I have a 2008 Subaru Forester that I bought used. It has 37,000 miles on it. When I drive at high altitudes, the rpms rev up, the car slows down, sounds terrible. Why is this and what can be done?
View 3 RepliesMy 2003 subaru outback wagon, manual transmission, starting revving about 1500-2000 rpms higher than normal today. When I put the car in neutral, the car revs high sometimes increasing in rpms. Also when i left off the gas the car doesn't decrease in speed or rpms almost like the gas pedal is sticking. I revved the engine while in neutral a few times to try to see if I could get the rpms to drop but that didn't work. I had two belts changed yesterday (excluding the timing belt) and everything was fine with car until today, after driving 70 miles.
View 2 RepliesMy mother, who is retired, has a Subaru Forester, probably a 2001 or thereabouts. It runs great, but recently whenever you let off the brakes, there is a high-pitched whistling sound that comes out of the dashboard on the driver's side. My mother claims that she took this to a mechanic and they told her that there is a small vacuum leak in the power brake line. They also told her that the leak was small and that there was no hurry to fix it (that was in April). Now it is August and my mother is still putting off fixing it because of the cost. They will have to pull out the engine and the dashboard to get to the leak. In the meantime, she continues to drive the car saying that the worst that will happen if it fails is that the power brakes won't work, but she'll still have her regular disk brakes, she'll just have to mash down her foot a little harder. Is this safe?
View 6 RepliesWhat is causing this strange noise. I have an old 1998 Subaru Impreza that runs well but has this mystery squeaking noise coming from the area near the front left of the car. It seems to happen most on cold, dry days, and I can hear it when the car shakes, but only when it is driving, never at rest. I can usually make the noise if I let up on the gas while still in gear, and it happens sometimes while going over bumps, but typically only if the bump only affects one side of the car. If I am accelerating quickly or braking, the noise usually doesn't happen. It also usually only happens when I am in gear and have the gas pedal pressed, but it can still happens on bumps even if the car is in neutral, the noise is usually much quieter if the car isn't in gear.
I can't tell if the noise is coming from inside or outside of the car, but it seems to be louder inside and I can't hear anything from outside when driving through a parking garage with my windows down.Now this noise first appeared a few days after I got my clutch plate, fly wheel and axles replaced several months ago but I haven't been able to find anything on my own and the shop said they didn't see anything that could be causing it.I have included a recording I took while driving, if you listen its the high pitched squeaking. So far the only thing I have done is checked the sway bar and bushings and those are all in good condition and covered in lube.
I will most likely be driving my Corolla to Colorado this summer and I plan on attempting several 14'ers. I know you can almost drive to the top of Mt Evans which is over 14k. Driving that high in Corolla, how was the drive up?
View 5 RepliesRight before Xmas our 09 Forester was hit while parked on the street. The whole front end of our car got wrecked. Was still driveable but we needed a new radiator, AC compressor, fenders, bumper, hood, lights, etc...over 5K worth of work.
As soon as we picked it up we noticed that when you press on the gas the car makes a high pitched whistling noise, almost like the noise when you'd try to tune in an old transistor radio. It only happens when the car is driving and the gas is pressed, not when parked or in neutral.
I know we should have probably brought it right back to the shop that day but I really did not like the shop at all and they are not at all convenient to where I live. I've read it could be a loose cat converter. I checked the air intake housing and that is secure.
Ever since it started getting cold here in the Northeast (mid December ish) my tire pressure sensor light is on. I know that it may be necessary to add air during cold weather as the air in the tire can contract in the cold but the pressure is fine - I had my mechanic check it out. Light does go out when it warms up - at least above freezing - but comes back on again when it gets cold. Normally I spend most of the winter in Florida but am usually here (in MA) until mid Jan. and this has never happened in previous years.
View 2 RepliesIt happens when I accelerate from 10MPH up to about 70MPH and then is intermittent at higher speeds. The volume and pitch of the whine is constant the whole time I am accelerating. If I brake while accelerating the noise does not change. It is a very high pitched noise almost to the point of being out of range for the ear to hear. The noise is so high pitched that it is hard to determine exactly where it is coming from except I fell like it is behind me. Cornering doesn’t seem to make a difference. I hear it most when I start my commute getting onto the freeway, I have also heard it when I do stop and go while running errands.
View 11 RepliesI have a 2004 Subaru Forester xs and the a/c goes out intermittently. I was told I need a new compressor clutch and that the whole compressor assembly will have to be replaced. I contacted another mechanic and he said that he would fix just the clutch but I should replace the whole thing. So, what do I HAVE to do? Are these prices in line? Can I get used parts or discounted parts?
View 2 RepliesI have an '06 Forester XT 2.5 turbo that has, what I can only describe as a stumble around 2500 rpm. The car's maintenance is always up-to-date, and never has anything under 91 octane run in it.This started out when you had the cruise set and now does it all the time whether or not the cruise is used. I've had it to 2 shops including a Subaru dealer that had it for a month and couldn't find the issue. We've been through injectors, coils, maf sensor, etc. to no avail. The trouble code that we're given is a misfire in cylinder 1. We discovered, while trying to find the issue, that there was only 30psi in that #1 cylinder and the valve guides were the issue. So the motor was pulled, heads planed, etc. and new guides installed. Also, put in a new timing belt, and so on, that is usually done when the motor is out.They have done a leak down test and compression tests as well. This is my wife's car and she absolutely love it, so I need to get this figured out.
View 2 RepliesI just bought this car for my daughter. It's in very good shape; runs like a top. But the gas mileage is a lousy 20 mpg. All of my trips are local (no stop and go stuff as we live in the country). A buddy of mine with the same car and similar driving habits says she gets 25-28 mpg. So far I have changed the oil, oil filter and air filter.This can't be the best I can expect, can it?!
View 10 RepliesAt 56,000+ miles on my 2006 Forester, I was horribly shocked to learn while having 60,000 maintenance done that my head gasket was leaking. inclusive of timing belt replacement required. I have read some discussions in this vein, but none regarding a car with this few miles on it. It does not seem right. I have had other issues with this car, my 2nd forester. I do not know what I should do.
View 12 RepliesI have a 2015 forester & the seats are not wide enough so my right leg rests on the front corner of the seat & after driving 70 miles my legs & back are hurting. I think the outback has seats 2 inches wider , that could work.
View 2 RepliesSometimes when the AC is on automatic control it will kick out of auto control into manual control and the fan will speed up. All this happens without touching anything. Dealer said it's working fine.
View 1 RepliesI 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.
Sometimes the Subaru standard transmission just does not want to go into reverse. I don't see a pattern here, but when it happens I have to double clutch it, or hold the clutch peddle down and move from first to reverse.
View 3 RepliesI bought the car brand new in May of 2009. All was good until February of last year when the battery died. I kind of wrote it off as one of those things that's part of life in AK. But then the same thing happened in November - yes, it was cold again, but it died after I'd successfully started it and drove it to my husband's work. He was inside for maybe thirty minutes. Not wanting to waste gas, it turned the car off and listened to the radio. When hubby came back, I tried to start the car and ... nothing. We had to get it jumped. Hubby said I shouldn't have been listening to the radio with the engine off. Anyway, I had a service appointment at the dealership a few days later and mentioned that the battery died again. They checked it and said it was weak so they replaced it.
Now, of course, I'm super-paranoid about everything that could be draining the battery. I turn the lights off whenever I turn off the engine (even though that's supposed to be something the car does automatically), and only listen to the radio when I'm driving. I've made sure that there's nothing plugged in any of the power outlets, and I don't have anything that's aftermarket. Oh, and middle of last year the radio/CD player died too, and that had to be replaced. Don't know if it's linked, but it's still odd.
The only advice the dealership had was to drive it more. I guess I'm pretty severe on the car - work's maybe a fifteen minute drive (20 if it's snowing) and a fair few of my journeys are short ones, for a variety of reasons. Plus, it's Anchorage, AK. Severe driving's standard here. But I never had these issues with my other cars, and my driving patterns haven't changed at all. Could there be something that's draining the battery that I haven't thought of, or am I really stuck with driving around Anchorage aimlessly for at least 20 minutes each time I get in the car?
Okay, I've been trying to diagnose this problem for ages. Whenever I top off my tank with fuel, the garage smells of fuel until I use up about a quarter of the tank. The smell stays mostly outside of the car. So far I have replaced the drain filter (a few years ago), fuel filler neck, hose leading from the filler neck to the tank, and had the system pressure tested. I'm fairly certain it's not the tank because the car has been undercoated since new and my mechanic saw no signs of a leak when he replaced the rear crossmember recently. My next guess is either the gas cap, the charcoal filter, or some hose leading to/from the charcoal filter.
View 7 RepliesAfter having changed the oil in my 04 Forester multiple times, I must have lost my mind and drained the transmission fluid. I realized this when I started it back up and it wouldn't move. Clearly I put an oil filter on with engine oil around the seal. Should I do a tranny flush or can I just replace filter (with correct one) and fill with tranny fluid?
View 16 RepliesI 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.
View 7 RepliesOn my 2002 Subaru Forester (137,000 m), the check engine light came on. They diagnosed and repaired O2 sensor. About 300 miles later it came on again, this time they said the catalytic converter was cooked, and they blamed whatever caused the O2 sensor to fail (or the O2 sensor failure itself). After the repair (about $1300 and 30 miles later), I discovered that the engine oil was so low that it was not showing up on the dipstick (tho the oil light was not yet on). The shop (after admitting that they did not check the oil while it was in there) said it was related to catalytic converter failure. Does this make sense? I have only gone another 60 miles since the oil was refilled, but so far it looks OK. Should I be on the look-out for anything else?
View 16 Replies