Valve spring recall can’t start car
 

More than 2 weeks ago I took my ‘13 frs to the dealer to get the valve spring recall done. My car has unequal catless headers, exhaust and a e85 stage 2 oft tune running e85. I had disclosed all these mods to the dealer and they said it’s no problem. I also asked them to get the spark plugs changed.

They estimated 5 days for the work. Fast forward a week and half later I get a call from the service department and the rep told me that the work is done but the car won’t start, and that the tech working on the car thinks it has to do with the tune. He said something about disconnecting the battery messed with the aftermarket tune. I explained to the rep how that is unlikely and the said that they will look into it and “find a workaround”. And that it will take a little more time.

Another week later he called me again. And he asked if I can flash the car back to stock ecu. I said no because the car is full of e85 and e85 is in the fuel lines so I cannot just flash it back. He went to talk to the mechanic and then said maybe the ecu is fried and may need a new ecu.

So today no call from then and I may go there tommorow and try to reflash the e85 tune to see if it will start. Just wanted to see anyone knows what might be going on. I’m getting a bit worried and getting sick of the Corolla hybrid they gave me as a loaner.

I'm not even going to read all that but just say why did you do the recall. Consider yourself lucky it wont start. The motor cant blow up if it's not running.

Didnt you know these things grenade after the recall is performed? There was nothing wrong with your valve springs, why change them.

Jk I read your post, and techs that think it's ok to run a stock tune with e85 in your tank are working on your car, nice.

I'm not gonna write all that rant without offering something constructive, so: I would tow it to a performance oriented shop that knows what they're doing immediately and pay to have the situation tidied up.

Hope it's something easy and it's back in your hands soon

Recall is mandatory for registration next year for my state. I wish I didn’t have to get it done. I don’t have a lot of confidence in dealership service rep after talking to him on the phone. Hopefully the actual mechanic working on the car actually knows stuff

Any idea why this recall can affect the ecu?

I had my recall done when I got the official letter from Subaru. At 85k ish miles. Zero problems well into 110k miles.

The original problem was Toyota mo'canhics working on Subaru engines. Brz owners had close to zero problems.

My guess is you took your modded and tuned car to a dealership. They don't know jack about tunes and mods. They only work on stock cars. Zero reason why you would trust the dealership.

My solution is to get everything back to stock, I mean everything. That's the only way you will have a running car and back into your home. Then just put the mods back.

Even with disconnecting the battery for forever days, it shouldn't mess with what ever tune you have programmed in the ecu. It will only reset the Learning Value.

So why the car won't start? Probably something they did. Now they're blaming you for having all that non-oem stuff on the car.

Thats what I thought too. I have disconnected the battery before with a non-rem tune. and had no issues.
I'm gonna go to the dealership to take a look today. I figure I'm ok since the car didn't start right after they did the recall, the ball is in their court and they need to figure out the issue and fix it.

Update: I went to the dealership today and reflashed the E85 tune. It didn’t fix the issue. The car idles really rough when trying to start it for a few seconds then dies. The whole car shakes while trying to start. The mechanic doesnt know what’s going on but admitted it’s not issue with ecu. I also checked with my oft tablet and it doesnt have any error codes

I don't know how much e85 you got there, might as well dump all that e85 and put 91 gas on it. Will definitely help diagnosing the issue since you're back on stock tune.

It’s not back on the stock tune. I only reflashed the e85 tune It’s nearly full with e85

Maybe the ECU isn't well grounded?

Maybe they forgot to plug in half of the COPs?

I'll betcha if they do a compression test, they will discover the problem - :iono:

I see a part out coming. I did the recall with no issues, but I absolutely don't trust my motor now. In the process of selling my car as we speak

Check grounding on DI module, if the bolts are loose it causes odd running issues. Passenger side engine bay mounted above the valve cover.

I’d have the dealership use tech stream to empty the fuel tank and then flash back to stock. They’ll likely use your mods against you for a bad tech job.