Subaru Crew Problems & Solutions

hondafriek

Guys, a 5 year old battery is past it's use by date. If it has not acted up before now, it soon will.Do yourself a favour and replace it before it lets you down,

 

 Murphy's law being what it is, when it does decide to die it will be at about 1-am, in the middle of nowhere, with the temp about 20 below:-)

 

  Cheers Pat.

crashton6

I don't remember how much the oil the diffs take. That info is in your owners manual. I'd look it up for you, but my cars out with my wife right now. You do not need any special additive for for your limited slip. It's a viscous unit & uses regular gear oil.

 

Chuck

hammerhead

Water was fine... voltage was down tothe point where they couldn't even load test it initially... took it home & put it on the charger for a couple hours, voltage came up fine, but still failed the load test.

 

I'm with Pat - I was living on borrowed time on this one. Went from 425 CCA in the old one to 500 on the new.

 

Trying to fool Murphy with one of his own tricks

 

Cheers!

Paul

fibber2

Poor Patti has been sent to the netherworld, but we hope to get her back...

 

Steve

ebony5

I bought my'96 OBW used . The previous owner purchased a new Subaru battery on 3/13/02. What can I expect for the life of the battery? I live in NYC if weather has anything to do with its longevity. Thanks.

98obster

Thanks Jim and Steve. I've concluded that the hose had a crimp where it enters the overflow reservoir. The fluid has been pulled back into engine so I assume the cap is alright. I should think the hose would have an designed elbow in it on later subies since it is almost a 90 degree angle.

 

Jon

jfl

Jon,

 

Duh! I have to remember to look for the simpler solution before going after the more expensive, i.e. radiator cap!

 

Glad you solved it.

 

Jim

jfl

The rear diffy on Legacy/OB takes 0.8 US qt.

 

Remember to remove the fill plug BEFORE the drain plug..

 

Jim

rob_m

FWIW, I live in New England, and have never gone more than 5 years on the last 3 Subarus. Rob M.

ateixeira

One quart was enough for my Forester (no LSD), but get more in case you spill some.

 

-juice

hammerhead

Rule of thumb is about 4 years, although too many variables exist (heat, cold, maintenance, how many times you left the lights on) to pin down any real estimate.

 

I've heard stories of batteries lasting 10 years or more, but those were either rare exceptions or urban legends.

 

Cheers!

Paul

sduford

My personal experience is 4-5 years in cold climates, but 6-7 in warm climates.

 

Sly

hammerhead

There's those darn variables!

ebony5

Thanks- Is there any way to monitor a battery to see if it is close to being replaced. When I have my car serviced I ask to have the battery checked, but I don't really know what that entails other than checking the water level.

hondafriek

3 to 4 years is usually the useful life of a battery.Even if a battery is still performing well for me at 4 years old, I throw it away.

 

 Batteries all things considered are relatively cheap. If you have to be towed and are not in an Auto Club, then you have blown the cost of a battery on a tow.

 

  Cheers Pat.

fibber2

I guess I was closer, but not spot on. Figured it might be related to the hose...

 

Glad to hear you found it, Jon!

 

Steve

leo2633

Thanks for the info, guys. I'm going to change it soon. Regarding batteries, I just put a new Die Hard Gold in my 2001 Forester. Last winter, it seemed to strain a bit while starting on those bitterly cold mornings. I didn't want to go through another winter with it, so I replaced it. I've noticed a definite difference on a few really cold mornings (temps in the low teens). Then again, it's been a bit warmer than normal so far here in New Jersey.

 

I replaced the OEM battery in my 1992 Sentra in January 1997 with a Die Hard, and it's still in that car, believe it or not. (But it's my cheap brother-in-law's car now, and he doesn't want to change it. I would have, definitely.)

 

Len

fibber2

Phil,

 

Load testing (done at a shop) will certainly give you an indication when a battery is starting to get weak. It will not produce the CCA's without an appreciable drop in voltage. You need plenty of amps for the starter motor and a minimum of 10.0 or so volts in order for the electronics to remain functional. There is a degredation curve as the plates build up crud.

 

The other uncertainty is the sudden crash in voltage caused by shorted plates. This is a highly unpredictable end-of-life event. As the crud builds up and breaks off the plates, it settles to the bottom of the case. There is some dead space to accommodate it, but usually well less than an inch. Eventually the sediment touches the end of the plate set and shorts them out. Sometime, you can bounce the battery and get complete short-term recovery by redistributing the crud.

 

The last issue is the downfall of very high amperage batteries. They typically have more plate sets and thus smaller gaps between them. Sometimes they warp with cycling and short out.

 

Probably more info than you were looking for!!

 

Steve

rangner

interesting...so it may not be a good idea to buy a battery with significantly more CCA's than your car calls for--the idea being it will last longer. So it may actually short out earlier than a battery with the correct CCA's.

 

As for testing, I got a little eye dropper thing from walmart with some floating balls in it that's supposed to test whether the battery is good or not. Also, I think they had a little better tester with a gauge for just a little more.

 

I live in a warmer climate (TN) than most on this board so I'll probably change mine before next winter. It's probably a smart idea to change it out though--just to be on the safe side.

 

Eric

hammerhead

If the battery is 'maintenance free' & without removable fill caps, about the only thing you can do is keep an eye on the sight glass for the green dot, and have the battery 'load tested' at the shop if you suspect it's on its way out.

 

If there are cell caps, you can buy a battery tester (looks like an anti-freeze tester) that checks the specific gravity of the electrolyte.

 

Cheers!

Paul

deadeye5

I spent Dec. in Ontario, Canada and because of that-I did buy a WARMER. It is like a small elec. blanket. About 18-20 $$ as I recall. On very cold nites my XT started in a flash..I recall reading an article yrs ago--a FULLY charged

battery only puts out about 60% of its power at

0 degree F.AND a engine at that temp needs 130%

more than when warm to start. Ans.-GET a WARMER..

 

                                Deadeye

fibber2

Eric,

Sometimes, you can get too much of a good thing! From what I have read, batteries that produce more than say 700 CCA (and it depends on the technology...) in the smaller shell sizes are somewhat suspect in terms of the number of plates used. Large American car sizes can pack the same number of plates, and have some breathing room. Subi size batteries would be a bit crammed, and might be more prone to early failure. I cannot really say what is the magic number - technology changes too fast to put a hard stake in the ground. But I would question the merits of a 900 CCA battery for this size engine.

 

The tester with little balls is called a hydrometer, IIRC. As Craig said, it measures Specific Gravity. Pure water has a SG = 1.0. The higher the value, the more acidic (H2SO4) the solution. Fully charged batteries have high acid levels. Fully discharged batteries have an electrolyte close to water.

 

Steve

jopopsy

Hey Gang,

 

Anybody figure out a way to deal with the constant squeaking that comes from the dash storage box? I think the box is a nice idea in concept, but it squeaks like all heck. I opened it up and took a look inside; aside from the lid I can't find any screws to tighten. I can make a squeak by pressing on the inside of the box ...

 

????

 

Sound like a trip to the dealer?

 

Jopopsy

hondafriek

Decided this year at 3 years old to bin the OEM battery. This time I decided to try the Spiral gel Battery AKA Optima.

 

  Cheers Pat.

crashton6

The one on my 2000 Forester has felt on the inside & the area that the box closes on. I'm thinking my 2005 will soon have some there too.

 

Chuck

smeaney

I'm having the identical problem with my '02 Outback. Always in cold weather (single digit temps)and always after a fill up. Were you able to find any resolution?

aviatorvisa

Maybe. I've been waiting for the problem to reappear and we finally had a nasty cold spell down here (10 °F this morning in St. Louis). Sure enough, the faint odor of fuel came seeping in the cabin. I looked and sniffed around the hose clamps leading to and from the fuel filter as Craig suggested and that seemed to be the source of the leak. I checked the tightness of the screws on the clamps on top of the fuel filter and one of them was looser than the other. I tightened it down so they felt equally tight, I didn't want go too tight, I was afraid of stipping either the screw or the nut in the clamp. I looked at service manual at techonline.subaru.com for more info on the fuel system (Paul, many thanks for the lead on the TSB on the Impreza, it was a good place to start looking for information on this issue) and the screws are supposed to be tightened to 0.7 ft-lbs. I don't have anything in my tool box that measures that low so I took my best guess at tightening the loose screw to the same tension as the tighter screw. I drove the car a bit and the gas smell was still there so I parked the car, sniffed around under the hood and drove it some more. The fuel smell was gone. Maybe driving around and opening the hood help dissipate some lingering vapors. I'll have to drive it some more and see if it stays fixed.

 

One more thing, it's been about 90 miles since my last stop at the gas station before this problem reappeared. I'm thinking that the first time I encountered this problem it just happened to coincide with the fill up.

fibber2

Al,

 

Please tell me more about techonline.subaru.com ?? I cannot seem to find it.

 

Steve

aviatorvisa

Hi Steve,

 

Sorry about that, the link is http://techinfo.subaru.com. I can't type.

 

Al

fibber2

Thanks! I had already poked around that one in the past, but without forking over cash for the 3 day access, you cannot get much free useful info. I thought perhaps you had found the keys to a free site with shop manual data.

 

Steve

rangner

What's the advantage of a spiral gel over a conventional battery?

 

Eric

locke2c

a gel cell is 100% maintenance free and if it discharges it can be charged back up with all of its previous capacity. it is much more enduring of deep discharge.

 

~c

hondafriek

Also reputed to take a charge faster than a conventional battery.

 

Also no danger of acid spills if the battery is upended. Makes them more appealing for trunk mounting when weight distribution is a concern.

 

  Cheers Pat.

aviatorvisa

Hi Steve,

 

You might want to shell over the dineros for the service manual, it's got some useful information in there. Under the fuel injection part, there's a trouble shooting page and it has a section for gasoline smell inside of compartment: loose joints at air breather tube, air vent tube and fuel filler pipe (fix: retightening); defective packing air tightness on the fuel saucer (fix: correct or replace packing); cracked fuel separator (fix: replace separator) and inoperative fuel pump modulator or circuit (fix: replace). I got the 3 day subscription and downloaded most of the manual. It's a bit of a pain since they only allow 20 downloads per hour.

 

BTW, another cold morning here in St. Louis and the smell of gasoline is gone. Craig, you made the right call. It was the hose on the fuel filter. Thank you.

 

Al

lark6

See FXT thread.

 

Ed (out to try and crank it over again in 10)

c_hunter

Well good, I hope the problem stays away!

 

Craig

ateixeira

Miata has a gel battery. $80 is a little pricey for a smallish battery, but still it's worth it.

 

-juice

snowhite1

hi everyone, i have a 2000 forester L and my rear defroster is not working properly, only the top two defroster 'lines' or 'wires'? r working. does anyone have a 'cheap' solution, aside from replacing the whole rear glass. i need u'r help.

thanks

snowhite1

ps. any suggestion will be greatly appreciated

c_hunter

Look carefully to see if any of the heating element is scratched or missing. If so, you can buy repair kits to "paint" over the broken section. That should restore continuity and function of the defroster grid.

 

Craig

ateixeira

I've seen those kits also, at auto parts stores. Try one.

 

-juice

hondafriek

If only two of the grids are working then all the others have to be damaged.The grids are in parallel, not in series so if one grid wire is damaged the rest won't be affected.

 

  Cheers Pat.

pearl

Just had the headgasket go out on my spouse's 99 Forester with 2.5L engine and 78K miles. Was in a town with no Subie dealer with the car overheating. Took it to a Suzuki dealer who also owns a Subaru dealer in another town and they said that they could repair the car and get the parts from their sister dealership. Car is still there awaiting repairs and had to rent a car to drive home. Did a little checking on the internet and found out that there had been a recall for this problem back in February 04, however, we never received any word on this, and have had the car back to the dealer since then for service and they never mentioned it. Called Subaru of America and got the expected runaround. We are in the process of documenting everything now and hope to get some compensation, but are not holding our breaths.

hondafriek

There was no recall as such, subaru instituted a programme wherby you have a coolant conditioner added to the cooling.

 

In the USA if you had the conditioner added by a dealer the head Gasket warranty was extended to 100,000 miles.

 

  Cheers Pat.

jfl

Was 1999 included in the program? I thought it started with Y2K.

 

Jim

c_hunter

Pat -- there can still be a problem with the grid if one of the side "bus bar" stripes is scratched. Normally, there are side stripes that provide +/- to the entire set of horizontal elements. If one of the side stripes is damaged, it could only be conducting to some of the horizontal lines. That is what I was thinking. And coincidentally, power often comes in at the top of the grid on a hatchback, so the two stripes at the top that are working are likely closest to the +/- inputs. If there was a break in the side stripe below those two working stripes, that would exlpain it.

 

Craig

sms2

Your messages describe exactly what happened with our new Outback this week. So, apparently, your car's failure (and ours) is not an isolated incident. We bought our 2005 Subaru Legacy Outback 2.5 XT Ltd. (5-speed manual) on Dec. 30, 2004 and less than 3 weeks later on Jan. 18, 2005, when the temperatures had fallen to the teens, the car would not start (same problem that you described). As the first snow of the season hit northern Virginia, there I was yesterday on Jan. 19, 2005 riding in a flatbed tow truck to take our brand new Subaru back to the dealer. We were shocked when this new Subaru wouldn't start. This is the third Subaru we've owned since purchasing our first Subaru in 1982 when we lived "out West"; we kept that 1982 Subaru for almost 20 years, trading it in for a 2001 model, and then just trading in that car for a 2005 turbo-charged model. Our previous confidence in the dependability of Subarus is sorely shaken by this experience, especially after talking with another owner at the dealer yesterday who had experienced a series of electrical problems with his 2005 Subaru and then finding your messages. We read your subsequent messages and are going through a similar process with the dealer. Please keep us updated on your experiences, and we'll post an update after we hear from our dealer. Thanks.

sduford

Caution, sarcasm follows:

 

That is not possible! Subaru has legendary reliability! Their reliability is the envy of the industry!

 

End of sarcasm.

 

Seriously, sorry to hear about your problem. I've been lucky and had no such problems so far on my OBXT. But I have seen an alarming number of electrical problem reports here and on other forums.

 

Also seen reports of fit and finish issues. I think the Indiana plant does not produce consistent quality. Generally good, but not very consistent.

 

Also Subaru's reliability and service ratings have been sliding in customer surveys. Not a good sign.

 

Sly

ateixeira

C'mon, no car is perfect. Toyota sludge, Honda trannies, and yes, Subaru head gaskets.

 

pearl: you're doing the right thing, document it all and call 800-SUBARU3 to open a case number. Let them know that you are on the Edmunds boards and will share the outcome of your experience with hundreds of Edmunds members.

 

-juice

xwesx

E..e...ee..... electrical problems? Hmm......

 

I've already added my $.02 on it, so hopefully your dealer can root it out. From the number of good experiences folks have recounted on here, I'd say it is a very uncommon problem but that doesn't help you any! Good luck with it, sms; here's to hoping it can be resolved quickly!

 

-Wes-

skiguy2

have a 97 Outback, 138K miles, -- really like it but recently had an overheat, took it in for a look, got a new radiator and thermoststat puty in as 'trusty' shop owner said was needed, got it back and after 160 miles it overheats again, took it back and 'trusty shop guy' put ins in a new water pump, well after another 160+ mile drive she overheats a third time and is now at a different shop and they said putting new parts never did anything and I might be looking at getting new head gaskets I am told by my trustworthy father in law who looked inderneath and nopted poor radiator/trnsmission line hook up and due to steam coming from the tailpipe then I might have water getting into the pistons(??). So I wonder if I am better of to get a rebuilt engine put in the Subaru instead of new head gaskets which might cost around the same; I have put a dispute on my CC card to get 900 off the 1100 he charged me for the 3 new parts recently installed. Any thoughts about rebuilt engines for my 97 Subaru to keep it going since I don't have the $$ to get a new one.