Failure After J02 Recall - Discussion Threads

[Teseo]

Originally Posted by Chimera

my cars going in tomorrow

Good luck mate, keep us updated please

[subaru]

in relation to the burned up frs I think it's incredibly foolish to think there was a long slow oil leak and suddenly under these magical conditions his car turned into an inferno. And George Washington was my cousins best friend. No way bud.

[BRZnut]

have to agree...if there was a slow oil leak I would think the OP would have notice an oil smell after driving to work the last few weeks. I would bet a fuel line wasn't re-installed correctly and a fuel leak developed during the extended drive and BOOM.

Man..this recall is a real mess.

[ermax]

I have very serious doubts about a fuel leak. These lines are very easy to deal with. They have a clip that is released with a special tool. Reinstallation you simply click the line back on. As soon as you crank the car it’s under extreme pressures. If the clip failed or the line didn’t get “clicked” all the way it would fly off instantly.

Reading comments on one of the news sites I saw a Toyota mechanic say he heard from his GM that there have been problems with people hydrolocking packing in the blind bolt holes on the timing cover which forces shards of aluminum into the valve train. The Toyota instructions don’t warn about this but the Subaru instructions do.

Throw some bits of aluminum in the valve train and see what sort of bomb you can create.

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by subaru

in relation to the burned up frs I think it's incredibly foolish to think there was a long slow oil leak and suddenly under these magical conditions his car turned into an inferno. And George Washington was my cousins best friend. No way bud.

I tend to agree with you. Heck if slow oil leaks caused car fires the first 4 cars I owned (that literally had a combined purchase cost under $2000) would have all burned to the ground before I bought them.

[msaikhan]

*Update on my FR-S

Quick back story: I got my car back with oil leak and exhaust leak after the recall and i brought it back, they replaced gasket but then it started knocking. But the knock wasn't constant, it came once the car warmed up and only knocked on certain rpm (super hard to duplicate). I been fighting with the dealer after the recall that there is a knock, but it wasn't constant, so they kept denying that the engine was knocking and tried to tell me some BS excuses.

So after going to the dealer like 10 times, had service manager, service director, master tech ride with me in my car, all heard the knock but says it's cracked headers/ engine bogging etc... I call up toyota corp, then the GM call me back telling me they did EVERYTHING to diagnose but they can't duplicate the knock. After more BS, he says come demonstrate the knock and i drive up there to demonstrate the knock. The tech tried to tell me it's the cricket noise from fuel pump and i said fk off.(not literally) BUT the next day, a specialist from TOYOTA corp happen to be in the area and he test drove my car. And obviously he heard the knock and the dealership is finally admitting there is a problem. Next week, 2 engineers from Toyota corp coming to oversee the teardown of the engine. So hopefully they will get to the bottom of this and fix my car. (0 trust in the dealership at this point, but hopeful) So keep on fighting, if your dealership blew your engine. Take pictures and keep paper trails, cuz you can't trust dealership words.

[venturaII]

Apparently no one here has seen engines catch fire from leaks...lol. Whatever...the point is that an oil leak would still be a technician problem, same as if too much glue was used and caused oil supply issues. And it remains the reason I have not brought mine in yet to be done.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by ermax

Reading comments on one of the news sites I saw a Toyota mechanic say he heard from his GM that there have been problems with people hydrolocking packing in the blind bolt holes on the timing cover which forces shards of aluminum into the valve train. The Toyota instructions don’t warn about this but the Subaru instructions do.

Throw some bits of aluminum in the valve train and see what sort of bomb you can create.

That is concerning. Not so much the packing being in the hole but the fact that you really need to run the bolt in quickly with an impact to cause that issue. If that is how they are assembling things then F that. I learned as a teenager never to run a bolt down a blind hole like that and have seen damage to motorcycle engine cases from someone running a bolt down with a hole that had some engine oil left in it. Same reason I don't take my car to a tire shop, I just drop off the wheels. Makes me cringe to watch them impact the nuts on and just hand the owner the car

[ermax]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

That is concerning. Not so much the packing being in the hole but the fact that you really need to run the bolt in quickly with an impact to cause that issue. If that is how they are assembling things then F that. I learned as a teenager never to run a bolt down a blind hole like that and have seen damage to motorcycle engine cases from someone running a bolt down with a hole that had some engine oil left in it. Same reason I don't take my car to a tire shop, I just drop off the wheels. Makes me cringe to watch them impact the nuts on and just hand the owner the car

You don't need an impact to generate enough force to bust through the super thin and weak aluminium on the back side of those holes. I seriously doubt people are using an impact (or any pneumatic tools) for those dinky short little bolts. These aren't the larger bolts around the edge of the cover. It's just the really small ones in the center of the cover. They are torqued to ~7ft-lb which is a weak hand tight.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by venturaII

Apparently no one here has seen engines catch fire from leaks...lol. Whatever...the point is that an oil leak would still be a technician problem, same as if too much glue was used and caused oil supply issues. And it remains the reason I have not brought mine in yet to be done.

I have. Slow leaks usually start a nice low level smoldering burn though. They do not explode with enough force to lift hoods. To get an explosion you need a whole different fuel to air mix than a leak is going to create. Unless of course that leak is forcing oil out under pressure.

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

I have. Slow leaks usually start a nice low level smoldering burn though. They do not explode with enough force to lift hoods. To get an explosion you need a whole different fuel to air mix than a leak is going to create. Unless of course that leak is forcing oil out under pressure.

An oil leak would start slowly, and could then easily escalate to a catastrophic fuel leak and explosion when the high pressure fuel system failed suddenly from the oil fire. And lets remember - the hood didn't get blown off the car...this isn't Hollywood. It was described as a pop causing the hood to move slightly.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by venturaII

An oil leak would start slowly, and could then easily escalate to a catastrophic fuel leak and explosion when the high pressure fuel system failed suddenly from the oil fire.

In a stationary vehicle yes. In a moving one not likely.

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

In a stationary vehicle yes. In a moving one not likely.

Well, that's where we disagree I guess...lol

[maslin]

High pressure fuel is all hard lines, correct? Hard to maintain several hundred bar in a rubber line. In a car with only high pressure fuel injection there is still a low pressure system. These cars have a both high pressure and low pressure fuel injection. There are most certainly "normal" fuel hoses on the engine and from the engine to the chassis as well.

I've blown up plenty of engines. Put rods through blocks. Put pistons through blocks. I've never had a fire. The only car fire I've been around was from a worn though aftermarket clutch hose on a 240sx.

Nearly every fluid under the hood is flammable. I'm sure someone with Dr. and/or Detective in front of their name, and a good amount of time with that car, may be able to determine a cause. A handful of pictures on the internet aren't going to yield valid results.