Subaru - Forester :: 2003 - Squeak From New Wheel Bearing
Jun 17, 2011
I have an '03 Subaru Forester and my mechanic recently replace the rear wheel bearings and seals. Afterward, I noticed a high pitch squeak from the rear right wheel at slow speeds. I brought it back for my next oil change and had them look at it. I watched them take off the wheel and brake drum. He hand-turned the wheel mount and it made the squeak sound from the bearing. Then he said that it's no big deal and put it all back together.
So, is it really not an issue? I'd rather not have noises coming from something brand new, but I also like my mechanic and don't want to make him do a lot of extra work if this thing is just going to go away on it's own.
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I have recently noticed a noise that increases as the wheel revolutions increase (one noise per revolution). Seems to be on the right side of the car. Increased sound as I turn left. Decreased sound as I turn right. Could this be bearings or the CV joint?
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I have a 2002 Subaru Forester with 201,000 miles, it runs great. However, I just put new tires on and I have terrible shaking in both the steering wheel and the seat that was not there prior to the tire change. I went and had them balanced and the mechanic suggested it was maybe a mechanical problem because there is still some shaking. This shaking is also very pronounced when I hit the the brakes but I am pretty sure the brakes are fine because I changed the the entire front brakes, calipers included and the rears last spring. Again, this car is pretty high in mileage and I am pretty sure much of the front end is stock from the factory.
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Have a 2000 Forester with 114K. Had to replace driver's rear wheel bearing at 100k & again at 110k; when replacement bearing started to fail, ABS light came on because wheel was not spinning true! Replaced passenger's rear wheel bearing at 105k (this one is getting noisy now).
Hard to believe I got 2 "bum' bearings! Not a difficult repair, but this will be 4 bearings in less than 2 years. The car's driven on paved roads & with little load, so it's not from harsh road conditions or heavy loads.
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I have a 2003 Subaru Forester XS, bought it new, has almost 100,000 miles. Only take it to the dealer. Regular oil changes, and routine maintenance. Around 65-70,000 miles, I began to hear a sound like a playing card against a bicycle wheel in colder temps only. Dealer called it 'piston clatter' and not to worry about it. So I didn't. Over the years it has become a year around sound, even worse in colder temps. I've been afraid to drive it out of town on the interstate or highways because at times the engine sounds as if it's going to jump out of the car. I wrote to Subaru corporate, only to be referred back to the dealer, who again, will only tell me it's 'piston clatter'. I have used fuel additives, and a tank of premium every now and then. Still makes the same sound.
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I have a 2003 Forester that has low air flow thru the vents if you try to use the AC or heater.
If you turn the speed from 1-4 you can hear the blower fan turning faster but the air coming out of the vents is very low. YOu can hardly feel it. I checked to see if there was a cabin filter and there was none.
Even though you can barely feel the air coming out, when on AC the air feels cold and when on heat it feels hot.
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I have a 2003 Subaru forester w/ 148k and manual transmission. Recently I have notice two new symptoms, but am not sure if they are connected. First is some bluish exhaust just at startup. Second is a wining sound out of the front of the engine. It fluctuates in time with the rpm. When I pop the hood it sounds like it may by coming from the generator or AC unit which has a wired red powdery substance on it. The wining seem worse for the first 1/2 hr of driving.
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I recently bought an automatic 2003 Subaru Forester 2.5x. Great car but....... There is an intermittent problem with the automatic shift stick. It locks "Parking" mode. When I put the key in and put my foot on the brake, The dash lights up, radio turns on everything is alight but the car won't start. It locks "Parking" mode. I am forced to over ride the lock system by inserting a key into the slot on the right hand side of the stick, putting it into neutral then I can start the car. Its been to the garage three times and is scheduled for a forth visit. Because its an intermittent problem that never happens when they have it in the garage they are having a devil of a time sorting out the problem.
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I have a 2003 Subaru Forester with 44,000 miles. How will I know when to replace the timing belt? Is it more a question of miles or age?
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2003 Subaru Forester automatic non-turbo. Vehicle stalls out at long red lights. No sputter, shudder, or warning. Idle just drops to zero. May happen twice in one day or once in two or three months. No rhyme or reason. Runs great otherwise. No drivability issues until I am stopped. I replaced the idle air control (IAC) solenoid valve last week and thought I cured the problem. But the vehicle cut out on my wife while she was stopped, waiting to yield into traffic this evening.
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I have a 2003 Subaru Forester. It will cool just fine while not moving. It will also cool just fine if I'm coasting down a hill with my foot off the gas. However, on the highway I have intermittent cooling. It cools for 10-15 seconds and then it blows what feels like straight vent for 10-15 seconds. It has a new compressor, receiver/dryer, and expansion valve and is fully charged.
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With the very cold weather I'm having problems getting my car to start again after it's been running a while--starts okay initially no matter the temp, run it for ~15 minutes then go to my first work stop. One hour later sitting outside in 0F and I can't get it to start, won't turn over. Just got a new battery, had the spark plugs/starter/fuel line checked "looks okay". Starts after it gets really cold again, needs to sit out for a few hours in the single or negative digits. Dealer is 100 miles away and I have not been happy with the service there.
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The other day my 2003 Subaru Forester was getting its oil changed and when it was done the mechanic informed me that my struts were leaking and needed to be replaced. He didn't seem to think it was urgent or anything. He mentioned something about roll overs and the wearing of the tires, but I'm not entirely sure what this means for the car. It has 140K on it, and I drive it a lot on the high way. I'm also planning to go on a trip in Mid July that's about a thousand mile drive. So, how soon should this be done? What do leaking struts mean for a car?
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I have a 2003 Forester, recently noticed the front brakes locking up, especially on hot days. Completely immobilized car, to get going again I would have to wait for them to cool and/or cool them with water if pads smoking from trying to drive with brakes engaged, and tap on calipers and master cylinder to allow pads to release. Problem got worse as it got hotter out, due to job I rarely drive car and didn't get in for service yet. Last time pads burned a whole lot and braking felt odd (less pressure and uneven like rotors were messed up or pads burned up).
Took it into brake place, they had never seen before. When they inspected, discs were in bad shape with one cracked, but I don't think that was original problem, just caused by driving with them hot. Shop at first said fluid seemed clean but I left and later they said it was contaminated but I don't trust them. Shop solution is replace everything: calipers, pads, hoses, flush system, and replace ABS (the most expensive part I am hoping isn't actually necessary). I don't trust shop for several reasons including because they admitted having never seen this and seemed content to take maximum amount of money just to replace everything without knowing what actual problem was.
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When the weather gets really cold (below 30) I intermittently smell a gas/exhaust smell in the cabin but also on the exterior. I have on two occasions had my mechanic check this and each time he has replaced an "old and cracked" hose.
He has to use the smoke tracer to find where it is leaking and replacing hose. On both occasions he urged me to make the repair immediately as it could be extremely dangerous. (Makes sense if I am smelling gas.)
I am wondering if this could be an exhaust/heating system problem. The car is 11 years old with 120K miles and I want to keep it running a few more years. I am due for front brakes and new tires soon...
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I bought my 2003 Forester a year ago from a friend with 90,000. I love this car, I put a new timing belt on it and off we went. The car worked fantastically from January to August 2011. One night I was driving to watch a show and rather then shifting into gear, it jolted. Pulled over, checked fluids and so on, car worked normally for a while. It started doing this more frequently. It has a hard time shifting into 2nd and when it does, (at about 40MPH) it jolts and same thing for third and so on. I took it to my mechanic but it never misbehaved for him sop I took it back and drove some more and dropped it off at a transmission shops. They get it to do what it does, ran many tests, decided it was the throttle sensor, replaced it, car worked great for two weeks and then reverted back to this behavior. Took it in again three times but they can't seem to figure it out. Anyway, I have taken the car to five different mechanics and no one can quite figure it out. So my car, the Diva, as I like to refer to her, continues to jolt to shift gears. If I put it into reverse it will shift normally until I stop again or slow way down. I am stumped and sad because I love my car. It now has 101,000 and I want it to be kind to me.
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My car is hesitating when I shift and accelerate, and revving up the tach after I shift into 5th but the speed doesn't match.Also, in order to start the car I have to press the clutch practically all the way to the floor.
It has 53,000 miles on it. I took it to the dealer, and they said I need the clutch and possibly flywheel replaced.
This seems low mileage to me. I have driven a stick for over 31 years. My previous car was a Honda CRXsi and it was over 110,000 miles before I needed a new clutch.
Is a clutch replacement this early normal for this car? Or is it me? I don't think I ride the clutch.
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I have a 2003 Subaru Forester with 240K miles on it. When I start the engine in the morning, there's a squealing noise under the hood that lasts for a few seconds. (Usually goes away as soon as I pop the hood and look at the engine.) I think it's one of three things: AC compressor, alternator, or power steering pump, but I haven't been able to isolate the noise to one of the three. I don't want to wind up replacing all three.
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I have a 10 year old 2003 Subaru Forester in "very good" condition....except that the transfer clutch assembly is starting to make noise and the repair shop (at the dealer) says, housing has to be replaced also. The car has 130K miles and has had all its regular maintenance for 10 years. The only major mechanical problem we've had are the head gaskets (which on this year's model were NOT part of the recall). Those were fixed 2 years ago. Some of what I see in the online chatter about transfer clutches suggests that this is a slippery slope and the next thing you know there's the "next thing" that needs to be worked on. We were hoping that the 2014 Forester would get really good mileage (this one got 30 when it was younger) but we hear it will only be 32 mpg so we're inclined to "keep waiting" if this car can be kept happy. Is a transfer clutch repair a big deal?
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My car has a left front pulling issue.
I have a 2003 Forester with 74,000 miles. At 55,000 (18 months ago) I replaced the Kumho tires with Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires and immediately had an issue where over 50-60 mph the car slightly pulls to the left under all road conditions except extreme right lane well crowned. Previously it always tracked straight, though seemingly less accurately than with the newer tires.
I've had it aligned 3 times by two different shops and they always find some small out of align issue they correct and say the problem should be better. One of them the Subaru dealer. Nobody sees a suspension issue. The tires have been rotated at least 4 times. No unusual wear. Wearing nicely. But over 50-60, while slight, it is so annoying I would love to deal with this nuisance issue which sometimes puts me out of my lane. And always to the left. I've checked tire pressure and have even over-compensated by raising the front left pressure to rid the issue but it won't quite go away.
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I have a 2003 Subaru Forester, manual transmission, about 117k.Three weeks ago I go to back up and the car feels like the wheels have seized up, wasn't able to budge an inch. I couldn't pull forwards or back. Called the tow truck, brought it to the mechanic and the next day they call and said the rear brakes are almost metal to metal, and that the e-brake pad needs to be replaced as well. So I have that work done and a couple days later the same thing happens. I go to the store and when I go to leave I couldn't pull forward or back. It felt like the brakes were engaged and if I were to give it too much gas something would break.
Called the tow truck again to have it brought back to the mechanic, but this time I couldn't wait to meet the tow there, so I just left the key with the mechanic (mechanic was only a couple blocks from where I was stuck). The next day the mechanic calls to say that the tow truck driver didn't have any problem pulling the car onto the tow, and they didn't have any problem pulling the car into the garage. They put it on the lift and took a look, but couldn't see anything wrong with it.I drove it to work and back the next two days and then it happens again. I try to go in reverse and the wheels have seized up. Went back to the car about an hour later and there was no issue. Drove it a couple more days without a problem, then it happened again this evening. This time it begrudgingly pulled forward a couple feet then stopped. Left it there for about an hour, came back and was able to drive it away without issue. When it seized up I couldn't even push it while in neutral.
What could be causing my car to not want to pull forward or back like this?
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