Valve Springs advice
 

Hi,

I'm new to this forum, since I've just bought a used GT86 (procution date 2012) with 65k-ish kms on the clock (around 40k miles). I've read about the Valve Springs recall, but can't make up my mind whether or not to take it in.
Since my car is supposed to be eligible for the recall, I'm sceptical because of the lack of success after the recall.

My thoughts are leaning towards not taking it in, but as time progresses I might eventually swap out the standard valve springs with uprated ones, that could potentially handle more power and would be more durable - of course this car will be taken care of enthusiastically and will be used and built as a project car.

Should I stay worried and just go with it and hope for the best?

And I know this topic is brought up a lot, and I am sorry for bringing it up again - I did some research but couldn't find an anwser to my question.

Thanks

Absolutely do not get it done

The chances your valve springs will fail is much smaller then a mechanic screwing up the recall. They are a lot better now then they were at doing the recall in the beginning, but I don't think it is worth it.

Hello SwiTchY86 and welcome to our forum - :clap:

I also have a 2013 FR-S (with 25,000 miles) that falls under the valve spring recall.

I have decided NOT to have the recall done. Why not?

* why open up the engine if it's running just fine.

* it's run 25,000 miles with those springs with no problems.

* summary - if MY car ain't broke, why let someone mess it up?

However, it's your call - :iono:

Don't do it. Every week there is a new person on a FRS/GT86 FB group whose engine blew up from having the recall done.

Thanks for the replies,

I was also more on the no no for the recal. The problem might occur only if the spring cracks, which to be fair, can happen in any car. Even then if you are in luck, the damage might not be too big to deal with, only if the metal parts come inside the engine and the engine goes boom. Hopefully this will not happen. Fingers crossed.

Also, at least according to the recall here in the US, Toyota will cover the repairs of a car where the valve springs failed due to the recall. Of course you might have to convince them you didn't get the recall notice, or prove that the springs are what failed.

I have over 40,000 miles on mine since the recall was done, and have had zero issues.

Of course before the recall was done I had over 136,000 miles on it. If I had it to do over again, I probably wouldn't have the work done.

There are horror stories on both sides. It is all a gamble. I personally would gamble on not doing it. If they do fail then as stated above I would say I was unaware of the recall due to buying the car after the recall came out.

Ether way you go do not worry, just drive your car and have fun!

There are not horror stories on both sides. Once again, all the springs that were going to fail did so long ago, the longest lasting ones made it a few thousand miles. The weak were weeded out way before the recall was issued.


Do not do it. Period.

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133095

Feel free to read this thread. Make your choice after reading every page :)

Same here, ~30,000 miles.

I posted this awhile back, numbers could be a bit higher now.
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/show...&postcount=740

I got my 2013 FRS last March. I only read about the recall horror stories on many of websites after looking up what to do.

In my experience of worrying about the recall, I had the car taken to the dealer for my door locks being screwey during my first month or two of ownership. Luckily that was covered under my 36k warranty lol. But having it at the delear, I asked about the recall and what I should do. They looked into it and told me that the Valve Spring recall was already serviced on my vehicle at ~78K miles. The car is now 98K miles and I havent had any issues. Ive only had the pleasure of driving it for 3k miles currently, but I also like doing 0-60 as fast as I can without worrying about if my engine is gonna explode.

Ultimately, it depends on the risk you want to take. Youre at 65K now, but are eventually gonna need to change the spark plugs. Have the dealer take the engine out to do the recall, then also have them replace the spark plugs to save $700 on labor haha. Either way, I personally would have it done based on the articles Ive read with dealers NOT covering the damage from the valve springs before the work was done. They would, however, be on the hook for damage from the recall if the engine blew.

The way Ive read it, when the mechanic is doing the work, the tiniest rubber seal shavings get removed from the edge while cleaning and then get trapped in the oil drain for the valve casing, because the mechanic was too stupid to bother cleaning it out properly, thereby starving the engine. Ive read this usually occurs between ~50-1000 miles.

Good luck with it, and have a blast with the car!!

Did it cos I had to in order to renew my registration. Sold it right after because the motor didn't sound right. Glad I did. If u don't need to, don't do it.