Has anyone resolved their ignition coil CEL issues? (P0351, P0352, etc.)
 

Hey all,

I have a 2013 BRZ that's been having some issues.

About a year ago, it started throwing P0351 (Ignition Coil A) codes on the street, usually around ~5300-ish RPM at full throttle. After 3 trips to the dealership for diagnosis (and many hours of warranty labor) the dealership (Stevens Creek Subaru) swapped the two coils on the left side of the engine. (As I understand it, Coil A corresponds to cylinder #1 (front left), and Coil B corresponds to cylinder #3 (rear left)). This fixed the problem, however my service advisor told me that it was likely a temporary fix, and to let him know if the CEL comes back (and for which cylinder if it did come back.) Note: They did not replace the coils, they simply swapped the coils for cylinders 1 and 3.

Long story short: My car is throwing ignition coil codes again.

Everything was great until a few weeks ago when I was at Laguna Seca for a track day: The car started throwing CEL code P0352 (Coil B), which makes it seem like the first coil that was failing (cylinder #1) is now starting to fail again on cylinder #3. Thinking it might just be knocking on crappy California winter fuel, I put a few gallons of 101 octane fuel in the car, which seemed to reduce the frequency that the light was coming on, but it did not eliminate it. The code seemed to be thrown most often when accelerating up the straightaway at full throttle, and it always occurs when the engine is near roughly ~5300 RPM.

Anyways, I called a different dealership (my service advisor at Stevens Creek Subaru left, and he was the main reason I went there as there are closer dealerships to my home) and tried to set up a service appointment to get the ignition coils replaced, but they said that they have to diagnose the problem themselves before they can do anything.

I really don't want to go through the same experience I did the first time in order to get the problem "fixed" (multiple trips to the dealership with no fix or diagnosis because the problem wouldn't reproduce in the shop), but I only see two options for myself:

Option 1) Drive the car for another 6 months and wait for the CEL to come on so often that there is no way they won't be able to get it to happen in the shop. This sucks, because I can't go to the track, and it means driving a car that has a problem in order to make the problem worse, which fundamentally bothers me.

Option B) Pay a bunch of money for replacement coils and labor.

Does anyone have any better ideas? Has anyone been able to get something like this fixed by calling Subaru Corporate?

Thanks in advance,
Ed

I did it myself, took me two hours because I dropped a screw and I was slow.

Edit: Had poor info on cylinder numbering, see later posts.

This also jives with your story, front left swapped with rear left, the same one is failing as it was before.

Seeing as you posted in the thread I pulled this from I assume you know about it:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...&postcount=198

Here's the part for ~$100


This is why this car has been a disappointment for me, I no longer see the benefits of warranty if you have to jump through hoops to get basic things done :(

After installing the new coilpack the next track day I only got P0011, so at least my coil packs are good :sigh:

Edit: And as you can tell from reading the thread I linked some people have resigned themselves to replacing coils on a nearly yearly basis.

start61caster, Thanks for your quick response.

I apologize for the confusion, I am definitely aware of how to do it myself, but I really don't want to pay for parts when the car is still under warranty. My main purpose for posting (I should have been more clear, my apologies once again) was to ask if anyone had figured out a way to get Subaru to make the repairs.

Edit: Also, thank you for clarifying the cylinder numbers.

Thanks,
Ed

I planned on bringing it to the dealership, and demanding they show in writing, that they cover that code under warranty before running the diagnostic. I had checked the code through an odbii sensor and I didnt clear it, but i didnt want to risk running the diagnostic with nothing to show for it. So I tried to make the CEL appear again before I went to the dealership but failed terribly. Whenever I took it past 6000 rpms, it used to throw the code, so i stopped driving it hard. but when I went to drive it hard on my way to the dealership, i could not get the light to come on lol, so I just didnt go to my appointment.

I can get mine to throw the code when the car has been running for a while and is hot. If I try first thing in the morning it won't. Mine happens FOT going from second to third and about 7000 RPMs. Check engine light flashes, code comes up. I haven't even tried to go to the dealership yet because I have read a lot of forums and everyone says the dealership didn't do anything. I know a lot of people that track they cars get this. I wish I had the link to one article that points out that that side of the engine gets real hot and that is when the coil starts to fail and throw the code. Some people put heat tape on the top of the coil. Some food for thought

Are you guys taking car to dealer with CEL light still on ?

If your clearing code/light with obd tool
Resetting ECU by power removal
or reflashing to stock tune (flash resets ecu)

then you erasing all evidence. even stored codes.

Yeah, I learned that theyre only covered under the 36k mile warranty. Youre probably right. My engine wasnt hot enough, but I bought a new ignition coil and replaced it myself. Such an easy install, but the limited amount of space was somewhat of a pain. It feels so much better to be able to smash the throttle with no worries of throwing a CEL haha, and replacing it myself was much more rewarding than dealing with dealer BS

I believe youre talking about the #3 coil next to the exhaust. I read that somewhere too. Theres some correlation, but its placement probably isnt solely responsible for the coil failures. Mine was the #2 on the drivers side, closest to the front bumper.

The dealership traced the issue to a faulty wiring harness causing a bad sensor value to be seen by the ECU. The dealership replaced the wiring harness under warranty and the issue has been resolved!

I am having similar issues with my car right now. I'll post up the details a bit later. Thanks to the OP for starting this thread as I think my harness may be failing as well.

Part number SU003-04463, $375 retail at the Toyota dealer. This is a revised part number. There is a TSB for issues with the harness on the early year model cars: TSB-S_SB_0013-14. Which apparently references random misfires and stalling among other things.

Awesome, I got two more codes at my last track day, do you know if it's entirely the harness or if there's some element to do with the coilpacks failing as well, maybe in conjunction with the harness?

I may order this instead of 2x coilpacks for my next track day, especially if anyone else can confirm.

Mine has never shown itself on the street so I'd be surprised if a dealership is willing to help me out, but I may make the effort once again...

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f1...xerCutaway.jpg

1 is front right
3 is rear right

my experience is

1 died (stock)
3 died (stock + swaintech ceramic coated header)
1 died (gold foil + coated header)

if heat is the problem the above steps have failed to address it. since 1 seems most common and since the most common failures are all above the header it certainly still seems suspect.

1. question on this, i'm out of warranty and never been in for a TSB. can i just come in and wave my hands around and get this done for free?

2. is this really about our issue? the description doesn't seem like it? or at least is pointing to the camshaft sensor

Scion: camshaft position sensor clearance is out of specification, causing intake and/or exhaust camshaft position sensor and/or engine to misfire and some vehicles may experience rough idle or extended cranking. model 2013 fr-s.

You are correct, I'll ammend my post to prevent future confusion.

From the shop manuals to confirm.
http://i.imgur.com/d95WGKE.png

TSB is not recall. so you probably cannot get replacement by warranty.
just give it a shot. nothing to lose but time. likely they won't do anything if your car does not have any issue

Not sure, I'm still getting P0302 after doing another revised coil pack and plug. I'm going to be looking at the main harness connector next on top of the motor.

disconnected main harness connectors on top rear of motor and used electrical contact cleaner on both ends of each connector. No more CELs at this point, but still getting lots of misfires. Cyl 4 still has the oem original coil. 1-3 have revised coil packs. Going to order a new coil for 4 and see what happens with the misfires.

Note, this is NOT tune related. I've run these tunes for a while without issue.

I have also just started getting P0351 at the local track and it seems to happen at the end of the session. Engine runs and feels fine, but the code has come up twice, once for each of the first and second sessions. Engine is completely stock, and the car is one of the early production models (delivered in 2012), besides crickets this is the first issue that's come up.

Sounds like it's not uncommon, and it's just due to the coil packs themselves going bad. I don't mind throwing some money at parts to fix it myself, so if anyone has 100% resolved this please lend some insight!

Oil cooler

My car was also delivered in 2012, and a failed ignition coil is the only issue Ive had. I replaced it myself with an oem ignition coil around 40k in 20 minutes, and I am now past 70k with no issues thus far.

i would say there is no 100% resolution determined yet.

Ok, I just poked through the other mini threadzilla talking about the similar/same issue, coil packs, misfires etc. Consensus appears that replacing the coil packs is the only solution, even if the problem creeps up again. Silver lining is that it's an easy fix and not indicative of pending doom or anything.

i converted my car to a gear driven distributor with a cap/ rotor and plug wire setup. works now. little more ohm resistance than when i had the coil packs but hey it got rid of the cel.

So we swapped in the replacement motor and didn't change any electronics and the car is running fine now. Suspect one or more burned exhaust valves but have yet to tear down the old motor to verify.

I'm having a hard time believing this. Please post some pics.

oh no i was just being sarcastic lol sorry man.

Do you or anyone else have the actual TSB available to share? I wanna read it.

EDIT: Found it. Doesn't seem to mention anything about the wiring harness. :iono:

The TSB does mention misfire DTCs but it looks to be just an updated TSB about the old wandering idle issue which was related to cam sensor/sprockets and early ECU calibrations which was mostly all fixed and I haven't seen the issue persist since.

A few of us have been digging and found the TSB you mentioned (posted above), but there's nothing in there about the harness. It's not referenced in any way, image or part number. Are we missing something?

@ATL BRZ

Guys, I'm not doing so good. Got P0352 and replaced the Ignition coil on the Cylinder closest to firewall or furthest from front bumper and to the right if standing in front of your vehicle. Couldn't make the code turn on for about a month. On an on ramp in 2nd gear at about 5,300RPM WOT it comes on. I'm going to replace the coil closest to the front bumper on the right side if standing in front of your vehicle as there seems to be some controversy on which Cylinder P0352 is associated with. I'm hoping I replaced the wrong coil the first time and this will fix it. I'm out of warranty, what do I do if this doesn't work and the CEL keeps coming on?

P0352 corresponds to cylinder 2, drivers side front. The one you replaced I assume is driver side rear, cylinder 3.

It's unfortunate that there's confusion around the cylinder numbers. It's actually deceptively simple, they're in order from front to back lol. The front most cylinder 1 is on the passenger side, 2 is driver front, etc. It's physical position.

Any updates on replacing the correct coil?

find solution to this problem?

When my first engine shit the bed, it showed a coil cel when in fact it had lost a rocker. Lol

Just going to revive this thread real quick and see if there are any upgraded coils that will last or any solution to this problem. My frs threw P0353. went to a shop had it checked and cleared. week later threw it again while WOT going from 2nd to 3rd. I try to not pass 6K RPM now, so far so good. going to order new coil and replace the old one as soon as i can.
I am scared that im getting misfires but im not sure how to tell if I am.
also kinda sad that this happened since I wanted to start AutoX.

Coils should not be a problem for autoX. Its prolonged exposure to heat (like track sessions) that does them in. Altho I've had coils go on my very first lap on a session, it was probably already damaged by heat from previous sessions. Wrap the head (the part that sticks out when they are in the engine) in reflective gold tape, it seems to solve the problem for everyone I've seen so far.

I ended up replacing all 4 coils and wrapping them. Cheaper then the Cusco solution I was looking at. The tape is cheap, its getting to the parts that's a PIA.

Can someone put photograph of which part should be covered with tape?

French website but you can really just look at the pictures:

http://www.quebecfrs.com/forums/guid...ercu-di-seals/

Edit: For a little explanation. That is the passenger side, the green circles are the bolts that hold the ECU in place, you need to take them away so that you can move it out of the way (you dont need to unplug, just put it over the engine or something so that you have space to work). The blue circles are the bolts that hold the coilpacks and the red circles are the connectors you need to unplug to take the coilpack out. After that you have a picture of a coilpack wrapped on reflective tape. Now, you dont have to take the coilpacks out, you put the tape over them while they are in, its a little bothersome but takes less time for the same result. For the driver side, I found removing the strut brace that goes to the firewall allows you to dip your arm in to reach the coils without removing anything else.

Ignore the rest of the post after the coilpack image, its for replacing injector seals which you dont have as a problem. Hope it helps

very very thanks! :thanks:

So I'm going to replace my coil on the cylinder that keeps throwing the CEL. But I'm wondering if after I switch it can I run e85 since I hear it runs cooler than 95 octane. Would this be a way to help prevent another CEL later. I plan on tracking and autoX after the coil swap.


UPDATE: just replaced what I think is coil pack 3, or C, (the one closest to the passenger) I used an OEM coilpack with no extra heat shielding. seems like I can finally take my baby to red line without a CEL! I dont know if its a placebo but the car seems to run a little smoother now.
Next Update after a track day or if the issue comes back.