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So the water pump (which is snuggled down below the crankshaft area) must be off the timing belt. I gotta believe that the water pump gets changed every time the timing belt comes out. Thank God that is every 105 k on the Forester.
John
at 33.5k when pictured, I was replacing the driver's side head gasket. at 43k it started overheating again and I dumped the sucker. I learned my lesson and haven't touched my Evo other than installing a nice stereo, but I can't help but notice tons of people who didn't modify the crap out of their Subarus have had head gasket trouble.
your 2003 2.5L looks much the same, it's just that my '99 pictured in that album doesn't have the timing cover in place.
~Colin
My 98 is a DOHC and even that isn't all that much different. Intake and cams, mostly.
-juice
What I think is strange is the thermostat located at the bottom of the engine. I know that thermostats rarely fail but if it does, no coolant goes from radiator to engine. Also, they are a pain to change.
Jim
They called her, and said that the water pump was leaking with a price tag of almost $400. I told her to have the timing belt replaced, while they had it out to replace the water pump. The countered with $105 for the belt, and told her that the tensioner would need to be replaced for an additional $160.
Are these guys playing games? Rob M.
If the waterpump fails between 105k and 210k (the next timing belt change), the labor to replace it is much higher than the cost of the pump.
Jim
I just wanted to post an update.
I stopped my practice of topping off the fuel, and thought I had the problem licked. The CEL cleared a few days after filling up, and stayed off for a few days, or roughly 75 miles. Then it came back on.
So now that it's on again, this time I have to deal with it. So I'll take it in and give my mechanic a printout of your suggestions. That way at least he won't waste time looking in the wrong areas.
Thanks again to all. will continue to keep you posted.
Dan
~c
Also, this is another odd one. When I first run the car, the RPMs are fine at a stop light, but sometimes the car seems to 'shake and vibrate' a little bit. It is not like the car is idling high at all, but it starts to vibrate.
Thanks for any help! Looking forward to my next 100,000 miles :shades:
They say spark or fuel, so I wonder if the tune-up included that.
Also see if they swapped the fuel filter.
-juice
-juice
My last car was a 2000 Legacy sedan with the 2.5L engine and manual transmission. I now drive a 2006 Legacy 2.5i wagon with the same engine and tranny (although the hp has been bumped on this engine to 175).
Something I noticed on both cars is a lag in acceleration from a standing start. I've tried two methods: revving up to around 4000 RPM then dumping the clutch while flooring it, or letting the clutch out with moderate throttle as I normally would, then flooring it. Either method seems to result in some pronounced initial hesitation while accelerating, which seems to last about a second. Happened in both cars.
My friend, who has an old beat-up 1993 NA Legacy AWD wagon with a 5-speed, is able to consistently beat me in drag races to 50 MPH. His car just seems to pull faster off the line, as though he isn't suffering from the same hesitation problem. I shift at around 5000 RPM when I'm trying to achieve maximum acceleration, by the way.
I should also note that I could never get either Legacy to peel out on dry pavement. I just got back from LA, where I rented an HHR with an AT and (approximately) 150 hp engine, which would peel out when I floored it.
Any idea why I'm experiencing this lag? Have others noticed it in their 2.5L powertrains? I crunched the numbers and even though my car is 200 pounds heavier than my friend's and I had a passenger at the time, my hp and torque to weight ratios are still higher than his.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Any input would be appreciated.
To get around that, you have to launch perfectly. It sounds like you're describing two kinds of slowness to your launch, the first one is unquestionably the force limiter and the second is probably bogging the engine.
Here's my old post about it:
locke2c, "Subaru Legacy/Outback 2005+" #8692, 17 Feb 2006 2:06 pm
Good luck! It actually is possible that your car is slower than his. Your car is probably more than 200lb heavier.
~Colin
-Frank
~Colin
-juice
If anyone has any ideas I wold love to hear them.
Thanks
I feel your pain. I also have 98 GT and same issue here. My AC controls don't have any lights at all. And now, my right blinker is blinking too fast, as oppose to left blinker. I'm hoping that the blinker issue is a fuse. As far as the dash lights, my guess is that the bulbs are giving out. It seems like there was a bad batch of them installed on 98s. If you search the forum you'll see a few other folks with the same problem.
~Colin
certificate from Subaru now runs his own shop - Import Motors in Schaumburg. He
used to work for the Audi Subaru dealer on Golf till they ditched
Subaru (then Subaru Schaumburg appeared a few years later)
Those bozzos in Schaumburg Subaru used to call him up to get help
till the boss there even banned selling parts to him.
-Frank
-juice
Next question -- my passenger side windshield washer squirter stopped working. The driver's side is fine, and I checked under the hood, and it looks like all the tubes are connected and are not leaking. There is no blockage on the outside -- that side just stopped working entirely. Has this happened to anyone? I guess I'll have to take it in to have it looked at.
Thanks.
yes
>The car starts fine, but sometimes when the car is running I have begun to hear a slight hum noise that sounds like it's coming from the rear of the car either near the muffler or gas tank -- you can't hear it when the radio is on -- is this normal for Subarus?
probably fuel pump again
> Also, the car has just over 1,000 miles on it, and after I drive it I can still smell a slight burning smell like new engine -- when will this go away?
soon
>Next question -- my passenger side windshield washer squirter stopped working. The driver's side is fine, and I checked under the hood, and it looks like all the tubes are connected and are not leaking. There is no blockage on the outside -- that side just stopped working entirely. Has this happened to anyone? I guess I'll have to take it in to have it looked at.
probably blocked , have dealer blow it out
probably fuel pump again
Indeed, but that is not normal. If I recall, there are several '06 Forester owners who have experienced similar problems (mostly early production run buyers, but that is not to say your car is not an early production even if you did not buy until April) and have had the fuel pumps replaced. No indications of a recurring problem, at least not any of which I am aware.
I recommend that you bring it up to your dealer and request that it be replaced. It might never develop into anything more than an audio problem, but now is the time to address it.
The CT-CA trip is approximately 3,000 miles. The normal Subaru maintenance interval is about the same.
The simple answer? Get a 3k inspection done before you start. Get one shortly after you finish. If your tires are worn, spring for some new ones before you start.
=========
I own a 1987 Subaru GL (station wagon). It has 457,000(+) miles on it, to include annual three-day CA-FL round trips; the last one, just this last May. (My goal is half a million miles before I retire the old girl.) Given her age, I do carry some extra oil, water, belts, etc.
The other thing to carry is spare cash. For example, losing an alternator puts one on the side of the road, no matter what one does. You'll need to be able to pay for the tow truck, the hunt for a new alternator, the installation, etc., before you can get back on the road. Also, plan on an overnight stay in order to get repairs done -- nothing breaks in the morning!
AMEX Traveller's checks may be good around the world, but they don't always fly in the civilized(?) USA. Credit/Debit cards may or may not work. Cash always works!
As I said, after 457,000 miles, that car has left me on the side of the road exactly three times. Only the alternator was unpredictable. The other two times, I stretched the maintenance intervals, which was, by definition, my fault. Keep up the maintenance inspections, and replace when in doubt. Subarus will keep running.
As for the trip -- get off the Interstates and run the old US routes when you can. The scenery beats the hell out of watching an endless ribbon of gaurd-rails.
Have fun!
Gaucho
I jut recently purchased a 2006 Forester XL, 5-speed manual transmission. I ran into a similar problem -- usually, though, I was stalling it out.
My problem was the short-throw gearshift. I have been inadvertently putting it into third gear at stops, rather than first. "Low power" up to 3k rpm is a fair description, at that point. (The spacial difference between first and third isn't much on that shifter.)
Ask her to get in the habit of walking the shifter into second before trying to find 'first' gear. If that clears up your problem; all to the good.
Gaucho
-juice
Hard to tell in the cabin where the noise was coming from. They finally replaced the transmission and its been quiet ever since (17k ago)
HTH
Larry
You seem to know a lot about Subaru Clutches. Maybe you can answer this. I tow a pop up and was wondering if I could get a heavier duty clutch for my 2004 manual X Forester than OEM?
I am within parameters for towing but if I have to change the clutch (and I will soon)I might as well go big... so to speak.
My Subaru Legacy L 2002 has only about 34,000 miles on it. A couple of days ago, I found my parked car at the end of the day with a flat front driver side tire. I drove to a gas station nearby and fill up the tire.
Yesterday the tire looks fine, but this morning the air was visibly low. So I took it to a tire shop. The sales guy told me that the tires cracked and probably is slowly leaking (this is just a visual inspection). He tried to sell me some expensive tires and told me that because it's AWD, I need to replace all of them.
I plan to take the car to the dealer (where I have it serviced) for a second opinion on Monday. But I am planning to buy the new tires from Sam's Club. Can you recommend which kind of tires I should buy? I live in the upper Midwest with quite a bit of snow, but flat serface.. mostly freeway.
Thanks!
you need no more than a 1/4inch difference in circumference between the tires or there is a potential to mess up the AWD differential, at 30K you may well want to replace all 4
since you get snow, splash out on a set of Nokian WRs, it has the winter snow traction rating but can be used in the summer without losing all its tread. I use its predecessor the NRW as my winter tires on a 98 Legacy GT and the WR all year round on a Windstar (which has had 30000miles on these tires and still has 4mm tread on the most worn ones - about 5/32 inch (they have tread wear numbers in the tread)
Sams occasionally have great deals on certain tires. check whats happening locally. spmetimes you can get a much better higher speed rated tire for less than the usual price of a much lower rating tire.