Motor Blew Last Night

[FRS Justin]

Originally Posted by steve99

This is something i am interested to know as well, the security on these car is a real pain

I bought a car that was in a flood and the insurance company didn't give me a key and so I was stuck starting it with the security system. Well 1 Subaru dealership and 1 Scion dealership later I still had the same problems. So that's when I went deep into the manuals and talking to Subaru Master techs along with Toyota techs (I'm also a ASE Master tech) to get a understanding of this car. I will say this If you ask Toyota tech they say the FRS is not a Toyota, If you ask a Subaru Tech they say it's not a Subaru. SO they best way I can describe it is a HYBRID car because no techs want to claim it from either side.
I guess I'm twisted because I simply love this car!!!


Is it a Toyota or a Subaru or a hybrid you decide lol

[RichardsFRS]

Wow I read all this nightmare. Why not just buy a built block so in future you can boost it. I'd be in a world of shit right now if I were you. Be divorced too.
Hopefully this Justin guy can sort you out and you'll be back on road soon!

Think I'll stick with NA but my goal is just 200 hp and that's plenty for me in this lil car.

Good luck with your project.

[Sportsguy83]

Incredibly amazed at all of this...

[John Rambo]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

Incredibly amazed at all of this...

Originally Posted by RichardsFRS

Wow I read all this nightmare. Why not just buy a built block so in future you can boost it. I'd be in a world of shit right now if I were you. Be divorced too.
Hopefully this Justin guy can sort you out and you'll be back on road soon!

Think I'll stick with NA but my goal is just 200 hp and that's plenty for me in this lil car.

Good luck with your project.

Well, I needed my brz up and running ASAP so I didn't exactly have the time to do the research and find a good shop in order to do this properly. I figured swapping with a stock junkyard motor means I could still use my daily driver within a month or so while I looked into other options, and maybe rebuild my blown motor. It was also less expensive and less time to swap in a junkyard motor and theoretically it should have been a simple swap.

I had no idea it was going to take this long or be this complicated. It sucks that over 3 months and $5k later I do not have a working car. In hindsight maybe I should've gone with a built motor right away. I know it's just a car, but it's been pretty stressful not being able to use it and not knowing when it's going to be fixed, even after spending money at established businesses and even the Subaru dealer.

I got the car back yesterday and I am getting a CEL and the slip light is on, with P0011. The car sounds fine on initial startup, but then you can hear the exhaust note change as the intake cam retards to -29 degrees. If you rev the car some you can hear it catch up to normal and once at idle I can't hear it retard again. I wish I could look in ecutek but I'm pretty sure evasive has my cable still or it might be at home somewhere.

IIRC P0011 is for intake cam system performance or timing overadvanced, but clearly the cam is being retarded. One theory I have is when the motor blew, the ECU recorded the overadvance and is now still trying to correct it even though there's a new motor in it, which then leads to the -29 reading slowly. This would explain why ft86me and I both have the same code pop up and same issue only after our motors blew and we swapped with stock ones. If this was the case some sort of reset should work but I'm doubtful it's this simple. Of course, our ecu's could have a factory defect as well.

An ECU swap should fix it, and I happen to have 2 on hand I can try even if the dealer couldn't get it to work. The glovebox is off and ECU not mounted so I can swap it as soon as I have the right stuff. I'm picking up a battery charger tonight since I'm paranoid to do the key registration procedure as outlined in the manual and leave the ignition on for 30 minutes while the battery drains away. After I have that and techstream I should be able to swap in the brand new 2013 ECU. I'll then check if it has the same weird cam problem, regardless of communication dtc's. Maybe if this one can't work i could try tuning the 2015 one I have with a B01C calid and see if that one works, but I doubt this is a good option. The 2013 should be fine.

I'm sure some people will say I signed up for this when I went FI, but it still sucks nonetheless. All of the issues I've had make me want to give up on this car, so I probably won't ever go with a built motor. I just want to fix it and sell it and move on with my life.

EDIT: The dealer charges $130 each time to plug in a new ECU and let the car sit for 30 minutes with a jumper wire in the OBD2 and the keys in the cupholder. Does anyone else feel that's a little much? I know the ECU is hard to get to, but...

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[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by John Rambo

I'm sure some people will say I signed up for this when I went FI, but it still sucks nonetheless. All of the issues I've had make me want to give up on this car, so I probably won't ever go with a built motor. I just want to fix it and sell it and move on with my life.

EDIT: The dealer charges $130 each time to plug in a new ECU and let the car sit for 30 minutes with a jumper wire in the OBD2 and the keys in the cupholder. Does anyone else feel that's a little much? I know the ECU is hard to get to, but...

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I've reached that same point with a car before. Hang in there, it will get better with time and this will only be a distant memory for you.

Unfortunately dealers are money grabbers specially when it's something they can exclusively do....

They should show you a little sympathy knowing you have had this big issue and let you swap it for free or at a big discount....

[John Rambo]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

I've reached that same point with a car before. Hang in there, it will get better with time and this will only be a distant memory for you.

Unfortunately dealers are money grabbers specially when it's something they can exclusively do....

They should show you a little sympathy knowing you have had this big issue and let you swap it for free or at a big discount....

The thing is programming the keys when you are just replacing the ECM isn't actually something only a dealer can do, if you have your keys still. Evasive told me only the dealer can do it but they also say this is totally outside the range of their expertise.

The service manual just tells you to unplug the battery, replace the ecm, reconnect the battery, put a jumper wire in a specific place on the obd2, and leave the car with the ignition on for 30 minutes. Then start the car. There might be a code you have to clear after but anyone can do that.

Edit: I think Evasive only charged me twice for the key registering, even though I think it happened 3 times, but I think that was Evasive helping me out not the dealer. The dealer wasn't exactly friendly to me, they wouldn't even talk to me (literally refused) about my car since Evasive brought the car to them so in their eyes Evasive was the customer.


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[FRS Justin]

Originally Posted by John Rambo

Well, I needed my brz up and running ASAP so I didn't exactly have the time to do the research and find a good shop in order to do this properly. I figured swapping with a stock junkyard motor means I could still use my daily driver within a month or so while I looked into other options, and maybe rebuild my blown motor. It was also less expensive and less time to swap in a junkyard motor and theoretically it should have been a simple swap.

I had no idea it was going to take this long or be this complicated. It sucks that over 3 months and $5k later I do not have a working car. In hindsight maybe I should've gone with a built motor right away. I know it's just a car, but it's been pretty stressful not being able to use it and not knowing when it's going to be fixed, even after spending money at established businesses and even the Subaru dealer.

I got the car back yesterday and I am getting a CEL and the slip light is on, with P0011. The car sounds fine on initial startup, but then you can hear the exhaust note change as the intake cam retards to -29 degrees. If you rev the car some you can hear it catch up to normal and once at idle I can't hear it retard again. I wish I could look in ecutek but I'm pretty sure evasive has my cable still or it might be at home somewhere.

IIRC P0011 is for intake cam system performance or timing overadvanced, but clearly the cam is being retarded. One theory I have is when the motor blew, the ECU recorded the overadvance and is now still trying to correct it even though there's a new motor in it, which then leads to the -29 reading slowly. This would explain why ft86me and I both have the same code pop up and same issue only after our motors blew and we swapped with stock ones. If this was the case some sort of reset should work but I'm doubtful it's this simple. Of course, our ecu's could have a factory defect as well.

An ECU swap should fix it, and I happen to have 2 on hand I can try even if the dealer couldn't get it to work. The glovebox is off and ECU not mounted so I can swap it as soon as I have the right stuff. I'm picking up a battery charger tonight since I'm paranoid to do the key registration procedure as outlined in the manual and leave the ignition on for 30 minutes while the battery drains away. After I have that and techstream I should be able to swap in the brand new 2013 ECU. I'll then check if it has the same weird cam problem, regardless of communication dtc's. Maybe if this one can't work i could try tuning the 2015 one I have with a B01C calid and see if that one works, but I doubt this is a good option. The 2013 should be fine.

I'm sure some people will say I signed up for this when I went FI, but it still sucks nonetheless. All of the issues I've had make me want to give up on this car, so I probably won't ever go with a built motor. I just want to fix it and sell it and move on with my life.

EDIT: The dealer charges $130 each time to plug in a new ECU and let the car sit for 30 minutes with a jumper wire in the OBD2 and the keys in the cupholder. Does anyone else feel that's a little much? I know the ECU is hard to get to, but...

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I feel your pain hang in there I will be leaving Sunday or Monday to head out your way I will bring fresh Roms and everything else needed.

[John Rambo]

So I pulled out my factory ECU from the car and I noticed it has a different part number than the one the dealer ordered and I bought (that has communication DTCs).
The one that came with my car from the factory is 22765AC813, and the new one is 22765AG511.
I think the one I've bought comes with 2014 cars, I read a service bulletin that says it's supposed to fix some idling issues. I'm wondering if anyone knows if this could cause any of the communication DTCs I'm seeing? I doubt it since it came with B01C which is compatible with 2013s but I thought it was worth asking/posting about anyway.

[636]

This scares me. My FRS has around 45,000 miles, and I'm planning on slapping a SBD turbo kit in there soon. Now I'm second guessing it since I already have a bunch of miles.

[John Rambo]

Here's an update for whoever might be following my story:
Tonight, I switched my factory ECU to the brand new ECU I bought from the dealer, and did the key registration procedure. There were NO communication DTCs after I started the engine with the new ECU, a feat the dealer apparently could not accomplish. I just followed the short procedure outlined in the service manual.

After the car warmed up, I found the same mechanical problem as I did with my factory ECU. In ECUtek, the VVT Intake Angle #1 is at -29 degrees when the VVT Intake Angle Target #1 is 0. This is happening with both the new ECU and my factory ECU. I'm no expert, but this suggests to me I am actually dealing with a mechanical problem, and not an ECU problem.

Thoughts?

[Kodename47]

Could well be that on OCV is faulty. You can log that as well and log both banks to see whether it's happening on both L and R banks (#1 and #2).

[Carlitoz3]

This thread hurts my head! Lol

[SPCorBUST]

Originally Posted by John Rambo

After the car warmed up, I found the same mechanical problem as I did with my factory ECU. In ECUtek, the VVT Intake Angle #1 is at -29 degrees when the VVT Intake Angle Target #1 is 0. This is happening with both the new ECU and my factory ECU. I'm no expert, but this suggests to me I am actually dealing with a mechanical problem, and not an ECU problem.

Thoughts?

I think you're onto something. Maybe look at remedies for that particular issue and see if it goes away, and then return the ECU if they'll take it back.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by John Rambo

Here's an update for whoever might be following my story:
Tonight, I switched my factory ECU to the brand new ECU I bought from the dealer, and did the key registration procedure. There were NO communication DTCs after I started the engine with the new ECU, a feat the dealer apparently could not accomplish. I just followed the short procedure outlined in the service manual.

After the car warmed up, I found the same mechanical problem as I did with my factory ECU. In ECUtek, the VVT Intake Angle #1 is at -29 degrees when the VVT Intake Angle Target #1 is 0. This is happening with both the new ECU and my factory ECU. I'm no expert, but this suggests to me I am actually dealing with a mechanical problem, and not an ECU problem.

Thoughts?

Definitely seems like a mechanical problem.