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

[alan.chalkley]

Originally Posted by steve99

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.

Thanks! i think that they cooked up some BS to cover their mistake.

[jbarm]

Just had it happen to me.

Bone stock 2013 with 15,000 miles. 18 months.

Took it in for 15,000 mile service. Driving home from work accelerated up a freeway ramp and CEL and SL lights both came on. Higher rev acceleration was dampened. Drove directly to dealership and dropped off for night.

Read this thread and somewhat freaked out about problems.

Got a call from dealer at about 9:30 am saying it was fixed. When I picked it up had discussion with service writer (who I have known a long time) and he mentioned it had something to do with loose connections in the data bus interface or something like that. I mentioned the ECU issue and he said that was not the problem. No codes listed on the invoice.

Has driven fine over the last few days.

jb

[Eurasianman]

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.

Keep in mind, people that have issues with this car will come here to post it. People who do not have issues with their car will not come here as much to post about it.

If it helps, I bought my 2013 BRZ brand new with 7 miles on the ODO back in September 2012. November 2014 and 20,500 miles later, still enjoying the car and no mechanical issues. Just had the tail light condensation and GPS fixed. Other than that, I have been enjoying the car.

[m3bassman]

Originally Posted by Eurasianman

Keep in mind, people that have issues with this car will come here to post it. People who do not have issues with their car will not come here as much to post about it.

If it helps, I bought my 2013 BRZ brand new with 7 miles on the ODO back in September 2012. November 2014 and 20,500 miles later, still enjoying the car and no mechanical issues. Just had the tail light condensation and GPS fixed. Other than that, I have been enjoying the car.

Im all too familiar with forums and carry my grains of salt with me from board to board. Issues like this wont deter me from buying the car. It probably will push me to buy new, rather than used.

[alan.chalkley]

There seems to be a common issue of incompetence during routine dealer service that causes the problems . It is a great car , but monkeys playing with tools wreak havoc.

[kberkel]

Originally Posted by Eurasianman

Keep in mind, people that have issues with this car will come here to post it. People who do not have issues with their car will not come here as much to post about it.

If it helps, I bought my 2013 BRZ brand new with 7 miles on the ODO back in September 2012. November 2014 and 20,500 miles later, still enjoying the car and no mechanical issues. Just had the tail light condensation and GPS fixed. Other than that, I have been enjoying the car.

Word.

I'm at 23k miles, haven't had a single problem. Just oil changes. Fantastic car.

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by m3bassman

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

I am as well, and I've been on this forum for quite some time, the advantage is that your looking into CPO so there should be a waranty from 2013 till at least 2018 so all your issues you may or may not have will be taken care of.

[JMx86]

Add my name on the list. Although i haven't scanned the code yet, the issue with mine seems the same.

I do not get this often, but when I do, I just reset the battery of my car and it clears the CEL. However, I noticed that it comes up when I try to rev the car up to 6k. SL and CEL will blink one time, then SL goes off and CEL stays.

I have a GT86 from philippines, AT car with 22k kms (~13.6k mi). Mod is just full exhaust and rims/tires.

[jeanfrancoc]

Hi, I'm from Peru, South America.

I just bought a Scion FR-S from US and I brought it to my country. It had around 11000 miles and cost me about 20K. It was fine until I made a long trip, took the car to 200 km/h and up to 7k rev.

Just as the previous comment, I did took the battery of the car and it reseted the ECU. Since then it's just fine, although I haven't driven it hard again, just in the city, where I can't go fast.

I'm a little afraid, I don't know if I must sell the car or keep it. It's by far, the funniest car I've driven. I don't have any warranty and I know you must be thinking how stupid I am for buying this car without doing any research about it's problems.

Jean Franco Carhuas
Scion Fr-S 2013
12,000 miles

[scca-racerx]

Add my name to the list.
scca-racerx - 2013 BRZ 12,200 miles, P0017 code, need new cam sprockets. It will be in the shop over the holidays. I hope they know what they are doing at the subaru dealer.

[BRZnut]

Originally Posted by scca-racerx

Add my name to the list.
scca-racerx - 2013 BRZ 12,200 miles, P0017 code, need new cam sprockets. It will be in the shop over the holidays. I hope they know what they are doing at the subaru dealer.

Are there any new ideas on why the cams fail?? Is it an oil issue? I can maybe understand it when the engine is brand new , as an issue at the factory for that particular engine, but at 12K miles??

[RustyShackleford]

I have a 2013 BRZ Limited with ~38,000 miles on it and I just threw a P000B code (I purchased the car new and put all miles on myself). This is the first issue that I've had with this car and after seeing how long these issues have been going on I'm surprised/extremely worried it just popped up now.

Car has just been driven regularly (no track driving or anything like that) and I've got an OFT flash onto my ECU and a custom exhaust as well (header and everything back are aftermarket). I don't know if my dad has all my original exhaust bits still saved down at his shop but if he does I'm going back to stock before going back to the dealership.

We'll see how this all plays out I guess

[steve99]

Originally Posted by RustyShackleford

I have a 2013 BRZ Limited with ~38,000 miles on it and I just threw a P000B code (I purchased the car new and put all miles on myself). This is the first issue that I've had with this car and after seeing how long these issues have been going on I'm surprised/extremely worried it just popped up now.

Car has just been driven regularly (no track driving or anything like that) and I've got an OFT flash onto my ECU and a custom exhaust as well (header and everything back are aftermarket). I don't know if my dad has all my original exhaust bits still saved down at his shop but if he does I'm going back to stock before going back to the dealership.

We'll see how this all plays out I guess

when you flash back to stock it going to clear that cel code (ecu is reset) so you will have to wait till it pop up again.

[RustyShackleford]

Originally Posted by steve99

when you flash back to stock it going to clear that cel code (ecu is reset) so you will have to wait till it pop up again.

Yeah that is true, either way I'm waiting until my dad goes back to work Monday after the holiday. He said he has the factory catback still for sure but isn't sure if the other guy he works with had tossed the rest of the factory exhaust parts or not. Hopefully he has everything still and I can just go back to stock.

If that's the case I'll probably just sell all that stuff once it's taken off the car. I enjoyed the exhaust, but honestly as much as I love cars the car modification bug has finally worn out for me. I wasn't going to be doing anything more to the car even before I had the MIL light throw.