Has anyone had a warranty claim denied? Seized engine! Pics of teardown added 6/5

[#87]

I DD mine, drive hard almost daily (redlining multiple gears), and at 15k miles now. I haven't had these issues but have had 2 occasions of idle dip to ~400/500 rpm. Will be watching closely, especially since ambient temps hitting 90+ already.

[dabocx]

Originally Posted by Freetime

Checking in and subscribing because my car is at 3k miles and already started the popping at startup and intake backfire under load. Full stock. I took it to the toyota dealer and they said they couldn't reproduce and that without a CEL they couldn't do anything. Don't race or track the car. I can't wait for the damn thing to blow up so I can tow it to their lot and have it dumped in the service center and tell the service guy to stuff it.

Call toyota/scion or the regional manager. Make sure its clear that you only daily drive the car.

[fender9530]

Go talk to an attorney in your state. Don't listen to internet advice on this one. In my opinion, it should be covered unless you altered something that led to the failure. It might take some time, but it seems like you have a good case (I didn't read the whole thread).

Good luck!

[Dave-ROR]

This kind of stuff does make me wonder why I am tracking this car. I wish Honda would make a competitor, the BRZ would be up for sale within days. :shrug:

I have zero concerns tracking a stock engine 150,000 mile Honda but I have to wonder about a 22,000 mile Subaru.. wonderful.

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

This kind of stuff does make me wonder why I am tracking this car. I wish Honda would make a competitor, the BRZ would be up for sale within days. :shrug:

I have zero concerns tracking a stock engine 150,000 mile Honda but I have to wonder about a 22,000 mile Subaru.. wonderful.

[Hanakuso]

Originally Posted by track_warrior

The issue here is the direct injector system is crap, it is failing due to heat. Subaru and Toyota are starting to put the puzzle together and notice this is happening to cars that are being driven under extreme heat aka track driving. I think it would be important to find out if anybody else that is not tracking their car having this problem, if you can prove the direct injector caused the failure like it did on my car they cannot deny warranty on it and i think this is why subaru is trying as hard as they can as to not tear down the engine and investigate. Toyota did a teardown on my engine and found the cause of a broken piston to be the car running lean because of a direct injector seal. I got covered but i am this close to selling my car and parting out, since they warned me that this was going to be the only engine they would warranty since i drove it hard, im afraid to be in your boat.

Is there a way for us to come up with a solution to the heat? Oil cooler? Bigger radiator?

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

This kind of stuff does make me wonder why I am tracking this car. I wish Honda would make a competitor, the BRZ would be up for sale within days. :shrug:

I have zero concerns tracking a stock engine 150,000 mile Honda but I have to wonder about a 22,000 mile Subaru.. wonderful.

My sentiment is identical...

[strat61caster]

Originally Posted by dabocx

Call toyota/scion or the regional manager. Make sure its clear that you only daily drive the car.

It's not worry of getting service, it's worry about owning a car that has what potentially may be a big issue that will require many hours of service, heartache and worry.

Sounds like it's just the teflon bands or some sort of gasketing not holding up, a heavier duty solution or a redesigned injector should take care of it unless I'm missing something.

[Opie]

The car, like most cars, is warrantied against defects under normal usage. Track use, auto-x, racing, etc. are not considered "normal usage" regardless of what the brochure or advertising says. The BRZ/FR-S also has a nice "black box" of data that can be pulled to see how the car has been driven. Hit the track button in a GT-R, Mustang or Corvette and then try and get warranty coverage...

And for the rest of you "worrying" that your street driven car may develop an issue that may or may-not ever occur and may or may-not even be an issue need to relax, don't be a auto-hypochondriac.

[AznBRZer]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

This kind of stuff does make me wonder why I am tracking this car. I wish Honda would make a competitor, the BRZ would be up for sale within days. :shrug:

I have zero concerns tracking a stock engine 150,000 mile Honda but I have to wonder about a 22,000 mile Subaru.. wonderful.

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

My sentiment is identical...

Comments like these make me wish I kept my RSX.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Opie

The car, like most cars, is warrantied against defects under normal usage. Track use, auto-x, racing, etc. are not considered "normal usage" regardless of what the brochure or advertising says. The BRZ/FR-S also has a nice "black box" of data that can be pulled to see how the car has been driven. Hit the track button in a GT-R, Mustang or Corvette and then try and get warranty coverage...

You can and will.

[Onealpha]

I am starting to believe that the crickets, DI Faiure and Backfire, and E85 Filter destruction are all associated or interconnected. I always believed that the people having the cricket problem were running northern winter gas which is a different blend than the summer gas. The higher corn alcohol content and lack of additives dried out the pump seals and caused crickets.

Now we have the E85 guys finding paper filters falling apart and clogging the lines and injectors. Is it the E85 or is it just a bad filter that does not react well to new winter blends of gas? Maybe the E85 guys found it first because they are tuning the crap out of their cars and have the means to identify and track these issues. Maybe the gasahol we all have to use is also eating up these filters and causing problems much more slowly and may only become evident a year or two down the line on the daily drivers.

Maybe the problem that these E85 guys found is what is causing the first DI to get clogged, run partially lean, get hotter than the rest of the DI's and destroy O-Rings and then destroy the engine. Maybe the aggressive drivers have only accelerated the process.

I will be watching this closely and listening closely to my engine. If anyone can show the OP how, I would recommend setting up a Google Maps where we can track the general zip code and date of manufacture and the date of issue of anyone who is having this issue or any of these issues for that matter. Might really help build a case supporting the OP's claim.

[jadewbj]

I do know that Nissan will void the warranty on a GTR in a hot minute. Do anything to the car and the will not warranty, use launch controll = no warranty. It is terrible. The difference is that most GTR drivers can afford to pay to fix anything they need.

[OrbitalEllipses]

The problem here is that instead of finding out if it's a materials defect...they've just gone ahead and blamed it on "racing" and "abuse" by the user. I'd lawyer up. A $7200 longblock ain't nothing to sneeze at.

Originally Posted by jadewbj

Do anything to the car and the will not warranty, use launch controll = no warranty.

In the past yes, but this is no longer the case. Read up before you speak.