My engine blew up four years ago, now they recall the valve springs
 

Long story short, two years into owning my 2013 FRS 10-Series, my engine blew up while I was going 80 on a highway. Loud bang, big puff of smoke.

I was stuck in the middle of nowhere but luckily had my car towed to a toyota/jaguar dealership. Fast forward four months and numerous phone calls with Scion/Toyota, they rebuilt my engine with all new parts...no issues since.

My original problem, broken valve spring causes the valve to fall into the cylinder where the piston hit and and cracked the block.

So now that there is this recall, I called the dealership that did my work and they basically told me I was probably one of the unlucky ones that actually had major problems before this recall. However, since they used a different part when they rebuilt my engine, I shouldn't need to do this repair again.

So for those thinking about whether or not to do this repair,...well mines a pretty bad case scenario

How many miles were on the engine when it failed?

Why would they have used a different part? They use whatever part the manufacturer specs. Do you have the invoice with all the parts they ordered?

Most likely because by then they had changed the part out at the factory and the "defective" one was no longer in production? Since he said the car was two years old at the time the rebuild came after the time of the recall.

I'm guessing of course.

Here's two roller rockers in a side-by-side comparison you can clearly see the defect in the shaft/bearing that's pressed in:

https://i.imgur.com/NymKtY1.jpg

Guessing a bad batch of them got mixed in on early production, a manufacturing lottery.

is there an actual recall on this?

yeah just found this, mine is outside the range affected it seems (0454)

Just got this recall in the mail last night. Have not contacted Toyota yet cause not likely to get anything but damage control out of them.

Interesting that the recall mentions springs specifically, not rockers. Uses the word "Stalling" instead of "destroying itself"!

Correct me if I am wrong, but this seems like a major engine out job. I know how to change springs and rockers without removing the head, but I don't see it working in this application with this engine.

I cant see the economical solution being to pull the old heads, reinstall with new parts and send you on the way. The number of people calling to report problems from botching that repair would be huge. Would not be surprised if a new cylinder head assembly was not the economical fix.

You may want to recheck it at: https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/vinLookup

My VIN ends in 00367 and it is affected.

I'm in same boat. New motor in 2014. Have to clarify with Toyota if possible.

My VIN ends in 00559 and shows up affected, haven't called Subaru yet to confirm (maybe the site is wrong).

I emailed Subaru and they confirmed that my car is on the recall list.