Subaru Crew Problems & Solutions

sduford

"As is well known here I had lots of Hondas before going Subaru."

Hence the name! It all makes sense now

c_hunter

The majority of dealer service departments are not good these days, with any brand. I have seen shoddy work with Hondas, Mazdas, and Subarus. I do more and more maintenance myself nowadays -- it's just not worth the hassle to mess with those guys.

I think part of the problem is that mechanics are not really trained well these days and expert mechanics who actually like the work are rare. A lot of the mechanics I bump into at dealers are lazy and clearly don't care about their work.

In contrast, some of the smaller independent shops are great, as they are usually owned and operated by people who like working on cars and take pride in their work. I would definitely use an independent for big jobs. Anybody know if SOA will reimburse us for warranty repairs made by independents, or are we stuck with the dealers?

Craig

snowbelter

Steve: Your note reminded of what happened to you last year. If I remember correctly it was a real mess and Patti helped out on that one. Craig: The dealer I use has been selling Subaru for 25+ years and has a number of long-time and qualified techs. And the other side of the showroom sells Jags whose customers get the white-glove treatment. I see rushing to get things done and a lack of quality control and supervision as the problem. We never had a problem with the local Mazda dealer or the Mazda dealer back in Virgina. I came across a local shop with a good reputation, but they don't do warranty work or extended warranty work.

hilbert

This is very sad. I thought that from now I will always go to the dealer and I will be guaranteed a great service. I do not have to worry about them cheating and asking me to get things done which are not really required. It seems, that is not the case. At least my dealer is well known for good service, but I am not sure whether that is restricted to selling cars or it applies to post-sale service too.
More importantly, it seems dealers make more profit through maintenance and repair work than by selling new cars. I think that should give them some incentive to have competent people. A potential loss in the form of people avoiding them for maintenance and repair work may affect them significantly.

Are we allowed to post dealers names here? If so, I would strongly suggest that people post any good/bad experiences with any dealer. That will save some of us from trouble and if dealers learn that there behavior has consequences they will be forced to act upon it. A popular forum such as this may have some decent sized impact.

jlemole

I recently had my first brake service at 55k miles on my Outback. The rotors were cut during that service. Now at 64k the rotors are clearly warped. I'm a gold warranty member. Will I be wasting my time trying to have the rotors replaced under warranty? If so, I'll avoid the time and hassle, buy a set of Brembo's, and bring it over to the Paisan. Any thoughts or prior experiences?

Jon

sduford

Over the last few years here in Canada, Subaru, along with Volkswagen and Volvo, have been building a reputation for poor dealer experience and after-sale service.

I find that very unfortunate, especially as Subaru is trying to move up-market and is even charging a premium here in Canada

Sly

snowbelter

Rotors are excluded from coverage under the Extended Warranty. But it costs nothing to ask the dealer. My rotors only made it to 30k, so you've done well. You must have an MT. Martin

crashton6

I don't know about the gold warranty, but I do know when you turn rotors you make them thinner & they are sure to warp. IMO if they need to be turned you're better off just getting new ones.

luck11

Folks, thank a ton for the info. Appreciate the discount code. Chuck, thanks for the offer of your valve, but I really like the idea of using a hose to reduce the mess. I don't do much off-roading.

I'm going to order one with the nipple.

Cheers,
Jay

fibber2

Good memory, Martin! Yes, Patti made all the difference. I actually talked to my wife about selling the car and moving on after that incident. But Patti's actions with the dealership GM, etc., kept me in the fold. She has an incredibly powerful influence.... We need her back to continue the battle with the "Evil Dealer Empire"!

Steve

jfl

With all this talk about dealer service (or lack there of), it's beginning to look like I'll be replacing the timing belt myself.

Jim

rob_m

The service at my dealer is actually very good.

My first complaint is that for scheduled maintenance, they adhere to the extremely severe maintenance routine which translates into big bucks for the 15k and 30k services.

My other complaint is the response to service while under extended warrantee (I hope my friend Patti is listening to this!). With a 100K gold warrantee, I found it extremely difficult if not impossible, to get anything done under warrantee by the dealer.

I lived with several oil leaks for over two years before they were found (huh!) and repaired. My power antenna gave me years of problems before the motor was replaced. It had to be completely broken to be covered, not an intermittant problem. I might have helped it along one day ...

The best however is my sunroof. Gaskets are covered under the warrantee. The gasket split on the sunroof. HOWEVER, because the gasket is attached to the glass, and glass is not covered by the warrantee, the sunroof gasket is not covered by exclusion. Because I did not want to dish out $350 plus 2 hours of labor, my sunroof still leaks 4 years later.

Back to the original statement. The service at my dealer is very good ... as long as you don't mind paying some serious bucks. Rob M.

hilbert

Rob that does not sound like good service to me. Maybe they are competent (and it is true that we started this as a discussion regarding competence), but giving your customer so much trouble when he has paid for the warranty, is not a good service. In fact, quite bad.
I guess you are saying that you can at least be confident that when they do something you are certain they will repair it well and not screw up anything else. That part is of course very good.

sduford

Huh, and you call that good service? I think your expecations are lower than most of us...

Sly

snowbelter

If Subaru wants to stand out in the crowd beyond "the Beauty of All-Wheel Drive", they would officially sanction the position of "ombudsperson", someone with the job of cutting through the bureaucratic levels at SOA to solve unresolved customer problems, and to keep SOA aware of what customers are thinking, and saying about Subaru and its dealers. This is what Patti has been doing for the couple of years I've been here and she has demonstrated she has the personality and ability to do this job. This is my 2 cents plus. For disclosure purposes, I don't know and have never met Patti, have no relationship with SOA or its dealers, and no one has suggested I write this. Martin

fibber2

I have never had the honor of meeting her in person either, but like may others, I have been the beneficiary of her helping hand. Yes, her presence appears to have been a unique experiment in web commerce. We can only hope that SoA management will grasp this from the comments posted here, and reinstate her, or appoint someone with like talents to a similar position.

You might want to read some of the dialog in the Meet the Members thread over the last 4-5 days. It has been rich in "Patti" testimonials.

Steve

c_hunter

Excellent points made by Martin!

zman3

I was wondering what happened to Patti. I thought maybe she was lurking or I was just missing her posts. Is she no longer active in the Edmunds forums?

fibber2

is that it was not deemed a proper fit given the responsibilities of her new job within SoA. She would like to continue doing it, but her future here is in doubt (at least in an official capacity).

Steve

zman3

Thanks Steve.

Karl

ateixeira

Chuck: if you don't want it, you wanna sell it?

-juice

hondafriek

Compared to Subaru of America Subaru of Canada sucks, It's hard to believe that they are actually the same company.

 

  Apart from one hiccup I had with my dealer last year I have had outstanding service since. For the little I use them that is as I do most of my own servicing.

 

  Cheers Pat.

rsilverman1

This reply is a little outdated for this post however I want to relay this info.-- that the reset of the ECU reduced the frequency of my "backfire" or "pop" in a manual trans. 2001 Forester from very regular to almost not at all. I have been experiencing this problem ever since I took new delivery of the vehicle and after constant complaints to the dealer and being told they couldn't find anything wrong, was ready to give up. Thanks for your help -- how come the dealer doesn't know this sort of thing? --now I just have the chattering clutch to live with!

rsilverman1

On a 2001 Forester the dealer keeps recommending a "fuel service, engine decarbon, and engine flush" for $240. This was stated when I took the car in at 35K miles and again at 53K miles. Both times I refused. Is this a case of a Subaru dealer trying to pull a rip-off or is this a legitimate service to perform?

rob_m

It sounds a bit excessive to me. Unless the vehicle is not running right - but that might start throwing codes or a check engine light which are indictive of other problems.

 

I had the injectors cleaned on my 96 Outback. Once. Cost $89. It went from 20k highway miles a year to 5k miles around town and occasional weekend trips.

 

It started bogging down when cold and the engine was skipping on long inclines. Problem cured.

 

I hope this helps! Rob M.

pmz

Hello,

 

Have an '04 Forester XS /8K miles with a factory installed alarm system. Got back from running errands here in Mid Miohigan today which was snowy/rainy/sloppy - if you live here, you know what I mean.

 

After parking the car in the garage, my wife noticed a steady audible beef coming from the engine compartment.

 

After verifying that there is not a tire leak and opening the radiator to release pressure, the steady beep continued. We noted the beep was most pronounced by the grill - right by the Subaru logo.

 

What I found was that if I replaced the hood prop firmly in its connector, the beep went away, when I lifted it out, the beep came back - not always, but 90% of the time.

 

If I get it to stop the contiuous soft beep by messing with the hood, when I use the remote key, it always starts again.

 

My theory is that I have a fauly alarm system - there is probably a sensor by the hood latch that got wet/salted and now renders my alarm system / door locks useless. I do not get any beeps, flashed, etc.

 

Any one else see this - needless to say, it's another trip to the dealer tomorrow....

 

Paul

crashton6

I think they are just trying to make some more money off of you at service time. I put a bottle of Techron in at each oil change. It cost about $6-8 a bottle. Techron is a fuel system cleaner.

 

Chuck

crashton6

I've not seen or heard of that. I didn't think there was a alarm sensor for the hood. I just bought a 2005 XT with an alarm system. Could you let us know what the dealer finds.

 

Thanks

 

Chuck

crashton6

No I don't want to sell it. But if you'd like it it's yours. Send me your address. I can't guarantee Christmas delivery. ;-)

hypov

I don't believe the OEM comes with hood trigger either.

Most alarm system will emit an audible at intervals when the battery is running low. Check to see if that might be it.

 

-Dave

rangner

What do you guys think about following the recommended tire pressure ratings on the door of you subie? Here's a guy that doesn't follow them.

 

For the first two years of our new life in America, I'd take our Subaru for its service, and it would come back with the tyres pumped up to 40psi. Each time, I'd check the door pillar sticker which informed me that they should be 32psi front and 28psi rear, and let the air out to get to those values. Eventually, seeing odd tyre wear and getting fed up of doing this, I asked one of the mechanics "why do you always over-inflate the tyres?" I got a very long and technical response which basically indicated that Subaru are one of the manufacturers who've never really adjusted their recommended tyre pressures in line with new technology. It seems that the numbers they put in their manuals and door stickers are a little out of date. I'm a bit of a skeptic so I researched this on the internet in some of the Impreza forums and chat rooms and it turns out to be true. So I pumped up the tyres to 40psi front and rear, as the garage had been doing, and as my research indicated. The result, of course, is a much stiffer ride. But the odd tyre wear has gone, and my gas-mileage has changed from a meagre 15.7mpg (U.S) to a slightly more respectable 20.32 mpg (U.S). That's with mostly stop-start in-town driving. Compare that to the official quoted Subaru figures of 21mpg (city) and 27mpg (freeway) and you'll see that by changing the tyre pressures to not match the manual and door sticker, I've basically achieved their quoted figures.

 

I'm not sure about 40 psi, but I'd like to get better mileage than what I'm getting.

 

Thoughts?

 

Eric

jam05

Hi all, I'm new to the forum as my wife and I are new Subaru owners with an '05 Outback LLBean. I am a "hands-on" car owner (do my own oil changes, etc.) and would really like to know if there are any known issues/problems, etc. with the new '05's yet. Any insight, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Happy holidays!

lark6

I'm cross-posting this from the Forester XT thread. I was going to cross-post to the WRX STi thread but I see that's now read-only, so I cross-post here in the event any STi owners have had the same problem. I'll be as brief (Cliffs Notes version) as possible.

  

Get into car ('05 Forester XT) Friday morning and attempt to start. Car turns over, won't start. Battery has enough juice to power accessories. Call Subaru Roadside Assistance. Car gets flatbedded to dealer; tow guy asks me to bring along spare set of keys. Car gets offloaded at dealer; tow guy gets into car with spare keys, starts car right up(!). Dealer performs diagnostics, determines car did not recognize my primary key and activated immobilizer. Keys get reprogrammed; car now starts with all keys. Off I go.

  

I'm curious if anyone with immobilizer keys has had this problem yet. Dealer said they'd had few reports but not enough to spot a trend.

  

Ed

sduford

I'm actually planning to bump mine up by about 3 or 4 PSI, we'll see how it goes.

 

Sly

hypov

Hmmmm... static charge scrambled the codings?

Or, been near any magnet that morning?

 

-Dave

 

p/s: If static is the culprit, boy, would I be visiting the dealers regularly for reprogram - I'm charged year round

fibber2

Eric,

 

I would be a bit concerned about going to that extreme for the following:

 

1) Make sure that this does not exceed the max as indicated on the tire sidewall.

2) Tire 'give' reduces the transmission of impact to the suspension and unitbody. That harshness is accompanied by additional stress.

3) That same give also saves the tires belts and cord body from damage.

4) The pressure differential front to rear is ratioed to the vehicle weight distribution to even out effective rolling circumference. Messing that up might put stress on the center differential, and overheat it.

5) The higher pressure reduces rolling resistance in part by decreasing the contact patch. That directly translates to less grip. In an emergency stop, it may increase the chance of the rear end breaking loose and coming around on you.

 

In summary, I wouldn't do it. Consumer Reports used to recommend going up 2 psi or so to save gas, a little bit of wear, and give a slight load/temperature margin.

 

Steve

c_hunter

I typically run 2-3 psi higher than the door sticker. 40psi is way too high in my opinion -- it's out of the range of comfort and way out of the range needed to support the car's weight.

 

A lot of WRX owners bump up the tire pressure for better handling, but that is not something I would use to conclude that it's the right thing to do for every car and every situation. Rather, it probably applies to a small percentage of the cars onthe road. In fact, a lot of those people are running very low profile tires which can be a different ball game alltogether. And I have seen knuckleheads talk about how they run at 50psi "as written on the tire" !! (in other words, the max, not the running pressure).

 

Finally, mechanics and service reps at dealers have given out some of the most inaccurate, erroneous, and potentially dangerous information I have seen. I don't give them much credibility at all.

 

My personal experience is that bumping Subaru's recommended pressure up 2-3 psi for high to medium profile tires (55 aspect ratio and higher) is probably just about right.

 

Craig

ateixeira

Chuck: you've got mail. :-)

 

If I install it I'll document the whole process to benefit everyone here.

 

The ride's too stiff at 40psi. I like 32-33 or so.

 

-juice

ateixeira

rsilverman1: glad my advice helped some.

 

Here's another tip - if you don't have the exhaust tip covers, try those. Supposedly, and don't ask me to explain why, but supposedly people with those experience backfires with less frequency.

 

I have no idea why, but that's what was observed early on among Forester owners.

 

We did a fuel service on our 626 and it solved a rather nasty hesitation problem we had, but that was after 70k miles IIRC.

 

I had tried Techron but that was not enough. And we'd been using premium fuel only up to that point in time. I still think we just got a bad batch of gas or something.

 

-juice

p0926

Eric- I keep mine at around 35 psi (IIRC, the max pressure for the Geos is 44 psi). I've discovered that most manufacturers recommend a lower psi in order to maximize ride comfort to the detriment of tread wear and mileage.

 

-Frank

rochcom

Over the years, the amount of maintenance that needs to be done on most vehicles at their routine 15k and 30k service intervals has decreased greatly. Because dealers would make less money on them, they are often tempted to "package" a bunch of services that are not really necessary along with those that are called for in the owner's manual.

 

You can ask the dealer to quote on just the service that is required in the manual. If the dealer refuses, then I would go to another dealer or independent shop for service. On most Subaru models, the only service needed at 15,000 is an oil change, lubrication of locks and hinges, and visual inspection of brakes, belts and hoses.

 

Many shops routinely include the inspections with every oil change, if requested. Thus, at my dealer, if I ask for the 15k service, they charge something like $120, but if I ask for an oil change and 21 point inspection, I get all of the necessary services for $100 LESS.

 

At 30,000, the same is required plus changing coolant, brake, clutch differential and transmission fluids, and in some models, changing spark plugs. My dealer charges about $375 for a 30,000 service WITHOUT plugs but includes cleaning brake calipers, tire rotation and a 21 point inspection. However, when I ask, they do only what is required in the manual for about $200. They will do the 21 point inspection FREE if asked, even if no other service is scheduled because it is a way of generating business, howver, they do NOT take advantage of customers by recommending unnecessary repairs. I hope this helps.

snowbelter

I've mentioned more than once that I have to add coolant from time to time on my 02 VDC, now at 37000 miles. I've added more than a pint in the last 7500 miles. The Dealer has checked for leaks and pressure tested perhaps a half dozen times since I purchased the car and never found any leaks and I've never seen any coolant on our garage floor. The Service Manager tells me its "evaporation". I don't think he has a clue, but I feel covered knowing I've documented the problem, and am still covered by the Power Train Warranty and Gold Plus Extended Warranty. Anyone else with an H6 have this sort of problem? The sidebar to this is that the Service Manager tells me that the correct coolant level for a cold car is the "low" mark on the expansion tank, and that I should only add coolant when it goes below the low mark and bring it up to the low mark. The car's manual tells me that I should add coolant up to the "high" mark when it goes down to the low mark. Subaru calls this dealer a "Stellar Performer". Am I missing a corrected page in my manual? I'd hate to see what a non Steller Performer dealer is like. Martin

hondafriek

I typically run 34PSI. all around.

 

  Cheers Pat.

pmz

Of course, I could not re-create the noise today. the dealer said it was probably an alarm problem and to bring it back when it repeats itself.

 

The beep I believe was the same tone and volume as the beep from when you lock the car remotely. I wonder if the speaker element is near the radiator...

 

Paul

pmz

Of course, I could not re-create the noise today. the dealer said it was probably an alarm problem and to bring it back when it repeats itself.

 

The beep I believe was the same tone and volume as the beep from when you lock the car remotely. I wonder if the speaker element is near the radiator...

 

Paul

dcm61

PSI? Does the 51st state actually go by PSI, not some metric equivalent?

 

DaveM

dcm61

Of course, I could not re-create the noise today.

 

But you had no problem recreating your message today. ;-)

 

Tip - Don't hit refresh after posting.

 

FYI - You can delete the duplicate by selecting the delete option.

 

DaveM

sduford

If we were the 51st state your war mongering commander in chief would never have been elected!

 

I'm afraid we're growing further and further apart...

p0926

If we were the 51st state your war mongering commander in chief would never have been elected!

I'm afraid we're growing further and further apart...

 

Hmm... with an attitude like that we certainly will ;-(

 

-Frank

hypov

I can't remember or I do not know,...

is Canada still a Commonwealth, United Kingdom?

 

I think they use both Imperial and Metric.

I'm running 34/33 psi front/rear, 35/34 is too bone jarring.

 

-Dave