How much better are the 2014-2016 engines?
 

My 13' is now having its engine taken out for the fourth time (CEL and Traction control/engine running poorly after recall), and it's been taken out before for leaks, wiring harness/coils and recall.

The CPO warranty expires May of 2020, should I be looking to get a 14-16? What can you guys advise?

Well there is very, very little data on failures on anything post 2104. Not to say they haven't but compared to the 13s they are extremely rare. Based purely on part numbers it appears that there were small changes made almost every year so the later you get the "better" it should be.
The list of TSBs pretty much all stop at the mid production 2014s and the few later ones are primarily not engine related.

They aren't in any substantial way.
All the problems you have been having are all directly tied to them messing with the car.

The only problems with the 13's are poor packing job from the factory that lead to oil problems on some of the cars.
And the spring recall which FWIW due to the techs not doing a good job has been the cause of a plethora of issues after said recall was performed.

Doesn't matter what year you get, could have issues.

Your issues could be defects or they could be parts that were damaged or issues created when the engine was out before. The older things are, the more likely you are to create an issue with taking it apart.

Well, it sounds like your troubled engine has run the full coarse of 2013 FA20 problems (with the exception of a spun bearing).

Sorta like Erma Bombeck said about men "men are all ass holes, I might as well keep the one I have" (or something like that).


humfrz

my '13 has never had a problem and continues to be going well at 80k+ and over 600miles driven since the valve spring recall service.

I keep vehicles for a long time to get my moneys worth from it but if I happened to be in a 13', I would have jumped ship already and bought a newer model just judging by what I read in here.

Why not let them replace the engine, and keep it?

Are you thinking of buying a different car or swapping to a later engine?

Connectors changed on the '15-'16+ motors, maybe some late '14's too so you have to get the whole harness to get the benefit, there's a little info on the changeover scattered about. Just go straight to '15-'16 imho.

I'd take a quality rebuilt '13 engine over a junkyard '15-'16 though, but would rather swap than rebuild if I had a blown one on my hands.

Just replaced throwout bearing on mine (and clutch), I trust the car still at 78k miles. I also have a leaky timing cover but am just letting it be until next winter.

Buying a new car. Engine is stock. It does have the new wiring harness/coil design. I'm just worried that next year will come and I'll have a yearly $1400-2000 bill for every time they have to take the engine out to fix something :(

And to give some context, this BRZ is at 64,000 miles and is on its 4th major engine issue. My 2016 WRX has 61,000 and hasn't had any issues or a check engine light once. Sadly I love the BRZ and not the WRX.

Dam bro, does your state have car lemon laws? Here in California by the third of forth time it's been to the shop with major engine problems it's considered a lemon.

'13s get a bad rap since some folks got 2nd or 3rd hand '13s that have been boosted or who knows what. Then returned to stock and sold to an unwitting buyer who then comes and complains about issues on this forum. Look at the differences in the engine from the 13-14-15 +. Nothing drastic has been done or vastly improved. I don't think there is much difference in terms of reliability or likelihood to be a lemon. If anything the scion is cooler than the 86 because the 86 has a fugly bumper. It is also a numbers game, the highest sales year for this platform was 2013.

My point is '13s are really not that different than the other years. The JO2 recall is really the one thing that sucks but if performed by a good tech it shouldn't be any issue at all. It is so easy to skew numbers here on the forum since few people come on to voice that everything is peachy.

True there haven't been many changes other than revised valves/rockers/pivots and new coil packs/wiring harness. The biggest difference was the improvements in assembly which can't be taken lightly. Oil starvation from over use of packing is not something to take lightly.

True, but any '13 that's driving around now with a decent mileage is probably okay. However judging the overall reliability on the '13 vs other years I dont think there is that much a difference.

I do think that the quality control on the '13s is not as consistent vs other years. Some 13's just seem to have issues vs mine which has been great for about 6 years and over 80k with no problems (except TOB). If a '13 is over 50k I'd wager it is probably just as reliable over its total life as any other year.