Stock Engine Failure

[Annahra]

Okay, so first I'll ask you guys to bear with me because I'm not super technically knowledgeable but that's why I'm here looking for advice! I own a 2013 BRZ with about 38K mi. I LOVE the car, but I obviously drive it a lot. I've had no issues with it previously and get it serviced on schedule at the dealership. I had some front end work done about this time last year (my only accident ever--bad visibility on a snowy night), but it was 100% cosmetic, no mechanical work.

About two weeks ago, I'm 750 mi. from home visiting family and the car throws a CEL. This is Sat, and my regular dealer did an oil change on Wed before I left. My dad ran the codes and unfortunately we didn't write them down but there were two, something about a cam and something about a heat sensor. Car is running normally at this point. Checked the fluids and everything is fine except coolant is a little low. First thing Mon morning, we get in the car to head to nearest dealership, and as soon as we hit interstate speeds CEL comes back on but this time car instantly overheats. We pull over, car dies, we get it towed. Dealer down there finds a blown radiator hose and says it was clamped in the wrong spot and came loose and that's what caused the overheating (I can tell they want to blame the body shop but are having a hard time after a year and multiple oil changes at a dealership). I call my dealership, they say they don't know how it happened but they and SOA will split the cost with me. Dealer there replaces hose, tests the car for 30 mi. and clears us to drive it home.

I drive the car home and to work the next few days (about 900 mi.) and schedule an appt. with my dealer to follow up when they have an opening. On Fri, I'm driving home and the car kicks CEL and overheats again, and this time there's a bad coolant smell and smoke everywhere. Have it towed to the dealership. I talk to the dealership on Tues and they say there is a blown head gasket and they will take the engine apart to see what the cause was. They say it will be covered under the warranty. I talked to them a couple of times throughout the week but they don't give me any more info (other than to say they are consulting with SOA engineers) until Fri when they tell me they have finished checking the engine and found warping and are replacing the short block and sending the cylinders off to be cleaned. Still no root cause found other than speculation that maybe this hose that was randomly blown and the resulting overheating caused the issue, or maybe the head was cracked to begin with and pressure from that caused the hose to blow. I might be being paranoid, but it felt like they either didn't know the cause or didn't want to tell me.

I talk to a rep from SOA who says it will be covered and they will refund me 100% of what I spent at the other dealership, but there's still this undercurrent like they are making an accommodation for me, not like it's kind of a big deal that my engine failed in a car with only 36.8K mi. at the time of initial failure (conveniently out of bumper to bumper warranty). As soon as I heard they were doing engine work I called my salesman and said I wanted to trade for a 2014 and they are getting me a good deal, but now I'm leery about getting the same car. I really need something reliable with my work and how much I travel. I'm worried this is going to happen again in two years. I know my car has got to be one of the highest mileage out there (I bought it used with 7K mi. in August 2012, no idea what the story was with the first owner). Are there other high mileage cars with no issues? Are there other stock blown engines? Should I just be grateful the dealer is giving me payoff on my trade? :-) Appreciate any thoughts!

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[wraithfive]

That sucks. But why are you asking this in the Electronics/Nav section instead of the warranty/service issues section?

[Annahra]

Sorry, I'm on my phone and must've picked wrong forum. Meant to post in warranty. Will flag for a mod to hopefully move!

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[Young_makaveli]

I'd go for the 2014 if I were you for sure

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[Turkish]

The dealers know less about these cars than we do, so it is unlikely that the dealer is hiding anything from you. Most likely that will be shipping the affected parts to their engineers in Japan to reverse engineer what happened to your engine and it will either come back as changes in the production line or as a service bulletin or both. That is at least what my dealer told me regarding past issues I have had. I found that at least believable.

[cycleboy]

It had 7K already in Aug 2012? That seems like an awful lot of miles. When was it made?

[FirestormFRS]

I would keep the one you have. The head gasket likely blew due to overheating related to the blown radiator hose. Given that the heads are most likely warped you'll be getting new ones. I see no reason to get a new one, but hey it's your money.

[Annahra]

Cycleboy I thought it was a lot too but they offered me a good price on it and at the time it was looking like it would be months before I got the one I ordered. I believe original purchase was in June. I know the guy drove two states over to get the car originally.

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[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Annahra

...........Appreciate any thoughts!

Well, Annahra, that's a shame your BRZ gave out on you ....

Whatever happened to the engine would probably not happen again, if it was properly fixed. However, the possibility may always be on your mind.

I think you made a wise decision in trading it in for a new one. Life is too short to be driving a car you can't rely on or don't trust anymore.

Just because that one bit the dust doesn't mean the next one won't run trouble free for a hundred thousand miles plus.

I might suggest you get an inexpensive code reader to keep in the trunk for your piece of mind.

Just get back on the horse (err - I mean get back in the car) and enjoy driving it.


humfrz

[N1rve]

I think this is the first thread I've read of the FA20 blowing the radiator hose...

[Bristecom]

From the sounds of it, when you had your accident, the radiator hose was bent/loosened either by the impact or by the body shop when they replaced the bumper or whatever was damaged. As a result, the coolant system may have lost pressure and caused the engine to overheat. When that happens, the engine blocks do tend to warp and need resurfacing. Unfortunately, this is all indirectly due to your little crash. The shop and dealer are also rather incompetent for not noticing or fixing that problem while they had it. But this issue at least sounds like it has nothing to do with the car's design.

[chas3wba0]

Every time I used to take my last car to the dealership for service, they always managed to screw something up... so forgive my unwarranted eagerness to suspect your dealership of messing something up during that last oil change, but there's really no way to prove that at this point

[ZionsWrath]

Powertrain warranty is 5 year 60000 mile. Your car is still under powertrain warranty

[ZionsWrath]

Op what do you do? Id probably not run this car if i was puttting 1000 miles a week