[@Art_Mighty]

Originally Posted by TheZombi

Picked up my BRZ last Wednesday, Drove about 500 klicks and got the CEL and Slip Light on solid. Went back to the dealer and waited about 2 hours for them to come and say they can see the issue and it requires a re-flash of the ECU, they gave it back and told me to keep on driving and they would call me when the equipment shows up.

From all the frightening reports from the states and the stories of the dealers ripping apart new engines and everything else I decided to do a little checking. The reported problem is that the computer is interrogating the camshaft sensors too many times a second ( that was from the mechanic ) the actual problem seems to be the exhaust cam in my car does not hold it's position when the engine is turned off, as it sits for a few minutes if the engine is stopped in a particular spot the cam turns slightly and the pressure backs off inside the actuator, then when you restart there is a big old air bubble there that needs to clear and it will throw a code until it does. If you reset the code after a few minutes of idling you do not see the problem again until you park it. I think their re-flash is simply going to increase/introduce a timer to ignore camshaft misposition for the first couple minutes of running so the VVT system can bleed out all the air bubbles and settle down. This makes sense to me as the problem only manifests itself after a few hundred KM's of driving and then becomes persistent in most cases, I now wish I had changed my oil at 200KM.

I have no idea if this same problem is on all he cars with the issue only I can see the issue happen if I piggy back my scope on the cam position sensors and watch what they do when the car is shut off. You can see the left side exhaust cam turn almost 5 degree's in the first two minutes of cool down after a drive about 50% repeatable based on where the engine actually stops in it's rotation. I think the valve for that cam has slight leak by when in the neutral position where it is supposed to lock the gear.

Anyways I will give my findings to the mechanic when I see him next week and see if he gets all pissy at the customer who thinks he knows something.

this is one of the most useful posts on the CEL I've read so far and I've shared it in the main thread. Thank you very much for this....