Subaru - Forester :: 2003 - Front Brakes Locking Up Especially On Hot Days
May 18, 2013
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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My 1998 Forester suddenly began pulsing / crunching sound, from the front brakes. I had just performed full brake inspection 2 weeks before. So I removed the ABS fuse (20 amp), and the problem disappeared. Of course the ABS light is also on now, but I can drive the car. I disconnected the 4 wheel sensors from the car harness, connected an oscilloscope to each, and spun the wheels pretty fast. I get 150 MV peak-to-peak from each sensor. Must I replace the "tone rings", or just wire-brush them? Replacing the rings are a BIG job, and the wheel bearings & seals must be replaced, since they don't survive pulling out the axles from the steering knuckle (front), or strut assembly (rear).
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I have a really weird problem with my car. Every time that I apply the brakes, I get a bit of a shudder. It just started a couple of weeks ago and we checked the brake pads which were fine and the bearings were good as well. What could be causing this problem?
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I have a 2005 F250 & both front calipers are locking up. I have replaced the front pads, no change, my mechanic installed a new master cylinder. No lockup for about two weeks until today. Front calibers are locking up again.
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I 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.
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I have a 2000 Subaru Forester S model with 143k. I have been chasing a front end shimmy since we bought the car used a year ago. I have replaced the front rotors, and pads, cleaned and greased the caliper pins, made sure the calipers weren't stuck, and had an alignment done. There was a bent front passenger wheel that I changed and had the wheels balanced. I have also checked the fuse for the ABS thinking that may have something to do with it. After the alignment provided no change I am stuck.
I just realized that I left out a critical piece of information as I was reading the posts. The shimmy is only under braking and is more pronounced under extra load such as down hill.
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I have a 2006 Subaru Forester with 115K miles. It's been well-maintained and well-loved.
For the past few months, the brakes have been inconsistently making a dragging/grinding noise when coming to a stop at low speeds (<5mph). It sounds to be coming from the front half of the car - I can feel it vibrating a little near the driver side. We've taken the car in to be looked at three times - each time, the mechanics think they've heard the noise and report there is absolutely nothing wrong with the brake pads or rotors. Twice they reported a shim was out of alignment. After the last shim adjustment, the noise got a little better - instead of grinding, it's more of a dragging sound now. Because the noise is inconsistent, I haven't been able to crack the formula of the conditions that produce it, other than that it only happens as I'm coming to a stop at very low speeds.
Is there something besides the brakes we should be having inspected? Does this sound safe to drive?
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I have a 2001 Forester with approx. 130k miles 5 speed MT. Sometimes when making a low (5-15mph) speed right hand turn I hear a mild thunk thunk thunk thunk emanating from the front pax corner. The frequency seems linked to the speed. Curiously, I do not hear the noise every time I make a right and I have yet to notice a trend. My partner drives the vehicle more often than I but doesn't make any connections either.
I am relatively certain that we replaced that cv joint/axle this past June.
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Wind noise around front windows just inside the side mirrors. ཀ Forester ...Is this a common problem and is there a fix for it?
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my '02 Forester with standard shift (112K miles) has for some time made a clunking noise in the front CV axles on tight manuvers like parking, etc., once driven for a while but mechanics, even 'Subaru gurus' have never been able to tell me what it was. Recently during an 800 mile highway trip a transmission noise developed and the local AAMCO shop diagnosed a chipped gear, requiring a gearbox rebuild. Today they called to say the problem was a destroyed viscous coupler at the rear of the gearbox "and as the gearbox is out", clutch replacement. My question is, since the problem was misdiagnosed, should I pay the labor for having the gearbox removed/replaced when in fact it had nothing to do with the gearbox ?
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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 noticed something while riding as a passenger in my 1999 Subaru Forester lately. I was riding in the front passenger seat with the window down, and noticed a strange "spritzing" noise coming from the passenger side front of the vehicle. The sound is very brief, about a second in duration. I heard this repeat several times as we went down the road, and decided to time it. It turns out that this sound occurs exactly every 33 seconds while the car is in gear going down the road! It sounds like a pressure relief valve going off....but what could it be?
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What 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.
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I have a 2010 Subaru Forester that looses pressure in the front left tire much more quickly than the other 3 tires. For example, I just filled up all 4 tires to 33PSI, and when I checked it a week or two later, the front left was at 26PSI, while the other 3 were still at 32-33PSI. In the past, the tire pressure light has come on because the front left tire managed to get as low as 16PSI, while the other 3 tires were still at ~26PSI. Is it possible to have a small leak that leaks a couple PSI per week?
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What would cause this? The brakes work fine until you get into that range of brake pressure in which the abs wants to kick in. The brakes then lock up(may be only front driver), the pedal sinks to the floor, and don't disengage until the car is at a complete stop. It does this with esp on or off.
The previous owner changed a front wheel sensor and bled the brakes. The abs module fuse under the battery cover was melted but not blown.
VCDS shows no codes. I did not do output test on pump, didn't have my laptop with me.
Abs pump bad?
Mc?
Servo?
Caliper?
Brake line?
I bought this car 2 weeks ago and the previous owner failed to let me know about the problem and it happened to me a mile down the road after purchasing the car. I started to notice a lot more because of the rain and snow recently. It's definitely an uneasy feeling. I really don't wanna drive the car till it's sorted.
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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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