Private Mechanic doing Valve Spring replacement
 

Has anyone done this? I'm in Calif where its mandatory to have this done for registration. It isn't a safety issue so not sure why. Anyway I'm thinking of having a private mechanic do the work and just pay for it. I've just heard too many horror stories about engine failure after the dealers performs the work then the owners are stuck with a 7K bill.

A dealer still has to sign off on it.
Most of the horror stories were back when they first stated doing them and then taper off as the issue became known. Check with a couple of dealers and see how many they have done and if they had problems. I think you will find they pay a lot more attention to the work now.

Thanks man. Yeah that’s the plan. I have 3 dealers on my call list for Monday to talk with service managers. It seems they’ve narrowed the reasons for failure down to a couple of things so my plan Is to outline those and discuss with the manager and tech that will be doing the work to make sure they’re aware.

Also @TommyW it's important to note you're in california which most likely has a wide spread of dealers that have done this valve spring job before. So as tcoat said you can contact them and have less of a chance of something going wrong.

This knee jerk fear over the valve spring recall is like totally unreal lol

Yall know it's like a 12 hour job as per the shop manual, right? Like, the motor has to be removed, and then the heads pretty thoroughly disassembled.
It's a lot of labor to pay for.
And then you have to pay for the new springs. I have no idea how much they are, but it's laughable to even consider paying for it out of pocket when it's being offered for free.

One of the mechanics is a Subaru tech, with all the parts laid out, specific instructions from Subaru, all the tools and equipment to do the job. By now, they have probably done at least 200 of them. Oh, and, by the way, it's free. The entire job, plus oil change, plus coolant, and a few other small trinkets.

The other mechanic is a private tech, with none of the parts until you either supply them, or he finds a list of all the parts necessary. He has no instructions, other than his own intuition/experience. Maybe he can find some torque values, but that's it. And all his tools/equipment are generic.
This will very likely be the first valve spring recall he's ever done.
Oh, and his price is $1000 + parts.

Tough call....

If you're THAT worried about it with $$$ to blow, why don't you just let the dealer do it for free, sign off on the recall, and then immediately go to a private shop and have performance valvetrain put in or something?
The fear mongering just don't make sense to me.

Well there you go. Stomachbuzz has spoken. Nothing to worry about.

Well with all the posts and the lawsuits I’d say that there are concerns. Toyota dealers working on Subaru FA20’s. Then not taking the blame when the motor goes then you have a very expensive problem. I think Coat is right though enough time has gone by to where they should know what the fu*k they’re doing. Good time to get a new clutch installed to handle the FI that’s coming soon

I want to hear what he has to say about boxers vs briefs. I just hope he sides with boxers because I don't know if I can handle the backlash otherwise.

In all seriousness, if it were me, and had to have it done, I would do what @Tcoat says. I would talk with every dealer within driving distance, and find out how many they have done, results, etc.. I would bring up all concerns and causes of failure from others on this site. Then after work was done, I would drive it easy for a couple weeks and then drop pan and clean pickup screens, etc. I would probably even do that again a month later.

I'm sorry, who are you, again?

I'd rather have my engine blow up at dealer's fault and be part of a legitimate lawsuit than have the motor blow up by a private mechanic and have zero recourse.

well I have a very trusted mechanic that has worked on all but my Porsches for 30:years. I’m sure this is hard for you to understand. Carry on....

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