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

[Coastermikey]

Originally Posted by vubaru

Dude Coaster I am having the shake/CEL/Slip light/idle issue too finally crop up on me after 14,000 miles, but I attributed it to the turbo kit. After reading your experience I am starting to get really scared that maybe only the dealer can help me now, but I'm guessing they'll just laugh at me...my guess is I'm going to need my ECU replaced.

yeah im just over 17k seems like it hit my car wayy late. the others on the list showed signs within a few hundred or thousands miles. i only have an exhaust, if things get worse for you, id take the turbo kit off and reflash ur ecu to stock so you dont get put into the situation im in with the dealership. still no word yet on what actually caused my engine to blow but they're still pressing on how i didnt have the oil change service done there.

[DaBrz]

Wow this thread is scary... My car shakes a bit during idle compared to when it was new, but hopefully that's all that'll happen.

[BRZnut]

Originally Posted by Coastermikey

well heres my story, two days ago i go to start my car up in the morning. everything is fine let her warm up in all. get down to end of my court and it starts shaking and it stalls. had trouble starting up the first couples times i tried and then it finally worked. ok so i shut it down and tried to replicate what i was feeling and it starts up fine the next few times. hmmm. started on my journey to work, and about 15 min down the road CEL comes on along with slip light. Car still feels normal until i come to a complete stop, it idles rough. Get to work called the dealership and told them i was bringing the car in with the issues. At the end of the day I get in and the car has no trouble starting up but the lights are still on. I take it easy leaving the army base that i work at and get stuck in the bumper to bumper traffic as usual. As I sit there waiting for traffic to move, I creep up closer to the car infront of me and the car stalls again. drifted into the shoulder i shut her down and tried to start it back up. The starter goes and Boom I hear a clanking noise and there is now smoking coming from under the hood. i get out and there is also oil draining very rapidly from underneath. dealership towed my car back.

only news i got from the dealership is that some how a cam broke through the valve cover and that they will begin a tear down next week. but because i do my own oil changes, they're trying to say that "it may have been caused do to lack of scheduled service" since they have no record of me bringing the car there for oil changes. such bs, you can only imagine what im going through at the moment.

From my understanding, as long as you show receipts for buying the oil and filters they can not hold it against you that you did not have them do the oil changes..

[Coastermikey]

Originally Posted by BRZnut

From my understanding, as long as you show receipts for buying the oil and filters they can not hold it against you that you did not have them do the oil changes..

i have receipts for oil but only one for the filter cause i paid credit once and was able to search for it. the others i paid cash and never saved the receipts

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by Coastermikey

well heres my story, two days ago i go to start my car up in the morning. everything is fine let her warm up in all. get down to end of my court and it starts shaking and it stalls. had trouble starting up the first couples times i tried and then it finally worked. ok so i shut it down and tried to replicate what i was feeling and it starts up fine the next few times. hmmm. started on my journey to work, and about 15 min down the road CEL comes on along with slip light. Car still feels normal until i come to a complete stop, it idles rough. Get to work called the dealership and told them i was bringing the car in with the issues. At the end of the day I get in and the car has no trouble starting up but the lights are still on. I take it easy leaving the army base that i work at and get stuck in the bumper to bumper traffic as usual. As I sit there waiting for traffic to move, I creep up closer to the car infront of me and the car stalls again. drifted into the shoulder i shut her down and tried to start it back up. The starter goes and Boom I hear a clanking noise and there is now smoking coming from under the hood. i get out and there is also oil draining very rapidly from underneath. dealership towed my car back.

only news i got from the dealership is that some how a cam broke through the valve cover and that they will begin a tear down next week. but because i do my own oil changes, they're trying to say that "it may have been caused do to lack of scheduled service" since they have no record of me bringing the car there for oil changes. such bs, you can only imagine what im going through at the moment.

...dangit, someone already beat me to it. Best of luck getting this resolved quickly.

[aghuman]

Spoke to the dealer, said they'd need at least a day to diagnose since they have never heard of the issue, I called BS. Then spoke to Scion Canada again, they spoke to the dealer and dealer called me saying they know what the issue is and it'd take about 45 min to diagnose. Anywho, they re flashed my ECU even though it did have the latest firmware. Ive driven about 250km since then and the problem has gotten much better, I just don't know if its completely gone yet. Definitely feels better though, I'll post again after more km's.

Originally Posted by aghuman

900 KM, started experiencing at around 30km, just got off the phone with Scion Canada who said that they have never heard of the issue but they will investigate which seems odd since its been months since people first started reporting it. Going to take it to the dealer soon and see what they have to say.

[RedLeader]

My FRS had been doing the idle shake thing at lights for awhile, when the CEL and SL lights came on, I dropped it at the dealership and it was reflashed within 2 hours. Haven't had a problem since. Guess I got lucky?

redleader, FRS, 9,000mi, 7076XX, 2hr dealer reflash, AZ

[freedumb512]

I'm experiencing the idle issue, but with no CEL yet. After taking it to the dealership to have it checked out, I was notified that without a CEL they could not do anything about it. 500 miles later, still no CEL. I noticed that when the rpm drops to ~400 my DRLs will actually turn off until idle gets back to normal range. I now have a Scion specialist looking into the problem and have since taken the car back to the dealership. I have an open case for review with both Scion and Toyota with no fix in sight. It seems as if I know more about the problem than the "professionals". This is absurd.

Edit:
Does anyone know if an Ecutek tune will permanently fix this?

[tuckdaddy]

not sure if the tune will help but the dealership wont do jack shit with a tune on your car warranty wise

[31katys]

I've had the issue, but no CEL. It was significantly worsened with the install of my Injen intake. Still no CEL. I ended up putting the stock intake back on to see if I can get the problem to re-occur. TBD.

[regal]

I just got back from the dealer, they swear that it has the correct "calibration". I can't get a straight answer as to whether they previously replaced the ECU per the recall letter or not. This time they reset the ECU for a neutral saftey switch. I have 5k miles 99% of those miles with a CEL. If I get another CEL I am going to get a tune so I know it will be flashed with the correct firmware, done wasting my time with stealership such a hasell.

[Coastermikey]

Looks like ill be getting a new motor Monday under warranty. Techs and mechanics are still baffled on what happened. They even flew out an engineer from Subaru, the old motor is going back with him.

[freedumb512]

Update:
Car is now undriveable. Constantly stalls out at red lights and I'm fed up! Still no CEL. Still no fix from Toyota. I dropped it off at the dealership again with instructions to not notify me until it is fixed or replaced. Driving a nice fully loaded Ford Focus rental for now with less than 100k miles on it. FML

[Lonewolf]

Originally Posted by freedumb512

Update:
Car is now undriveable. Constantly stalls out at red lights and I'm fed up! Still no CEL. Still no fix from Toyota. I dropped it off at the dealership again with instructions to not notify me until it is fixed or replaced. Driving a nice fully loaded Ford Focus rental for now with less than 100k miles on it. FML

Don't just leave it in the dealership's hands to resolve the issue promptly...hell they could just sit on it for a week before even looking at it. Call a Scion service rep and let them know about the situation.