Originally Posted by SLVRSRFR
SLVRSRFR, 2013 BRZ, 110,000km, Toronto area.
Car is a July 2012 build, and I've had it since August 2014. It had 987km on it when I picked it up. Car has been almost completely problem-free since day one. I have had to replace the battery, had the throw-out bearing issue, but otherwise it's been probably the most reliable car I've ever owned over-all.
Well, up until last week anyways. And just my luck that it would happen just out of warranty.
Check engine light and slip light came on randomly last week while I was driving to work. There was no indication; in cars I've had in the past, you can tell when the CEL has come on because the car will start acting weird and/or driving differently. Car had been running perfectly fine, and was still running fine after the light came on. I didn't even notice the light was on until I looked down to check my speed.
Got to work and got one of the mechanics to scan the code (the advantages of working at a car dealership). Came up as P0018, Bank 2 Sensor A. Got him to reset the light. It came back on about 5 minutes after I left work that night.
On the advice of my local Subaru dealer's Service Manager, I switched the 2 sensors on bank A top-to-bottom. Took them out, flipped them, and reinstalled. The logic there was that hopefully, if the light came back on, it would say "Sensor B" this time, so I would know which one was the bad sensor, and could then replace it, and hopefully problem solved. I topped up my oil, and got the light reset again. This time it stayed off for about 4 hours, and I got hopeful, but it came back on again.
Scanned it again...and unfortunately it STILL says P0018 Bank 2 Sensor A even after switching the sensors. So that didn't work out the way I was hoping. Cleared the code AGAIN, and once again it came back on about 3-4 hours later.
When the light is NOT on, and the car is not in limp mode, the car runs absolutely perfectly 100% normal. No rough idle, no RPM hunting, no stalling, normal power levels, no funny noises or smells at all. Then the light will come back on, and it goes back into limp mode again.
I am stumped, folks. I don't know what to do next. I am out of warranty now and REALLY can not afford to give my car to the dealer to dig around for a week and charge me CRAZY amounts of labour.
What should I do next? Replace the sensor, and if so, which one? Sensors are easy to replace myself and I can do it in my driveway, and the parts are about $100 CDN each. I was thinking that should be my next step, but the fact that I swapped the sensors and it still says Sensor A leads me to believe it may be a bigger issue and may not have to do with the sensors at all.
I am fucking so mad that this issue exists in the first place, with almost zero acknowledgment or help from Subaru, and even more pissed off that I had the luck of having it come on only 10k after my warranty expired.
Thanks for any help or advice.
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