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Comments
Jim
After last week's ice storm, I drove my 2003 Forester 2.5X automatic over a rough and bumpy patch of ice-covered highway, pretty jarring for about 10 seconds.
I don't know if that's what did this:
Vibration and rattling under the gated shifter cover. At first, it happened whenever I let up on the accelerator, while the car was in drive and moving.
Now, it only happens when I shift into reverse from park. Once the gear engages, no vibration.
Is this some type of linkage problem, something that may have been jarred loose?
The car still drives fine, no delay in gears engaging and no vibration anymore while in forward gears. (remember, this is automatic transmission) :confuse:
-mike
Acura RDX.
Ironically, if Subaru offered a Legacy GT wagon with with VDC for 2007 or 2008, that would have been a consideration.
It's in the overhead console. I haven't looked yet, but is it easy to get to? I have the one with the single sunglasses holder.
-mike
With my Miata it happened gradually. On the stereo, there are 3 sets of lights, right-middle-left.
First, the right bulb burned. I could still see all the stations, it was just a bit dim on the right.
Then the middle bulb burned out. Now I could only see about half the controls. I kept using it for a while, until...
Boom, the 3rd bulb blew out. :sick:
Couldn't see what station I was on, or the clock.
So I caved and just replaced the stereo, since the CD was skipping anyway, and got an MP3 player.
I'll fix the Forester clock, I'm sure it can't be too hard.
Roh roh. Shouldn't have typed that. :P
I have 2001 Forester. For last year I've had a squeaking noise when I push in the clutch (its a manual trans). Now it seems to squeak just during and after I depress the clutch. A co-worker said it might be throw out bearing. Okay. What does it do? How much to get it fixed? What if I don't get it fixed? It only has ~80K miles.
-Mike
The throwout bearing is a small bearing that rides on the transmission's drive shaft. The clutch "fork" (I call it) presses against it when the clutch pedal is depressed. It, in turn, presses against the pressure plate to disengage the clutch plate.
Someone correct me if I am wrong. I may have mixed up my part names, but I can still put one together correctly.
Not sure about Subaru, but clutch replacement typically requires dropping the transmission, so labor cost from a shop is going to be your largest expense.
The real surprise to me was the damage done by what I can only describe as my neglect. You know that white/blue fluff? A bad thing.... I didn't realize how bad until I peeled back the red cover to behold what was probably the prime cause for the slow cranking. Pulled out the tray, threaded J rods and top brace, the terminal clamps, etc. It cost me an hour of scrubbing and neutralizing, but I saved it all. Turned out the battery case had a small crack at the top, so acid was escaping.
I didn't want to have to go thru the whole reset thing, so I rigged up a little 12v / 1 amp regulated power supply that I had built for hobby use. Accidental shorting would not hurt it (LM340, or something like that), so it was low risk. Kept everything alive while the battery was out.
Steve
Sounds like you caught it in time, so good news that the battery gave out when it did! Personally, I cannot imagine getting 5 years out of the stock battery (if I keep this car it will have a new battery before winter), but more moderate temperatures - both high and low - probably help it last longer and/or display its mediocrity less often.
It seems that vehicles are subjected to less corrosion in every respect here than in the east, but I find that an annual (or even bi-annual!) scrub of the terminals with a wire brush keeps everything in tip-top shape. Red anti-corrosion spray helps to seal the deal.
~c
Colin: The car runs just fine, so the idea of an ECM reset and relearn just seemed like an unnecessary risk. Plus the need to reset a dozen radio stations, listen to the horn blair while resetting the alarm, etc. Maybe I am being unnecessarily fussy about this stuff, but attaching and working around my little alligator clip power supply was an easy enough way to avoid it.
Steve
Actually, I think the way the battery died, then getting a couple jump starts, then replacing the battery, may have frazzled the TCU beyond a simple reset. It was shifting far worse than I remember when the car was first new, and took a long time (many weeks) to begin shifting better.
Craig
Steve
(the alternator was another story however ... lol)
In the absence of searing heat or numbing cold, the battery probably performs just fine over a 5 year duration.
Anyone know what temp diesel starts to Gel at? If I go with the 2500HD Duramax I wonder if I'll have to plug it in to start it in the winter or if I'd be ok with it just sitting outside in NYC temps.
-mike
-mike
Never heard about problems in the mid or late 90s, so the blend must have been adjusted at some point to prevent that.
If you get that 2500 and think it is ever an overnight risk, I am fairly sure there are additives you can buy and dump in the tank to reduce the gel point, but you better run it a bit afterward because it is the lines that are always the first to gel!
Jerry
-mike
Quite some time ago, my battery died just before a long trip. You know how the mixture runs rich while it's learning? Horrible gas mileage during that trip!
Jim
Thanks for validating my odd behavior!
The key, though, is to do it safely - with a very current limited power source. Otherwise, it could be a very dangerous practice.
Steve
Len
Jim
All the dash lights work; no engine sound just the clicking at high speed. Starter? Bad battery?
You have a problem with your radio - it is draining your battery.
How long was it since the start prior?
So my guess is a drain somewhere possibly the battery. I am a novice but from what I read I can spend some of my time to track down the drain by using a voltmeter/multimeter from Radio Shack. But could someone just explain the process?
Once I get it jumped and re-charged - how to I use the voltmeter. Place the leads on the battery posts and start pulling accessory fuses and see what increases my voltage when I pull it? Thx guys...
I meant probably the radio/cd.
Since then I've been good, and all are topped off with distilled water.
Maybe, but you need to know what you are expecting to see, or you will drive yourself crazy. Unfortunately, it is not easy to see a small leakage with a voltmeter. If you were to apply a big load, such as turned on and off the lights, you would probably see a deviation on the meter of a volt or so. That is the result of placing a 20 amp load on the system.
What you probably have here as a constant draw of probably only an amp or so. Unless you used a digital meter and can monitored millivolt deviations, it might very well go unnoticed. Plus, there are legitimate constant draws, such as the clock ckt, alarm, engine and transmission control units, etc.
To really see what is going on, you actually need to monitor current draw. In this case, you would remove the ground battery wire, and place the meter into the circuit (in series). The problem is, many inexpensive meters are only rated for an amp or even milliamps. If you are not careful and say open a door (and dome lights go on), you could smoke your new meter!
There are shunt current meters that utilize the known resistance of a small bar stock that you put in series (you measure voltage drop across the bar), but that's a more involved subject for another day.
Steve
Is it possible to fit four adults and four sets of golf clubs for a two-hour trip in any of these models?
If you said Five, I might say no, because the person sitting in the middle hump wouldn't be happy for long.
My Forester's cargo area is big enough that I can take my clubs in the tripod carrier and not even fold it up. Let me see if I can find a pic...
Bingo, I have one of these, and can actually leave my bag still attached, and close the hatch. This without even folding the rear seat. Pretty convenient. :shades:
Four adults should feel quite comfortable for 2 hours.
I toss on my shoes, coat, hat, gloves, and GLASSES!, then trudged out in the pre-dawn glow to find the car. She has driven it about 200 ft (down the driveway and just out onto the road) and left it in the middle of the road. My first thought was an iced up brake on the right front tire. Sure enough, I get in the car, start it up, and after a fun moment or two trying to get it to move, gave up and headed home to get the propane torch.
Arriving back, I lit the torch and applied heat to the disc itself around the circumference of the outer side, about 5-10 seconds per spot to help it heat evenly. After a minute or two of this, I could see some water run from the area of the brake pads. I had my wife get in the car to move it and it took right off.
But, since then, I keep hearing this metallic "clink" sound, almost like taking a ball peen hammer and tapping a loose sheet of metal. It happens only once, but every time I have applied the brakes and then let off. Any ideas? At first I thought it was just a rock tapping off the wheel, but its consistency leads me to suspect that it is related to the freeze up this morning.
This car seems highly susceptible to brake pad freezes. In only 3 months of owning it, I think we have had the brakes frozen a dozen times or more (though they always let loose with some decent torque, save for this morning) and there is hardly any snow this winter!
-mike
My dad's brakes used to squeek but some red anti-squeel goo and some new pads cleared that right up.
The rotors can rust and the rust can also "swell up", sort of, but if it hit hard enough to make that noise the metal would break off. :confuse: