recall done and the dealer broke my car
 

Hey guys, I need some advice


tldr: Brought a modified frs in on a recall, when it came back the car stalls randomly and is unsafe to drive. what can I do about this?


Just bought a 2013 frs a month ago, the previous owner turbocharged the car.

I noticed there was an open recall out on the car so I took it to my local Toyota dealer to get it done. It's a valve spring service so they had to take out the engine. I called and asked them if they would work on a modified car, they said yes.

Brought the car in, they did the service and noticed a stripped screw on the header and clutch was shot, quoted me $700 each for rethreading and clutch swap, I declined cus I was going to do it myself anyway, they said it might have an exhaust leak.

got the car back it's leaking profusely out of the exit of the hot end of the turbo, and throwing a CEL. Brought it back in the same day and told them that the exhaust leak was unacceptable. basically told them that at the end of the day I just wanted my car the way i brought it in on the first day, not throwing CEL's and no major exhaust leaks.

came to pick up the car again and exhaust leak was fixed, perfect. The CEL's still there. whatever, maybe it's not that bad. the car stutters/surges on the way to work and stalls out on a red light.
At this point I check the CEL: P0102 MAF sensor low voltage. The car sometimes sputters out and I get no power when on the gas.
I bring it back to the dealer and tell them the issue, they said they would look at it.

I picked up the car again today. They told me they couldn't diagnose the problem because the sensor was epoxied down along with the connector (done by the previous owner), and nobody wanted to work on the modified car. They said the car was running fine and didn't have any more CEL's after they cleared it, so I took it back, maybe it magically fixed itself.

nope, I drove back to my house fine, but then it stalled out on the highway and I couldn't get it started again. I somehow start it after a few minutes and limp it back home, but at this point, it's super unsafe to drive, won't even make it 10 miles before stalling out.

At the end of the day I just want to have my car the same way as it came in before the recall. They clearly don't want to work on the car and hate my guts. I don't really want to go back there, but at the same time, I feel like they should have an obligation to fix anything that they break. Ideally, I want them to fix the car without them nagging me to pay for it...

What are my options at this point? am I within my rights to demand they fix it?

Keep in mind it's a modified car with aftermarket exhaust, epoxied MAF sensor, and an aftermarket tune.

Any help would be great, Ill can answer any questions if it helps clarify my situation

I wish you'd have found us sooner so we could have warned you.

I am going to give you some advice.

Option 1. Sell the turbo stuff. Sell all your accessories. Buy a used engine and put it in. Sell the car and buy a different one. It will never be the same and you will not come out on top.


Option 2. If you're lucky, they probably flashed a stock ROM map onto your car or something. Re-flash with your last map your tuner gave you (or get someone to make a map for you to flash on there)

Replace the MAF.

I think the tune's okay. I drove a few hundred miles with no issues before the recall work. Even now when the car runs, it runs really well, it's almost as if the sensor suddenly spikes down out of nowhere and the car doesn't know what to do.

I'm thinking that either the sensor's suddenly getting dirty somehow or there might be a short in the wiring harness? is there some metric I can monitor for this? i have a bluedriver obd2 scanner

I may go the route with replacing the MAF sensor, but the problem is that everything is epoxied together, so it will take a lot of work to get it out, id like to know that's what it is for certain before I commit to buying a new one

Or why not just set it on fire and watch it burn?

OP, take care of the DTCs first.

Notice I don't say "replace the MAF". Take care of the DTC, diagnose the damn thing. If this it was going to throw a rod bearing from sealant abuse on the timing cover, it would have thrown a rod bearing, not a MAF fault code.

But please understand that mechanics do not want to work on modified shitpiles. Having a MAF blobbed into a single solid piece with epoxy is classified as a shit mod done in a shit way and makes the car a shitpile for any professional that would work on it. I hope you knew this before you bought someone else's shitpile, you will have to involve yourself with this car and do a lot of the work yourself. Starting at a pick-your-own-parts recycler would be a good idea, grab a MAF and a good length of the associated wiring harness, whatever happens you will need to have access to the circuit terminals for diagnostic, and disconnecting the connector is step one, so make it disconnectable.

That's illegal! :sigh:

picture of the epoxied connector?

i'm suspicious of why it was epoxied anyways.

If only someone would have told you that the bogus scam valve spring recall horseshit is optional and not needed - not mandatory/required.

it wasn't completely bogus, but was a much more 'big picture'/CTA type recall.

metal of an unknown and possibly falsified makeup was used in the production of the valve springs, which means that subaru officially couldn't stand behind them, as they didn't know if they were made out of old pots and pans or the specific steel spring metalurgy they originally specified.

i think the reality is that the majority of the valve springs got the correct metal, with some batches getting slightly under-spec spring steel that still fell well near the requirements needed. this means that actual failure of the parts is still zero. but because they're under-spec, they'd normally fail subaru's internal checks/balances for what they're willing to accept liability for.

because of that, subaru still needs to treat all batches of valve springs during the known falsified data time period as if they were made out of cast aluminum.

with that information, it's more suited for the end user to make the final determination to whether the recall was worth the risk. maybe you're ok with blowing up the motor and slapping yourself for it. but the vast majority want to blame someone else, and the issuance of the recall indicates that subaru wants to CYA themselves to blame someone else.

Agree with replacing the MAF and whatever it is epoxied to. Also check all vacuum-related lines for leaks. Ideally all of these lines will have hose clamps at each end. Make sure there are no vacuum-related hose lines with extensions, if so make sure you clamp them at the extension points.

Well written and intelligent assessment of the situation/recall. My issue with it was how California made it 100% mandatory to do it, or you couldn't register the vehicle.

meh, cali didn't set out to make that specific recall mandatory. if memory serves, that was fallout from the takata airbag fiasco-- so many people weren't doing it(due to the large backlog, and impossible dealers), it presented a very real and very serious safety risk to the process of purchasing a used vehicle.

i've also got some reservations about making all recalls mandatory, as not all are really the safety issue that they're made out to be. but it's difficult to draw up a country-wide rule that makes sense otherwise.

Is that what they released as an official statement to cover for an inferior designed follower with a complete lack of retention?

This issue has nothing to do with the recall nor the dealer's work.
Was told there was a broken bolt and said leave since would fix themselves then complains when car that had to have engine removed comes back with an exhaust leak. Well ya of course it did since once that one remaining bolt was off it isn't going to pull things back.
The CEL is for a crappy mod. Again not a recall nor dealer issue.