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Subaru Crew Problems & Solutions

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Comments

  • jfljfl Member Posts: 1,396
    I assume everyone is aware ... if you do touch a halogen bulb, to clean the quartz with alcohol before installing the bulb.

    The oil from your fingerprints cause a hot spot on the quartz resulting in early failure.

    Jim
  • subaru_teamsubaru_team Member Posts: 1,676
    the dealer that said these things to you. It's news to me! If the tires are rotated as recommended, you shouldn't have a problem. Tires are a delicate balance. We try to provide a tire that is middle ground. Tires that claim they last a long time often produce a harsher/noiser ride. Also, some folks need more traction that all-season tires if they are in a snow area vs. folks that want an easier riding tire where they get little or no snow. The wear "norm" is indicated on the numbers on the side wall.

    Brakes can wear differently for different drivers/different road conditions in the area. What area of the country is this dealer located? Anyway, can you advise of the name of this dealer? We should councel them on providing incorrect information.

    Patti
  • gevans1gevans1 Member Posts: 10
    Thanks bluesubie and ty for the feedback. The bean is automatic. The maintenance schedule indicates the service at 30 months or 48,000 miles unless severe driving conditions. I've dealt with this dealer for over 7 years, and this is the first time they have attemped to talk me into service not required.
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    Jon, Could you be more specific? Does it seem to hold 1st gear longer than you think it should when cold?

    It could be a number of issues, from electronic controls thru mechanical sensors and valve body parts. I would try the simple stuff first. Have you considered one of those solvent flushes that some of the quick oil change places have? If the problem is gummy parts in the valve body, this might free them up.

    Steve
  • andmoonandmoon Member Posts: 320
    This morning in stop & go traffic, I could hear a clunk from the rear of my wrx every time I depressed the clutch after I got it to creep from a stop. I would engage the clutch, no gas, and when the car moved about a car length, I would depress the clutch and when the clutch disengaged, I could hear a clunk. It sounds like the rear diff. I am wondering why it happens when load is disengaged and not when the drivetrain receives load.
    Any ideas folks?
    Don
  • outback_97outback_97 Member Posts: 130
    Patti:

    Thank you for your prompt response. My '97 w/ just over 100K miles has had no symptoms of HG leaks or overheating problems, I just want to keep it running well and wondered if this would help. I am aware that when the Phase 1's leak it's usually the more hidden and hard to diagnose internal problems, so I watch my coolant level and condition, and temp gauge, religiously. I'll consider the coolant additive for our '03 TS though. Thanks.

    Jon ('98 AT): My 4EAT goes 1-2 pretty harshly, esp. when it's cold. It gets better as the car warms up though. I noticed an improvement recently by my draining and refilling the AT fluid. It's very easy to do on mine, only cost $15 for the fluid. Mine *looked* and smelled clean on the dipstick, but when compared to the new fluid in bulk form, the old looked much darker and smelled a bit, and this was at only 20K miles since the last change.

    utahsteve
  • bat1161bat1161 Member Posts: 1,784
    When I change the bulbs I am wearing a pair of latex surgical gloves, so as not to affect the housing. I also checked for moisture, and my neighbor checked with a voltage meter. I also checked to make sure everything is locked tight and in place. Everything appears normal at this point; the only thing I can think of is that I had a bad batch of bulbs (I did switch the blue tip to the side that burned out, so they are the ones that have gone the last 2 times). For now I am riding around with the regular bulbs- if nothing happens after a couple of weeks, then I'll put in the Philips.

    Mark
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Mike: I agree, just start using the conditioner and keep an eye on the temp gauge. In fact, you could flush the coolant again in a few months to see if it's working.

    mollyk: my 1998 Forester is still on its original brake pads, at 60k miles. YMMV.

    Don: check the tires, make sure the diameters are all even. It could be the rear LSD locking up if one tire is flat or something.

    -juice
  • maverick1017maverick1017 Member Posts: 212
    Thanks John, Patti and Juice for your responces!Subaru parts counter here I come! I figure it couldn't hurt to use the additive, I was quoted 2k to replace the HGs, that would really hurt! but if I have to I have to... I have been keeping an eye on the temp guage since and the dance hasn't returned yet, keeping my fingers crossed. Its a bit cold to do another flush, so I'll wait untill the air temp creeps up abit. I figure I'll add the additive to a clean system so I can really monitor its effects.

    Thanks y'all!

    Mike
  • maverick1017maverick1017 Member Posts: 212
    MollyK

    I am still on my original break fluid, well maybe not original but its been in there for quiet a while (had the master cylinder recall done at around 30K), service guys at Bridgestone Firestone wouldn't even touch it, saying the stuff in there is cleaner than the new fluid they would be putting it. No fading of breaking power, pressure is still the same as day one. Replaced the front pads once but that was a normal wear item and to be honest it probably didn't need replacement but I did it anyways as a what-the-hell item at 60K. Still on the original rear shoes at >106K! Go SUBARU!!

    Mike
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Same here, I had the brake master cylinder recall done at about the same mileage. Free brake bleed job! :o)

    -juice
  • maverick1017maverick1017 Member Posts: 212
    that was the only reason I did it too! haha

    Mike
  • pillowsplatpillowsplat Member Posts: 2
    Greetings, I have read a little about the whole coolant issue. I should have the newer gaskets so I shouldn't have a problem, right? Well Something is not right. I'm currently at 39,000 miles. I get a coolant smell in the cabin on cold starts and when I stop at a light. I had my coolant flushed at 30,000 back in August. My coolant level was on the refill line at 30,000. After another 7000 miles the coolant went back down to the refill line and I topped it off. I live in Maryland so I'm not in a extremely dry climate. I asked the Fitzgerald Rockville to check it and documented it. They couldn't find a leak. I have looked but I don't really know the best place to look or the best way to help ID the culprit. I contacted SOA Kate and asked for help on trying to ID the problem. No suggestions. Now I must admit both the Dealer and SOA have been professional and seemed to listen well but I still have coolant causing the smell and disappearing from the reservor bottle. Can someone point me in the right direction, Please.
  • subaru_teamsubaru_team Member Posts: 1,676
    Kate tomorrow. It may take us a day or so as I'd like to look at the dealers repair orders (the technical comments). We'll do our best to try to sort this out for you. Thanks in advance for your patience with us!

    Patti
  • jlemolejlemole Member Posts: 345
    I've developed a squeak from the front driver's side when hitting bumps, potholes, etc. I'm guessing it's a shock or strut. Is there some way to lubricate these and, more importantly, is there some routine shock/strut/chassis lubrication I should be doing every so often? When I was a kid working on farms, I remember using a grease gun to grease various parts of the trucks and tractors. Is anything like this still done. Thanks!

    Jon
  • jlemolejlemole Member Posts: 345
    O.k., can we officially rank John/Jon as right up there with Dave as one of the official Subaru owner names?

    Jon (in New Jersey)
  • pillowsplatpillowsplat Member Posts: 2
    Everytime someone posts a message.
    Thanks for the quick response. I'm not quite sure why you don't do this on My Subaru.com but I'm glad you do it. You deserve an AttaGirl. Have Subaru fork over some of Lance's endorsement cash.
    John
  • nygregnygreg Member Posts: 1,936
    Check the bottom rear of the engine on the driver's side. Look around for any coolant or signs of leakage, particularly on the cross member. That is where the head gasket leaks are occuring. You probably know this already, but I thought I would throw it out there anyway.

    Greg
  • c_hunterc_hunter Member Posts: 4,487
    Use your knee to bounce the front bumper up/down on the driver side. If you hear the noise throughout the travel, my guess is that it's the sway bar bushing. If it only happens at the extremes of travel (all the way up and/or down) then it's probably a strut mount bushing or a bump stop.

    This info just helps with the diagnosis, not the lube procedure!

    Craig
  • p0926p0926 Member Posts: 4,423
    Don't you lube the bushings with lithium grease? Seems I recall Juice lubing his sway bar bushings with it.

    -Frank P.

    P.S. Ah the good ole days of grease guns and fittings :-)
  • p0926p0926 Member Posts: 4,423
    Molly- There are several factor that effect the life expectancy of tires and brakes but for reference purposes, the OE tires on my Forester lasted 50k miles (with tread to spare) and the brake pads still had plenty of life left in them when I traded at 65k miles.

    -Frank P.

    P.S. Speaking of brake wear, I followed a car home from the airport the other night and they rode their brakes all most the whole way!
  • c_hunterc_hunter Member Posts: 4,487
    Frank,

    Yep, you should use white lithium grease on rubber bushings. However, many sway bar bushings can only be lubed on installation. Not sure if you can do it afterwards....

    Craig
  • jlemolejlemole Member Posts: 345
    Thanks Craig. I'll give it try when I leave for work later.

    Frank: Most auto parts stores still stock a healthy display of grease guns and lube tubes. So, I'm wondering if there is a use for that stuff on modern cars, although I'm not aware that my Outback actually has any fittings.

    Also, speaking of lithium grease, what kind or color should be used on door, trunk, hood latches?

    Jon
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    our Patti is a real slacker.... ;-)

    Steve
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    Unfortunately, the days of grease fittings are behind us. Joints have teflon/nylon type coatings, are filled with some grease & capped with rubber boots. Most of them serve silently for the life of the vehicle.

    I get the spray cans of white lithium grease with the straw adapters. In the case of sway bar bushings, you can usually find an opening on one side or the other when the car is jacked up to squeeze the straw in and give a shot of grease. Hopefully it will work its way in with time. I then liberally spray the stuff on each joint (including the larger control arm mounts) each time I rotate tires. Remember to put a sheet of newspaper over the disk brakes to prevent overspray from contaminating them.

    The upper strut mount is a tough one. I don't know of any way to do that right without removal.

    Steve
  • damish003damish003 Member Posts: 303
    My 04 OBS, the one that had a new rear end installed over the past two months, has developed one of those intermittent, hard to diagnose noise problems. This happened one time BEFORE the car was wrecked, so it's not because of the repair.

    Some mornings, after a VERY cold night, I notice a loud howling noise on the drive to work. With increased speed the pitch increases, with a slight increase in volume. It's almost impossible to tell where it's coming from. Not the tires, but it seems to be towards the back of the car. Sounds like noise from a wind tunnel, if you follow. A real moaning, howling noise. It has happened twice in the past week, just recently this morning. Most likely, when the car is warmer by the end of the day, the sound won't be there on the drive home.

    Since there is no real consistency to when it happens, other than on cold mornings, does anyone have any thoughts as to what I could look for to better diagnose this? Since it doesn't happen on EVERY cold morning, if I take it to a dealer to check out from a cold start, it may or may not show up. Anything I could eliminate from possible consideration? Many thanks.

    -Dan-
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Each time you rotate your tires (7500 miles or so), get one of those spray cans of lithium grease and put a shot on the sway bar bushings.

    It's rubber against metal, every time your car sways, and it's exposed to the elements to the grease will wear off. It *will* squeek after a while, so try to keep it greased up.

    -juice
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Hi John, I use the same dealership. I doubt they've received the info and supplies for the conditioner, but when they do I'll be paying a visit to get a couple of bottles of the stuff.

    Dan: this might be a long shot but check you roof rack. They should be mounted like airplane wings, wide edge facing forward, sharper edge facing back.

    That can definitely cause the type of howling you describe.

    -juice
  • atomic_robotatomic_robot Member Posts: 26
    Any word on when the dealers will be getting it and what it will cost?

    Even though I just had my HGs done, I think I'm hearing that I should still add it as a preventive measure, right?
  • jedzjedz Member Posts: 5
    Patti,

    I bought a new outback wagon last week from my dealership in Connecticut. Drove it up to Vermont for skiing this last weekend and when I went out to start it up on Sunday morning at about -2F, it wouldn't start. When you turn the key, you can hear a relay click (I'm guessing it's the one to turn the headlights off), but no solenoid click, or ANYTHING else.

    The headlights were bright and the radio etc worked fine.

    I left it in the sun that day and when I came back from skiing the car started up on a dime!

    Monday morning when I went back out, it was the same story. Roadside assistance picked it up and took it to the nearby dealership, which ended up replacing the battery because they said that two cells wouldn't hold a charge. I was skeptical that it was a battery problem but picked up the car and drove back to CT.

    Tuesday morning, I went out to start the car at 19F degrees, and absolutely nothing happened AGAIN!

    Roadside assistance picked the car up and took it back to the dealership I bought it from, where they've not been able to reproduce the problem (it's above freezing here now).

    What can I do to get the reliable car I thought I was buying?

    Jed.
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    The OE battery isn't that strong to begin with. If 2 of the 6 cells were indeed bad, I can see it not being able to crank the starter.

    My OE battery had 260 CCAs, something like that, my new one has 535. Some people put in batteries with 700!

    Let's hope their diagnosis was accurate, keep records just in case.

    -juice
  • ballisticballistic Member Posts: 1,687
    If, when the starter won't engage, you turn on your headlights and they're bright, the battery probably isn't the problem (as you surmised). The two likeliest culprits would be that the heavy cable to the starter is making insufficient contact at one end or the other, or else your starter is bad.
  • jedzjedz Member Posts: 5
    I'm not smart enough to know what the other likely culprits are, I've heard people say the starter, the computer, the clutch switch, the ignition switch, etc, etc...

    The problem right now is that my dealership refuses to do any work on it under warranty unless they can duplicate the problem. And in the milder temps down here, that's going to be tough. I drive up to Vermont most weekends but the dealership up there is closed when I'm up there....

    So I'm at my wits end! I've had this car for 7 days and I'm already having this kind of headache?????
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    That does stink, but let's see if the new battery helps out.

    -juice
  • jedzjedz Member Posts: 5
    The battery was put in on Monday, and problem reappeared on Tuesday a.m., so I doubt it's the battery (unless we've now managed to have TWO bad batteries in a row).
  • ateixeiraateixeira Member Posts: 72,587
    Not likely.

    Did you open up a case #, with 800-SUBARU3?

    I would invoke the roadside assistance program if it happens again. Let them come out and figure it out while the problem is still happening. That will give them some data to work with.

    I used to work in a Help Desk and it's very hard to troubleshoot an intermittent problem like yours. Best of luck.

    -juice
  • damish003damish003 Member Posts: 303
    Juice-

    I checked the roof rack, and it's installed the correct way, so no luck there. Thanks for the thought, but like you said, it was a long shot. It's the strangest thing, it sounds like there's a hole in the cabin or something when it happens. The rest of the time, the car is very quiet for its size.

    -Dan-
  • andmoonandmoon Member Posts: 320
    Dan,
    My wrx crossbars howl when there is a little ice built up where the cross bars meet the rails. Sometimes it's so little that I can't see the ice but if I wet it and make more ice or clear it out, the howling goes away.
    Don
  • damish003damish003 Member Posts: 303
    Don-

    Hmmm, interesting thought. We didn't have an ice buildup last night, but there was some very heavy frost. Perhaps it was in the cross-section. If it is, that would be why I don't notice it later in the day, since the sun would clear up any ice there while it sits at my office. Maybe I'll just remove the crossbars for the winter and see it that solves the problem. It's not like I use them at this time of year anyway. Yeah, I'll give it a try. Thanks for the idea!

    -Dan-
  • jedzjedz Member Posts: 5
    Thanks, Juice...

    I called 800-SUBARU3 at your suggestion and they talked with the dealership. I haven't heard back from Subaru USA yet, but the dealership called and invited me to come tomorrow morning to show them what I'm doing to try to start the car and see if I can reproduce the problem.

    This is pretty funny because tomorrow it's going to be way above the temps that give this car problems and the car will undoubtedly start right up, but I guess they have it stuck in their minds that this is a user error scenario.

    I wonder if they'll provide a loaner for me to leave my car up in VT for the week to see if they can take care of it up there, where the temps are cold...

    Patti, is there anything else you guys can do to help through this? Record #: 590691

    Thanks

    Jed.
  • andmoonandmoon Member Posts: 320
    I want to remove the crossbars when I am not using them but my wrx came with the rubber strips (4 parallel to the rails) that make the wagon look funny without the crossbars. I was going to do the hair dryer/floss removal but a tech at the dealer said the strips are glued on using an adhesive that is much stronger than the one used to glue on the 'subaru' lettering. He warned that the paint would come off with the strips. Has anyone removed these strips?
    Don
  • subaru_teamsubaru_team Member Posts: 1,676
    any codes where stored when it wouldn't start? I'll see what I can find out for you. FWIW - my test vehicle wouldn't start last Friday. I waited a bit and it did start up (it wasn't very cold). Our internal shop has been running test on it and they are coming up with everything being fine. So, I can relate to your frustration. I'll see if we can find out anything. Thanks for your patience!

    Patti
  • samiam_68samiam_68 Member Posts: 775
    You pressed the unlock button for over 3 seconds while the door was open, and the system is now in valet mode. Press unlock again for 3 seconds while the door is open - see owner's manual.
  • subaru_teamsubaru_team Member Posts: 1,676
    Rep., Deloria, today. She'll have a few questions for you. I'm sorry to have to bug you, but we'll need some more information for us to be able to thoroughly check this out for you. Please hang in there! We'll do our best. And, once again, I'm really sorry. I know it has to be frustrating for you.

    Thanks!

    Patti
  • jedzjedz Member Posts: 5
    Thanks Patti

    I'll wait for her call. And fill her in further.

    Jed.
  • stevekstevek Member Posts: 362
    looking ot get these for my '01 Legacy GT,

    any comments?
  • stevekstevek Member Posts: 362
    Continental ContiExtremeContact tires, they are 20 bucks cheaper?
  • leo2633leo2633 Member Posts: 589
    I have the ContiExtremeContacts on my '01 Forester. After 22 K miles, I am still happy with them. They grip well, wet and dry. They're good in the snow, and they are wearing well. I'd buy them again. BTW, Tire Rack was selling them for only $66 each (215-60-16) last spring when I bought mine. Last I checked they were up to $81.

    Len
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    Ken,

    I followed your advise and ordered the Philips Vision Plus H1 bulbs from the site in England (autolamps-online.com). $32.20, included shipping. They arrived last night - within 10 days. Not bad considering overseas handling. They provided 3 for the price of two, making the per piece cost very reasonable. I view them one at a time, and they looked quite impressive on the garage wall, much brighter than the stock bulb. Tonight will be the formal road test.

    I was quite surprised by the condition of the OEM bulbs. The glass was still clear, but it looks like there has been tremendous tungsten displacement on the filament itself. High spots, thin spots, lumps. I guess that the gas filling is doing its job (redirecting evaporated tungsten back to the filament), but they didn't look long for the world.

    Steve
  • toboggantoboggan Member Posts: 283
    Tell me more about these Phillips Vision Plus H1 bulbs. Are these compatible with the headlamp bulbs on a '98 OBW?

    Just curious......

    MNSteve - another day, another few inches of snow, 33 degrees
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