Potential Cause of rumored GR86’s blown engine? Seal packing(RTV) was peeled off

[Urmyson]

I have been actively looking for a GR86 and after seeing that video I'm going to hold off. I had an engine failure in the last gen from the springs before the recall was announced and that wasn't fun. It took 2 years to get my money back from installing a new engine and don't want to go through anything like that again.

[Petah78]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

Surface prep
surface prep
surface prep....

There is no substitute for the factory-prepped virgin mating surfaces before filling with oil. If being re-sealed, great care must be taken, not only to remove all the old stuff. The surfaces above must also be cleaned enough to ensure no oil weeps down to contaminate the joint before it is fully cured.

The devil is very much in the details. Personally, I wouldn't consider doing this job with the engine in place. I would only do it with the engine inverted on a stand, but that's just me.

110% agree, the car in the original state is always the best. However, while not ideal, resealing an engine during service is done all the time. I would much rather have a free flowing pick up than a seeping oil pan that i can reseal myself afterwards.

Having said that, there is a degree of "gamble" regardless of the action you take so i am not advocating anything here.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Petah78

110% agree, the car in the original state is always the best. However, while not ideal, resealing an engine during service is done all the time. I would much rather have a free flowing pick up than a seeping oil pan that i can reseal myself afterwards.

Having said that, there is a degree of "gamble" regardless of the action you take so i am not advocating anything here.

Still early in this. If I was involved I would just hold off and see what Subaru/Toyota come up with. As long as I was confident they would warranty repairs (which they seem to right now) then other than being a pain in the ass not knowing it is best left alone until they decide the best course of action.
We have a pile of amateur sleuths (myself included) giving opinions based upon theories while they will have an actual team of experts armed with facts.

[CincyJohn]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Still early in this. If I was involved I would just hold off and see what Subaru/Toyota come up with. As long as I was confident they would warranty repairs (which they seem to right now) then other than being a pain in the ass not knowing it is best left alone until they decide the best course of action.
We have a pile of amateur sleuths (myself included) giving opinions based upon theories while they will have an actual team of experts armed with facts.

That is certainly my course going forward. Didn't plan to track and was likely going to hold off on tuning until warranty period expired - this just helped make that decision easier (of course, it isn't even a decision yet).

I wouldn't mind seeing a recall that replaces the oil pan and timing belt chain cover RTV with a gasket and would likely have it done. As opposed to the valve spring recall, I don't think it is likely that even a dealer tech would return it in worse shape than it was when it went in. Of course, I wouldn't want to be one of the first few at my dealership to have it done...

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by CincyJohn

That is certainly my course going forward. Didn't plan to track and was likely going to hold off on tuning until warranty period expired - this just helped make that decision easier (of course, it isn't even a decision yet).

I wouldn't mind seeing a recall that replaces the oil pan and timing belt chain cover RTV with a gasket and would likely have it done. As opposed to the valve spring recall, I don't think it is likely that even a dealer tech would return it in worse shape than it was when it went in. Of course, I wouldn't want to be one of the first few at my dealership to have it done...

You will never see them go to a real gasket. If that was in the cards they would have done it 8 years ago when they first had issues.
All the Subaru engines now use the same method of sealing and there is nothing wrong with it when it is done properly. They just need to consistently do it right!

[Petah78]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Still early in this. If I was involved I would just hold off and see what Subaru/Toyota come up with. As long as I was confident they would warranty repairs (which they seem to right now) then other than being a pain in the ass not knowing it is best left alone until they decide the best course of action.
We have a pile of amateur sleuths (myself included) giving opinions based upon theories while they will have an actual team of experts armed with facts.

Yup, hence I am not planning to do anything, we know too little about this right now. There are bunch of Gen2 track cars ripping around without issues. Is this RTV problem only applicable to a certain date range? Seems like a lot of the reported case seems to be early cars. Can the engine survive a partial blocked pick up? Or there are other underlying issues? etc etc etc.....

Personally, I will just endoscope the pan on my oil changes and do UAO for the interim to see if anything is up. But this also means I will have to perform oil changes myself which I will sure as hell document the crap out of. And I will send it harder than ever (though not abuse, must add disclaimer in case my warranty gets denied....lol) to make sure to expose the problem, if there is one.

[dragoontwo]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I would just hold off and see what Subaru/Toyota come up with.


We have a pile of amateur sleuths (myself included) giving opinions based upon theories while they will have an actual team of experts armed with facts.

I'm currently in the wait and see camp for the first.

As for the second, I agree with you that the amount of sealant appears to be the same amount that they use on other engines. The mid pan an oil pan assembly appears to be unique to the BRZ, and I suspect that they may just fit together a bit more precise(or thinner mount flange) causing the squished out rtv to dangle more than on the other engines.

I plan to run out the warranty, then pull the engine and re-seal if I have no other issues.

[Spektyr]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Still early in this. If I was involved I would just hold off and see what Subaru/Toyota come up with. As long as I was confident they would warranty repairs (which they seem to right now) then other than being a pain in the ass not knowing it is best left alone until they decide the best course of action.
We have a pile of amateur sleuths (myself included) giving opinions based upon theories while they will have an actual team of experts armed with facts.

This. I reached out to my dealership to gauge their interest in scoping the oil pan.

They said Toyota hasn't sent them a peep about this and that they would expect that if Toyota suspected there may be a problem there would have been some "keep an eye out" kind of message. Not sure whether I totally believe that since I know how businesses work (and in particular, how damage control works regarding not sending out messages that will inevitably leak to the public).

But in any case, the service manager recommended just waiting for the next service interval and having them inspect for loose RTV then. It's not my only car so if it takes a little while to replace the motor IF it seizes before (or after) then it's not the end of the world.

Any car can die at any time from any number of causes. Nothing is guaranteed to run 10 miles without a problem, let alone 100,000.

Live your best life, take every day and every mile like a gift, and whatever else would look good embroidered on a wall plaque.

[Dadhawk]

So RTV is also the "fix" for the recent Hummer recall:

The automaker already has a fix for the recall sorted out. Certified service technicians will apply more AC Delco RTV Engine Sealant to the Hummer EV's high-voltage battery connector.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

So RTV is also the "fix"

Mas o menos

[OkieSnuffBox]

The car has a warranty. National attention has been brought to the issue.

I'm not worried about my '23 that should be here in a few weeks, neither should the rest of you. I'm just baffled that so many are still losing their minds over this.

[DocWalt]

Because it's a HUGE pain in the ass if your car blows up 1000 miles from home?

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Because it's a HUGE pain in the ass if your car blows up 1000 miles from home?

I get that, but you also have to realize, you are talking about an edge case. What you're describing isn't typical for most owners.

[Spektyr]

Originally Posted by DocWalt

Because it's a HUGE pain in the ass if your car blows up 1000 miles from home?

But that can happen to every car.

There's cause for concern that it might be a serious issue for these cars, but we haven't yet gotten there. Maybe it's a few cars. Maybe it's significantly more than a few.

We just don't know yet.

Which means it's like every other thing in the world: it might break today, it might break tomorrow, it might break in 5 years.