Recommended maintenance guide for Toyota 86 & Subaru BRZ

May 14, 2021

We often get asked about our recommended intervals to perform maintenance on the Toyota 86 or Subaru BRZ. Here is a guide that you can use as starting point.

CSG's recommended scheduled maintenance for daily and spiritedly-driven Subaru BRZ / Toyota 86

To preserve optimal performance of the car throughout its life, we recommend all our customers to follow the maintenance intervals below as a baseline.

Suggested change intervals are at mileage or age, whichever comes first

Engine Oil & Filter: use a high quality synthetic up to SN standard and change every 5000-7500 miles / 8,000-12,000 Km depending on car usage. Only use engine oil with the viscosity grade recommended by Toyota or Subaru in the owner's manual of your car. This is usually SAE 0W-20 for most regions.
Engine Air Filter: every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km, inspect once a year if driving in dusty / dirty areas
Fuel Filter: replace the complete Fuel Pump instead every 100,000 miles / 160,000 Km
Bench Cleaning of Port Injectors and DI Injectors: every 60,000 miles / 100,000 Km or 5 years. If car is running E85 or an ethanol mix (flex fuel), then clean every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km or 3 years. We offer a mail-in service for cleaning of injectors and replacement of DI seals.
Spark Plugs & Coil Packs (2012-2014, 2015+): every 60,000 miles / 100,000 Km
New front O2 sensor: every 60,000 miles / 100,000 Km or every 8 years, whichever comes first.
Oil Control Valves: we have observed that oil control valves (VVT solenoids) can sometimes malfunction on high mileage vehicles, degrading performance, causing engine hesitation and pinging under acceleration. We recommend oil control valves be replaced every 100,000 miles or 10 years, whatever comes first.
Coolant: first change at 135,000 miles / 210,000 Km or 132 months, whichever occurs first. Subsequent changes every 75,000 miles / 120,000 Km or 72 months.
Manual Transmission Fluid: every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km
Automatic Transmission Fluid: Every 40,000 miles / 65,000 Km
Rear Differential Fluid: every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km
Brake Fluid: inspect every year, replace at least every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km
Battery: Change after 5 years or if voltage consistently stays below 13 volts. Bad batteries can cause system voltage fluctuations and result in erratic engine & drivetrain performance due to sensor readings being off.

We offer custom performance maintenance packages for 86 / BRZ with your choice of fluids and filters.

CSG's recommended scheduled maintenance for track-oriented Subaru BRZ / Toyota 86

For cars being regularly raced or taken to track days, we recommend a more agressive maintenance schedule.

Suggested change intervals are at mileage or age, whichever comes first

Engine Oil & Filter: every 25 hours or 3000 miles / 5000 Km. Consider sending out your used oil for analysis to monitor wear on your engine and help you determine optimal oil change intervals for your application. We recommend using motorsports-grade engine oil from manufacturers like Pakelo or Motul, with a minimum viscosity of 0W-30 / 5w-30, with 0w-40 being preferred for conditions where oil temperature exceeds 230F (110C).
Engine Air Filter: inspect after every race or event, replace once a year
Fuel Filter: replace complete Fuel Pump instead every 75,000 miles / 120,000 Km
Bench Cleaning of Port Injectors and DI Injectors: every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km or 3 race seasons. We offer a mail-in service for cleaning of injectors and replacement of DI seals.
Spark Plugs & Coil Packs (2012-2014, 2015+): every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km
New front O2 sensor: every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km or every 5 years, whichever comes first.
Oil Control Valves: we have observed that oil control valves (VVT solenoids) can sometimes malfunction on high mileage vehicles, degrading performance, causing engine hesitation and pinging under acceleration. We recommend oil control valves be replaced every 60,000 miles or 5 years, whatever comes first.
Coolant / Water: if you're running distilled water with additives, do a full system flush at least once per season. If running coolant, every 50,000 miles / 80,000 Km.
Manual Transmission Fluid: in very hot climates (95F+/35C+) without an external transmission oil cooler, for turbocharged or supercharged 86/BRZ cars, or for highly advanced drivers on semi-slicks, change after every event or race. For intermediate drivers in other conditions, change fluid every 5 events.
Rear Differential Fluid: every 10,000 miles / 16,000 Km, 10 events, or when the driver can feel degraded performance of the LSD, whichever comes first. With the factory Torsen differential, depending on the driver, tires and track, degraded performance may be experienced after only 2 events. Use of larger capacity differential covers and/or aftermarket clutch-type LSDs can all contribute to extended useful life of the fluid, and can be a good idea for endurance racing 86/BRZ builds.
Brake Fluid: inspect after every track day, replace at least every 20 circuit hours or once a year. For best pedal consistency in racing & competition, bleed after every race, or use a brake fluid tester of the kind that actually boils a sample of the fluid to determine current boiling point and therefore degradation. We particularly like Endless RF-650 and Project Mu brake fluids.
Battery: Change after 5 years or if voltage consistently stays below 13 volts. Bad batteries can cause system voltage fluctuations and result in erratic engine & drivetrain performance due to sensor readings being off.

We offer custom performance maintenance packages for 86 / BRZ with your choice of fluids and filters.

If you race an early production Toyota 86 or Subaru BRZ (2013-2014), it's possible your car will burn through coil-packs and direct injector seals at a higher rate. Faulty coil-packs and burned up DI seals will result in misfires during acceleration and can cause long term damage to the engine if not replaced quickly. We recommend you keep a spare brand-new coil-pack in your bag of tools at circuit events, to replace a faulty one in a pinch.

Supercharged Toyota 86 / Subaru BRZ maintenance

Owners of supercharged cars should follow the maintenance plans outline in the user manuals of their kit. Here's a summary for the two most popular 86/BRZ supercharger kits:

Jackson Racing supercharger

Change your Rotrex Traction Fluid every 2 years or 50,000 miles (80,000 Km). Use only Rotrex Traction Fluid in your Rotrex Oiling system. Failure to use Rotrex Fluid will void the Rotrex warranty and cause damage to the drive unit.
Change your Rotrex Oil Filter at the same time as the Traction Fluid, that is every 2 years or 50,000 miles (80,000 Km).
Inspect the supercharger drive belt, at every engine oil change.
Track-driven cars with JSRC superchargers: check Rotrex Oil Level after every event or race (see last page of JSRC installation instructions PDF).
Check your install (or ask your installer) to ensure your supercharger kit's MAF extension harness was not routed along the alternator's harness. Doing so can result in RFI (radio frequency interference) and disrupt the signal along the MAF harness, resulting in inconsistent performance and hindering any ongoing custom tuning process.

Harrop or Edelbrock supercharger:

Supercharger service: replace supercharger oil and inspect o-ring on the oil plug every 100,000 miles / 160,000 Km. Track-driven cars will require much shorter intervals. Check Edelbrock's Supercharger Service Procedure documentation (PDF) for details.

If you bring your supercharged or turbocharged car to track days or races, see also our recommendations in the previous section.

How much performance can I gain back after servicing injectors and spark plugs on a supercharged Toyota 86 or Subaru BRZ?

Here is a sample dyno chart showing a BRZ tuned by CSG with a Jackson Racing supercharger, running before and after a fuel injector system cleaning service and fresh spark plugs.

Notice the difference in power and torque after cleaned injectors and new spark plugs!

If you are looking to have your 86 / BRZ injectors serviced or need to order replacement parts and fluids, we're happy to help, just contact us.

Premium Performance Maintenance Package
Subaru BRZ / Scion FR-S / Toyota 86

CSG Spec - Fuel Injector Cleaning Service
Toyota 86 / Subaru BRZ

Recommended OEM scheduled maintenance for Subaru BRZ / Toyota 86

Lastly, we are including here what Toyota and Subaru officially recommend on their 2019 service manual for US cars:

Engine Oil & Filter: every 7500 miles / 12,000 Km.
Repeated short distance driving or driving in extremely cold weather? Replace every 3,750 miles / 6,000 Km or 4 months, whichever occurs first. Only use engine oil with the viscosity grade recommended by Toyota or Subaru in the owner's manual of your car. This is usually SAE 0W-20 for most regions.
Engine Air Filter: every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km, inspect once a year if driving in dusty / dirty areas
Cabin Air Filter: every 15,000 miles / 25,000 Km
Fuel Filter: every 75,000 miles / 120,000 Km
Spark Plugs: every 60,000 miles / 100,000 Km
Coolant: first change at 135,000 miles / 210,000 Km or 132 months, whichever occurs first. Subsequent changes every 75,000 miles / 120,000 Km or 72 months.
Automatic Transmission Fluid: Every 60,000 miles / 95,000 Km
Manual Transmission Fluid: n/a
Rear Differential Fluid: n/a
Brake Fluid: every 30,000 miles / 50,000 Km
Battery: OEM batteries will typically last between 3 and 5 years. Lifespan will depend on weather, frequency and nature of driving cycles. If the reported battery voltage is consistently under 12.5 volts, it may be a good time to replace it.

Source: Toyota USA Maintenance Guide for Toyota 86 (2019) - Download PDF here