Yes this was a very public debacle. Some guy drifted his gr86, blew engine, toyota dealer used drifting vids to deny warranty, story in news, car mags, forums, etc. then toyota did a u-turn.

Later it turned out a lot of brz owners had been facing this on NA fa20. And the fa24 issue is worse because the factory is slinging rtv with a trowel from the looks of it.

Redline and hard driving are bullshit reasons. The redline is quite literally the safe limit for revs and the gr86 is sideways at opposite lock in every ad.

 

I just found this on YouTube myself and did a search here finding this thread. Anyone here have this issue yet? Anyone know if this was fixed for MY23 models?

 

There is a YouTuber (MrSubaru) who mentioned in a video that dealerships would be checking vehicles that may be affected by this issue. If that’s the case, then Subaru knows which vehicles are affected.

I would have expected Subaru to recalibrate those machines to apply a lesser amount of sealant on the parts, but that’s just my opinion. It’s in the company’s interest to fix the root of problem soonest then to pay millions of dollars over time with a massive recall and negative image correction.

 

Curious to look into that video (I will). Wonder if they have an idea of VINs and if dealers actually are doing it.

 

I wonder if Subaru made any corrections in the assembly process during the model year run. My 2022 is a late model year car made in December 2022. Pulling the oil pan is pretty involved. Sort of makes me wonder if anyone has experimented with trying to flush it out somehow...if that's even possible.

 

You can spin the engine backwards with an impact and pour oil from the top with drain plug removed. This will reverse the oil pump and force oil back out thru the pickup tube and drain plug.

 

I've been doing some reading and it appears everyone is in one of two camps....1) OMG! Your engine is going to explode or 2) The oil strainer is oversized and designed to catch debris like RTV...don't worry about it.

I fall in the middle. I'm not "worried" about it, but I would like to see if I have the issue and if there is an effective way correct or partially correct the issue without dropping the pan and sure enough voiding the warranty.

First thing I did was order a borescope. I'm going to take a peek inside and see what I can see. If I don't see any RTV...whew...I'm done. If I do, I'll keep an eye on it. A few small pieces won't concern me. Big chunks will. I will take pictures using the borescope and keep them for documentation should I have any issues. If it's bad enough, I may see if the dealer will drop the pan for me and clean it out.

I can't find when the first issue was reported and I haven't found anything stating Subaru has corrected the overuse or RTV. So my hopes that later 2022 models may not have the issue or that Subaru will own the problem and offer some sort of extended warranty at no cost are pretty dim.

One idea I have is to see if I can rig up an electronics vacuum that I might be able to wiggle in and suck some of it out. Just have to see what the borescope shows and how difficult it is to access the pickup.

 

It's been an issue in some form since the 1st gen BRZ was introduced so chances of Subaru correcting it are low. Typically it won't do any damage but any chunks in oil pickup can obviously screw it up.

Dropping oil pan doesn't void warranty.

 

Based on the process I've seen to drop the oil pan, it's pretty intensive and a multiple day job. I'm a fairly competent shade tree mechanic, but breaking studs and having to weld bolt head on the get them loose and having to re-tap them and such appears to be well outside of my skill set. Lots of opportunity to screw up and good ammunition for a dealer to void your warranty...or at least make an argument for it.

If I can find a local trustworthy mechanic I might see what they'd charge to do the work. I would imagine the dealer would charge at least $1000 to do it. I read somewhere that a guy paid the dealer $750 to drop the pan and they told him if there was no RTV then he would have to pay but if they found RTV then they would cover it under warranty. So if I have the issue and can show there is RTV in the pickup, perhaps I can convince them "fix it now for a little, or fix it later for a lot".

 

Some places rent out 2-post lifts and tools. Whether you do it or get a shop to do it, it won't take more than 6 hours total.

 

Duplicate - delete.

 

Thanks for the info.

So long story short, dump the car before the warranty runs out unless you want to spend thousands on preventive oil pan drops.

Guess Subaru has become like BMW. Don’t own one out of warranty.

 

I was quite happy with my long out of warranty bmw. There are quite a few e60s here at work pushing well past 200k.

They are not specifically unreliable, just expensive to work on, more now that bavauto is gone.

 

I figure that I’ll have a thorough check of the oil pickup tube between 30-50k miles. At that mileage, any RTV that was potentially getting loosened over time will finally have separated and made its way to the pickup tube filter.

Doing this check prematurely will not be that purposeful in my opinion because some of these RTV clumps break-apart from the seal a year or a few years later. Secondly, let Subaru work thorough the issue first so that you don’t waste any money during the first 2 years.

 

Does anyone know if there have been any reported engine failures due to rtv or other oiling issues with the VB generation so far? I know that for the gr86 there have been multiple reports of oiling issues, although the root cause isn't 100% known to be rtv so far. I'm in the market for a manual rwd or awd and the 86 and wrx seem like the best options but the issues with the fa24 are what are making me wary of them.