[brillo]

I figured this thread could use some perspective from a former RX8 owner who got a up close and personal view of a sports car with engine reliability issues (my 2004 never had a seal issue and was still going strong on the original engine at 85k - thanks royal purple).

First, if there really is a problem that can lead to catastrophic engine failure, Toyota/Subaru will eventually be forced to acknowledge and remedy the issue, likely with a updated flash (done) and an extended power train warranty like Mazda did with the RX8 (8 years or 100k).

I believe that Subaru was working on its own DI system for the car which is likely to be a 14-15 change? which may or may not remedy the issue limiting the issue to '13 vehicles. For those of us with MY 13 cars I would start exploring the following strategies below.


The best way to get Toyota/Subaru to acknowledge the issue (if there is one) is to reach out to the auto media, Autoblog, Car and Driver, Edmunds and Road and Track would be a good start. they all have long term test cars (most of which are nearing the end of their 20k test period) and they would likely jump on the issue. Folks should start emailing them. This worked for the RX8 (do a search for RX8 and mulligan in google if you want to read about that saga).

Next, it appears we may need stronger injector seals. fortunately, this isn't the first car with the issue and it appears that the Mazda DISI engine in the speed 3,6, and CX7 had seal issue and CP-e Engineering helped develop a better seal. we should reach out to them for the high horsepower/track guys as there is a ton of potential to sell a similar product given the aftermarket love for the car.

Current owners should keep could maintenance records on their cars, nothing crazy just save your maintenance receipts if you do the work yourself and keep a log (a good idea anyways).

The issues above while concerning are not yet in my opinion a reason to completely freak out. without knowing build dates, mileage and other driving conditions its hard to tell how wide spread the issue is. It appears to have shown up mostly in cars driven hard which means its pretty limited in terms of total number of vehicles at this point. Of course those are the true enthusiasts who often find themselves pseudo Guinea Pigs for stress testing the first model year out.

The only folks that "could" be in a pickle are the FI guys if you suffered a engine issue down the road. If your not experiencing the issue currently (we have several local guys who haven't had any issues) and you've been reflashed at this point I would just look for upgraded parts in the future to remedy the problem. Again we should reach out to CP-e engineering and find out how they fixed the DISI problems.