valve spring recall - dealer experience
 

for those who had the recall done, where did you go and what was your experience? A couple things i would like to know would be:

1. How long did the repair take?
2. Was a courtesy car provided for the duration of the repair?
3. What other parts were replaced with no additional labor (spark plug, etc)?
3. What other parts were replaced with additional labor?
4. Was the dealer mod-friendly?
5. Did they know what they were doing? lol

I have done the recall repair last week.

1. How long did the repair take?


5 days - they only taken 2 days for the actual work, they were waiting on parts to arrive for 3 days.

2. Was a courtesy car provided for the duration of the repair?


yes (all 5 days)

3. What other parts were replaced with no additional labor (spark plug, etc)?


intake manifold seals some gasket (I don't know where), engine oil and filter.

3. What other parts were replaced with additional labor?
no.

4. Was the dealer mod-friendly?


I only have TRD air box and 2017 OEM red intake on it, it is not consider MOD to them.

5. Did they know what they were doing?


The car runs normal past week with no issue (yet), they should know what they were doing.

which dealership did you go to?

Pasadena Toyota

seems like a few people took theirs in to longo.. i am torn between them or the one in irvine

does this recall apply to 2017 BRZs?

I'm debating between Tustin Toyota and Irvine Toyota

I was in the same boat but ultimately decided to take it to Longo.

No, not at all. Early 2012-2013 only

Anyone with forced induction mods and also located in Southern California have a plan? I am stuck, shot down by one dealership so far. Subaru of serramonte in Northern California won’t work with me.

Are you looking for Southern California or Northern? You mention Serramonte but this is in SoCal sub-forum. Looks like there may be a NorCal dealership willing to work with you:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...28&postcount=2

Also stolen from another valve spring thread if you haven't seen this (Q7):
https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfo...p/j02tofaq.pdf

Thank you Brink for the couple finds. I have been scowering the forums as I’m sure there will be plenty others with modified cars in California who are mandated to get this recall done.

The car resides in both northern or Southern California so either one will work, as long as there’s a place willing to work with me. I will try and give Melody Toyota a call and see where that may lead me.

Im pulling off my turbo and all related parts (injectors, catch cans, gauges, etc) before going in. Sucks but this is the only way.

Same here, Unless somebody knows a dealership in socal that takes modded cars. Not looking forward to swapping parts back and forth....

Have you checked to see if you have to swap parts? In other words, could you just pull the parts, tow the car in and let them finish the work? Might save you a little time/effort. Don't know that the process requires a running car or not but its a question I would ask before swapping equipment twice.

This is a great idea. I would drive it to the service guy and have him point to which parts are a problem. say, "Ok, I'll take those off".


Brilliant.

has anyone changed out the TOB during the recall? If u did, how much extra did the dealer charge u? Lastly, is the tranny fluid changed out for the recall? I don't think it is, but just making sure

That's great advice, I will check with the service department.

Great idea!

Update:

1. I’ve found out so far that Toyota dealerships will not take a Subaru. (So far, maybe in other places they do or it’s case by case)
2. So far the dealerships I’ve spoken to will want modified cars to be turned back to stock first before being worked on.
3 dealerships are allotted money/hours for these recall repairs, so they aren’t inclined to take modified cars due to the extra time it possibly could take as well as there are so many variations that a car is modified. (Brand to brand differences as well as types of mods)

If anyone has different experiences either northern or couthern California that would probably help others, but as of now I may have to resort to going back to stock. Huge headache.

What was your experience with Longo? Considering driving the car up from SD to get it done there as not too many people seem to have had their work done at San Diego dealerships

I have zero experience with Longo or Tustin, I moved down to SoCal from the bay area in November. This is purely based on limited research and word of mouth. I also called both dealerships more than once to get a feel. I think both will do a good job but it appears Longo is going to be one of the bigger hotspots for folks getting their cars done I thought it best to take mine there as well.

anyone have any experience with Toyota of Anaheim, Tustin Toyota or Autonation in Cerritos?

Will I have a problem since i removed the stock front pipe with cat.

Question, does this sound right to you guys. Called Tustin Toyota, car is flagged as needing recall. But they say they need to do an inspection first to see if I need the replacement? I thought recalls were done regardless?

I saw one guy being rejected for the recall because he had a used engine from a newer year in the car. But as long as you have the original engine that corresponds to your VIN then you should be fine.

Also they inspect it to make sure everythings oem.

I ended up calling Irvine Toyota, they ordered the parts for me without inspection. Says it should take a week in and then they'll schedule me.

Wait time at Tustin Toyota is minimum 2-3 weeks

i made an appointment to have my car taken care of in subaru of san bernardino.


i was given an appointment in July. apparently they are booked all the way!


the lady showed me the calendar and they had 4 cars scheduled every weekday starting in february.

That's insane, I found a dealership local to me that ordered the parts and received it in 3 days, going to drop my car off tomorrow. We'll see how it goes at Irvine Toyota. No wait period

So, there are 106 business days between 2/1 and 6/30 which means they have 424 cars booked, give or take a few holidays, etc.

On the bright side, they'll be really experienced by the time they get to you. I wonder what % of those are 86s?

i think toyota is goign to be way quicker since they only have to worry about the Frs. however, subaru has to deal with the rest of the models that are affected.

i know man. it is insane. my jaw dropped when she told me that the earliest appointment was in july!


and that is my hope too, they will have experience by then, although i do trust the techs at that place.

I was surprised until I reminded myself this impacts a lot of Subaru models, and a huge number where as with Toyota it's just the one low-volume model.

Sounds like Subaru should farm some of this work out to the Toyota shops that have experience.

Has anyone gone in with OpenFlash Tablet Stage 1 installed? Would you guys recommend flashing back to stock before doing recall repair?

I would recommend you flash back. Only takes a few minutes to avoid potential issues. Just do it!

Just finished mine from Autonation Toyota Irvine, 3 day wait period for parts order, then actual repair took 3 working days. There was no wait list like some of the other dealerships. Car now idles quietly, runs smooth. Even the crickets seem quieter. No leaks so far.

Got a RAV4 as a rental, they even did my spark plugs at price for parts, free labor. Highly recommend going here.

Avoid Tustin Toyota, they tried to tell me they have to do an inspection only first, before ordering parts. They also had a 2 week wait list as well. Gave AutoNation Toyota Irvine a chance, don't regret it at all.

Just dropped the car off at Longo. Took about 3 days to order the parts. Car should be done with labor by Friday.

They're providing a rental through Enterprise. They are also doing my spark plugs for free labor.

No wait list for appointment. Ask for Paul LeBlanc, he'll take care of you.

I brought my car in for the recall 2 weeks ago... i got it back a week after and i noticed my car had a really loud knocking sound and rough idle. I bring it back the next day by tow truck. A week passes and finally they tell me that my vvt intake gear was worn out in Bank 2. Toyota claremont tells me its gonna cost $1600 to fix. I tell them my car was running fine when i brought it in. They said that since the ecu was reset the car is noticing the issues now. Should the ecu notice the issue even before bringing in the car? Why is it that it only became an issue after i dropped my car off?.. im not sure what i should do. If anyone knows anything it would really help!!

Seems like you aren't the only one with a VVT issue. Escalate to corporate if need be.

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132496

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=132590

Just got a call that my car at Longo is finished. 2 Days of work time. They also changed out my spark plugs and belts at cost of parts.