2004 Forester does not always start when gear shift shows it is in park. Happens intermittently. Lights, radio come on (battery is OK), but nothing else happens. Car will start after shifting in and out of park and trying again. Have replaced and tightened bushings. Gear shift now moves easily. Mechanic is suggesting a new starter.
View 2 RepliesMy 2004 Forester (73000 miles) with 5-speed manual, is sometimes hard shifting into gears. The Subaru agency says that there's 'not much left' on the clutch and I need a new clutch @ $1300. Does hard shifting , no clutch slipping, indicate new clutch is necessary?
View 5 RepliesI have a 2006 Subaru Forester automatic with about 40,000 miles on it. When it gets cold out, I notice that when I first start driving the car, it jerks/lurches and makes a loud noise when shifting from first to second and second to third. When the car warms up after driving for awhile, it doesn't do it anymore. It's much colder here (high today of zero), the car is doing this much more often. I brought it to the dealer and they completely flushed the transmission fluid (which they said looked yellow instead of red/orange??), but it is still making the noise and having trouble shifting in the cold. They said need to take the transmission apart, so I've been leary about taking it back. My husband thinks I should just drive it until it dies and then get a new transmission if needed.
View 1 RepliesI can not get my car out of park. I must replace a fuse every time . 1998 subaru forester . 241,000 miles
View 4 RepliesMy 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.
View 19 RepliesI 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.
View 5 RepliesFor longer than I'd like to reveal, my Forester has shifted extremely hard. This happens only when the engine is cold and disappears entirely once it heats up. Also, the RPMs go high just before the shift. When it does shift, it feels as if the engine is going to self-destruct from the sound and rough feeling --as if the entire engine or at least some part of it were going to fall to the ground. After it shifts, it feels as if the car shoots forward like a rocket. The Subaru dealer changed the transmission fluid and reset the computer. The problem persists.
View 1 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 RepliesI 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.
View 2 RepliesMy 2011 Forester makes a rattle sound each time I accelerate either uphill or on level ground. The sound is reminiscent of the pinging sound from cars from years ago when we were told to use a higher octane gas. It's only at the start of the acceleration, not continuous. The sound seems to come from below the car, either under the hood or under the body, not inside the passenger compartment. Most websites say loose heat guards, but this would mean I'd hear the rattle throughout the acceleration, wouldn't it? Brought It to the dealer twice and they couldn't hear anything. No surprise. I hear it with my 2013 Legacy also.
View 1 RepliesI recently purchased a 2013 forester and noticed a slight shudder in the car once I start to accelerate but it only lasts until I hit 20mph or so then disappears. The salesman tried telling me it was a normal subaru characteristic and being new to AWD and subaru I was a suckered and listened to him but after owning the car for a week it's more noticeable than when I first drove the car off the lot. I'm not sure if its the tires out of balance or my half shafts or possibly drive shafts are screwy.
View 14 RepliesWith 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.
View 1 RepliesI drive a 98 Subaru Forester with ~190,000 miles on it. This car is incredibly reliable and excluding the following incident I have never had a problem with it. The other day I went out to run some errands and when I came out of the store my car wouldn't start. I turned the key and nothing happened. There was no sound from the engine or starter whatsoever, but the radio, air, etc. came on. It had started perfectly fine just an hour earlier that day. I had a friend and with a few strikes from a hammer on the starter the car fired right up so that appears to have been the problem. It's been a few days now and it has started right up every time I've turned the key since. Was this incident just a fluke? Is this what they call a "dead spot" in the starter? Should I replace it or can I get away with just carrying a hammer and push starting if worse comes to worst?
View 2 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 a 2004 Subaru Forrester with a 2.5L engine (non-turbo) and about 137,000 miles. I usually get just a bit more than 300 miles on a tank of gas. About 3 weeks ago, I took the car for a major tune up (and they also replaced a valve cover around the spark plugs area). After the tune up, the car was running great and I was still getting about 300 miles to the tank. Within the last 10 days, I noticed that the gas mileage on the car has decreased - I am now getting closer to 250 miles per tank. The mechanic rechecked the fuel lines and test drove the car two days ago but did not see any signs of leaks. The weather was near freezing for about a week but has warmed up again to the 40's. My driving habits have not changed and I am driving the car the same way as before. I am stumped as to why the gas mileage would drop that much. What might be happening?
View 8 RepliesAfter smelling a bit of a "hot oil smell" on and off for several weeks and culminating in a getting smoke from the engine at the end of a mountain road, we took our 2004 Subaru Forrester (147,500) to the trusted mechanic. We were told that it needs head gaskets in both banks.
View 7 RepliesI have a 2004 Turbo Forester. It's been maintained since purchased new at the same dealer with oil changes every 3500 miles or so and all the "big" required/recommended maintenance every 15000 miles. After the 75000 mile check, I kept smelling a burning oil smell, especially when car was idling. I had it back to the dealer several times but they couldn't find anything wrong. The car did not seem to be using excess oil, there were no "puddles" under the car where it was parked. Today I brought the car in for routine oil change (78400 miles). On the way in, started smelling the burning smell again and saw smoke around the turbo charger.
The mechanic saw "Moisture" (oil?) around a lower bolt on the heat shield around the turbo charger. He said it was likely a failing turbo charger causing oil to leak on making that bolt wet? The engine is not making any noise, nor is the turbocharger, and there was no "check engine light" illuminated. I'm scared now to take the care elsewhere for a second opinion...don't really want to drive it and trash the engine. It's out of warranty now, and this is a painfully expensive fix that couldn't have come at a worse time on a car that's been maintained "by the book". I'm reading a lot about this "banjo bolt screen" problem. Would that be something to find out about on a 2004 Forester? Is there anything else that could be causing the problem (mechanic couldn't think of anything).
I have a 2004 Subaru Forester, today when I turned on the heater fan I noticed that electrical (melting) smell, and the fan thus only ran very slowly on setting three and mostly okay on setting four, but not really at all on setting one or two. I found where the fan is located, but was wondering if it is the blower motor or the blower motor resister. I think on high, the blower motor by-passes the resister, and it seemed as though the smell really only occurred when I had the blower set on a lower setting. The resister is about $45 and the blower is about $145. If I can get by with only replacing the resister, that would be cool because I am assuming a new blower motor does not come with a new resister attached and I would have to buy that separately.
View 4 RepliesI purchased a 2012 Subaru Forester 2.5X Premium (automatic transmission) in November 2011 with 4 miles on it. Since the get-go it has had issues, but we thought that some of them might work themselves out as we broke the car in (which we were religious about). At the first oil change, we told the dealership about the issues we were experiencing and got the expected "the computer doesn't say anything is wrong" and "we couldn't replicate the problems" excuses. We were told to bring it back if the problems continued. Well, they've gotten worse. Here are what we are experiencing:
- Erratic shifting. I commute from the mountains to the city every day, so I need power from the car. Sometimes, when I'm heading down a hill and I tap the gas slightly to give myself a little boost, the car will suddenly downshift, even though it was sitting at 2500 RPM and didn't need to get any extra power beyond more fuel. Going up the hill is worse, as if you are not actively accelerating (including if you are trying to maintain a constant speed), it will upshift on you and you lose all power, so it will need to downshift to make up for this. It does this constantly for the entire drive home. Everyone who has driven this car in the mountains has experienced this.
- Jerky transmission. When the car shifts, it is super harsh and tends to throw you forward or back. Even when on flat ground it shifts roughly.
- Sluggish acceleration. If I give the car any more gas than I usually do, it hesitates before going anywhere. One day I needed to get over on the highway fast and floored it - it took the car about 2 seconds to respond. Then, yesterday, we were turning on to a highway from a side road and I tried to accelerate (gas about 1/2 way to the floor) and it didn't respond at all for about 5 seconds and the "Check Engine" and the traction control lights started flashing at me. We were on a paved road with no gravel, water, ice, etc and the traction control light began flashing on the straight, not while we were turning. There are also days when it feels like there is an anchor tied to the car and it just doesn't want to give me any umph at all.
- Rough starts. This is the really weird one as there is no rhyme or reason as to when it happens. Some times it takes the car several revolutions to turn over. Oddly, it's never on the really cold (under 20 degrees F) days, but it has happened when it is ~35 degrees and a couple of times when I have started it in the middle of the day to grab lunch and it is ~65 degrees out.
- Running rough. This usually happens after a rough start, but can also happen at other times. It just idles very rough and won't calm down. These are the days I have the worst time with the shifting issues.
I had a 2001 Forester that threw a rod, which forced me to get this car. Everyone who has driven both agrees that the 2001 was quicker, easier to drive, and had more gumption than the 2012. It also had less problems even though I purchased it used in 2005 (until the whole rod-throwing thing, of course). I really want to love my 2012 Forester, but I am so upset that, for the first time in my life I have a new car, and it runs terribly.
I have a 2004 Subaru Forest with 181K. I have a grinding that is loud and worsening in the cold weather coming from the right rear of my car. Is this a CV Joint or a bearing issue? It is far more noticeable at low speed that high with the radio on.
View 7 RepliesOur beloved 2004 Subaru Forester has the check engine light on. We've been told that the 4th cylinder has either low or no compression. Is this fixable/worth fixing? Would you replace the engine? The car has 183K miles on it, and runs great! It is stuttering now, due to this issue, but otherwise - runs great and is in good condition!
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