Check engine light just came on after 2k miles.

[cnk]

Almost every new car release is closely followed. As for bad news for Toyota or their investors. . as long as the cars are still selling like hot cakes with an average on floor time of 3 days before selling, they are not going to worry about a small percentage of issues. They will work the issues, but I can guarantee you they aren't losing any sleep over it.

You really have to take a step back and look at it from a 3rd person point of view without emotion tied into it. The only thing you can do right now is to take the car to the dealer and allow them to work on it (this gives you records which you can invoke lemon law with later on should you need to), call/write Toyota/Subaru about your issues, and keep records of everything. If you want to try reaching out to the media, that is up to you as well, but chances are unless they have an issue with their own test car, they aren't going to do much about it. What would really draw attention is if you were able to approach them with statistics. That's why it's important for folks to report it to Toyota/Subaru, but at the same time you can try to gather stats based on the user base here on this forum. You would have to know how many folks have issues, but also how many owners don't have issues to get a percentage of affected cars.

[vobla6.0]

Originally Posted by Yruyur

It may be bad press but I think that press is only getting to this small group of forum members. Maybe we should get a magazine or two involved in this so they can get some official answers and let the rest of the world know if it is truly a big issue.

Sent from my PH44100 using Tapatalk 2

Id say Jalopink would be willing to pick up on such a story....
News would then spread rather quickly, so hopefully the heads at Toyota/Subaru will notice it and then would do anything to fix up this mess... There is a tradeoff (even in terms of cold hard profit for toyota) between slipping this all under the carpet and actually taking care of their customers...and they wont be successful by going about this issue in just one way

As for the people that got their cam gear replaced and are continuing to face issues, it could be the case that the engine suffered more damage through continuous use while it was defected back when everyone was saying sh1t on the order of: "oh, this is absolutely normal", "all boxer engines do that", "this is a feature of the new d4s system", and "it's for fuel efficiency"...

...all while the engine was taking more and more damage due to continuous operation...and when everyone "woke up" and the techs started the standard "replace cam sprockets/ oil control valves etc/replace/re flash ecu...." procedure that they had developed over repairing the first few cars wouldnt help to resolve the issue for some because more damage was done.

I am willing to accept this to be the case rather than no one knowing jack sh1t about this new engine, and having techs being flown in from japan... just to look at things and get nothing done...

Because this is a 25-30 k car... nothing more, nothing less.... the engine isnt some magical unit with never-before-seen technology that takes scientists ages to figure out....

Regardless of the cause of this mess, Toyota/Subaru holds responsibility.... it were their techs and dealers who did the false pacifying before hell broke loose

[FRSjeff]

Originally Posted by alrashwa

They can keep mine, in fact I hope the parts are delayed as much as possible. I can't wait for the 30 day mark. Going straight to the State Lemon Law and getting my $26,000 down payment on a 370z.

According to consumer reports the Z has a very poor reliability rating.

[brillo]

one of the magazines (Winding Road?) mentioned that they had the idle fluctuation. we know that several have long term test cars (Edmunds, Road and Track) so perhaps you should reach out to them. They might have also had idle issues and not known there was a potential cause.

[Rob_g]

I am greatly concerned my AT is going to stall in rush hour traffic or when it's -30. When it stalled before, it would not start again until I let it sit for several minutes. I was stuck half way entering an automatic car wash right under the automatic door! I barely managed to limp back out (requiring 3 or 4 restarts) as luckily nobody was behind me. This 'ticking time bomb' of a problem really isn't acceptable. There is something wrong with my car (our cars), the dealership and manufacturer knows about it and nothing can be done for now. I have been to the dealership twice and phoned once more when I was having trouble. I have had absolutely ZERO FOLLOWUP on the issue. I have had no CEL yet, only consistant idle dip, a stalling episode and a few more near stalls. 3600kms on the odo.

Here in Canada we don't have lemon laws, only CAMVAP which is an arbitration process of somewhat similar nature. There's no guarantee of a buyback and they may only rule that the car gets fixed or they may even say live with it.

I still like the car, but if I had to do it all over again I would still be driving my 2010 4Runner Trail.

Rob

[alrashwa]

Originally Posted by FRSjeff

According to consumer reports the Z has a very poor reliability rating.

Well I'm gonna do my research this time, but something tells me there weren't many Z's that had to have Cam gears, shafts, oil valves, and o-rings replaced on day 1. Just a hunch.

[DarkSunrise]

Originally Posted by vobla6.0

As for the people that got their cam gear replaced and are continuing to face issues, it could be the case that the engine suffered more damage through continuous use while it was defected back when everyone was saying sh1t on the order of: "oh, this is absolutely normal", "all boxer engines do that", "this is a feature of the new d4s system", and "it's for fuel efficiency"...

...all while the engine was taking more and more damage due to continuous operation...and when everyone "woke up" and the techs started the standard "replace cam sprockets/ oil control valves etc/replace/re flash ecu...." procedure that they had developed over repairing the first few cars wouldnt help to resolve the issue for some because more damage was done.

On this note, does anyone know what kind of damage can happen with improper cam/valve timing at idle if left unchecked?

[xwd]

Subaru has generally been fairly reliable, they are the brand with the most loyal owners, the BRZ is actually my 9th. I've had very few problems with the vehicles which weren't self inflicted. Overall I've put hundreds of thousands of miles on those vehicles and had no reservations in buying a BRZ.

Maybe there was pressure to release the vehicle too soon? To say if it was made by Toyota there would be no problems is a bit shortsighted, it's not like Toyota wasn't involved heavily in the engineering of the engine, it's using their direct injection system... I don't think they just handed it over to Subaru and said "here slap this on."

Anyone read Japanese? I can't imagine there aren't JDM forums where folks aren't experiencing the same issues, and they have a lot more cars running around than we do.

I feel your pain though, I'm going through similar things with my 2012 Jeep Wrangler which is requiring the head to be replaced and is a common issue.

[xwd]

Originally Posted by alrashwa

Well I'm gonna do my research this time, but something tells me there weren't many Z's that had to have Cam gears, shafts, oil valves, and o-rings replaced on day 1. Just a hunch.

The only issues I've heard of with the 370Z is the car can run very high oil temps and some have had problems with oil consumption. Almost everyone who tracks a 370Z installs an oil cooler because running the car at high RPM will eventually trigger the ECU to cut the rev limiter back. It can also happen when the ambient temps are high.

[clayrush]

Originally Posted by dwx

The only issues I've heard of with the 370Z is the car can run very high oil temps and some have had problems with oil consumption. Almost everyone who tracks a 370Z installs an oil cooler because running the car at high RPM will eventually trigger the ECU to cut the rev limiter back. It can also happen when the ambient temps are high.

I belive on the last couple of years they added something to keep the transmission cooler. I have pondered the idea of adding an oil cooler on mine. But I never tracked the car. Just spirited back roads driving. I have had zero issues with my z, I just wish good tires did not cost me much.

You would expect many sports cars to be able to handle a track day, but take the top end mustang. The breaks are dead after just one lap. I love my z but I have a diffrent love for my girls FRS. I just hope her idle dips don't turn in to something bigger.

On as side comment, I wonder if more people are having the vvt problem that baby/broke in the car than who stomped on it from day one. My girl did a small burnout and hit the limiter the same day she got it. Just not at the dealer. our joke is. If the ecu likes to learn, teach that bitch from day one you are going to drive the hell out of it.

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by alrashwa

Well I'm gonna do my research this time, but something tells me there weren't many Z's that had to have Cam gears, shafts, oil valves, and o-rings replaced on day 1. Just a hunch.

I guess you've never heard about about the Z's storied history of oil consumption issues (with motors being rebuilt) as a result...

[alrashwa]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

I guess you've never heard about about the Z's storied history of oil consumption issues (with motors being rebuilt) as a result...

Oh I've heard about that, there is a lot of documentation about which model years to avoid and which engines to avoid. Just like there will be for the 2013 FR-S/BRZ in a few years. I'm just jumping ship instead of going down with it.

[clayrush]

Originally Posted by Lonewolf

I guess you've never heard about about the Z's storied history of oil consumption issues (with motors being rebuilt) as a result...

370's or 350's
I must say I barely go to any of the Z forums so i dont really know much about them

In the end I think all cars have some problems, some more than others. It all depends on if they are fixed or not. Hell i had a miss shift in my celica and had bent valves. Toyota fixed it under warranty. +many other issues all fixed with no hassles.

[soconfoozed]

Well, I have another call scheduled for tomorrow. I've found the senior CSR working my case to be somewhat effective, but I'm going to ask for his boss tomorrow and see how far up the chain I can go. I'm just sick, sick, sick of this lack of progress. These issues need to get resolved effectively and be done. I'm willing to work with them, I really am, but I frequently feel more like I'm being ignored than treated as a valued partner in this process. Subaru should have a very strong interest in taking care of my car, because they have an opportunity to learn from it and prevent future failures.

Add idealist to the list (that's right, right next to cynic), but that's how I would be running the show.

Still angry.