Direct Injector Failure Poll

[Khazzy]

I will keep an ear out for this. News to me. only 5400 miles on the car, VIN 4661, BRZ. No ECU flashes, no track time. I drive anywhere from 3k RPM-5.5k RPM depending on how I feel that day or how expensive gas is. Also 93 Octane without ethanol is unheard of here in Nebraska so been running the 91 Octane WITHOUT ethanol since I have owned the car. Got the car 12 Jan 13. Any of these people with the issues have ethanol in the gas they are using? Anyone think about that yet? I know its mainly a midwest thing, but a very good concern to ponder.

[Muaddib]

Time will tell...

[bestwheelbase]

If you're concerned these issues will impact other owners, you need to file a complaint at the link below and make sure that they are all filed under the same category. It is these complaints that lead to recalls.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

[Carwhisperer]

Originally Posted by Khazzy

I will keep an ear out for this. News to me. only 5400 miles on the car, VIN 4661, BRZ. No ECU flashes, no track time. I drive anywhere from 3k RPM-5.5k RPM depending on how I feel that day or how expensive gas is. Also 93 Octane without ethanol is unheard of here in Nebraska so been running the 91 Octane WITHOUT ethanol since I have owned the car. Got the car 12 Jan 13. Any of these people with the issues have ethanol in the gas they are using? Anyone think about that yet? I know its mainly a midwest thing, but a very good concern to ponder.

I know that ethanol is NOT helping the injectors last longer than shorter. I'm on 93 Pure gas, to get rid of crickets and to hopefully ease the bad memories of my DI's going kaput.

[bestwheelbase]

Originally Posted by Carwhisperer

I know that ethanol is NOT helping the injectors last longer than shorter. I'm on 93 Pure gas, to get rid of crickets and to hopefully ease the bad memories of my DI's going kaput.

Let's hope ethanol-free fuel continues to be readoly available in middle Tennessee.

[suaveflooder]

Originally Posted by vgi

I'm sure that's exactly how toyota/subaru views these issues so far.

However this view on those stats seems a bit shortsighted:

- The issues seems to be happening with the cars that have about over 20K miles and/or are tracked. Considering the car has been out for about a year, why don't you think and reflect how many cars already have over 20K and how many cars out of those have been driven often between 4-7K rpm?

- Not all people share their issues with DI, and not all who did have voted on this thread.

- The problem does have a high potential to be a widespread issue and that high potential is what pretty much stops many people who would gladly mod their cars from doing it.

Considering we are a year or even two away from seeing the problem is a widespread, i wonder how many decide not to deal with this BS and switch to some other platform new miata, Z, heck even mustang or camaro if they manage to put those pigs on a diet or some used cars where 135i seems the best match for money.

Btw, those who ignore little smoke often get a wild fire on their hands shortly. Folks from subaru/toyota should act before community of enthusiasts started leaving this platform labeling it as too problematic and money pit. IMO

Of course Toyota is thinking this way! With less than a 1% failure rate any business would be crazy to make a big deal about it. Like you mentioned, there are SO many factors that could have attributed to the failures. Lack of an oil cooler comes to mind. These cars get hot! We've seen this and even on a stock car, it looks like an oil cooler would be a good idea if open tracking.

As far as your second point, that is EXACTLY what I'm saying! There is no way that a pole like this will be accurate, ESPECIALLY on a forum where everyone makes thread to complain. You potentially have tens of thousands of cars that we will NEVER hear from, most of which will probably NEVER HAVE A SINGLE PROBLEM! Making the percentage of failures EVEN LESS. Toyota gets all these stats and if it DOES become an issue, they will take care of it! They have done it in the past and they continue to make little tweaks as small problems arise even now. What makes you think they will let this become something widespread?

It is AMAZING to me the difference between an 86 that was built in the first couple months compared to mine built in January of 2013. All the "issues" everyone was freaking out about in the beginning of the cars existence has been fixed on mine. I have periodic crickets, but those are even pretty rare. I have not had a single other issue that plagued these cars in the beginning.

As far as people swapping to another brand because of this, that is absurd. People flock to the E46 M3 and it has a TON of issues. A DI failing on less than 1% of the cars built is not going to have most people lift an eye brow. If they abandon the car because of someone's uncle's friend's dad once new a guy who's son had his DI fail on his car, I will make sure to smile and wave as they go to another car. The car is a money pit for so many reasons and failures have nothing to do with them, lack of power, however, does

[spitz]

I'd be curious to see data on whether an oil cooler could be a possible remedy to the detonation. How long did the CSG car run their oil cooler?

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by spitz

I'd be curious to see data on whether an oil cooler could be a possible remedy to the detonation. How long did the CSG car run their oil cooler?

No relation. As far as we understand, it's an issue with the factory tune.

[suaveflooder]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

No relation. As far as we understand, it's an issue with the factory tune.

Ironically enough, this is GOOD news! It's something toyota can fix pretty easily, hopefully!

[Anaxilus]

First off, I think it would be useful to add an option to the poll that says, "I have had no issues w/ my DI system." At least that would give you a relative comparison. As is, the poll tells us nothing about whether we need to be concerned about this.

Second, I asked a friend who is a long time Lexus tech about this and he says the twins appear to use the same type DI injectors as on the Lexi w/ teflon type seals. He said they used to throw them in solvents and all sorts of stuff to get them to fail and never had any issues. He kind of calls BS on the issue related to corrosives such as Ethanol or anything else. Now, if there is an issue, it would tend toward Heat being the culprit as others have mentioned. If the seals handle solvents fine, then heat could/must be the factor causing physical damage. I know boxers tend to run hot, hot enough to liquify your oil w/o a proper cooler. IF heat is the issue, that would possibly seem to correlate to 100% track failure on those ring rentals. Also if the factory tune is running too lean somewhere. I know others have had no issues and also track their cars but do they abuse them like you would a rental on the Ring or use the stock tune? Just adding to the stream of consciousness.

Again, it would be really helpful to know how many people have NOT had DI issues by adding the choice to the OP's poll.

[topazsparrow]

Originally Posted by Anaxilus

First off, I think it would be useful to add an option to the poll that says, "I have had no issues w/ my DI system." At least that would give you a relative comparison. As is, the poll tells us nothing about whether we need to be concerned about this.

That's not a good idea as you cannot re-vote. If an issue cropped up late you'd be unable to change your vote.

[Anaxilus]

Originally Posted by topazsparrow

That's not a good idea as you cannot re-vote. If an issue cropped up late you'd be unable to change your vote.

Well, if the OP or mod wanted to be vigilant enough, they could edit the OP w/ updated stats as they came in. The problem I see is you have only 18 votes out of how many page views from how many actual owners? If you want serious action, you need to show a certain level of statistical significance beyond a few particular users or units. Another thread about interior brightness level had almost 100 votes in a dead thread...

[l0aded]

Can someone please clear my confusion about this issue? So if I am at idle and i slightly rev and my rev dips a little and comes back up is this an issue? I also have an occasional "knock" when doing this maybe 1/5 times or so if I listen carefully. Does this mean for sure sure my DI has failed or could it just be a bad tune? (on Unichip). I have never had any backfiring or noticable knock besides when doing this at idle.

Should I take off my tune and see the dealer?

[Synack]

My seals are being installed today. Hopefully running smoothly tonight.