Results of the Valve Spring Recall Work

[DovahRS]

I was told to post my story here. But I had the exact same problem. This all began in February of this year.

After I got my car back, there were some rattling noises that I was worried about. I have friends that own a performance shop and they’ll do small things for free, so I had them look at it to see if it was anything serious. Turns out it was stupid careless mistakes. Bolts weren’t tightened down and they forgot to refill the AC coolant. No problems though.

4 days after getting my car back the engine goes. I tow it back to Toyota for them to see what went wrong. They said it was a spun bearing and that they contacted corporate who didn’t want to help out, so they told me it had nothing to do with the replacement and they weren’t at fault. I asked them to diagnose what lead to the spun bearing and they told me flat out that it would be a waste of time.

So I towed it to my performance friends, one of them was a former master level Toyota technician and told me that he’s positive they did something. They ripped apart my engine and surprise surprise found fresh rtv sealant clogging the line. The dealership told me it was all from work done before the recall, which makes no sense because the car ran fine for years and suddenly it’s oil deprived the moment they touch it.

I contacted corporate who told me they could do nothing about it and referred me to the dealerships customer relation department. Those people completely blew me off and ignored my attempts to reach them. This went on for 2 months of fighting them and I got nothing, not a penny out of them.

So defeated I decided to take the opportunity to completely rebuild the engine with forged pistons, new compression, upgraded basically everything. At least I can walk out of this with a better car than I entered, despite having to pay out of pocket.

My friends dad is a pretty big shot lawyer and said I probably have a small claims case on my hand, and he might help form the case for me if he has time.

It’s been such a nightmare, but I’m happy my new engine will run better than it ever did before.


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[speedy racer]

I just got my 2013 Scion FRS back from doing the recall. I asked the service advisor if they had any issues with this recent recall, he said they have master tech doing them and none have come back with issues. He told me they did the updated recall on my car so I am glad I waited. I driven 100 miles, my car sounds great. Keeping my fingers crossed, my Frs threw a rod last year and Toyota rebuilt it under my extended warranty.

[BRZnut]

Originally Posted by DovahRS

I was told to post my story here. But I had the exact same problem. This all began in February of this year.

After I got my car back, there were some rattling noises that I was worried about. I have friends that own a performance shop and they’ll do small things for free, so I had them look at it to see if it was anything serious. Turns out it was stupid careless mistakes. Bolts weren’t tightened down and they forgot to refill the AC coolant. No problems though.

4 days after getting my car back the engine goes. I tow it back to Toyota for them to see what went wrong. They said it was a spun bearing and that they contacted corporate who didn’t want to help out, so they told me it had nothing to do with the replacement and they weren’t at fault. I asked them to diagnose what lead to the spun bearing and they told me flat out that it would be a waste of time.

So I towed it to my performance friends, one of them was a former master level Toyota technician and told me that he’s positive they did something. They ripped apart my engine and surprise surprise found fresh rtv sealant clogging the line. The dealership told me it was all from work done before the recall, which makes no sense because the car ran fine for years and suddenly it’s oil deprived the moment they touch it.

I contacted corporate who told me they could do nothing about it and referred me to the dealerships customer relation department. Those people completely blew me off and ignored my attempts to reach them. This went on for 2 months of fighting them and I got nothing, not a penny out of them.

So defeated I decided to take the opportunity to completely rebuild the engine with forged pistons, new compression, upgraded basically everything. At least I can walk out of this with a better car than I entered, despite having to pay out of pocket.

My friends dad is a pretty big shot lawyer and said I probably have a small claims case on my hand, and he might help form the case for me if he has time.

It’s been such a nightmare, but I’m happy my new engine will run better than it ever did before.


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I would ask your friends Dad to show you how to do small claims court and see if you can recover the cost of the re-build. Nothing to loose!

[dhoulmagus]

My car just throw a check engine and traction light after 150km from completing the recall job.

[Lantanafrs2]

Originally Posted by dhoulmagus

My car just throw a check engine and traction light after 150km from completing the recall job.

At least it was a quick failure. It's on them now. I've been through it myself.

[dhoulmagus]

I got back my car. They had switched around the OCV and cleared the cel warning. They said it might have been due to a lose connector.

[gravitylover]

Well, mine is in now. I dropped it off on Monday as per my appointment made several months ago and they told me it's not going to be just a few days they are backed up 3 weeks! They gave me a brand new 2019 Forester, 11 miles on it, and I absolutely hate it. It's mushy and has all of these crazy nannies that take control of the car unless you fight to keep it. The seats are also super sweaty and feel like shit after about 2 hours. One of the lines they made me sign was that the car won't be used for long distance driving but I'm a sales rep and do 1-2k miles a week so I made the employee add a line that this would be the case and the car will be returned with ~5k miles on it so now I get to travel with a sparkly new car with a big ass sunroof

They are doing a bunch of extra stuff while it's there and their lead engine tech will be doing the work and he hasn't had a single car come back with problems after the work is done so... Here's to hoping

[marco1ca]

Originally Posted by gravitylover

They gave me a brand new 2019 Forester, 11 miles on it, and I absolutely hate it. It's mushy and has all of these crazy nannies that take control of the car unless you fight to keep it. The seats are also super sweaty and feel like shit after about 2 hours.

Crap! I"m now upset after reading your post. I"m selling my Tacoma and was planning to buy a new Forrester sport, 2019, seriously, within the next two weeks. I especially wanted it for occasional snow and some off-road as i'm into landscape photography. Yea, I know this is off topic but damn! Is it really that bad? I know it's slow, but didn't care about that. Please PM me as this is not recall related. Btw, my brz is also in the shop, but I got a Chevy Impala

[EAGLE5]

Originally Posted by marco1ca

Crap! I"m now upset after reading your post. I"m selling my Tacoma and was planning to buy a new Forrester sport, 2019, seriously, within the next two weeks. I especially wanted it for occasional snow and some off-road as i'm into landscape photography. Yea, I know this is off topic but damn! Is it really that bad? I know it's slow, but didn't care about that. Please PM me as this is not recall related. Btw, my brz is also in the shop, but I got a Chevy Impala

I don't think Foresters are that bad. You gotta drive it yourself to see.

[gravitylover]

Originally Posted by marco1ca

Crap! I"m now upset after reading your post. I"m selling my Tacoma and was planning to buy a new Forrester sport, 2019, seriously, within the next two weeks. I especially wanted it for occasional snow and some off-road as i'm into landscape photography. Yea, I know this is off topic but damn! Is it really that bad? I know it's slow, but didn't care about that. Please PM me as this is not recall related. Btw, my brz is also in the shop, but I got a Chevy Impala

Yeah really, go try it for yourself but take it for a day or two not just a typical 5 minute jaunt. If the sport has a slightly tuned suspension it would sure help, that's where most of my beef with daily driveability comes from. Unfortunately the safety stuff is probably inevitable but damn is it annoying. Fortunately it can be turned off but you've gotta wonder if something does go wrong how the insurance company is going to handle it. The seats I don't know if there's a fix for, they're the reason I ditched my Crosstrek and got the BRZ. The fkn things suck. Period. YMMV. It's not slow though, it takes care of itself quite nicely and will cruise all day at 70-80 while getting ~28mpg and if you milk it you can push 31

Go drive the thing but also take a look at the Volvo XC40. They make the best seats in the biz, the rig should be totally competent in the variety of weather and conditions you're talking about and Volvo has a knack for keeping the nannies unobtrusive. It has been out now for a bit and they have this wacky "ownership" deal so there should start to be some off lease soon.

[Mitch-frs]

Has anyone had the recall work done and not had any problems afterwards? I hàd mine done and have probably drove around 5 to 10 thousand miles with no issues. Iv dropped a lot of money into mods and plan on doing a lot more soon, just wanting to make sure I'm not putting money into a lost cause. Thanks

[DJCarbine]

Originally Posted by marco1ca

Crap! I"m now upset after reading your post. I"m selling my Tacoma and was planning to buy a new Forrester sport, 2019, seriously, within the next two weeks. I especially wanted it for occasional snow and some off-road as i'm into landscape photography. Yea, I know this is off topic but damn! Is it really that bad? I know it's slow, but didn't care about that. Please PM me as this is not recall related. Btw, my brz is also in the shop, but I got a Chevy Impala

One of my relatives has the new forester sport, I dunno... I liked it.
My sister has a 2019 outback, and likes the forester sport more now as well.

Coming from an FRS/BRZ or any sporty car, its going to feel more muted and sluggish

[marco1ca]

Originally Posted by gravitylover

Yeah really, go try it for yourself but take it for a day or two not just a typical 5 minute jaunt.

I will do that. I will also research about these safety devices that are a hassle, The volvo looks a little smaller, I need the room, but I"ll check it out, thanks.

[marco1ca]

Originally Posted by Mitch-frs

Has anyone had the recall work done and not had any problems afterwards? I hàd mine done and have probably drove around 5 to 10 thousand miles with no issues. Iv dropped a lot of money into mods and plan on doing a lot more soon, just wanting to make sure I'm not putting money into a lost cause. Thanks

As I"ve said in my previous post, my dealer had about 18 or so dating back months and both the manager and tech said none have come back. I would take others advice I received on here and do an oil analysis. Mine is in the shop and will be doing two or three analysis.