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

[RavnFRS]

Well fellas, i believe i have had the most significant issues out of anyone. Currently on 5TH ENGINE. ALL WARRANTY COVERED! First engine: 15,000 miles, threw a rod complete catastrophic failure. A month and a half later, nearly whole engine rebuilt(only one head though) 300 miles later boom second engine bit the dust. Oil control valves malfunctioned starving my engine of oil. Another month later car back and 1,100 miles later boom. Both second and third engine had low idle problems/crickets. First engine had zero issues until the day it blew. Oil control valves seemed to be issue again and the head they didn't replace had major damage. Total rebuild for my 4th engine and car died first day i had it back. Lets just say i was fed up. Corporate was now all over my case. Every single piece of engine oil ever touched was replaced, subaru engine specialist tuned my current engine as perfectly as he could. Now running trd cold air(which i received for free) and corsa catback which I'm in love with. have had car for 2,000 miles and no issues. Car idles beautifully, runs perfect and has zero issues. But like others of you, had oil control valves replaced every time, control arms, DI injectors, the list goes on and on and on. Total cost incurred to dealership was $28,000 dollars lol. Toyota will be contacting me and thanking me for my patience and probably getting me trd body kit. Now have 18" enkeii raijins, blacked out tails and rocket bunny wing. Car is sexy and i missed having her all summer. Hope none of you have to go through what i went through. will have to picture all the paperwork sometime for fun.

[civdaddy]

U must plan on keeping that car forever considering how much shit Uve put up with lol


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[spyingwind]

Getting CEL error thrown when driving aggressively. My 2013 FRS is waiting on an ignition coil to be replaced. The part was on back order. :/ I have just over 32k miles on my car. I live in TX.

[m3bassman]

How prevalent is this issue on bone stock vehicles? Having read through several pages, but not all 130, many of those I've seen effected have performance mods of some sort on their cars.

[Marrk]

Originally Posted by m3bassman

How prevalent is this issue on bone stock vehicles? Having read through several pages, but not all 130, many of those I've seen effected have performance mods of some sort on their cars.

We're seeing this as an engine and/or edu design flaw. All cars affected, not just modded cars.

[m3bassman]

Originally Posted by Marrk

We're seeing this as an engine and/or edu design flaw. All cars affected, not just modded cars.

As someone currently shopping for a 2013 CPO FRS, this is disheartening to hear.

[shiro]

For those that are new to this platform (FT86) there hasn't been any big advancements in the mechanical features of this car. I'm sure when the first big overhaul hits a lot of the seen engine, transmission, high pressure fuel pump, etc will be address, or at least we hope. I honestly believe (and this is my opinion) that Subaru tends to take car of their customers more than Toyota; this could be because most of the parts tend to be Subaru's.

Bottom line as of now (and what I would recommend) is those that buy the car should consider enjoying the full 3-year warranty before modifying the shit of out it hahaha. Otherwise this little beast can become a [fun, enjoyful yet stressful] money pit. Otherwise, keep all your stock parts so when you need to bring it back to the dealer to fix... (fill in the blank). I can pretty much say I've gutted and built this car twice lol.

Go forth and do go work!

[WazzuGrad]

Originally Posted by m3bassman

As someone currently shopping for a 2013 CPO FRS, this is disheartening to hear.

Just make sure you purchase the extended warranty if you are planning to keep it past 3/36.

I was exactly in your shoes, and worrying about all the issues. Having the warranty gives you that piece of mind.

[m3bassman]

Originally Posted by WazzuGrad

Just make sure you purchase the extended warranty if you are planning to keep it past 3/36.

I was exactly in your shoes, and worrying about all the issues. Having the warranty gives you that piece of mind.

I am pursuing a certified preowned 2013. That will give me the 7yr/100,000m which is a lot of peace of mind. Still, it is not fun to read through this mess. Thank you though.

[spitfire481]

we had the p0016 code popping up on my built fa20 engine usually after a warm restart, after clearing the code. car runs perfectly fine with the code cleared, then goes into limp mode when the code is present. so limp that it wont even build boost. we disabled the code in the tune and the car drives perfect and has zero issues for the last month.

it does sound like the ecu is trying to read the cam position on immediate startup, but when the oil is hot the vvti does not respond quick enough, which logs the fault.

just something to think about.

[WazzuGrad]

Originally Posted by m3bassman

I am pursuing a certified preowned 2013. That will give me the 7yr/100,000m which is a lot of peace of mind. Still, it is not fun to read through this mess. Thank you though.

That's exactly what i bought too. Bought a '13 FRS with 8400 miles for 21k. Than extended the 7/100k to platinum coverage for $1200 bucks.

Peace of mind for the next 7 years...not to mention the coverage is prorated, in case the ownership ends sooner i can recoup some of the money. From what i'm reading, most of these issues will either surpass or come very close to $1,200.

If you want the dealerships number that sold me the coverage, PM me.

[m3bassman]

Originally Posted by WazzuGrad

That's exactly what i bought too. Bought a '13 FRS with 8400 miles for 21k. Than extended the 7/100k to platinum coverage for $1200 bucks.

Peace of mind for the next 7 years...not to mention the coverage is prorated, in case the ownership ends sooner i can recoup some of the money. From what i'm reading, most of these issues will either surpass or come very close to $1,200.

If you want the dealerships number that sold me the coverage, PM me.

Ill keep it in mind as i continue shopping. Many thanks. Go Vandals.

[alan.chalkley]

Mine was running fine until the local subaru dealer did the 18 month 30 000km free service . When i drove it home it kept stalling on idle.
I took it back and they reset the ecu back to learn mode.
Now i have to drive it hard for the next 100km to get the throttle response back.
I suspect this happens when they start the engine with something unplugged (maf sensor).
Or maybe used too much throttle body cleaner and fuel additive.

[steve99]

Originally Posted by alan.chalkley

Mine was running fine until the local subaru dealer did the 18 month 30 000km free service . When i drove it home it kept stalling on idle.
I took it back and they reset the ecu back to learn mode.
Now i have to drive it hard for the next 100km to get the throttle response back.
I suspect this happens when they start the engine with something unplugged (maf sensor).
Or maybe used too much throttle body cleaner and fuel additive.

The ECU is always in "learn mode" it constantly learns fuel trims and knock correction adjustments . Reseting it just sets it back to default and it will get back to same state with or without a reset. A reset will just clear stored CEL codes.

Driving it hard to make it learn also seems incorrect. The ECU learns fuel trims only in Closed loop fueling mode, when your driving sedately with slow or no throttle movements. during aggressive driving its in Open loop mode and does not learn fuel trim corrections, just applies what it learnet in Closed loop mode.

My guess if it was stalling at idle the dealer left something unplugged or dislodged something during service likely an intake tube/hose/sensor, and they made up the "learning" rubbish to cover their mistake.