My 99 Subaru Legacy Outback has an issue w/ the air/vent/defroster selections. The lights sometimes don't lite up and when that happens, the selection doesn't work. It sounds like the fan is working but the air is not coming out. If it's a vacuum leak, can I fix it by finding a leaky hose or is it an involved process?
View 1 RepliesSo... I have a 99 Subaru Outback 5 speed that I love the hell out of. Anyway, recently my clutch pedal has started momentarily sticking mid return. The clutch appears to be fully engaged, but the pedal sticks, or hangs for a moment before popping the rest of the way up. Once, and only once so far, it stuck completely just for a moment before returning after being depressed again. I'm not sure how concerned I should be, and given that the car is new to me I'm still trying to familiarize myself with it.
View 4 RepliesA month ago, my 99 subaru outback started to smoking white smoke. I open the hood and coolant was all over the engine. I took it in and they supposedly put a new radiator in. Three days later the car stalled out and coolant was leaking everywhere. The shop told me it was a bad radiator and replaced it. A month went by, now all the coolant leaked out as though the car had a hang over a throw up out of the coolant hose(lower left hose). Leaving a huge green puddle in a parking lot. What do I do? Has the radiator die again (because the third time is not charming)? Should the shop guys have replaced the hoses when they replaced the radiator the first two times?Is it normal to have to take your car to the shop a month after it was fixed for the same thing?
View 9 RepliesIn the past, I've had the common issues of vacuum leaks causing issues as evident from the defrost/ac and then finding busted vacuum lines. Changed out and everything fine for a few years. Now, i dont have 4wd but i dont have the tell tale vacuum leak signs. Also, even if i manually engage the hubs, still no 4wd.
I try to listen for the transfer case to engage when i switch from 2wd to 4wd, I think I hear it engaging, but to be honest the 7.3 makes so much racket Im not positive that Im hearing it, or at least not hearing it the way I "think" that i heard it in the past. I seem to recall a distinctive clunk when engaging, now its barely audible if at all. Now when I switch to 4-Low, there is the distinctive sound, and it does goes into low drive, just that its only 2wd-low, still no front wheel action.
I have never had any issues before other than the vacuum leaks, have never had reason to dig into the transfer case for any reason. The only time it has ever been touched was last summer when i had the BTS installed and all they did was remove and replace.
Do I finally need to either rebuild or replace my hubs? Is it possible not to have 4wd even with hubs manually engaged? Or is there an issue with the t-case? Or is there something else going on? I have access to a lift to attempt "driving" while all wheels off the ground, its just not mine and its a tight fit and a pain to get my truck on it.
My battery has been dying intermittently. Twice after a week long vacation I have come home to a dead battery. No lights were on in the car and no clear source of a leak. It charged up but would die again after 12 to 24 hours of sitting in the driveway. After the 1st episode mechanics said the alternator and all voltage testing was normal so they just replaced the battery. After the 2nd incident I took my car to a new mechanic and they are saying again the alternator is fine but noticed the battery is shorting (alternator output amperage too high and voltage too low - they put in the shop battery and all returned to normal) and they say I need ANOTHER new battery. I have a hard time believing this but no one can figure out why my car battery keeps dying????
View 8 RepliesMy 2000 Subaru Outback automatic, with 95,000 miles is intermittently stalling. No check engine light, no sputtering, engine temperature & oil pressure fine; it will just be running and then it isn't. It has happened with a 1/4 tank gas and with a full tank of gas. Primarily it has happened after driving around on a hot day, with some highway driving, city driving, running errands- so stopping for a while, then when I head home and gain altitude (another 2000-2500 ft), it will stall when I take my foot off of the accelerator to make a left turn, or go around a blind right curve, but not every time. When it has stalled once, it tends to repeatedly stall when I take my foot off of the gas.
It always starts right back up again with no problem. It happened once in town right after I filled up with gas, but didn't repeatedly stall after that.It has been to my mechanic 3 times and no codes come up with scan. The AF sensor (idle control valve) was replaced twice, throttle body cleaned (although not bad), crank sensor checked, fuel trim checked, wires, battery checked, hoses checked, reprogramming of ECU checked- not needed, no recalls/reflashes, nothing found. I don't want to end up stranded on a lonely mountain road with fires approaching, or getting broadsided when it stalls in a left turn.
My Subaru Outback 2016 less than a year old has a right turn signal that works intermittently. I can't come up with a Rhyme or Reason why it works or not. From what people have told me the fog light is doing the same thing. The Subaru mechanics are baffled and can't replicate the problem.
View 8 RepliesI have a 2000 Subaru outback (150,000 miles). Recently after starting, the car will feel sluggish or like it's pulling. When I come to a complete stop it will shake and feel like it's about to shut off... and recently it has been shutting off. Last night I changed the spark plugs, spark plug wires, and fuel filter... after that the car was driving worse. My check engine light is on and the code is for a knock sensor. Also there was oil on my spark plugs which I believe is an idication that there is a broken or leaky gasket. I am at a loss... would the leaky or broken gasket cause car the run sluggish and stall, would a faulty knock sensor cause the the same? I also need to get my rotors changed but I don't think that would cause any of this.
View 3 RepliesI have a 2004 Subaru Outback. This fall I started having intermittent problems starting the car. It would run like a champ, no problems. Then every once in a while when I would try to start it, typically happens after it has sat all night, it would turn over just fine, motor would catch, then the motor would quit running (almost immediately upon start). It is kind of like the old days when your carburetor was not adjusted quite right and you would have to keep one foot on the brake the other on the gas while stopped at a stop light to keep the motor running.
The first time it happened we added "heat" as we thought it might be water in the gas line somewhere. It started, then ran just fine. This winter the problem started recurring more frequently. We added injector cleaner, it seemed to work a bit, but did not solve problem. We took it to the shop, and they could not figure out what was going on as nothing is registering on the computer and the car would start just fine for them. Brought the car home it worked OK for a week or so, then started up again.
The motor would catch then would quit running almost immediately. We were able to get it running good enough to get it to the shop (kept one foot on gas at stop lights, etc so would not kill). My car has been at the shop for two weeks now. It finally misbehaved on their watch, and they replaced a sensor, but they are not sure it fixed anything. They are keeping it so see if they can get a better diagnosis.
My first thought was the gas pump, but they said they had never seen a subaru gas pump fail and usually when a pump goes out, it goes out. They thought it could be electrical, but not sure as the problem is so intermittent. I would like to get my car fixed and back home. It's a great car; when it is running it runs great. The shop we work with is very good, and they are reluctant to start just replacing parts if it is not going to fix the problem.
My Subaru dealer just told me that my 2004 outback with 88k miles has developed a head gasket leak. I haven't noticed any symptoms, and the leak started sometime between now and my last major service 10k miles ago. How serious is this? They want to charge me for it? If so, when? Is disaster imminent?
View 7 RepliesI recently had an issue with my head gasket. It was repaired but then learned the real issue was that I had diesel gas in my engine. (Long story, fuel hauler put wrong gas in tank and service station sold the gas to us unsuspecting drivers.) After head gasket was fixed, tried to leave service shop but car still had issues - turned around and went back. O2 sensor and other fuel trim numbers were off. But couldn't diagnose problem completely so told me to drive home (30 miles) and come back next day.
That's when I found out about the diesel gas issue. My car got drained of bad gas and cleaned. Got car back but now is leaking oil. My husband thinks it is either from the valve covers or from head gasket. Can diesel gas in your engine damage the head gasket? Could I have done more damage by driving the 30 miles home with the bad gas? Or did the shop just do a bad head gasket repair? I only bought this car 6 months ago - used. It now has 88K miles.
I have a 2007 subaru outback ll bean addition with 67,000 miles. For the past year and a half my gas pedal has intermittently become unresponsive. The engine is running just fine but the check engine light and cruise control light start blinking and boom-no gas. After turning off the engine, the car won't start until the gas pedal has magically started working again. The dash lights continue to blink for several starts but then stop.
Prior to this problem, I have noticed that sometimes the console lights for the radio and AC blink and sometimes go dark at which point the controls are ineffective. As if this wasn't enough, just yesterday when trying to start the car, the engine was having trouble turning over with a rapid clicking noise. It eventually started but now the seat belt buckle alarm is out of whack and the speedometer displays "ER U1."
I tried to pull out my sun visor one day to get more sun protection and ended up yanking it out. I put the sun visor back on and my seat heaters, interior mirror/compass, cigarette lighter, exterior mirrors, and mirror heaters don't work. I guess What do I do about these small annoying issues??
View 1 Replies1992 Subaru loyale 4WD, was sitting for about 2 weeks straight without use. . . I just changed the oil and spark plugs, and now the buttons for the 4wd and air conditioning/heater do not work. I heard that these are vacuum operated. Is this a quick fix? Will it lead to other problems? Brakes??
View 1 RepliesI have a 96 outback which all of a sudden has no awd. The rear differential looks as though it has leaked some. I don't know if it has a bad axle, or if this loss of fluid is the culprit..... Where to start?
View 4 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 RepliesHave a 2000 subaru outback 2.5l, automatic, with about 245k, I replaced the thermostat,water pump, the radiator and the car is still overheating. both fans are working. no leaking coolant. Maybe this is related- over heats mostly when driving on the highway. But if a shift the gear to neutral and coast for a minute the shift back to drive the temperature gauge goes down. Whats wrong, running out money fixing the car, but love it driving it in the snow.
View 2 RepliesI have a 2002 Legacy Outback 6Cyl with VDC. Over the weekend my dash lights for both the ABS and the VDC will not go out after the normal starting of the car. Does this mean I have a brake problem?
View 4 RepliesRecently, my car has been sounding louder than usual. It seems to be coming from under the vehicle, and when I checked, there was smoke coming from a pipe underneath. My best guess is that the exhaust is leaking. It kind of looks like there's a disconnect here....
View 3 RepliesI have a 2008 Outback and I just got news from my repairman that says there is a leak in the head gasket and one of my axle boots is cracking. The axle boot is not the major concern, but is it worth it to spend $ to get it fixed or should I say "Hasta La Vista" and look into buying a new car? I hit a deer and thoroughly damaged the front end about a year and a half ago and I am not sure if that has "shakin' things up".
I currently have about 85K miles on the car. I don't mind repairing the car if it doesn't turn into the Money Pit.
We noticed a burnt rubber/oil smell coming from our '01 Subaru Outback, no engine lights were on. When I looked under the hood, all the fluid levels looked good, but I noticed on the left side, about two thirds down the side of the engine, there appears to be a leak of gooey brown oil? from a hose running up over the engine. Do you think this is the source of the smell? What this is, how much it will be to fix or if we can safely drive it to the mechanic (we are about 45 min from town)? See photos here: [URL] ... I tried to zoom in slowly so you could get an idea of the location.
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