BRZ limited odd starting problem.
 

I've only had my BRZ for a couple of weeks but twice I've noticed odd behaviors when trying to start the car with the push-button start. The first time the engine seemed to start but the starter kept trying to crank the engine. At least that's what it sounded like. It only lasted a few seconds so I didn't really notice if the engine was running on its own or not. Needless to say that had not occurred before or since. The second oddity happened today when I was leaving work. i tried to start the car and it just kept cranking the engine and not actually starting. I simply pushed the button again and it stopped trying to start the car. I was immediately able to start the car afterwards.

Has anyone had any issues like this? I tried searching but any good keywords I can think of result in a ton of search results, none of which seem to be relevant.

Thanks!
-Matt

Any idea how long the car sat before you bought it? Starter solenoids can be some of the funkiest things in the world when left un used for to long. They seem to jamb up or stick for no apparent reason. If it keeps it up get it checked but odds are it will just stop doing things all on it's own.

did you buy your car from a dealership? do you have any type of warranty on it? it sounds like the starter solenoid got stuck like how @Tcoat stated. maybe you can take it in for an inspection at the dealership if you still have a warranty.

Or do the age old "wack it with a screwdriver" solenoid maintenance program.

As far as I can tell the car did not sit long before I bought it. It's certified pre-owned so I have the 7yr/100k powertrain warranty and a 90 day bumper to bumper. Like I said, it has only acted up twice. The stuck solenoid might make sense for the first event I described but for the second one it was just turning over and the motor never "caught" and ran on its own. I hesitate to take it into the dealership because inevitably they wouldn't be able to reproduce it. I suppose I should document it with them anyway just to be sure. Where is our starter solenoid located anyway? I still need to download the service manual.

Keep in mind, this is a BRZ limited with the push-button start. The starter is meant to keep trying to crank the engine until it detects it is running on its own. I doubt the solenoid got stuck or I wouldn't have been able to stop the engine from cranking by pressing the start button again... Unless there's a secondary relay that kills the signal from the starter solenoid. I guess I should study the wiring diagram.

-Matt

with my previous car, I had something similar to your 2nd event happen. it turned out to be the flywheel teeth not matching with the starter teeth, which ended up with the starter continuously spinning and the engine not starting. by pushing my car a little bit backwards fixed the problem.

hmm.. interesting. In my case the engine was clearly turning over. I've had a problem similar to what you describe with a previous car but in that case the starter spun much more quickly. This sounded exactly like the car was starting it just never caught. Like trying to start a car that's out of gas.
-Matt

Has the car given you any codes .. ??

Like suggested above, I recommend you take it back into the dealer for a check up.

You may have more than one thing not working right.

I hope you get that aggravation(s) fixed so you can enjoy your car.


humfrz

I found a small ball-peen hammer to be more effective ...... :paddle:


Of course back-in-the-day, we would push the "push" the starter into the flywheel.

.......and before that ...... the crank ...... and before that, the buggy whip.

:slap: OK ..... I'll sign off ...... :(


humfrz

Battery may be working but too low to fire.

I had #2 happen to my 14 FRS (not with pushbutton start). I took it in to Toyota and there was a ECM update that corrected the issue. Has not happened since. The TSB was for 13 and 14 FRS before a certain build date. I can try to find a copy of the TSB later.

See if you can find out if you're running the most current ECM program.

Could be the weather, was pretty cold yesterday compared to 2 days ago.

Oddly, the car starts right up in the cold (well, maybe turns over one or two more times). It started fine yesterday morning and again this morning (temps in the high 20s, low 30s) The starting problem yesterday was in the late afternoon heading home. Temps were probably in the high 40s low 50s.
-Matt

Subaru TSB NUMBER:
11-136-14

Matt, read this TSB under the sticky note at the top of the issues page this thread is under. It mentions the extended cranking. This is the equivalent to the one I had applied it to my FRS and fixed the issue.