Subaru - Forester :: Car Bucks / Hesitates Slightly Off And On While Driving At Constant Low Speed
Aug 15, 2014
I have a new 2015 Subaru Forester and I noticed the following problem: When driving at a constant low speed, in the 20-30 MPH range, the car bucks/hesitates slightly off and on, while driving. At first I thought the engine was missing, but I noticed the RPM was at about 1000 RPM, very low. And a missing engine would cause a "check engine" warning.
So I think this is a combination of the CVT and the engine lugging. The CVT should move down a notch to a lower "gear" but it doesn't, so the engine is forced to operate at a problem speed. A normal transmission would downshift, I would think.
Can I do anything to solve this, other than manually shift to the low range?
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My 2016 Forrester hovers or rolls back for at least 2 seconds after shifting into Drive after Reversing, even though the gear feels fully engaged in Drive and I am stepping on the gas. Consequently I was almost hit by a truck when reversing out of my driveway. I was stuck hovering for 2 seconds before I could drive forward. I brought it back to dealer who said it is "normal" with all makes of new cars. I have not experienced this, nor have my friends.
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I have a 2007 Subaru Forester, bought from a dealer with 7,000 miles on it in 2007. I religiously had the oil changed every 5,000 miles and had other recommended work done. At 90,000 miles I did not have the work done immediately, but waited until 92,000 miles. My car then ran out of oil, with no smoking, no oil in the driveway, no warning light, so I believe the dealers didn't fill the oil at 85,000 miles. But that's not why I'm writing. I had a remanufactured short block assembly installed and the other work done at the dealer to the tune of over $6000.
Now that I have my car back it hesitates at least once a day, sometimes several times, sometimes several times in a row. It hesitates at about 20 miles per hour, when the gears are changing. Of course, it didn't hesitate when they checked it and their computer says "nothing's wrong". In addition, there was a tapping sound in the engine. Again "nothing's wrong". When I had my car smogged, the smog tech said "OMG, you have a problem with your valves." I took it to the dealer and they then admitted I had a problem with my valves (or lifters) and they fixed it. The hesitation continues. What could be causing the hesitation? They're not smart enough nor do they care enough to figure out what it is.
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My fathers truck starts, runs, idles fine but once on the highway at constant speed, the engine misfires or hesitates causing a small buck or jerk but continues on down the road. The SES light is on. He took it to O'Reilly and they put some kind of computer on it and (I think) it said misfire in a cylinder. He replaced one of four O2 sensors, pickup in the distributor (not sure what this is called), wires, and plugs with no cure. This problem is very strange as again, it only does it a constant speed; truck runs fine at idle, acceleration, deceleration, startup, etc. There may be a slight sulfur smell during idle and there is a decrease in gas mileage.
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I bought a 2015 Subaru Forester. Our test ride was on a smooth road. After buying the car, I noticed how bumpy the ride is on only slightly rough roads. Also the paint has some cracks near the door edges. Have a 2015 Subaru Forester and noticed the bumpy ride.
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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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My car is making a sort of whining noise; it sounds like some sort of tire noise, but I checked the tires and don't see anything that could be problematic. My husband checked to see if anything was rubbing, and doesn't find anything. The car is quiet when it is not moving, and the noise gets somewhat louder and slightly higher-pitched as I accelerate. It almost seems like the noise changed on a different road surface, but again, I don't see anything different with the tires. The car has about 140-150,000 on it. The noise has only been noticeable for a couple of weeks. No other problems, no change in steering or handling. No incident that I can think of that could have been a catalyst.
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Sometimes 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.
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The head gaskets are less than 2 years old, radiator only almost 3 years old, I've constantly had oil leak issue. Now the problem is my temperature gauge rises after driving for 20-30 minutes when I'm going at a lower speed or in stop and go traffic. Both fans are working, no leaks, new thermostat, and new radiator cap.
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35,000 miles... I don't know which I noticed first, getting my head snapped back after rounding a corner and accelerating or starting to free wheel at about 15 mph approaching a stop. I am embarrassed to say it took me a while to figure out it was the same problem only worse when rounding a corner.
Briefly. The transmission is not down shifting all the way on deceleration. My local mechanic told me to try overfilling the xmission. I did (1qt) and now it only does it when cold. Subaru knows all about it except that part about how to fix it.
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2003 Subaru Forester with 130,000 miles. We put new tires on two months ago and when I started hearing the wah, wah, wah noise coming from the back of the car (rhythmic - increases with speed of car) I assumed on of the new tires was bad. It isn't. Also pulled the brake drums and cleaned everything there up.... What this might be?
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I brought my car to a dealership for its 120,000mi check-up, and they told me that the front axle boots were torn. They replaced the right axle, and on the ride home, I noticed a burning smell. Short story is four return trips, and the right axle replaced three times (including the initial replacement), and the smell has finally gone away. The weird part is not that I went back to the same place four times instead of giving up, it's that they told me this last time that they moved the replacement #2 right axle to the left when they installed replacement #3.
Why would they do that? Why would the smell go away if the issue was with that axle? I looked it up, and the same part is used on the driver's side and passenger side, so it wasn't as though they installed a left axle on the right the first two times. Does this mean the "new" axles were just new-to-me and had been reconditioned? If reconditioned, would it matter if a previously left axle was mounted on the right?
Meanwhile, about six weeks after replacement #2, the car started making a thumping noise when the accelerator was depressed at a speed over 35mph (but not when coasting above 35mph or with the gas on below 30-35). I was wondering if it was misfiring or something, but lo and behold! That noise went away with the axle switching. Way back at replacement #1, they replaced the boot on the left but not the entire axle until #3.
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I just took my 2009 Subaru Forester (80,000 miles) in to a mechanic because it was having an intermittent power steering assist failure during low speed maneuvering (i.e., parking lot). This is always accompanied by a loud rhythmic whining form under the hood (kind of like a whaawhaawhaawhaa). By intermittent, I mean maybe 50% chance of it happening when I am maneuvering in a parking lot. By failure, I mean I can still turn the wheel but it's much harder. The mechanic diagnosed it as the following:
dry rot in drive belts, recommended replacement
leaky rack and pinion, recommended replacement
2 leaky front struts
I checked my power steering fluid before I brought it in and the level/color looks great. The mechanic said in addition to the leak that there's a little bit of a catch in the steering at a certain steering position when going faster, but I haven't noticed it myself. I have trusted this shop in the past and had good experiences, but there has been a lot of turnover lately, so I'm unsure of what to do. I went ahead and had them change the belts, but decided to wait on the rack/struts until I did more research/got a second opinion.
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First & main issue: I throttle on, the RPMs jump, speed drops. I think I dealt w/ this before in my old Toyota pickup by replacing the clutch master cylinder. Is that right?
Secondly, I don't know if the engine of this lil car has been rebuilt, but the smoke from under the hood has been alarming. It smells of oil, and I've seen some spots that appear to have leaking oil dropping onto the exhaust, but the smoke keeps coming from various spots.
I really enjoy driving this lil car, it's my first Subaru and my first wagon, but if the trouble is just now starting for me, at over 210,000 miles... I've replaced a few things, but I've never owned a newer(ish) vehicle (except a Harley), and come to expect to do work every once in awhile. I'm fairly regular w/ preventative maintenance, but not strict about when to change fluids or flush things (i.e. transmission or radiator). Maybe I should just sell this one and move on.
I also hit a deer the other day going pretty fast and fortunately only busted out the passenger side head light, fog light, and blinker. The other day being over a month ago. I just don't drive at night and try to avoid right turns. Any thoughts on where to get cheap replacement parts? I can't seem to find anywhere that'll sell me those plastic bits for under a few hundred dollars.. strange considering a necessary part like a master cylinder is only $40..
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my girlfriend has a 2002 forester and it is making a very loud noise while driving, sounds like a helicopter coming from the front/right. when you let off the accelerator it changes pitch and sounds like more towards the middle...checked for axle play or anything rubbing and things look ok...very confused, i'm a former VW tech and i've never heard this noise before
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Our 2006 Forester started shaking very hard while idling or driving. We drove it to the dealer asap, but the violent shaking had stopped. They hooked it up to the diagnostic machine and everything checked out as fine. This problem happens intermittently so the mechanics have not witnessed it. We've even let them keep the car a week and drive it home and back and it never gave them the shaking problem. There is no pattern to when it happens - hot or cold engine, hot or cold outside, just started or been running for awhile, it just doesn't seem to matter. If we give it some gas while at a stop sign it smooths out a bit but it doesn't stop the problem. When driving it still shakes but it's harder to tell how hard. I'm talking about shaking very hard, not just a rough idle.
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I drive a 2007 Subaru Forester X (auto) with 87,000 miles. When driving between 40-50 mph, I can hear and slightly feel a droning noise/sensation. This occurs while accelerating, braking or coasting through that speed range only. I drive on newer tires, but do not experience any shake or steering vibration. Unfortunately, I can't recall if the droning occurred before the new tires were installed. The droning noise is reminiscent of deeper exhaust note.
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My Forester was dead one morning and when I went to jump it off my pick-up in a hurry I did the age old palm to forehead and didn't pay close attention to the posts on my pick-up battery. Crossed the posts.So I began working through the common known issues.Replaced the main fuse. Didn't Start.Replaced the battery. Started... Car shut off while driving. Did not sputter out, simply cut out like turning the key off.Started right back up.Positive battery cable was loose. Replaced it.Grounds are good.Alternator output is good.So here are some more details on the car shutting off.
This last time as I was coming home from the store and the car shut off on the main road through town. I had enough momentum to get off to the side of the road. I tried to start it and it would turn over. Normal turn over sound but the car wouldn't start. I took a minute to check other electrical things in the car with key in the "on" position. Radio worked. Dome/interior lights worked. But then I noticed something strange. None of the dash lights came on (Car is not started but key is in "on" position). The windows did not work either.It started after about 5 minutes time and I made it home, forgot to roll the windows back up. Turned key to "on" again and couldn't roll the windows up. Got out of the car and came back after about 5 minutes, turned key to "on" and the dash lights came on the windows rolled up.
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1998 Forester, 233,000 miles.. Two years ago it started running hot after 15 minutes of either driving or idling. Coolant seemed to vanish into thin air. The Subaru Dealership said that I either had a bad head gasket or a cracked cylinder wall. They said if the head gasket was bad then need to replace the head gaskets. They said if the cylinder wall was cracked, then we would need a new engine.
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This truck has 180km on it and runs fine except as of lately i have developed a surge while at constant speed. When i step on the gas it does not seem to happen.....it only happens when I reach a constant speed. The odd time it will surge at idle and the engine will rev up and down on its own also. When at highway speed it seems to not do this. The truck never dies completely....just surges slightly.
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A few days ago my 98 C1500 started having what I can only imagine is some type of torque converter issue. While driving at a constant speed the RPM will surge by about 500-600. This surge does not coincide with any type of acceleration, it's more like the converter is letting go and the RPM's just rise and fall back down. The fluctuations also seem to stop after about 15 minutes of normal driving. I have had no real noticeable transmission issues. At first i assumed it was my tranny fluid just breaking down so to get me home I used a bottle of Lucas.
The bottle seemed to do the trick for only a couple of days and now the problem is back...no better, no worse. The only difference I have noticed is that before the addition of the Lucas my fluid looked perfect and now it seems there is a bit of varnish. No smell, nothing seems burnt, just a little dirty. I haven't changed the tranny fluid for about 70k and the truck now has roughly 160K on it. My concern is that if I do change it the transmission will crap completely and I'll be on the hook for a rebuild.
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