Lauren's GT86 100K miles and onwards

[Lauren 2259]

I don't really feel that my car qualifies as a 'Project'. It's got a few good modifications but not too many. I think that really I've spent most of my money on simply maintaining the car to the highest standard I can. So if you are hoping for mega engine builds and ridiculous bling, you may well be disappointed! 

Here's my car and I in the Italian Dolomites last summer: 

The GT86 and I by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr

In terms of modifications, it has a custom Tein Streetflex setup with 5kg fronts and 6kg rear springs and revalved 20% stiffer rear dampers along with EDFC Active Pro which I have programmed to my own setup for road and the track. 

It also has a Milltek exhaust with a secondary decat and overpipe and an Injen Induction kit. Though I've had a remap on my insurance for a year now, I still haven't got round to having a remap done on my car yet. 

I also probably have the best sound system in the club, (I think anyway). I had a custom pro install, featuring an Alpine INE 925R head unit with DAB, a Hertz 950W three channel amplifier, 12" JL Sub with custom enclosure in the boot floor and Focal 3 two way component speakers with the tweeter in front of the door handle, rather than atop the dash. I have an Audison Bit 10 Digital Sound processor which has been optimised with regard to speaker timing and the like for the driver. It's pretty special. 

Interior wise I have a 350mm Street Rage (I think!) steering wheel, carbon gear knob and TRD engine start stop which I got for half the price in Super Autobacs in Yokohama MM, Japan.  

I have TRD Aero Fins on the outside and genuine Rays Engineeering/Volk Racing 17x8 TE37s, shod with Yoko Advan V105s on the front and Contisport Contact 5's on the rear. I also had a whiteline gearbox mount to firm up gearchanges. 

Now I know I haven't quite got the highest mileage GT86, but I can't be far off. Today saw it go through the 80,000 mile service, a month before it's third birthday! 

Now I've already experienced the expensive 60K service, but for the 80K the fuel filter needs to be changed and this is an expensive item at £158 or so then there is the matter of brake fluid, diff oil and then all the usual service stuff, plus an MOT! 

Here's a vid, I got from the checks over my car. Love it that RRG Macc do this; 

https://video.citnow.com/vtKspxQ_G9c

Well MW62 XWX passed it's MOT with just the primary cat with no issues, which may answer some questions for some! 

I've also had the Cusco headlamp leveller adjuster fitted and on the drive back I could instantly tell that the lights were a fair bit higher than they were before on a dipped beam. This should make all the difference on a dark unlit country road come tomorrow morning. 

Amazingly the Stoptech Pads I had fitted must be 20K miles ago are still only 10% worn! I must admit though I'm particularly easy on brakes, I simply don't use them much.  

Also I'm still on the original clutch which seems absolutely fine and I've not had any replacement ball joints or any bushes failing either. The only things that have been replaced in the life of the car was Coilpack A (IIRC) as it threw a CEL, though only after a particularly harsh change up at the redline. It didn't cause any problems and was changed as a matter of course at the 60K service interval. I've also had a nearside driveshaft changed under warranty which may in part be due to the car being lower than stock. 

Oh and I should stated I've had the heated seat button fail to illuminate resulting in a replacement button, but the heated seat still worked fine! 

So far this car has been extremely reliable and seems to be very well built with no real issues at all. I've done two seasons of the sprint series, been round the Alps twice and out to the old 'East' of Germany VMaxing the car on the autobahn and it's been just brilliant.  

I'm coming up to my 3 year PCP ending at the end of January and I am very likely going to keep the car. It may end up a bit like Trigger's broom, but I intend to upgrade parts as they wear out. 

I will try and keep a bit of a blog going with stuff with the car as it will get upgraded once more pennies come in! 

[Gringosteve 213]

Brilliant post what makes the 60k service so expensive?

My father in law has his own garage so only need to pay for parts. The fuel filter looks a pain!

[remal 85]

nice to read up about other peoples experiences with the car. 

 

cheers for sharing 

[Subota Boy 402]

Great post - very useful!!

[Lauren 2259]

The 60K service is expensive, Steve, because it requires the spark plugs to be changed which is quite involved as the engine has to be lifted a bit to gain access which obviously adds considerably in regards to labour time. Also diff oil and brake fluid is every 20K so that is on there as well. The 80K mile service was more expensive being north of £600 though that did include an MOT and the fitting of the headlamp level adjuster. 

Talking of which I can report that the difference is staggering as I'm now able to see further than 20m down the road with a dipped beam which was very handy at 5.30am this morning driving down unlit A roads. New wiper rubbers helped also! 

My car continues to do a good job, so decision time is nigh in respect of keeping it or chopping it in and getting a new one. Realistically there is a lot of stuff on my car that would need to be swopped over if I plumped for a new one and given how well it runs, I'm fairly well lent towards keeping it and just keep piling the miles on! 

Thanks all for the encouraging replies, I shall try and blog stuff as it happens as given I have the highest mileage car in the club (AFAIK), it will I hope prove useful in seeing how it all goes and what wears out first! 

[Tareim 343]

it would probably make most sense to just run it into the ground Lauren, the amount you'd spend on chopping it in on a new one and swapping everything thing over might not be worth it + you can be our guinea pig to see what happens at 100k+ mileage 

[Nicebiscuit 655]

Could be worse... Paid over £450 for a pretty routine 40k service on a Skoda Fabia once. I wouldn't have minded but it was the one running the old Eastern bloc pushrod unit dating back to the Estelle.

The Service schedule probably consisted of pouring a bit of oil over the block and whacking it with a lump hammer...

(And yes - I'd keep it myself - it's barely run in at 80k miles surely...)

[Lauren 2259]

Well there I was tonight driving home from Reading on the M6 Toll thinking to myself how reliable the car has been and how good to drive it still feels and then 10 minutes later just as I am entering the 50 zone to the toll booths, the cruise control disabled itself and the car started to lose speed. I tried flicking it back on but it wouldn't, then the CEL came on, I changed down to fifth and applied some throttle and nothing, it's still slowing. I realise at this point that it has actually broken down and pull over to the hard shoulder. As I stopped it idled for a second or two then stalled. 

I tried restarting it, but no. Then tried again, nothing. It would turn over but wouldn't start. I then popped the bonnet, got my torch out but couldn't see anything obviously wrong. Next job was to call the AA and tell them I have a lowered car. They say within an hour. I then tried to start it again ten minutes later and it would barely turn over. The battery wasn't even strong enough to close the window when I shut the door. 

Breakdown by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr

45 minutes later a nice man called Dougie turns up. He's got one of two of the only low loader trailers that the AA have. He's picked up a P1 and a 918 on this truck and I was impressed at how low it went, being pretty much flat to the ground. Dougie put some ramps on the end anyway just to make sure. The big issue though was that there was not enough power in the battery to get the steering lock off. Fortunately the steering was nearly straight and Dougie was able to get it onto the flat bed with the steering locked. 

Breakdown by Lauren Blighton, on Flickr

Whilst this was going on I got a call from Richard which impressed me I must say! He immediately suggested I should get the car dropped off at RRG Macc which is exactly what I had planned whilst I was waiting. Although I live ten miles away from RRG Macc, Dougie was able to drop me off back home, which technically he shouldn't really do, so I was grateful for that. I left Reading at 6.30pm and finally got home to Manchester at 12.15am. 

It's weird because the car ran absolutely faultlessly until the point that it didn't. I think the battery is a likely culprit as it's been a weak point, though it's only gone flat a couple of times when I left the audio stuff on which has a 1amp drain. It's never let me down before. The only other obvious fault can be the alternator. All will be revealed tomorrow I suspect! 

[Lauren 2259]

My best bet is that the battery is the problem. If it was the alternator, I would expect the battery light to come on first indicating a lack of charging and the car would still run at least for a short time on the battery. The engine just died and then a few seconds later the CEL came on. 

[rob275 1817]

I must be extremely lucky with my battery, i've got the stock one that people have issues with and mine has never failed to start yet. Hopefully it's the battery, that's the easiest fix really.

[Ade 517]

Hi Lauren,

Sorry to hear you have a problem. Hopefully it is just the battery.

I've lost count how often mine has gone flat! I dont drive it for weeks sometimes....

 

 

 

[Lauren 2259]

Just had a call from Richard at RRG Macc. It's the battery, apparently it had a very high resistance. Obviously there have been lots of battery replacements on our cars. 

He's got one coming at lunchtime, so will fit it and do some checks then let me know. Pretty good service I have to say!

[KevinA 695]

I fitted the larger capacity one to Debs, it has been superb and will sit 3 weeks without even touching the car which is great if you don't use it daily. Glad you got it sorted Lauren.

[Lauren 2259]

The new one is a higher capacity one, apparently Toyota changed the part number, so all good.

[Ade 517]

Mine barely lasts a week now.

I think I may have to look into getting a new battery. I wonder what my dealer will say about getting me one under warrenty with a supercharger fitted

[nerdstrike 186]

Having come from a car with a ferocious battery habit, I would point out that a drained lead-acid battery is permanently afflicted by being taken to a flat state. The electrodes get heavily corroded and don't reform properly in the charging cycle. You can probably get away with it once, maybe twice, but after that it's better to just replace the battery. I suppose warranties complicate preventative maintenance though.

[Lauren 2259]

There was a very high resistance, which is likely a plate shorting out, so once it happens, that's it really. But yes, warranties mean that people don't worry about such things since they failed. Mind you my battery has lasted three years and 80K miles.

I don't see why having an SC would affect your warranty in regards to your battery. 

[Paul 442]

Can we just get Richard to train the rest of the Toyota garages? Sorry to hear about the breakdown Lauren but at least it's just the battery and nothing serious!

[rob275 1817]

2 hours ago, GT86Owner said:

Mine barely lasts a week now.

I think I may have to look into getting a new battery. I wonder what my dealer will say about getting me one under warrenty with a supercharger fitted

My garage loves my Sprintex, no warranty issues so far. Battery is totally unrelated.

[Nicebiscuit 655]

Batteries are weird things - they can fail suddenly. Mind you - always used to be the case that a car would run with a completely dead battery once you got it going as the alternator could supply enough. I guess modern cars are too complex for that to work...

[Lauren 2259]

Richard called me and there was another issue. There was an airlock on the pipes between the two tanks, so the reason my engine died is because I ran out of fuel as it wasn't drawing from both sides of the tank. The fuel filter was changed this week, did this cause the airlock? It seems very much possible, but why it did that we are not quite sure. The airlock has been cleared and the fuel pressure regulator is no longer sticking so it is drawing from both sides of the tank again now as it should do. 

When I drove down to Reading on Tuesday I refilled the tank when it was not much below half, but coming back it died when the tank was between a quarter and empty as I expected to run for a few miles with the fuel light on to make it to Keele services on the M6 on the way back. I guess at this point one side of the tank was empty but as it wasn't drawing from the other I effectively ran out of fuel. 

Then when I went to restart the car the battery died. It had 45 Ohms of resistance which is not good, so that has been changed. 

[Lauren 2259]

Just picked my car up. How's that for service? Full tank of fuel, new battery under warranty and my next service free, all because it can only be that changing the fuel filter last Monday must have had an effect somewhere on the issue with the fuel not being picked up from both sides of the tank. To be fair this is the first time they have changed a fuel filter and the problem could not have been foreseen. 

Now that's what I call service! Huge thanks to Richard, Gary and the team down at RRG Macc.

[Keethos 842]

Glad you got it sorted Lauren, I take it there's no real harm to the engine when it couldn't pick up any fuel?

[Lauren 2259]

No running out of fuel doesn't cause any issues, it just ceases to fire. 

[Nicebiscuit 655]

Result! I was probably right then - the duff battery alone wouldn't have stranded you mid flight (although it probably would have done later...). What a weird coincidence....