valve spring issue?

[8RZ]

Since the FA20 is an interference motor wouldn't a valve spring failure cause the pistons to make contact with the valves? This happened to my Honda before but not sure if a boxer engine would be different.

[Rampage]

It could happen.

[ChrisGeezy]

So a little off topic but how do you think the recall will affect market value of the Twins for those years? Will there be mass depreciation possibly?

[NCtoBRZ]

Originally Posted by ChrisGeezy

So a little off topic but how do you think the recall will affect market value of the Twins for those years? Will there be mass depreciation possibly?

Who knows, it just depends on how informed the buyer is and if they care that the engine has been worked on. Anybody who is shopping for a 13 is likely penching pennies anyway.

[mrha]

I've been checking daily and today my VIN suddenly is no longer valid. The last update was on 11/1/18 and the latest is 11/5/18.

[Gunman]

Originally Posted by mrha

I've been checking daily and today my VIN suddenly is no longer valid. The last update was on 11/1/18 and the latest is 11/5/18.

When the letter arrives in the mail, then you'll know.

[drm]

<-- Another victim

Anybody know if they are required/willing to work around engine mods (JRSC) during recall work?

[venturaII]

Feb 2013. Awesome. Add this to the list of booby traps. At least the track season is over.

Maybe I can have them change my plugs while they're in there...the labor should be effectively zero at that point..

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

The vast majority of dealership techs are well trained and do this sort of work all the time. This ridiculous concept that they are all totally incompetent idiots is simply a car guy bias since they can all do a much better job than those trained for it.

Dealerships employ people with a range of skills in different positions. The idea that they're all incompetent boobs comes from dealing with the occasional moron at the bottom who isn't rebuilding engines but is tasked to more menial jobs, like the stupid fool at a Chevy dealership who put motor oil into my the coolant reservoir on my dad's Corvette. Since most people are not having major work done during dealership encounters, they judge only by what they see at the bottom and may not realize how good some of the experienced techs can be.

Originally Posted by ermax

I wouldn’t be surprised if they do crate motors rather than let inexperienced dealers rebuild the engine just to have people come back with all new issues related to the rebuild.

Originally Posted by DandoX

I like to cling to the unlikely hope they can offer a new motor.

When my oil pump gear shattered, my dealership couldn't even get a crate motor. They had to buy a short block, one head and a list of parts several pages long to build a motor there in the shop.

That was for a total engine failure (at least two spun bearings), not a preventative spring replacement. There's no way you're getting crate motors out of this, not just because of cost, but because the supply of complete motors isn't there.

Originally Posted by NCtoBRZ

They discovered this because valve springs broke..... Do you really think that they would spend hundreds of millions of dollars and take a hit to their reputation if there wasn't a problem?

Not many valve springs have actually broken. They issued the recall because they believe there's a potential for engine failure at critical moments that may result in an accident, and they calculated the financial and brand risks associated with such an accident to be higher than the cost of the recall. If the engine stalls at a critical moment and causes a fatality, they would have not only the litigation and settlement costs, but also increased regulatory scrutiny (which costs money) along with damage to the brand's safety reputation (which would impact sales).

Furthermore, the $400 million recall expense they have reserved for in their financial statements is not necessarily what they'll end up paying out in actual cash. In accounting for a publicly traded company, you have to conservatively estimate the likely cost of an event and reserve for it, meaning you set aside funds for that eventuality. They would likely base that reserve on the entire number of affected engines, not on the number of owners they really think will show up to get the work done. So they say, "We think it might cost us up to $400 million, so we'll take that out of our $900 million current profit and set it aside just in case."

But we're talking about five year old cars here. It would surprise me if even half of the owners took their cars in.

What will happen instead is that Subaru will take the full expense this year and use it to reduce their income so that they're paying corporate taxes on $500 million instead of $900 million. Then over the next several years, when affected cars don't show up, they'll reduce the reserve and take it back as a gain added to profit in future periods. If times get tight in the coming years because of trade restrictions or the cost of steel, they'll have this reserve sitting out there to convert to profit to make themselves continue to look good to investors.

In accounting there's usually a silver lining somewhere in the numbers.

Originally Posted by GrantedTaken

The failure is not catastrophic.
It says the car will stall.
Huge difference.

It would be catastrophic if it stalls right when you make a left turn across traffic in front of a large truck, which you otherwise would have had plenty of time to make but because of the failed motor makes you the Peterbilt's new hood ornament.

Originally Posted by ChrisGeezy

So a little off topic but how do you think the recall will affect market value of the Twins for those years? Will there be mass depreciation possibly?

LOL no.

[gravitylover]

When I put my vin # in today it said that it was invalid and there are no open recalls for that series and I need to contact Subaru for any further information. Waiting for a letter now appears to be what's next.

[Dadhawk]

@extrashaky, agree on all points, thanks for taking the time to answer.

[incriminati]

I'm not sure what's going on now, but I'm getting invalid VIN like others.

When it did work I wasn't part of the recall, but I've been checking again just to make sure.

If the recall websites start working again please let us know in here.

https://www.subaru.com/vehicle-recalls.html

https://vinrcl.safercar.gov/vin/vinLookup

[Gunman]

fwiw, my 1988 Ranger had a piston come apart, while still under warranty, not a recall, and the dealer, under Ford's direction, replaced the block, one cylinder head, piston, connecting rod, and any other related parts. Anything not damaged, was reused.

The dealer did the work, they had their best guy do it, not the oil change flunky. The truck was not stock, engine had been pulled, repainted, polished, wiring rerouted etc., all cosmetic, as it was a show truck, and the dealer didn't try to use that to deny the repair. In fact, once they finished putting the engine back together, they let me pick it up, get it repainted, and then they put it back in the truck. All I had to do, was tidy up a bit of the wiring, but the dealer did a great job.

[rice_classic]

My FRS qualifies but the website said Toyota has no date/plans yet for conducting the remedy. I'm supposed to cage the thing and make it race car come January so I'm hoping to get this recall done before I de-commission the car.