Registry Thread: Failure After J02 Recall

[dezmoondo]

Originally Posted by djmodernroq

hey dezmoondo,


Where are you located in so cal if you don't mind. I have to take my car in for the recall fix and I am trying to find out who in socal has done it and where without having any issues. Like you stated, that now the dmv is requiring it otherwise I won't get my tags. I'm in the same boat man.

I went to Torrance. I have read about others who went there seems to be ok. Its been a year and my car is still in one piece. It just took them a while to put the car back together. They had trouble with the clutch. You can also try Longo in Monterey Park. Moto went there for his.

[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.

[Ganthrithor]

Originally Posted by ka-t_240

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.

Hmm, I read the FB section and you're right! Shame our engines specifically are so hard to work on correctly.

With the cam carrier / shaft scoring on my engine, the dealer says they noticed the damage when they originally pulled the engine apart to do the recall. They've been good about replacing the short block, so I'm gonna take their word for it and pay for the cams and carriers, but I wonder if the scoring there (and the general condition of the oil suction screen which looked like it had old debris as well as new) was the result of previous repairs to the timing chain and cam tower cover things for oil leaks... wonder if I picked up a bit of contamination the last time they pulled things off and reinstalled.

Hope they manage to get it together correctly this time, I guess we'll see. I assume the dealer's work comes with some kind of limited warranty, so I'm gonna try and just not worry about this or the possibility that there's still bits of metal wedged in the oil passages in the heads :P

[ka-t_240]

Originally Posted by Ganthrithor

Hmm, I read the FB section and you're right! Shame our engines specifically are so hard to work on correctly.

With the cam carrier / shaft scoring on my engine, the dealer says they noticed the damage when they originally pulled the engine apart to do the recall. They've been good about replacing the short block, so I'm gonna take their word for it and pay for the cams and carriers, but I wonder if the scoring there (and the general condition of the oil suction screen which looked like it had old debris as well as new) was the result of previous repairs to the timing chain and cam tower cover things for oil leaks... wonder if I picked up a bit of contamination the last time they pulled things off and reinstalled.

Hope they manage to get it together correctly this time, I guess we'll see. I assume the dealer's work comes with some kind of limited warranty, so I'm gonna try and just not worry about this or the possibility that there's still bits of metal wedged in the oil passages in the heads :P

Should get a 12 month warranty on dealer work, depending on state. Bring your concerns up sooner than later. I

[TommyW]

Motor went 3k miles after recall. Irvine Toyota didn’t return emails. Had a new IAG installed at an awesome shop.

[gravitylover]

Originally Posted by TommyW

Motor went 3k miles after recall. Irvine Toyota didn’t return emails. Had a new IAG installed at an awesome shop.

What did that cost?

[TommyW]

Originally Posted by gravitylover

What did that cost?

By the time all the work got done properly and almost new oil cooler was replaced it was 11K

[DarkSideFRS]

Originally Posted by TommyW

By the time all the work got done properly and almost new oil cooler was replaced it was 11K

wow. u must either be super rich or just love your car to be spending that amount of money.... i would have just parted out the car

[TommyW]

Originally Posted by DarkSideFRS

wow. u must either be super rich or just love your car to be spending that amount of money.... i would have just parted out the car

I had the car all sorted the way I wanted it and to get maybe 4K out of it then building another one and spending more than 11K to do another car didn't make sense. Now not only is it well sorted but it has a motor that is as bulletproof as possible.

[DarkSideFRS]

subaru motors are as bulletproof as glass.. i hope this won't backfire on you financially... i sold mine as quickly as possible at the slightest chance of a failure

[DarkPira7e]

Originally Posted by DarkSideFRS

subaru motors are as bulletproof as glass.. i hope this won't backfire on you financially... i sold mine as quickly as possible at the slightest chance of a failure

There is nothing weak about this, or other subaru engines. It's the fault of technicians that this happens, not the engine.

[TommyW]

Originally Posted by DarkSideFRS

subaru motors are as bulletproof as glass.. i hope this won't backfire on you financially... i sold mine as quickly as possible at the slightest chance of a failure

with inherent issues addressed with a proper build and an IAG block and staying NA I don’t see the motor as glass any more than any other motor.

The key is doing things right. There are many shops that will do a rebuild a lot cheaper and then you’re in the same position as with the dealer, trying to blow through it as fast as possible to collect a check. People run in to problems with the “how cheap can I get this done” mentality and don’t do their homework and then wonder what happened.

Just the procedure for sealing the timing cover properly is a ridiculous amount of time and expertise. Very few guys are versed in this.

[mmich101]

I've got a 2013 Scion FRS. Had the spring valve recall fixed at the dealership about a year ago and my engine just started knocking really bad to the point where I don't want to drive it. I've brought it to two shops already. One says they can't rebuild the engine nor do they want to tear it down. The other sayd $1200 just to tear down to see what's wrong. It needs an engine rebuild! Duh. Anyways, can't seem to find a used engine anywhere and was quoted $11,000 for a new one! HAHAHA! My car isn't even worth that. Ridiculous. Can anyone help with a used engine or where to go? I'm bringing it in to the dealership that did the repair. Maybe I'll get somewhere with that, but wanted to check in the meantime of my other options. Any help would be much appreciated.

[Silvermk2]

Look on car-part.com put in your engine, zip code, year, and all that and it will give you a list of wrecking yards with. You'll probably have to try different years and transmissions to get all the options available.