Subaru Crew Problems & Solutions

locke2c

Actually there is a Federal law related to emissions that requires engines go 100,000 miles with only replacing consumable items such as air filters and oil. Immediately after it went into effect, Subaru's belt change interval jumped from 90,000 miles to 105,000. It seemed to me that the belt did not change in any way.

I would replace the belt and change the tires if you are planning to resell the vehicle yourself. The vehicle will be much easier to sell with those items done. However if you are trading the vehicle to a dealer there may be a lot less of a reason to replace them.

~Colin

bat1161

I would go with changing the belt. On my old Honda, the timing belt was supposed to be replaced at 60,000 miles. Sure enough, while on vacation, it went at 59,998. Since then I will not take a chance on waiting.

Just my .02.

Mark

ateixeira

Considering the age of the car, I think in this case it's not pushing your luck too much to keep the OE belt for a little longer than what's usually recommended.

I bet mine is in worse shape, I have 83k miles on my '98. But it's 9 years old, while yours is just 3 years old.

-juice

rob_m

Cost of belt < Cost of valves. Rob M.

ateixeira

True, but what wears on the belts is the cold/damp morning warm-ups, and he hasn't seen too many of those.

Inspect the other belts to be safe. Do you see any cracking? Is the tension still OK? Do you hear any squeeking? If you notice wear on those accessory belts, go ahead and change all of them.

-juice

xwesx

I second what everyone else has said, plus:

I first changed my timing belt ('96 2.5L) at 83.6K in August of 2000 when I bought it (I had put about 60 miles on the car at the time). The car was 5 years old and, other than all of the timing marks being fairly well faded from the outside of the belt, was in excellent condition. No drying, no cracks, etc. Keep in mind that I am the 4th owner of the car and it had many..... issues.... that presented themselves within a week after buying it, so I think it probably was not well loved in at least one of its previous lives. I purchased it in Pasco, WA, but it was first sold in Anchorage, AK (to give you a rough idea of the climates to which it was subjected). I next replaced the belt at 144K and again, it looked perfect aside from being well oiled (won't go into it!). I next replaced it at 192.5K and again, looked perfect. I have to replace my other belts once every two years at most and they look very worn when I change them out, so the timing belt does not suffer from the temperature extremes as much as the others. In fact, I always keep the prior belt as a "just in case" spare in the event that I have to work on the engine on the fly and somehow damage the current belt if I had not planned to replace it. Silly I know, but I really do have to dig into it that often! Hahah.... :sick:

Take the above for what it is worth. But, if you are going to sell it yourself, you should consider that if you leave it for someone else then that cost will likely come off sale price so you are paying for it one way or the other. The best option would be a weekend project - all the benefit and none (well, almost none) of the cost!

98obster

I had the same problem, the hose to the recovery tank where it enters was kinked and blocking flow. Replaced hose and everything is fine. I am thinking of installing an elbow at the bend point to prevent the same thing in the future. At least you know if the top radiator hose is collapsing, there are no leaks eh? Jon

galligt

I also have a 2001 Forester L and have exactly the same problem. I took it to the dealer and they said the tranny was disintegrating bevcuase the fluid had debris such as metal filings in it. they helpfully suggested I pay them $3750 CAD for a new one.
I would love to hear any info on the problem. (transmission losing gear at a stop, slipping into neutral, sometimes regaining it, if switched into third gear, sometimes if engine revved and then the car lurches forward, never a problem with reversing...)
Please help!
This looks like it could be the end of the road for Subaru and me.

locke2c

Take it to a transmission specialist. If you get on automatic transmission problems early, they often can be fixed without a complete overhaul let alone a whole new transmission.

Unfortunately, a lot of people don't do this and by the time they take it in the transmission has pretty serious damage.

~Colin

rangner

10-4; at least I have to be happy about that right? I think my hose is ok. I believe the radiator cap is junked up with coolant conditioner stuff--maybe a thorough cleaning will tell me more.

Eric

n8wvi

I give up. I've looked EVERYWHERE. Does anyone know where the trans filter for an '02 VDC is located? If you do, please be specific, as I've already looked everywhere I can see.

Thanks,
Dave

rangner

I don't own a 6cyl OB, but I seem to remember it being under the drivers side front bumper. Maybe someone else can chime in.

Eric

b10609

My wife's Forester has 31,000 km and dealer is proposing to replace 2 cylinders/pistons It's 41 months old now and I note other folks appear to have a short block installed as a solution - anyone out there who can advise of the success of either type of warranty repair ? Comments please. -Waterloo

cathmac

Am I correct in inferring that you have the Subaru backed extended warranty "Assurance Plan"? I ask because the vehicle is 41 months old.

There has been a lot of discussion on Subaru piston slap in general in these pages recently. To find those posts go to the top or bottom of this page where it says "search this discussion". If my impression is accurate, there are mixed results on the success of piston replacement.

Sometimes the problem developes again. I think that's because the problem slap isn't necessarily merely due to the pistons themselves but also how they are situated and how they interact with the components around them.

If you search this site I think you'll find a description of that, which may or may not make sense to you depending upon how much you know about Subaru engines. In any case, you are probably stuck with the piston replacement but you certainly want to be watching for signs that the problem is recurring, keeping the expiration date of your warranty in mind.

Good luck, ~Cath

zman3

I had my short block replaced on my 98 OB at about the same months of service as yours. My piston slap came back within about a year. I traded it in after 7.5 years and 105K and the piston slap never got any worse. With the block replacement I am guessing that it is the luck of the draw as to whether the new block has issues or not. Personally, I would go with the newer pistons with the longer skirts. It seems like more of a true fix to me. That's just one persons opinion however.

Karl

galligt

Unfortunately, there really was no warning until very recently and the transmission needs a complete overhaul to the tune of $3200+ CAD. the problem is that the cooling system for the transmission was inadequate. It sounds a lot like a design or manufacturing defect, but the guy at Mr. Transmission wont say so in definitive terms.

lfdal

The dealer just did the driver's side pistons in my wife's 03 OBW at about 38000 miles. Piston slap had been an issue in that car almost from the time we purchased it new.

Looking at the slip, it looks like they ordered all 4 pistons, but only replaced the driver's side pistons since only the cylinder head gasket on the driver's side was replaced. I'm assuming they decided those were the only ones it needed. That was certainly the side the noise was coming from.

It's been 3000 miles since the job and the car hasn't sounded this good in 2+ years.

It's funny - for all the fight some of the dealers put up doing it, the warranty bill was only $1760.00 USD. Car was out of service for just one day.

HTH

Larry

krenaue

Last night at 2 am in the morning my 2002 Forester started beeping. Beeped a couple of times and then was silent for 30 minutes before it started beeping again. Very intermitent. I tried the remote a few times. Doors locked and unlocked but I notice that the parking lights are not flashing anymore. Thought it might be in valet mode so went through that process to disengage but no change. The secuity icon on the dash is lit steadily - though very dimly - but not flashing. Ended up disconnecting the battery so I could get some sleep. The manual doesn't alk about the icon remaining lit without flashing. Could I have a short in the system somewhere? Any ideas in possibly resetting the entire security system. Car starts fine even though it is the orignal battery. Would appreciate any feedback or suggestions before I turn it over to the dealer to fix.

kens

From what I know, dealers used to replace the entire short block prior to Subaru issuing the countermeasure pistons. The problem with swapping the entire short block is that not only is it expensive, there's no guarantee that the new one won't have the problem.

I had the pistons swapped in my 98 Forester and it fixed the slap for good.

Ken

n8wvi

I JUST found it (on scoobymods). It's inside the left fender. And I thought Subaru's were easy to work on (yeah, you're right, at least it's not in the pan).

Dave

b10609

Thanks Ken, I'm happy they aren't going the short block route if they're successful with the two piston cure. I didn't realize that 98's like yours were having the problems, too. Our old '95 2.2 Legacy ran without a hitch for 10 years. My daughter had it for the last 5 years and just traded it last fall for a new Impreza 2.5 RS so we're hoping she doesn't see the same slap problem with hers. - Waterloo

kens

Yeah, unfortunatley, the problem dates back to when Subaru introduced the 2.5 motor. Since it's a bored and stroked 2.2, they needed a way to make things fit. One of the ways was to use a "pancake" piston with very short skirts.

Ken

b10609

Thanks for the reply & observations, Cathmac. The Subaru warranty is the standard (for Canada) 5 year 100,000 km power train coverage on this car. The piston re-do is happening today by the dealer and hopefully the re-build proves okay. Agreed, the expiry date gives us a bit of time to see how the engine settles again after they're done. The dealer acknowledged they've done a number of these jobs before I turned the keys over. I hope the service guys are good at this !! - Waterloo

mrk610

Had the new pistons installed in 02 outback at 48 k miles .
Car now has 64 k and tha slap is back but no nearly as loud.
My dealer tells me now that there is nothing he can do about it .
NO future repairs are authorized . He says live with it or trade it .
Going the SOA route now .

Mike K

lfdal

My dealer essentially said the same thing, the noise may or may not come back, and if it does, I'm on my own. Figure if I start to hear it, its trade in time.

Given what I've seen, and read about, its not destructive, but if you are selling the car to someone whose not familiar with Subarus, the engine sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen.

At that, its still no fun listening to that noise all the time, either.

Larry

cathmac

Waterloo,
Depending on whether you want to keep the car and how close you are to the expiration of the original Mfr's warranty you may want to consider getting an extended Mfr's / Subaru "Assurance Plan" before it's too late. If you lived in the states I could tell you the best place to get up to 40% off of MSRP but I'll bet if you do your internet research and call around you can find a decent discount.
~Cath

b10609

Cathmac: Car is back with new pistons tonite and feels fine again. Dealer returned it with a few more KM's on it -didn't notice it at pick up time. They said they had gone over everything in detail. Road test was probably the reason. Their service dept has a strong reputation locally and all work was done with no question or argument like I've seen on other posts. Warranty is good till Nov 2007 (5 years) and with a 100,000 km maximum my wife will not likely exceed more than 60,000 km by the expiry date. I will explore the extended option as you suggest-Waterloo

mb789

Hello. I have never had a Subaru, but I'm considering buying a 2006 Forester. Does anyone know how common the piston-slap problem is? Is this something that happens to most Foresters, or more like less than 1% of them?

Is it a major defect -- expensive like cracked heads, new transmission, or something like that?

Is there anything I should be cautious of before buying -- manufacture dates, etc.?

kens

Piston slap is not a common problem. I think it was more prevalent many years ago when Subaru first introduced the 2.5L engine with the shortened piston skirts. That engine has gone through several revision since then and I would imagine Subaru did some tweaking to that design.

Even then, from what I've read and heard, the slap does not seem to cause any serious damage to the engine. Someone here posted that they actually looked into their engine while it was being worked on for piston slap and the cylinder inside was fine. I've also had the same unique experience of being able to see my 1998 Forester's engine apart at the dealer and the mechanic said the cylinder walls looked new, intact with the original honing.

So, don't worry. The odds are very much in your favor that you'll be getting a very reliable vehicle.

Ken

Mr_Shiftright

you're probably right but the human eye wouldn't notice damage from piston slap...what it does is make the cylinders kind of egg-shaped top to bottom over the course of time, and this will lead to more noise and more oil consumption eventually....but again, unless you're delivering cement with the car this wear could take a long, long time.

shan_jarvis

Okay, so I decided to have the head gasket replaced again. It was completed about a month ago. Last week I thought the engine was sounding a little louder than normal when it was idling, so I popped the hood and thought I should just peek at the coolant.....The resivour was completely empty!!!!

Do you have any ideas what the problem might be now?
Thanks for your help!
Shannon

See post #6368

ateixeira

I would recommend topping it off and then "burping" the system.

That's not a joke, there is a screw next to the radiator cap, when you open it, it bleeds out any air pockets in the cooling system.

Basically, the system does this and might be sucking in more coolant to compensate.

If you're not familiar with cooling systems, have a mechanic do it for you. I've done this myself, so it's not hard or anything.

When all this is done, mark the level of the coolant in the reservoir. Then drive it and check the level. A slight drop is OK, but if it keeps dropping then maybe the gaskets are still not sealing properly.

-juice

xwesx

The phrase "a little louder than normal" is rather vague, but I am not sure how it, as a symptom, could be linked to the coolant. So, I will leave the coolant suggestion to what juice said and add that my definition of "louder" is valve noise, caused on mine by low oil levels. I typically do not hear it until the oil level is >1 quart low. My recommendation is that you check the oil level and, if low, top it off and keep a close eye on that as well. Head gasket replacement is a major repair as you well know, so it is possible that a gasket/seal seated poorly and is allowing some seepage. :sick:

Oddly, I thought I would have cured my car's oil use problems when I re-sealed the whole thing back at 192.5K, but here I am over 10K later and I still need to add a 1/2 quart every 300 miles. There are no leaks, though! I have not seen that engine stay so clean for so long! *shakes his head*

fibber2

Once again, I came home in the rain on Friday night from the airport, and let the car sit in the garage without using it over the weekend. As has happens so often with these OEM parts, the brake pads were again 'cold welded' to the rotors. I had to give it gas to break them free (with a real 'snap' sound as they let go).

Only this time, something else happened... The brake pedal at first felt overly hard, then sank almost to the carpet! I pumped it a few times and it recovered. I did a few slow speed stops and it made the typical corroded rotor grind, but seemed to stop OK. A booster problem, perhaps? I preceeded to work with care, but everything seemed fairly normal.

On the way home with the windows open I could hear a bit of a metallic scraping sound. I assumed it was the wear sensor. Side loads would make it happen, as would mild braking. But with slightly harder braking, all was reasonably quiet, but the brakes felt weak.

I know they are getting thin, and have new PowerSlot rotors and Hawk pads sitting waiting for a free moment to get installed. The need just got accelerated to first priority - parked until then. When I got home and opened the garage door, there sitting on the floor was a brake pad!!! Apparently, it was sooooo welded in place today, that about 3/4 of the friction material ripped off of the backing plate and was spit out!

That is a first for me folks....

Steve

kens

Wow, Steve. That's some "welcome home"!

Never heard of that happening before. Glad you caught it before anything serious happened.

Ken

joechang

Could anyone out there recommend some places where provide excellent service?

lfdal

Wes - Sounds like its going out the tailpipe...... have you done the rings? My wife's OBW sucked down a quart in less than a 3 weeks when the pistons were replaced. Didn't check the oil for the last 4 weeks and when I did, there was just barely any on the stick - was below the low mark. So it used a quart and a half in 4 weeks.

I am hoping this abates as the rings break in. Really hoping. :P

Larry

locke2c

Steve, that's amazing. Bad... yet amazing. :P I have never heard of a brake pad on a street car being torn apart like that.

~Colin

xwesx

Yeah, I agree that it probably is since I cannot see any evidence that the leak is external. I have NOT done the rings, though in hindsight I probably should have when I had it all apart last September. I would think though, that if that much oil was headed down the pipe, it would adversely affect the odor, color, something about the exhaust. Does oil out the tailpipe not tend to cause blue smoke?

I wonder if it is possible to pull the pistons out the bottom of the engine without having to pull the heads...

xwesx

My thoughts exactly. I am glad to hear that your trip in the car was a safe one, nonetheless! :sick:

mrk610

Fibber2
Happened to me too about a year ago . Car sat for a week and when I got back in needed to give gas to let it go and bang them scrapping . Found the pad on the ground were the car sat . 02 outback with 64 k miles .

Mike K

leo2633

Sounds like it could be a frozen caliper.

Len

rob_m

Maybe not so uncommon?

My 99 Legacy GT threw a back shoe at 85k. Was the original and pretty thin at that point. Rob M.

andytnj

The left hand turn signal on my 1999 Outback is flashing much quicker than the right hand signal, and I noticed last night that the radio display pulses wiht it. The right hand signal is fine, and there is no change on the radio display.
Is this a bad bulb or an earth problem? How do I get the turn signal out? I can see screws on top, but cannot budge the signal when I have removed the ones that I can see.

rob_m

My guess would be a bad bulb. Rob M.

xwesx

Sounds to me like a short in a resistor. If the radio pulses with it, then something is messed up and too much current is getting into the wires. You might consider either getting a multi-meter or taking it to someone to test the wires on left vs. right to see if there is a difference.

once_for_all

most likely a bad bulb. I had a VW one time that had a two-filament rear bulb, and the turn signal filament had burned up and one of the leads had fallen on the parking light filament. Everytime I used the turn signal, the dash lights flashed including the radio display.

John

glennysmom

I just bought a new 2006 Subaru Forester. Has anyone figured out what this high frequency sound is or where it is coming from. I assumed it was from the roof rack. I don't always hear it.

lakepop

More details/specifics would be helpful.

I'd start with checking the roof rack (if installed) to see if its mounted correctly. Specifically the cross bars need to be mounted fat part forward ala an aircraft wing.

Also check the windows for proper sealing ...

pathtomax

My 2001 Outback Wagon Ltd (4EAT) is at around 97,500 miles. The last time I was in for service for an oil change, the service manager noted that I would be ready for a timing belt for the 105k tune-up.

Are there any "signs" to watch out for with the timing belt?

Also, a common 'complaint' (I LOVE my car :shades: , just a pesky thing sometimes) is that the 4 cylinder upshifts too much and searches for the highest gear. This seems to be getting worse as the car ages. When driving around 40-45 mph, the car insists on having RPMs under 2k, I sometimes manually shift the automatic to a lower gear. Anything the dealership can do or is this just a Subie thing?