Looking to buy my first gt86
 

Hey guys,

Going to check out a 2014 auto gt86 110km/70k miles in ireland. After a bit of research my latest concern is replacing the coils and harness to that of the 2015+. This car will be used on a track and I'm not looking to deal with overheating misfiring coils lol.

I heard changing the ATF fluid is a pain so my thinking was having a dealer do the ATF fluid(with fluid I provide) along with plugs and the updated coils/harness.

So beyond that is there anything I should be looking/listening out for when I view the car ? Owner says the car is stock and the photos back that up.

Will be my first time viewing and driving one(outside of auto x many years ago haha). I have always been a MX5 guys so my knowledge on these cars is a bit limited.

Why AT for track use?

Because race car

At that mileage it's due for spark plugs per the manual, if they haven't been changed yet (which are a PITA to do on a boxer).

Other than that I don't think there's anything special to look for that I wouldn't check on any other used car. If you are looking for the generic used car list of things to look for, that's a much longer answer lol.

I agree with @Spuds but no real need to replace cp's Just carry an extra one to the track. Plan on oil coolers for engine and probably trans too.

I agree with @Spuds but no real need to replace cp's Just carry an extra one to the track. Plan on oil coolers for engine and probably trans too.

I think I was reading that the old ones don't break they just overheat and start to misfire then toss a code. So I think you can just let them cool down then clear then code and go back out.

Which is fine but why not upgrade the parts as to not have to deal with it ?

My car has over 100k miles and 20-25 track days. 3 of the 4 cp's are original. My #3 was replaced because of other damage. I'm not going to replace one until it fails. They are not going to misfire just because they are hot. To decrease the possibility of overheating them, I open my hood after every track session.

I guess everyone has a different story. I need to see what kind of service was really done to this car because if I need to have plugs done I might as well get a quote for getting the upgraded 2015 coils. If the price isn't TOO bad I will do it just for piece of mind.

If not I can just roll the dice and see if my coils act up or not.

I did look on youtube for video's on replacing the coils and it didn't look that easy. Not sure it's something I want to deal with track side.

Replacing coil packs is a 30 minute job for which you only need basic tools.
My #1 coil (the closest to the exhaust) gave in at around 100kkm. Bought what's probably the world's most expensive coil for 180€ (at a small Subaru dealership in Switzerland during vacation), swapped it and it hasn't come back since.

Harness replacement to deal with the CP issue is overkill. Oil temps on a track car are a much bigger concern (but can be dealt with).

Thanks for the info. I did see I also have the option of buying better coils as well so that’s an option if I do run into issues. When your cp failed was your car unusable? As I posted before I did hear waiting for them to cool down and clearing the code was enough to get going again. But maybe this isn’t always true.

Thanks

I think I’d had the error code pop up a couple of times before and just reset it via OBD2. Each time, I drove a couple thousand miles before it came back. I replaced the coil when a simple spirited drive would trigger the error message.

With the code active, the car remains usable (though cruise control does not work). I heard one should be wary of pushing the car too much, though.

Awesome thanks. So no real rush to replace them then.