Unofficial - CEL/SL/Idle Issue List for FR-S/BRZ Owners

[dawnst3ar]

Update on #108 Car is running fine, but I am seeing a similar thing to #211 - on a cold start, idle starts off around 1100-1500 and will stay there for a bit, then will drop to the 6-700 RPM range. Idles still hop a bit, but never go above 1000 after this happens.

My gas mileage has also dropped about 3mpg since the new ECU was put in.

[Adeets]

BRZ 31XX first oil change took it into the shop had the oil changed at 7300 miles, when I brought it back home it dropped low rpm, stuttered for about a minute throwing CELs then died, on the trip back to the dealer I had to keep it reved above 1k at stop lights or else it would stall, dealership had to call in a programer to fix it. 1 week from incident to fix, been fine since. 8700 miles on it now.

[Adeets]

What's haunting is the fact how many people on this forum have been effected, lets just assume only 30% of the people who have bought a BRZ/frs/86 are on this forum (that's probably alot higher then it actually is) and of that group a 12X of us are effected at this point. (30% would put us at 6300 owners on this forum... I'm betting were no where near that, but with 30% 128 of us is only 2% of that population... I wonder how many owners are actually on this forum. (21000 sales were projected for the first year, but currently with only 11,000 on the market ish 30% is 3507, 128 of that is almost 4% which is more inline with their statement.)

[kroarke]

The dealer is Anderson Subaru in Pensacola. I doubt they have sold many BRZ's let alone worked on them. My only concern is that after informing me that the cam sprocket needs to be replaced they told me to come pick it up and the part should be in next week. The lights (CEL and Slip light) are constantly on now. Is it good for the short or long term reliability of the car to drive with an apparently faulty part? I would think that a camshaft sprocket is a important part and would be bad to drive it when it's not working properly. Anyone have any input?

[choi0706]

idle is bumpy, it will stall out sometimes in the parking lots and HUGE lack of power.. and bad mpg is the side effects of the sl/cel..

[acro]

An update. Was initially told cam sensors would need to be changed. After further investigations and discussion with japan they decided new software would have to be written for the car and the car reflashed. I am to pick up the car but keep it under 3500rpm until they get the reflash.

The only good thing is the dealer has been pretty cool so far.

[ftc~brz]

Hit 5k...no issues related to cel since repair, I do notice some smells occasionally with heat on, will have to talk to service about that. Burning rubber like a belt almost.

[HATED1]

Originally Posted by ftc~brz

Hit 5k...no issues related to cel since repair, I do notice some smells occasionally with heat on, will have to talk to service about that. Burning rubber like a belt almost.

I have had that same occurence as well since the fix, let me know what you find out please.

[ftc~brz]

Originally Posted by HATED1

I have had that same occurence as well since the fix, let me know what you find out please.

I'm usually at a stop and notice the smell. how bout you? I have been good about making sure I don't ride the clutch when idle and I'm not driving hard...but it does freak me out. I have to schedule my fuel pump replace and the nav prob. I will try to get in done in the next 2 weeks (they said I would need a loaner) and tell you what I hear about the smell.

[HATED1]

Same situation as you, at a stop, and the smell comes through the vents. I don't ride the clutch, it isn't something that happens regularly, but enough to "remind" me.

[rapidcars]

Originally Posted by ftc~brz

Hit 5k...no issues related to cel since repair, I do notice some smells occasionally with heat on, will have to talk to service about that. Burning rubber like a belt almost.

Does it smell almost like burnt toast? My WRX did that with the heat on as does my BRZ on so I assumed it was just a Subaru (boxer) thing.

[ftc~brz]

Originally Posted by rapidcars

Does it smell almost like burnt toast? My WRX did that with the heat on as does my BRZ on so I assumed it was just a Subaru (boxer) thing.

I wish it was a toast smell. It's strait rubber singe smell, kinda like the burnout pit at ford nationals (on a much smaller scale)
I can pinpoint other smells, clutch is sweet I kind of like that smell, it's not oil or coolant burn off. And it isn't constant. The smells from the brakes and tires and exhaust that first few hundred miles has warn off so it's not that.

I've checked under the hood and looked at the belts and I'm not seeing anything abnormal. So I'll mention it and see what they say. But my idle is still solid and other than crickets, no other unidentifiable noises. It's on my list of WTFs.

[jduffy]

Originally Posted by Adeets

I wonder how many owners are actually on this forum. (21000 sales were projected for the first year, but currently with only 11,000 on the market ish 30% is 3507, 128 of that is almost 4% which is more inline with their statement.)

You're on the right track most likely. No manufacturer with a brain though is going to share their failure rate of a product with the consumers. Clearly though someone at Toyobaru must be following this unit by unit!

[BRZnut]

Originally Posted by ftc~brz

I'm usually at a stop and notice the smell. how bout you? I have been good about making sure I don't ride the clutch when idle and I'm not driving hard...but it does freak me out. I have to schedule my fuel pump replace and the nav prob. I will try to get in done in the next 2 weeks (they said I would need a loaner) and tell you what I hear about the smell.

I was wondering how your BRZ was making out since your ECU replacment. I do occl get a burning smell that seems to come from the vents after higher rev spirited driving. It was most noticable after the break in when I pushed it way past 4K RPMs.