Subaru Forester (up to 2005)

russski

In the future, more then likely Subaru will correct this problem, but for the existing thousands of owners - why wouldn't you just Patent it ?

samiam_68

Dnestr - feel free to make the link public.

Russki - Patenting something is a long, tedious, and expensive process. This is just a homemade device. Other automakers have forced airflow over temp sensors - this is not a new idea.

ateixeira

dnestr: maybe you could buy a batch of them and distribute them there, charge a small/fair margin for your efforts.

-juice

stever

Let's take it easy on the soliciting please. No buying and selling is permitted on Town Hall.

Crew chat starts in less than 2 hours - link's on the left.

Steve, Host

once_for_all

a question here--I rarely use Hal, prefering to control things myself. But, in the event that I did use Hal, have you identified an electric port that ties into the auto button so that the fan does not need to run continuously when the car is on?

John

samiam_68

John,

I have not looked for a port like that. If you want to get creative, you can tap into the actual harness in the back of the climate control unit, but your guess is as good as mine as to which wire would provide live juice only when the system is on. It would take some experimenting or very detailed documentation which I don't have.

Sam

dnestr

juice - I really doubt it could be gold-mine for my efforts :-)

ateixeira

I just meant to cover postage and stuff like that.

Any how, ball's in your court.

-juice

dnestr

Luckily, I still play my own game :-)

BTW, is it true that Magnetti Marelli Cofap from San Paulo is one of four biggest companies in the world, which are able to work out and supply to manufacturers not only ammo but also all suspension details? Perhaps, there's no point in giving you a link to this info, it's not in English or Portuguese. Also, for the record, the Portuguese language sounds very similar to mine. I mean the perception of speech.

samiam_68

I had a chance to test the Climate Control Fix in cold weather this morning. Here is my report. It was 28 in Northern NJ. The CC went through the normal cycle, first defrost with fan off, then floor/defrost with fan at speed 1, then floor, with the fan increasing 1-2-3-4. It stayed at speed 4 for less than a minute, blowing COMFORTABLE WARM air, not oven hot air as it used to. Quickly kicked down to speed 3, then three minutes later, down to speed 2. It stayed at speed 2 and floor/defrost for the rest of my commute, all the time blowing slightly warm air - cooler at the upper side outlets, a bit warmer at the feet. The cabin was exceptionally comfortable during the entire trip.

once_for_all

sounds like we will have to stop calling the cc "Hal" since you seem to now have it under control. Good work!

John

nygreg

I have to ask - were you writing all that info down this morning while driving? That is sooooo OCD. Great job.

Greg

samiam_68

Coming home late at night, the system didn't fare as well as in daylight. It was 36 outside, and the temp inside the cabin actually overshot the setting a little, before settling in a comfort zone. For about 2-3 minutes, it was a bit warmer than I would desire, then it kicked back and stabilized. It seems that the light sensor on the dash forces the system to put out a higher degree of heat at night than in the daylight.

Still, no comparison to HAL before the fix.

Sam

ateixeira

HAL just had to let you know he's still in there. ;-)

-juice

taft4

Does anyone here know whether the Subaru extended warranty prices are negotiable? I was quoted $725.00 for a 6yr/60,000 contract and $900.00 for a 6yr/80,000 contract, and the dealership implied that these prices were set in stone by Subaru. Since my Forester is 18 months old and has 12,500 miles I am inclined to go with the lower mileage one.

p0926

the dealership implied that these prices were set in stone by Subaru.

Ha! Good thing you asked then because they are definitely negotiable. In fact the profit margin on extended warranties is one of the dealer's most lucrative sources of revenue.

-Frank P.

once_for_all

I paid $780 for a 6 yr 80k with a $500 (?) deductible for an '03 XS. The price started somewhere around $1200 and ended up at $780. Good news is it was financed by SOA at 1.9%. Even better news is that I haven't needed it yet.

John

taft4

I think I had better check the warranties closer because the dealer did not mention that they had a $500.00 deductible. I too have a 2003 XS as John does.

Perhaps I would be better off to just hold on to my accumulating Subaru bucks since I pick up one about every 3 months (I have $500 worth now), and then use them when the need arises.

samiam_68

Who needs an extended warranty with a $500 deductible???????

p0926

Maybe he meant a $50 deductible. That's far more common.

-Frank P.

joseph50

I received a letter from Subaru advising going to my dealer to have "Subaru Cooling System Conditioner" added.
Has anyone been experiencing head gasket coolant leaking in a 2.5 liter engine, model years 1999-2002? Any one else receive the letter?

suydam

I think that letter went out to all 1999-2002 owners. I have a '99 and haven't had any problems. If you get the coolant added, Subaru is extending the warranty to 80,000 miles, so even if you have future problems they will probably be covered. I was very pleased to see that. I imagine any problems related to a defect would be likely to show up by then. Mechanics on the list can let us know!

elleng

Before I got my 04 Forester, I had a 99 Forester S that did have the coolant problem. It actually has been going on for awhile and it took Subaru forever to finally come up with a "fix" for the problem. Almost a year ago, I was out driving and noticed that my engine temp was extremely high. I went into pep boys and they told me I had no coolant in the engine so I was told to buy a 50/50 mix of coolant and put it in. Problem was solved for awhile until I had some work done on the car and they noticed again that I was low on coolant so I added it again. Happened one more time and I did that same trick and then decided it was time to get rid of the car (had 112k miles) Definitely a pain but I'm hoping nothing similar will happen with my new forester

ateixeira

Wow, Ellen, what's remarkable is that no damage was done and it kept running (without coolant!).

If you first noticed it under 60k miles the warranty would have covered you for replacement gaskets.

-juice

PS Our Subaru Gold warranty has no deductible, zero

once_for_all

yes, $50 is correct. My bad.

John

ateixeira

You can buy different levels of deductible, FWIW, but I don't think any are that high ($500).

-juice

elleng

Juice,
60k miles was a long time ago in my driving history. I tend to put around 20k miles on my cars a year so it adds up fast.

ateixeira

You could get a 5/100 warranty for not too much, but those 5 years go by quickly. We have a 7/100 and I doubt we'll get more than 80k miles in that time.

-juice

gened1

I have an '02 Forester and have not received a letter for this. Is it only certain build numbers that receive the letter or are they starting with the older models and then adding the newer models up to 2002 as they go?
Gene

ateixeira

Yes, older models first.

My wife has a 2002 Legacy and we've not received the letter yet, either.

-juice

p0926

FYI I got the letter this week and I had an early 01. At least the letter served as a reminder that I needed to update the info in My.Subaru ;-)

-Frank P.

sharksoup

I have the single disc CD player on my 2002 Forester. It has picked up a quirky problem lately.

It plays fine, tracks through all the songs etc. But about 50% of the time when I turn the engine off, and then start the car again, the CD being played will begin where it left off, and then bounce back to a different track. It may go back 3 or 4 tracks, or may go all the way back to track 1. The same thing happens sometimes when I turn the power to the radio off and then on again.

All the settings are correct (i.e. not set to random play or anything). The discs are all store-bought and not burned on a computer.

Had the car in this weekend for 30,000 mile service and of course Subaru couldn't duplicate the problem.

I read in the manual not to use a disc cleaner, but figure if the player starts doing other things, I'll have not choice to try if Subaru can't find a problem.

Any ideas?

sarakay

Hi, would you folks give me an opinion? I'm considering a Forester X or XS. There are plenty of Subaru dealerships where I currently live, but in the next year or two I may be moving to a rural area where the nearest dealer is about 35 miles away - far enough that getting there for a repair would be a hassle. The salesman made a big deal about the horizontal cylinders in the engine, and pointing out how different it is from other cars, so I'm wondering if you need to take it back to Subaru to get any work done on it. Can regular garages, or those advertising that they specialize in import cars, handle routine maintenance chores like oil changes and brake jobs?

Thanks,
Sara

p0926

Sara- You've got nothing to worry about. Any garage can perform routine (and even not so routine) maintenance on a Subaru. Plus one of the benefits of owning a Subaru is that they are quite reliable and shouldn't require much more than routine maintenance. Also, while the boxer engine does have its advantages, mechanically it's not really that much different from a V-block or straight-block engine.

-Frank P.

ducktapeguy

If a mechanic can't figure out how to change the oil or brake pads on a subaru, then they probably won't know how to fill a gas tank either. It's no different from any other car. Routine maintenance is no problem, but for major engine work or transmission, then you might think about taking it to someone who knows subaru's. This does not necessarily mean a dealership, it just means someone who's familiar with the car. I know of a few subaru dealerships that I wouldn't trust with my car. If you do have to take it to a dealer, try and get a subaru only dealer, not one of those subaru/honda/chrysler/bmw/ford/every other car make dealers. They're probably no more familiar with a subaru than any other independant mechanic. At least if they only sell subarus, then they must have worked on them before.

speterson1

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I had a similar problem with the single-disc player on our 2001 Forester. That behavior marked the beginning of the end. Shortly after the behavior you described, the laser became very sensitive, skipping on very minor bumps in the road, and then shortly after that it would not read discs at all and just spat them back out after insertion.

We were past our warranty to get it fixed for free, but I am very happy now after purchasing a Subaru 6-CD changer off of eBay. In fact, I just searched and here's a link to the exact same type of stereo http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3293&item=3089271785&rd=1. If you're lucky you can get one really cheap, much cheaper than you could get from the Subaru dealer. Installed ours myself (with a very helpful step-by-step pdf file which I could e-mail you if you needed) shortly after Christmas and it's worked flawlessly so far.

Steve

suydam

Well, as they say, "it depends". IF the dealership 35 miles away is a good one, and IF you don't have warranty problems, then you'll be fine. But those are big ifs. We also live in a rural area, and while I have generally really liked my Subaru, the one factor that may keep us from replacing it is the distance from the dealership and our dissatisfaction with said dealership. It's bad enough to drive 50 miles, but when the problem doesn't get fixed and you have to go back, it's a real headache. I would think twice about buying a Subaru when you don't know what the area you are moving to is like. Maybe you can find out about service in advance? It's always dicey. We're also 35 miles from a Toyota dealership but their service is so good I never thought twice about buying Toyotas.

ateixeira

Outbacks are so common that by now everyone has worked on a boxer engine and is familiar with it.

Ask if the dealer provides service loaners for the bigger services (i.e. not just oil changes).

Sara: I put in a 6CD, it's worth it! We actually bought 2. Back then they were a lot more expensive, that E-bay one is just $75 right now, it's a steal.

-juice

rsay777

No problem with the player in the 03X. One goofy thing that has happened is when going underneath some high voltage power lines the volume went erratic.

sierratrip

Hey sharkssoup,

Sorry I can't help you with the CD problem but since I have the same year I'll be on the look-out for any problems with mine. I'm curious what you paid at the dealer for your 30,000 service?

Thanks,
Sierratrip

chris2

Hi, is that square thing on top of the engine a distributor cup with the rotor inside ? If yes, does it requires the same maintenance (cleaning) as with the all other cars ? How often the cables should be changed ? Any other pointers for the electrical system in Foresters ? Thank you, Chris.

dcm61

That's the coil pack. It's a maintenance free item but some people remove the plug wires and clean up any corrosion and apply some dielectric grease. There is no "distributor" or rotor. The coil pack is an electronic distributor.

It's usually a personal preference as to when you change the plug wires (unless of course they are actually bad). I've never changed them on the 4 Subaru's I've owned (91k miles, 52k, 128k, currently 28k).
 
DaveM

ateixeira

Yep, Subies are distributorless, for lower maintenance. Most cars have that nowadays.

Subaru's wires are OK, I know for instance that Mazda wires don't last much longer than 30k on Miatas. So my Miata had new wires at 30k, but my Forester is still on the OE wires at 61k miles, and doing fine. They may be due soon, though.

If you are having electrical problems or interference, I'd recommend the single-point ground modification. But only if you're having problems.

-juice

leo2633

I was experiencing a miss and hesitation under acceleration at certain speeds back in the fall of 2003. It wound up being a bad coil pack, which caused one spark plug to foul. I wound up having the coil pack, plugs and plug wires changed, to the tune of about three hundred or so dollars. That was at about 78K miles on my 2001 Forester S 5 speed.

Len

c_hunter

Listen to Car Talk, they are diagnosing and replacing coil packs on Subarus all the time. Sounds like a common failure.

Craig

c_hunter

The auto-dimming mirror / compass in my wife's 03 Forester died a couple weeks ago and mysteriously came back to life today. Wierd. I should have taken it to the dealer. Car has 30K on it, how much you want to bet the mirror will crap out again right past 36K??

Craig

paisan

I monitor all the subaru boards out there, as well as work on them. Probably contact about 50-100 owners a week (unique each week) and have only seen 1 or 2 coilpacks fail.

-mike

p0926

I've never heard of one going bad. I listen to Car Talk regularly but must have missed the show where they discussed coil packs. They do however praise Subaru's on a regular basis and frequently recommend them to perspective buyers.

-Frank P.

c_hunter

I bet I have heard 3-4 calls or mentions regarding Subaru coil packs in the last couple years on Car Talk. Heck, search the boards here and you'll find quite a few. I'm not saying it's a lot, but it's enough to register on my radar.

Craig

stever

Are you sure you aren't thinking of VW's?

If not, sue me (in care of Mssrs. Dewey, Chetham, et. al.)

Steve, Host