Rough idle after recall
 

So i left my GT86 at the Toyota dealership for the recall (valve springs) and when i retrieved the car the idle was crazy low and jumping all over the place and stalling out, so the next day i went back.

After a couple of days they told me the spark plugs were bad causing misfires, but the car was running fine before the recall. Since they wanted 900$ for replacing the plugs (mind you this was the price when they did the recall). I took the car back.

The spark plugs were changed and i got the old ones back, they looked fine... (did they even look at the plugs?) the problem with the idle was still there so i went back again to the dealership.

After 2 weeks in the shop they called me up telling me that the spark plugs were wrong, but that was not the case. The ones installed were the replacement for the discontinued ones, which i point out. A bit awkward silence..

A week later they call me and says that one cylinder has bad compression and misfires, they sent the data to their service center and were awaiting an answer.

Anyone have a clue what is going on here?

Yes. We have a clue. Toyota does not know how to work on Subaru engines.
Keep pressing them that they messed up.
Discounted spark plugs is a lie. Unless it's the new 2021 version, but guess what it's still the same engine.

So, Mr.ac, you don't have any connections in Sweden that could sell the OP a Civic (for a hefty commission, of course)?

Welcome to our forum, there MRSneaky - :clap:

It sounds a lot like the folks working on your car don't know what they are doing - :(

How many miles on your car? Did you buy it from that dealership? Do you have any power mods?

Hopefully someone from there service center can straighten out the situation.

Sorry I do not have any connections in Sweden.

But just to add some comfort to the op, when the recall was started here in the U.S. there was a handful of Toyota mechanics that miss read the Subaru repair manual. It was so many that Toyota made a new step by step repair to hand out to their mechanics so they won't screw up.

The old ones PN is ZXE27HBR8 and is superceded by VXEBH27. If you dont belive me check denso website :)

https://www.denso-am.eu/e-catalogue/

Yea i get the feeling that something went wrong, this would all been so much better if subaru would have taken the recall for the 86..

Thanks for the advice tho ill keep pressing them!

Thank you!

No, i haven't made any mods to the car, its 100% stock. 80 000 km bought from a dealership. I've taken good care of the car 2, services and all.

Hopefully this gets worked out, im just curious of what they might have done wrong for the car to have bad compression and misfires.

Well.....the misfire should have triggered a code that would indicate where the misfire was. I would suspect the low compression is caused by a valve(s) being messed up.

Hopefully, they will get it sorted out for you.

Tell them, in no uncertain terms, to check the direct injectors for leaking. The injector seals should be replaced whenever the injectors are removed, and shops don't always do that. That could cause exactly the symptoms you're having. ALSO.. have them check the valve clearance adjustments. Some techs tend to adjust them towards their tightest tolerance side, thinking they'll get better performance. NO. These engines like them in the middle of the adjustment range.

How do I know this? I went through EXACTLY what you're going through, and my Toyota "Master Tech" got both of those pointers directly from Subaru... and it solved the issue.

Wow, thanks a lot! I will tell them in the morning. How long did you have to wait for them to realize this/get the right info?

Ok, so there has been an update. The reason for not posting any updates was because it took them this long.

After 2 months this was their diagnose.
- compression was low on cylinder 2
- carbon buildup on the valve clearance on cylinder 2.

They could not give me an explanation other than that it must have been bad maintenance..
The solution was that they were going to clean it up and check the piston rings and cylinders.

A week later they call me again. The story is that they needed to stop the car along side the highway because they heard a noise from the engine and towed it back to the workshop.

This was their diagnose nr: 2
- The crank shaft was damaged and the bearings were toast, one bearing spun.
- Extreme heat damage on the crank shaft.

They told me that this might have been a long going problem with my car/ bad maintenance and only now resulted in the damage.

All of this is extremely fishy, so many things not adding up. Before i mention them i would like some input from you guys. What do you think happened here? I want to add that the car has been maintained correctly and by the book.

Well pooooooo - :sigh:

I would guess that the folks that did the recall work screwed up and the engine burnt up due to oil starvation.

I would suggest you take your case to the owner of the dealership and ask them to replace the engine.