Scion FR-S Owners Claim a Recall Fix Is Destroying Their Engines

BGroot

BGroot

Moderator
Usually when you take your car into the dealership for a safety recall, it comes out the other side of the shop imperceptibly better and safer than before. These are essentially mechanical firmware updates. It's theoretically one of the least risky things you could do to a vehicle—and at the end of the day, it's mandated by law. Yet for a growing number of Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ owners, it also appears to be destroying their engines.

Over the last few weeks, forums and social media have lit up with complaints that a recent recall to fix a valve spring issue the 2.0-liter flat-four engine found 400,000 Subaru's and Scions is actually causing more harm than the original issue itself. This is not a simple procedure; it takes around 12 hours and requires the engine to be removed from the car and torn apart. The question is whether dealership techs—specifically, Toyota dealership techs, as we'll detail here—are botching the job due to incomplete guidance, inexperience, or both.

We've contacted Toyota for a statement and... READ MORE HERE
 
Lewis

Lewis

Moderator
Staff member
The Recall info can be found here...

One thing that I have seen is that there is either FIPG left over in or too much added upon resealing at the far outer front cover holes...

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If this happens, then it tends to pop out a small ingot from the head....

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On the drivers side, the problem will occur outside the valve cover and look like this...

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On the Passenger side, the fragment will come out inside the valve cover near the valve springs that were just installed. The best case scenario is that nothing will happen but it could pop a hole in the valve cover or worse... :eek:

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MG

MG

Moderator
The first video in Lewis' post was taken down by the user who was a Toyota Tech. I'm guessing that Toyota and/or his Dealer had a "talk" with him and made him delete it. I have seen this quite a few times happen. I wouldnt be surprised if the second one also gets taken down when Toyota sees it.

What they cant control is when customers take their own videos and post them. Here is one customer that had the J02 recall fail and he went to the dealer to take pics and a video to document the breakdown....


 
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Terri Powell

Guest
And we have another 2013 scion down after the recall"fix" Toyota will not take responsibility. They need a recall on the recall. Any information you can share on how to resolve this would be appreciated
 
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Eric Hollo

Guest
Here in Toronto FRS's are also blowing up. The dealership blames Toyota, Toyota blames the dealership nobody will take responsibility. My dealership agreed to replace bearings but Toyota will not replace the short block. To add insult the new parts distribution has my 2013 waiting now over 4 weeks for parts, Toyota Canada will not comment and reviews issues on a case to case basis, apparently my case is not important. Toyota car, Toyota recall, not Toyota's problem, but they will admit there are other cases where after the recall the engines have seized. They know a huge problem exists but will not give in.
 
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Melissa Ortega

Guest
I have been going round and round with Toyota Dealership and the Toyota Home office, my son hasn't had his car in 3 weeks, it died on him one day while he was coming home, and we took it to Toyota, 5 month after the recall his car just died when he tried to take off from a light, the dealership said its not due to the recall, but when he got his car back after the recall it never ran the same and it finally died on him! Toyota said it's not there problem! His car is still sitting at the dealership today, and he is still making his car payments to the bank !
 
D

DJ72

Guest
Terri Powell said:
And we have another 2013 scion down after the recall"fix" Toyota will not take responsibility. They need a recall on the recall. Any information you can share on how to resolve this would be appreciated
Click to expand...
I just spoke to an attorney at Carlson Lynch. They have a class action lawsuit due to the engine failure after the valve spring recall was done on the 2013 Scion FR-S. I only had 17,000 miles on my FR-S. It was only ever serviced at a Toyota dealership. Toyota knows about it and is doing nothing. Hopefully, no one gets hurt or killed due to their negligence. Please share the info below. It is the class action lawsuit info. The more people that get involved the better.

Carlson Lynch

carlsonlynch.com
412-253-6359
 
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Andrew Harris

Guest
In May of 2019 Zachary Harris took his 2013 Scion FRS into Fowler Toyota of Tulsa to perform the J02 Valve Spring recall.
The work statement from the Fowler Toyota of Tulsa states:
The mileage was at 60,001 which is incorrect. As evidenced by an invoice from Robertson Tire dated August, 9th 2018 showing the mileage of 60,432.
There is a warranty of 12 months that covers parts and labor regardless of mileage.
The technician who performed the J02 recall service was Matthew DeChaine and the Service Advisor was Bryan Marinez.

On February 29th, 2020 the vehicle spun a bearing in the engine due to oil starvation as a result of too much sealant being applied to the engine by Matthew DeChaine during the J02 Recall service in May of 2019. The car was towed to Fowler Toyota of Tulsa for repair per the warranty on the recall work done in May of 2019.

Fowler Toyota refused to honor their work and the warranty on the engine work they performed during the recall to repair the vehicle. Andrew and Zachary Harris tried to work with Matt Benson at Fowler Toyota to resolve the issue.

On March 17th, 2020 Andrew and Zachary Harris visited Fowler Toyota in person and talked directly with a technician. The technician (Zack) had pulled the oil pan and oil pick up screen without the owners authorization before they arrived and evidence later showed that the sealant in the oil pick up screen had been cleaned out in what appeared to be an effort to tamper with evidence. The technician claimed that this problem is not a result of faulty recall work but that it “just happens” and that the engine is a Suburu.

Andrew Harris reached out to Toyota customer service directly in another attempt to get them to take responsibility for the repair. Toyota reached out to Fowler Toyota and after that conversation Toyota told Mr. Harris that they (Toyota) trust their dealers and they would not take responsibility for the repair. According to the service department at Fowler Toyota the spun bearing was not a result of the recall work they performed. Nor would they cover the repair under the warranty of the work on the recall.

On March 27th, 2020 Zachary Harris had the car towed from Fowler Toyota of Tulsa to Ferguson Subaru to have an experienced master technician look at the vehicle, John T. Reese. Mr. Reese worked at Fowler Toyota of Tulsa with Matthew DeChaine previously and was now working at Ferguson Subaru and had experience with both Toyota and Subaru vehicles. John T. Reese was able to find evidence of sealant in the vvti filters. Andrew and Zachary Harris paid John T. Reese to replace the short block in the FRS.

The Harris family have purchased nine vehicles made by Toyota over the course of the past three decades. They’ve continued to be a loyal customer of Toyota because typically and until now Toyota has demonstrated quality, service and reliability. Over the past several years they have noticed more recalls and declining levels of service from Toyota and the local dealerships. This experience has by far been the worst yet. This experience makes them question the quality, the service and the reliability of Toyota vehicles and puts their brand loyalty in great jeopardy. The Harris family is asking for Toyota to reach out to them and provide reimbursement for the expenses incurred to replace the short block and repair the vehicle as well as an apology from Toyota Customer Service and Fowler Toyota.
 
S

S.C.

Guest
Another one bites the dust. Last week we had our Scion FRS 2013 towed to a local mechanic. He said it needs a whole new engine. We only got to drive the car for approximatiely 10 months that we bought from a private owner. It has been out of commission for approximately a year now while we've been making payments on it and we still owe a lot of money on this vehicle. The mechanic is quoting us around $8,000 to get a used engine and install it. But what would even be the point of getting another FRS engine sounds like if they had the recall engine valve replaced they are all capable of blowing? Any current class action lawsuits out there? Thanks
 
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James Delling

Guest
Last year I took my wife's 2013 FRS to the local Toyota dealership for the valve spring recall. It took them almost a month. I was was given several reasons for the delay. Finally the service manager told me they could not get it to run correctly. It was so bad they ended up having to replace the block. When we re eived it back I noticed it was durning some oil off the block. I assumed it was just some left from the repair. However it didnt stop after a week. After some inspection I found the leak on the exhaust cam position sensor. They replaced it and then the replacement leaked a few weeks later. Keep in mine my wife rarely drives her car. Maybe 10-15 miles in a week. They replaced it again. Saying the O-ring was not seated properly and they had installed a sensor off a block they had last time. This time it was a new one. Now..... We noticed the car burning oil again. But this time I have a huge puddle on the garage floor. I go and check the sensor to see if it's the issue again. NOPE... is coming from the covers or block. I take it back to the same Toyota service center. Come to find out the "piston cover" is cracked.. I'm confused by this... Did they mean valve cover plate or timing cover plate? How could this happen? I'm going to be driving there tomorrow to meet with the service manager for a face to face.
 
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