[ka-t_240]

Originally Posted by Ganthrithor

Vehicle Mileage:~84,213
Vehicle Make: Subaru
Mileage After Recall Performed: ~30mi (T/T 84,183 at recall, engine failed on drive home from dealer)
Symptom(s): Ticking sounds followed by increasingly-loud knocking noises, lurching, partial power failure, extremely rough idle.
Failure: spun bearing caused by oil starvation due to debris contamination
State: CA
Is Dealership Offering Repair: dealer is covering cost of rebuilding and have ordered a new short block

Go ahead and add me to the list. I'm literally so mad right now. From the moment I saw "valve spring replacement" and glanced over the procedure I knew I'd rather take my chances with the original springs than have my heads disassembled. Put it off until DMV told me in January that I couldn't complete my registration. Paid my reg fees and just drove the car the rest of the year since neither top-end work nor a bunch of people poking around in my car for weeks during COVID sounded attractive. Finally thought I'd better get it done before the end of the year and brought the car in. The car didn't make it home from the dealer-- it got about thirty miles before I got ticking noises degenerating into loud rod knock, one good lurch, partial power failure all within about one minute. Pulled into the nearest driveway I could find that was big enough that I wasn't blocking it and shut it down. Idle sounded horrific.

Car's being flat-bedded back to the dealer: no trucks available for long-distance transport today so it will be delivered tomorrow. Will update with conclusions / outcome, though doubt anything significant will happen before January at this point given the holiday timing.

Haven't been on here in a long time and wasn't aware that this procedure was grenading lots of engines. I guess knowing wouldn't really have helped, given that the procedure was mandatory. Such a shame. I really liked my engine-- broke it in well and took good care of it and it ran really nicely. Hope the dealer is cooperative :\

UPDATE: Dealer originally wanted me to pay for a complete tear-down on the engine to determine the cause of failure, but we agreed instead to start with just pulling the oil sump at their expense to inspect oil suction screen. Visited the dealer today to take a peek: debris everywhere, oil screen significantly obstructed. Looked like smaller bits of contaminant than some of the previous pictures (no massive strips of sealant stuck in the screen or anything), but enough to clog things up. Very happy and relieved to report that the dealer (Kirby Subaru in Ventura) took full responsibility and have ordered a new short block: kudos to them for standing behind their work. For what it's worth, they said they've done quite a few of these recalls (mostly on Crosstreks-- though I assume the procedure is more or less the same on a BRZ once the engine is out) without issue. IIRC they said they'd only had a problem with one other affected engine.

The other vehicles with the recall do not have as in depth of repair needed. They can be done with just pulling the valve cover.