Subaru Crew Problems & Solutions

lucien2

so how do you make this thing play random from all 6 discs? Or can it?

hypov

Loosh-
It'll only play random from the disc that is in play; the other five are ignored. I thought that to be a silly feature.

-Dave

lucien2

thanks for the response! I'm surprised...that is a silly thing. Oh well.....I still gotta worry about getting the wayward diec from the first player!

ateixeira

You here is whirring when it's changing CDs, so I guess they thought the noise would be distracting if it did that every time.

It's funny, but I never use the random feature. I always thought the musicians put things in a certain order for a reason.

-juice

mrchristopher

I own a '00 2.5RS coupe....soon to undergo 30K maintenance. My local Subie dealer says "NO" on replacing the plugs...says they're good till 60K.
My owners manual and message boards I've read say "YES" on the 2000 2.5RS plug change.
How do I convince my dealer to include this on its Service Schedule for my car?
Only one dealer in my region...who "obviously" knows much more than me about the car...or so they project. Subaru team?

nippononly

they will add anything you like to the 30K service, and charge you accordingly. So when you take it for the 30K, just ask them to please add a fresh set of spark plugs.

mrchristopher

Quick reply, there.
One additional question...I understand my car has Champion plugs...others say repalce with NGK. Your thoughts on that?

ateixeira

Access is sort of a pain, so they're just bein' lazy. Remind them who pays the bill.

-juice

mrchristopher

I've changed plugs in numerous vehicles I've owned...but these are another animal. Wonder what Subaru dealers 'normally' charge to change them...labor-wise....

ateixeira

I've never seen a-la-carte prices for plug changes, they're usually packaged in with other stuff.

-juice

nygreg

my plugs changed (01 OB 2.5L 33K miles). The dealer replaced the plugs with Bosch. Although I had several other things done, the car is definitely performing much better now than before (also added a K&N air filter). Plugs are recommended at 30K as is tranny fluid, diffy fluids (both), brake fluid, coolant, air filter and gas filter.

Greg

kens

Your dealer is plain wrong. The '00 2.5RS uses the Phase II engine which uses standard plugs that require a 30K service interval. The previous Phase I engines used platinum plugs and had a 60K interval.

What kind of dealer refuses additional business?

Ken

nygreg

What if I upgraded to platinum plugs? Would the car run worse, better, no difference?

Greg

ateixeira

It'll run better only if the old plugs are fouled.

The advantage of platinum is that it lasts longer. There's a lot of hype about Split Fire plugs but it's mostly hype - either a spark appears and ignites the fuel mixture, or it doesn't. It's that simple.

-juice

nygreg

of the discharge is also a factor.

Greg

ateixeira

Fair enough, but the result is still ignition or a lack of ignition.

-juice

nygreg

of spark plugs and ignition - it Valentine's Day on Friday. Time to buy the candy.

Greg

mrchristopher

Ken wrote: What kind of dealer refuses additional business?

I'm sure the dealer won't refuse additional business. However, when I asked how much my car's 30K service cost...I was quoted $410. I then said, "That INCLUDES the plugs, yeah?" And was told, "Oh no...you don't need them until 60k."
I know that info is incorrect...but the point I'm trying to make with the dealer is that if you charge $410 for the 30K service on my particular Scooby, and that 30k service is to include plugs...INCLUDE my plugs, darn it. See what I mean? Thanks to all.......

kens

mrchristopher: I see what you mean now. $410 would certainly be high for a service that didn't include plug changes. You should ask the dealer for a 'menu' of services they perform at 30K -- they should have one.

Greg: Platinum plugs probably won't get you more performance. I've read that copper NGKs are the best (but they still need to be replaced at 30K).

Ken

lucien2

we do, but that won't keep you from making a mix tape or mix CD. So random shuffle in a multidisc changer is sorta like that.

AND....the STi Ver5/H&R suspension is on. I'll let you read about it in the "other" Legacy forum, but I'll post a couple pics in the Photo gallery.

ateixeira

In this cold? Brrr.

I'm due for an oil change, but haven't worked up the courage yet.

-juice

nygreg

Juice. The temp is headed further down. 20F tomorrow, lower on Friday. Your welcome to use my heated garage.

Greg

hondafriek

WRX 6 CD unit and two speakers for sale over in I-club for $80.

  The mind boggles.

   Cheers Pat.

lucien2

grrrrrrr....erm oh well I still got a pretty good deal.

jfl

I'm pretty impressed! I ordered a Fumoto valve from lubespecialist.com and it arrived in less than a week. Just in time for my 60k oil change.

Jim

sunshine21

hello all i just picked up my 2003 forester xs (automatic) this week and needless to say i love driving it! Thanks for the input on new engine care....i have been looking over the manual..and i asked the salesman, and he said i should run the engine at different speeds while highway driving for the first 1,000 miles. he also brought up light loads. I also asked when i could add some dry gas he said to wait until my next fill up...brrr...it has been cold lately... :-)

nygreg

Congratulations. Head over to the Forester thread and tell us all about it. My personal opinion on gas additives is that if the car is running well, why add stuff to the gas? Most gas today has additives in them already.

Greg

nygreg

Let us know how you like the valve.

Greg

ateixeira

Just use a bottle of Techron at every oil change, but don't use the first before 3000 miles.

Congrats on the purchase.

-juice

ateixeira

Will those plug into my Miata? My CD skips on the Miata.

Maybe I should nab it? Is it local, MD/DC/VA?

Take pix of that Fumoto valve install?

-juice

ohsubeguy

Doug,
Your recommendation on treating my newly rebuilt engine is noted. I've been doing that.

ohsubeguy

juice,
You commented on getting a warranty for the work that was done on my Forester. I do have a warranty, 12mons or 12k miles which ever comes first.

ateixeira

That's good, they stand behind the work even if your regular warranty is expired, then.

-juice

hondafriek

I went all through the for sales over on the I-club but cannot find the post for that CD changer at $80 bucks, I am not losing my mind I saw it just last week.

 Cheers Pat.

dane7

For the last month or so, I have been experiencing increasingly louder noise coming from a cold engine for the first five to ten minutes of driving on cold mornings. At first, I thought this was just normal boxer engine pre-warm-up nosie, but this past Saturday, it was extremely loud and sounded like a clothespin hitting a bicycle spoke. After researching the problem here on the Subaru forums, I went to the dealer Tuesday afternoon. They had me leave the car and replaced the tensioner first thing Wednesday morning. This solved the noise problem. The car only has 8,600 miles and the process was fully covered under the warranty. The invoice noted that there was some oil leaking around the tensioner and this was fixed also. Prior to taking the car in, I was one of the people who could smell something in the garage after parking the car, but could never find the cause. Evidently, it was caused by the oil leaking around the timing belt/cam belt tensioner, because the smell is also gone.

ateixeira

Glad they sorted that out for you.

-juice

ateixeira

Maybe it sold, then.

It's cool, I should call Cruthfield and ask what kind of harness adaptor I would need first. I don't want to mess with pin-outs myself.

-juice

ender27

Ok folks I am new to this discussion board. Last April I bought a 2002 Sub Forester S, 5 spd, pretty much loaded to the hilt. I now have about 12k on the car and some quirky behaviors have started to develop. I love the car but I've found you can rarely trust the dealer's word implicitly. Any of you who have experienced the same problem - I would appreciate feedback, and I would especially appreciate any service bullitens or known fixes that dealers have implemented in the past. What I'm about to write might sound like a laundry list of complaints, but I'm not sure what should be expected out of these cars due to the unusual mechanical makeup of this vehicle. On a side note I have Added Security Gold to 100k so everything is pretty much under warranty for quite some time.

1. The famous clutch chattering problem in cold weather, happens until engine warms up. Dealer acknowledges and says there is no current fix but that SOA is still investigating problem for a solution.

2. In cold weather, engine has the famous knocking sound that sounds like a bad lifter or piston slap (not too loud but definitely noticeable when accelerating) that disappears after 5-10 min of driving. Dealer says noise is normal and will not harm the engine.

3. In cold weather, sometimes when you start the car it dies almost immediately after letting out the clutch, other times it idles erratically, almost dying and then jumping to 2k RPM then finally leveling out. Of course, the dealer cannot duplicate.

4. I sometimes hear a "pop" sound coming from (assumably) the exhaust when I am accelerating slowly and go to switch gears. It is very intermittant, so of course the dealer can't duplicate the problem. It's not a loud backfire but a noticable pop sound. This happens whether the engine is cold or not, and usually when I switch to 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear. Sounds like it is coming from rear of vehicle.

I would greatly appreciate any help you could provide. I'd like to say that as a former Loyale owner and a current Forester owner, in general I have been very impressed with the quality of these cars. I only wish the dealers supporting them were as commendable. Every time I get out my wife's '01 CR-V and into my Forester I remember why I bought it over the CR-V.

nygreg

1) The clutch chatter has been noticed by several people on these boards. I believe Subaru did come out with upgraded clutch. Call 800-SUBARU3 and ask about it.
2) I have the morning knock too that leaves after 5-10 minutes of driving. I am thinking about going to 10W30 oil (mobil 1) to see if it has any impact. The general thinking is, it is normal.
3) and 4) I do not have these issues, however, I have an auto.

Greg
01 OB H4 4eat

ender27

I seem to recall some time back that supposedly people who complained loud enough to the dealer were finally told that Subaru had redesigned heads or something that was supposed to eliminate noise, something about how the cylinder walls were thicker or something like that.. I was looking back to find a thread on this. Was this fix for PhaseII engines?

Any further comments on my previous message welcomed, I don't want to send this thread in a new direction with this message. Thanks everyone!

ateixeira

I know there was a revised clutch for the Legacy that came out in December, I'm not sure if it fits the Forester but I'd ask.

5-10 minutes is more than usual, but it's also been unusually cold. You are covered for another 88k miles, so don't sweat it too much. Just listen out for any significant changes in the way the engine is running.

On #3, sounds like the ECU. I'd do a reset by disconnecting the battery if it happened to me. It probably cycles itself on and off and fixes itself, is my guess. Could also be condensation in the gas tank (DryGas would address that).

Finally, for #4, I've heard some speculate that the exhaust tip extension quiets any back fire. I'm curious, do you have it? Back fires are more common if you have aftermarket exhausts, which I doubt you do.

-juice

kens

The cold knocking/slapping noise could be the timing belt tensioner. If you're concerned, I'd arrange for the dealer to leave it overnight so they can accurately duplicate the problem.

For #3, try giving the fuel pump to prime for a few seconds by turning the key and holding it at the last notch before the starter kicks in. That might help to smooth some things out.

Ken

lspiva

When you mentioned a "pop" sound, I immidiatelly remember that I heard something similar two days ago.
I have 03 Forester XS AT 5,800 miles. I also have a tale pipe aluminum cover (whatever it called). So when I drove it up to a small hill at about 20MPH (can't say for sure that gear I was on, I believe 2nd) I heard I "pop" sound from the left rear end of the car. At first, I though that I blew the tire, but then when I stoped and checked, the tire was fine. So I though that I just drove over some empty plastic bottle.
I didn't even though that the sound might come up from tail pipe.
In any way, I drive car yesterday for about 20 miles and today for another 10 and haven't heard that sound again.
So I can't tell for sure if the sound that I heard was somehow related to what you described or I really drove over empty bottle.

awdnewbie

Hello, I have an 02 Bean with 3500 miles that is used in NJ and is always gararged, I have noticed that my rear muffler and pipe to Cat have a large amount of rust. Does anyone else have this issue. The dealer will be called on Monday . Thanks.
Mario

ateixeira

I don't recall if the OE exhaust is stainless, but I thought it was. Ask the dealer about it.

If the surface is scratched it can rust, though, especially with the salt they put on the roads.

-juice

thedog4

I have a new 03 WRX Wagon that I have had for 2 weeks now. I am at the 500 mile mark (1/2 way to turbo-time!).

I have noticed that during harder braking, there appears to be some violent shaking of the front end, as if the rotors are warped. Is this an ABS thing that I am not used to? Or have I found something strange?

crashton6

When you see one for that kind of price you have to act now! Don't ask me how I know this.=( There are two posted there now. I paid $130 for mine & I'd say boy was it worth it.=)I would have paid $150, but got lucky.

dauerbach

Hello,

The fact that tomorrow we are expecting 18 inches of snow and my Subaru is broken again has led me here to list the problems I have encountered with my 2000 Subaru Outback.

I purchased this car new after extensive research because I wanted a dependable car that would allow me to travel to work in any kind of weather. Tomorrow is the first day in three years that it will snow enough to matter and I don't have the car.

At 38K the passenger side stabilizer bar snapped. The mechanic said he had never seen that happen on a subaru before.

At 48K the transmission began slipping out of 5th. The transmission was fixed under warrenty but I had to pay for a new clutch that was most likely destroyed by the transmission problem.

At 80K the ignition coil began arcing. I continued to drive the car while waiting for the part and the drive degraded progressively. When it was finally repaired the cat converter had been destroyed. At the same time I had the timing belt replaced as PM.

At 86K it developed a rod knock. This despite the fact I had wanted to keep this car for 200K and had religiously changed the oil every 3-4K and it had never overheated. The engine was replaced.

At 96K (now) the timing belt broke. It was replaced again, but now the mechanic tells me the car won't hold idle and is not sure what is wrong with it. Tomorrow I get to try to get to work in a blizzard without a 4WD vehicle.

Needless to say I am very unhappy with the quality of this product. When I do get the car back I am going to get rid of it. The sad thing is I liked the car in general and if it had not demonstrated such poor workmanship I would have gladly replaced it with another Subaru.

adeel

Hi, I have a 2002 Forester, I have noticed that while driving on the freeway above 60 mph the passenger side window moves if there is a cross wind, it makes a loud shrill sound and I have seen it vibrating and flapping. When this happens the car pulls to the right side. This does not happen on the drivers side window.Is this a known problem and is there a fix. I am afraid since the car tends to moves suddenly to the right side.
Thanks,
Adeel

heidimary

Hi,

I'm going to look at a used 2001 Forester in a few hours. I ran a carfax report and it said there was a manufacturere recall on 2-01-03 for the Engine Control Module. Is this a big deal? The 1-800 number isn't being answered today because of the holiday.

thanks.