I've never replaced a car stereo and have no clue what to look for as far as compatibility goes. My '09 Forester has a am/fm/sat. radio hookup/ 6 cd changer. Do I have to look for a specific stereo head other than it being a 2-DIN?
I'd like to be able to continue using the aux port that is in my center console, and I would like a USB port that I can plug a Galaxy S4 into.
I got a 98 Subi Forester L, stick, 130k mi.
I've been thinking about what gs ragtop & tester mentioned about the silicate stuff and I'm ready to take the chance, but there's one thing bothering me: If that stuff is supposed to be drawn into the combustion chamber where the silicate comes in contact with the super hot temps that solidify it, thereby sealing the leak, that assumes coolant is going into the combustion chamber, right? Well, I've been driving this car with a blown hg for at least 2yrs maybe 3, (that in itself amazes me), and I've never seen any sign of coolant in the exhaust, no smoke, nor any rough starting issues to speak of.
So, my question is simply, HOW THE HECK DOES THAT HAPPEN!! How in the world can I lift the hood and watch exhaust gases bubbling up in the radiator, yet when I park on a hot, 95 degree August day with a fully pressurized cooling system, the next time it's started there is no sign of coolant. The physics of that defy me! I mean, it says that the head gasket magically blew a "one-way" valve in itself? What do you think? Am I missing something?
I have a 1998 Subaru Forester that is leaking oil through the head gasket. Repairs for the head gasket seem to be in high range, which is at or above the value of the car. Is trying any of the head gasket sealant products such as Blue Devil worth trying? Do they have the potential to do more damage than good? I love the car, but I'm also not sure if it is worth getting if fixed or if I should be looking to sell it for parts and buy a different used car.
View 15 RepliesI have a 2007 Subaru Forester X Sport Model. I just passed 86,000 miles - much of that open road driving. My head gaskets need to be replaced. This seems somewhat early. I recently switched from using regular motor oil to a synthetic blend that the dealership suggested. Is there any history suggesting that switching lubricants might cause the head gaskets to deteriorate?
View 10 RepliesI 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?
View 7 RepliesI have a 2006 Subaru Forester (auto trans) with 97,000 miles on it. It's behaving badly, and here are its symptoms:1. It is getting worse gas mileage now than it has in the past 5 years I've owned it. Up until the last few months, I've been able to get about 26 mpg on average. Since Sept. or Oct., I've only been getting about 21 mpg.2. It shifts rough on a cold start when it shifts into 3rd and/or 4th. No rough shifting is noticed when the car is started on a moderate or warm day (roughly 35 degrees outside or warmer).3. When doing mountain driving (specifically u to a hill at highway speeds that is about 10 miles long and a sustained 7%-10% grade), the engine temp rises to about 2/3 according to the gauge on the dash. (Under normal driving conditions it sits at about 1/3.)
I took the car to my mechanic and here's what they said:
1. The gas mileage on Subaru Foresters frequently isn't much higher than 22 mpg, so for the first 5 years, I owned the car I was just lucky.
2. The fluids need to be flushed and changed: differential, transmission, etc. - approximate cost $400
3. He's almost certain that the cause of the 3rd problem is blown head gaskets, and the cost of that is about $3000.
If the head gaskets are truly the culprit, is it a repair that needs immediate attention or is it something I can delay for a while?
Had the head gasket replaced and metal machined due to HG failure. 2001 Forester, 120K miles. After I got it back, a bad oil smell. Cleaned and sprayed it, still there, though less; seems to be on drivers side. Comes into cabin from the air vents below windshield when stopped.
Could it be the line from manifold vacuum to brake master cylinder ie servo amplifier? Or something else?Should I worry? The car seems to get about 15 mpg, used to get 18 mpg, and the check engine MIL is on.
My mechanic told me that the burning smell I've been getting in my '02 Forester when I'm idling is a leaking head gasket. It seems to be a slow oil leak. If I keep an eye on my oil level can I continue to drive the car without doing further damage or having to worry about breaking down?
View 4 RepliesMy 2000 Forester has 96,000 miles on it. A few months ago, the CEL came on. At first it would turn off every couple of days but would eventually pop back on. I first thought it was tied to putting gas in the car, now I think it was just a coincidence.
Over the past two months, I have replaced the catalytic converter with a aftermarket piece (done by a mom and pop muffler shop) and replaced the front o2 sensor three times. The first two times, I used Bosch sensors from an auto parts store and had the code cleared. After about 50 miles the CEL came back on. Just yesterday, I picked my car up from the dealership where they installed a Subaru fron o2. After about 30 miles, the light is back on again. Code is P0133 - heated oxygen sensor, bank 1 sensor 1, circuit slow response.
Now, the dealership is suggesting I need to replace the catalytic converter with a Subaru converter before they can source the issue.
I have a 2011 f150 with the 5.0l motor. I had to replace the head gaskets and I am putting it back together and I am wondering if I will need a special tool to align the cam gears/camshaft/timing chain. to get this back together. I can't seem to find a thread or an article to guide me through the process.
View 2 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?
I have a 09 Subaru Forester (automatic) with 56,300 miles on it. Within the last 100 miles, the transmission has started 'hiccuping' as it changes gears. Also, when the car is cold and first started up, as I drive the rpms rise to around 3k when switching gears; sometimes holding there for anywhere from 3 seconds to 12 seconds before finally changing gears. As the car warms up, this problem disappears, but the 'hiccuping' continues. I took it to the dealer and they flushed out the transmission fluid, but problem still persists. I called the dealership asking for a new transmission because it is still under warranty, but they refused. They are going to check pan for metal shavings, and if they're present then they'll replace trans. If not, then they will replace other parts until problem is fixed.
Also, another important question: If I had the transmission fluid replaced, would it be possible that they may have cleaned out any metal shavings, and when they check 100 miles later, there wouldn't be any? I'm worried that I'm going to get screwed because they eliminated any metal shavings and when they go to look again none will be there because there hasn't been enough mileage put on the car to make them appear again. I do not know enough about cars to know if this is even a possibility. They refuse to honor the warranty until they go through a checklist of possible repairs, and I'm nervous that list will run out when I hit 61,000 miles and warranty runs out.
I have a 2009 Subaru forester and the rear suspension really sags when I have my Bike rack on it. It's a hitch mounted Yakima rack that weighs around 50 pounds unloaded and maybe up to 100 lbs loaded.in either case the back end sags and occasionally if I go over a speed bump the suspension will bottom out.I have heard that some foresters have something called "saggy but" due to the suspension just being soft in general....
View 7 Replies35,000 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.
I'm having a problem with my 2009 Subaru Forester.
When I start the car from "cold" (i.e., it hasn't run in several hours, regardless of the actual temperature), the automatic transmission cannot engage drive for several minutes. I can shift the car, and reverse functions normally. When shifting, I can feel the car engage reverse, and feel it shift into neutral, but when I shift from neutral to drive, I can't feel it engage. I can rev the engine, and it will just act as if it is still in neutral. I also cannot use sport mode to manually get the car into gear. After a few minutes (3-4), the car will engage drive. However, at least initially, it still seems to be pretty rough, with a few times where it will rev as if it's half in neutral, and then jump a little. Once it does get going, it settles down and is fine.
I took it to the dealer, but wasn't able to leave it over-night, so they couldn't get the problem to re-engage. They inspected the car, thought that the shift cable was a little stiff, so they took it off, lubed it, and put it back (they recommended replacement, but didn't have the part in stock). The next morning, the problem repeated itself, so it certainly appears that the cable is not the issue. The dealer checked the transmission fluid and said that was all fine.
My 09 Forester continues to skip although I have changed spark plugs and wires. Always reads misfire on 03 and 04.
View 2 RepliesI've spent a lot of time and money putting in nice speakers and audio equipment in my 2009 forester. I also got all of the rattles and vibrations out of the interior except for the passenger side door. I've used sound dampening and checked everything I can, but somewhere on the door panel there is a vibration that I can't find. So, the only thing I can think of its too seal the various seams on the interior of the panel with something. .. caulk or glass sealant?
View 10 RepliesMy 09 Subaru Forester has been spitting small chunks of frost at me in the mornings, why? frost has been flying out of the defrost vents ~10 min into my morning commute for the last few weeks. The outside temp has been around 50 degrees (+/- 5) in the mornings, and the air has been humid. I rarely use my AC, maybe once a year. I did take the suggestion from a friend to maybe turn on the AC and see what happens, so i ran it for a day and the next couple of days no frost but it has now started again.
View 19 RepliesI have a 09 Subaru Forester with 66k miles that vibrates like it is going over rumble strips when it up shifts from 3rd to 4th gear. It occurs under normal (not brisk) acceleration. I had the trans fluid changed at both the 30k and 60k services. I have owned this since new. It began before the 60k service. Also, sometimes the tach will increase revs during this as well. I don't know if this next thing is related but when I once need to merge quickly into interstate traffic I gave it a good amount of throttle and the tach revs increased but the trans did not follow with an immediate down shift.
View 4 RepliesI 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.
Right 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.