering something constructive, so: I would tow it to a performance oriented shop that knows what they're doing immediately and pay to have the situation tidied up.

Hope it's something easy and it's back in your hands soon

Recall is mandatory for registration next year for my state. I wish I didn’t have to get it done. I don’t have a lot of confidence in dealership service rep after talking to him on the phone. Hopefully the actual mechanic working on the car actually knows stuff

Any idea why this recall can affect the ecu?

I had my recall done when I got the official letter from Subaru. At 85k ish miles. Zero problems well into 110k miles.

The original problem was Toyota mo'canhics working on Subaru engines. Brz owners had close to zero problems.

My guess is you took your modded and tuned car to a dealership. They don't know jack about tunes and mods. They only work on stock cars. Zero reason why you would trust the dealership.

My solution is to get everything back to stock, I mean everything. That's the only way you will have a running car and back into your home. Then just put the mods back.

Even with disconnecting the battery for forever days, it shouldn't mess with what ever tune you have programmed in the ecu. It will only reset the Learning Value.

So why the car won't start? Probably something they did. Now they're blaming you for having all that non-oem stuff on the car.

Thats what I thought too. I have disconnected the battery before with a non-rem tune. and had no issues.
I'm gonna go to the dealership to take a look today. I figure I'm ok since the car didn't start right after they did the recall, the ball is in their court and they need to figure out the issue and fix it.

Update: I went to the dealership today and reflashed the E85 tune. It didn’t fix the issue. The car idles really rough when trying to start it for a few seconds then dies. The whole car shakes while trying to start. The mechanic doesnt know what’s going on but admitted it’s not issue with ecu. I also checked with my oft tablet and it doesnt have any error codes

I don't know how much e85 you got there, might as well dump all that e85 and put 91 gas on it. Will definitely help diagnosing the issue since you're back on stock tune.

It’s not back on the stock tune. I only reflashed the e85 tune It’s nearly full with e85

Maybe the ECU isn't well grounded?

Maybe they forgot to plug in half of the COPs?

I'll betcha if they do a compression test, they will discover the problem - :iono:

I see a part out coming. I did the recall with no issues, but I absolutely don't trust my motor now. In the process of selling my car as we speak

Check grounding on DI module, if the bolts are loose it causes odd running issues. Passenger side engine bay mounted above the valve cover.

I’d have the dealership use tech stream to empty the fuel tank and then flash back to stock. They’ll likely use your mods against you for a bad tech job.

Smart. The issues can come thousands of miles later. The more sealant in the oil and the harder you push the car the sooner it's done. When they tore my engine down after it failed there was an absolutely LAUGHABLE amount of sealant in it. Almost like they tried to see how much they could get in there.

My recall was done with the car wearing an UEL, tune and CAI. I even had the Subaru dealer install a set of STi Group N engine and transmission mounts whilst at the garage. No issues, and the car has been running fine with the tune intact.

sigh... I don't know what possessed me to do the recall. Really regretting it now

If you don't need it for registration you should never get it done. The BRZ's have a lot better luck as they have experience with this motor. FRS and you're married to Toyota who, for the most part is very inept

In california I think I needed it to get done for my next registration, but from what I'm reading depending on different DMV's you can get around that.
Getting ready to sell the car once I have it back. Too bad too as I've just finished all modifications I wanted for this car, car only has 25k miles too:(.
On the bright side, time to shop for a new daily driver. Will probably pick up a AP1 S2000 for modding or a recent year used 86/brz or ND Miata:)

I thought you lived in Canada?

:iono:

Not really. This engine is unique to the 86 so Toyota actually has more experience with it than Subaru at this point, since they sold more copies. As mentioned ad nauseum here, the gasket seal is unique to this particular motor. While the recall covered more vehicles in general at Subaru (multiple models) the others all used real gaskets, not sealant.

I completely agree at this point if you haven't had it done, don't do it, but in the end the success of the repair is completely dependent on the care taken by the one mechanic working on the car. It has nothing to do with the logo on their shirt.

The tech at the Subaru dealer where mine was done ruined my motor so no, just because it was done at a Subaru dealer doesn't mean there's a better chance of success.

that sounds realistic. Toyota selling more cars hence the higher recall and failure numbers makes sense. I have no idea why someone hasn’t made a gasket for these yet I never understood the sealant theory however the must be a reason behind it.

Less parts in the BOM for manufacturing.

Tighter tolerancing, do not have to account for variation is gasket thickness and "squishiness".

More consistent torque, and better torque retention for fasteners between parts do to gasket squishiness.

Less chance of shifting between surfaces since there is no gap created by a gasket.

I guess blown motors because of uneducated techs is much more cost effective and more mechanically sound. With Toybaru footing the bill it seems like they’d put some effort into remedying the issue

Why not use both? Back in my wrenching days, I used both. I used the sealant mainly to hold the gasket in place till the piece got bolted down - :iono:

I don't think manufacturers plan on the engine needing taken that far apart during it's expected life so it is not a consideration. If it wasn't for the valve spring recall nobody would be having this conversation about the FA20. I prefer the sealant over gaskets, even with it's PITA quirkiness :iono: I honestly think a lot of the failures have less to do with the techs being uneducated, and more to do with lack of care and trying to rush to make book time.

Excepting the timing cover and A/T pump delete cover,

it's all good. Right?

After such a terrible track record of failures it seems they'd have the techs be more careful.

It's like me building a house and telling my window installers to hurry up and don't take too much time when flashing the windows. Then the windows leak and that extra time to do it right would have been a hell of a lot cheaper

They released updated instructions with pages devoted to telling them to be more careful and take their time.

Page 31 starts it.

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/201...8V772-6522.pdf

Instances of failure seem to be greatly reduced from the beginning. But again, it comes down to guys in a rush trying to make money. Being flat rate you only get paid book time. This pays 12.5 hours, which is tight when considering you need to clean and reseal all surfaces. You also don't know what condition the car coming in is going to be in. It could be a greasy mess and require tons of extra cleanup. There is a reason techs don't last, they either suck, they have a conscious, or they can't make time. The guys that do last are usually pretty damn good.

Or, they open their own shop. That's the case with the mechanics I use. They were the top stars at their dealerships, but got tired of giving all the money to them.

How can they open their own shop? It has been made very clear by many people in these threads that techs only know the one type of engine where they are currently employed and all other makes just totally baffle them. It is impossible for techs to work on different engines so private shops need to specialize in one make only or have a different tech depending upon what car needs to be worked on.
This of course has been determined by guys with zero training or experience that feel they are personally capable of doing a $500 engine swap in their driveway over the course of an afternoon!

Excellent post.

Yes My rebuild was 30 hours. Everything done not only right but better than right. Painstaking attention to detail.

My conspiracy theory is this. Toyota and subaru lost a lot of money due to this recall. How do they make up for it? F*ck up the motor so that increased sales of longblocks will make up for recall related costs. That's how I see it.

Well played Conspiracy Theory Sir, well played...

https://i.imgur.com/3Hgt8Tv.gif

Oh right, my bad...carry on...

Or they were covering up all the ones that failed due to poorly applied sealant DIRECTLY FROM THE FACTORY!

People have either ignored, forgotten or didn't even know that there were over 30 reported early 2013 engines that spun bearings due to oil starvation years before the recall was even heard of. Most of those engines had never been opened and the sealant was untouched by human hands prior to their failure. Most of those were blamed on the owner but there were enough posts showing blocked oil passages to present the theory that the sealant was improperly applied right from the start. In all probability the robots applying it were still not dialed in properly and they messed up just like the human techs did later.
These failure have all but been forgotten since the recall and pushed way back in the pile but a really ambitious member may be able to dig them up. There are reams and reams of arguments with me presenting this theory and a couple of other people calling me a moron because it was impossible to miss apply the sealant and ruin an engine. They all sopped talking when the recall failures started.
Wait... What is that guy in a Subaru shirt pointing at me? Is that a laser targeting dot on my chestttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt t

Valve spring recall can’t start car
 

I was not aware, but I wouldn't be surprised. It's pretty easy to miss-apply. I eff'd up on the cam carrier on one side and had to clean it off and redo it before I even installed it on the head. I used a caulking gun to apply it but it is hard to brace and try to apply properly without slipping up. Plus my hands would get tired.



Here is my spare engine I pulled apart that was assembled by a master tech at a Toyota dealer. Note sealant all the way to the cam lobe :iono:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...b2a4a29c89.jpg

Moved to US but never changed my profile

Called the dealership today.
They said they found the issue it was something about high pressure pump not being connected properly and that they corrected it and the car is running properly now.
I am going to pick up the car later today.

I asked them about warranty on the engine in case something goes wrong after the recall it will be covered. he said on the phone that if any issues arise within 12 months I can bring it back. but they will not give any document in writing for the warranty.

Now I am debating whether to sell it and get something else as daily driver. Will the wrongly connected fuel pump during the service and numerous rough starts have damage/have negative effects on the engine in the long term? when I was at the dealership trying to start the car with the fuel pump issue it was rattling quite violently so I'm concerned about the long term heath of the engine.