Subaru - Outback :: 2001 - Ambient Drone Noise In Speakers Before Dying
Mar 20, 2012
I can do all the basic car maintenance but this has me perplexed and a little frightened ...
My dependable 2001 Subaru outback has been dying after I start it up for the last couple of days. The build up to this was that the headlights have been flickering ever since I changed the fan belt a few weeks ago.
Whats strange is that the car will turn on and run fine until I turn the radio or air conditioner on. A few minutes after doing so I'll hear the weird ambient droning moaning sound start to build up in the speakers of the car - then the odometer starts to go haywire and the car will die if idling.
When I try to start it up again afterward the battery comes on fine but it wont turn over. I don't notice a clicking sound like a starter would indicate but rather an electric-ish sounding hiss. The next day it will start up again. And for what its worth the headlights no longer flicker.
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I get a loud noise from the rear of my 2005 Subaru Outback, 67k miles.(No it's not my dog Pete)Starts as a WHOP, WHOP, WHOP that speeds up as the car speeds up 'til it's a loud drone at cruising speed. I thought it was older tires but changed those Saturday. No effect.
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2015 Outlook 2.5 CVT - Regardless of engine temp/or oil temp, transmission will stay in low gears (relative - its a CVT) such that the car is always doing approx. 2100 RPMs. When it occurs, 35mph is 2100 RPMs; when problem is not present, same speed would be approx 1200 RPMs. Same for higher speed. 45mph would be 2100 verses approx 1400rpm. Gear indicator does indicate a '4' or '5' when it would normally be '6'.
Outside temps in excess of 30 degress - no evidence of problem. Below 30, may or may not happen. No check engine light and it does affect MPG significantly.
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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????
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My Subaru 2000 Outback is dying occasionally when I come to a stop. It will stutter and die. I can restart it and everything is fine. It does not happen everytime, but happens more when I come to stop quickly, less when I come to a gradual stop. What is this?
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So my daughter has a Subaru Outback with keyless entry and push button start, and her battery kept dying overnight. It turns out that she was keeping her second key fob within 10 feet of the car, so the car's electrical system was kept on all night (sensing that she was approaching the car) running the battery down. The lesson learned (the hard way) was to keep your key fobs far enough away from the car so the electrical system is not constantly energized.
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I have a 2001 Subaru Outback with the 5 speed manual transmission. About 6 months ago the clutch went out and we had it replaced. We did not go to a professional shop and instead used a friend of my father-in-law who used to be a mechanic. Last weekend I drove the car on the beach to go fishing and got the car stuck in the sand.
After 2 attempts to get unstuck the clutch started smoking and blew out. I only attempted to get unstuck 2 times and was not "rallying" the engine hard. I realized I was good and stuck and stopped because I didn't want to spin the tires and dig myself so deep I couldn't get towed out.
My question is this; what are the chances that a brand new clutch would blow after 6 months? The car is used mainly to drive on paved roads to and from work and the grocery store. Both my wife and I have driven manual transmission cars for years and we don't ride the clutch. It goes through the usual wear and tear of everyday driving and yet, one incident that requires a little beef from the clutch and it blows?
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My 2001 Subaru Outback H6-3.0 is at 215k miles (I bought it for $4k at 201k miles). It overheats only when I drive for a while on a hot day. I was trying to get to Yosemite with my whole family in the car, and rather than do the intelligent thing and go back home and get it repaired, I kept going, stopping when the gauge started going past the middle to let it cool down and replace any water it was missing (after the engine cooled, of course). Amazingly, we managed to use the car almost normally during the trip, as long as we did short-ish trips and kept some water in the car. Having to pull over randomly isn't so bad when you are in Yosemite anyway.
There was a mechanic shop in the little town we stayed in, but they weren't equipped to to do a head gasket job in the little time we were going to be up there, and we needed the car to get around anyway. So I tried putting some of that coolant leak repair gunk in there and it seemed to work. We made it the hundreds of miles home, no problem (but it was downhill, where the trip up there was uphill). Problem solved, right?
Well, about a year later of only driving the thing about 50 miles in any given run, and not terribly hot weather, we decide to go a few hundred miles south. Sure enough, it was a hot day and after about 60 miles I saw the temp gauge go past mid and immediately pulled over. After it cooled a bit, I drove it (in two hops, because it started heating up again quickly) to a shop. They tested it and sure enough it's a head gasket leak. They said it'd be $2500 to fix it.
So far this car has been pretty good to me otherwise. Numerous times, I've taken it up 300+ miles into the snow and ice covered roads to go skiing and LOVE not having to put chains on. I am guessing that all the cold air up there kept it from overheating while I was pushing it pretty hard up some steep inclines without issue. It seems like there is a temperature threshold beyond which it starts to quickly overheat, and below witch, the gasket is holding fine, or something along those lines.
So, given that I like this car, is it worth another $2500 to get her back on the road? Should I just try the leak stopping junk again? Should I have been using "SUBARU cooling system conditioner" this whole time, even though it's not one of the supposed head-gasket-problem engines? Should I just drive it until it finally overheats to death? It's probably still fine to drive in moderate to cool temperatures (winter is coming), but I haven't driven it since the leaking head gasket diagnosis. I don't know if I did permanent damage to it that day, or if it's just its usual self still. It didn't get into the red, heat-wise.
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My 2001 subaru outback wagon when put in park doesn't shift out of that position unless I access the little hole for releasing the shift module and put it into gear. What is the problem? The fuse for the transmission is good. outside fuse box.
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I just bought a used 2001 Subaru Outback L.L.Bean, and the check-engine light is on due to misfiring in cylinders 1, 3, and 5 (right side only). I thought I was getting a pretty good deal even given the CEL risk, but the car is at the mechanic now and he is stumped and telling me I have to take it to a dealer service center.
This is a 6 cylinder with a timing chain. Plugs were replaced and computer reset and the light came right back on. There are no spark plug wires, and I read that the coil packs rarely fail. The engine runs smoothly and seems to have power, but since I just bought the car used so I'm not sure how much power is normal. It has 122k miles.
What could be causing misfires on one side of the engine only?
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My 2001 Subaru Outback has been having problems dispensing wiper fluid (front windshield) when I push the wiper fluid button on the steering column. Yes, there is wiper fluid in the resivoir. Does it need to be at a certain level? The motor that controls this is working; when I push the button, I can hear it running.
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I'm getting a gas smell when I start the car in the morning-especially if its cold. I typically blow the defroster which only makes it worse. It seems to be worse when its colder out and does not happen as the day goes on. My mechanic has checked for leaks-none. I thought it might be an oxygen sensor(?), he does not think so.
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I have a 2001 Subaru outback. Recently I've noticed a rattle when I accelerate, especially when I take off from a dead stop. I sounds like it's coming from the front wheel area. It also occurs sometimes when making a turn and then accelerate. It almost sounds like an object in a box and someone is shaking the box-very noticeable.
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A new issue has cropped up with my 2001 H6 Subaru Outback (which I believe is technically a Legacy). We've put so much work into this thing to keep it running and this might be the last nail in the coffin. However, what's going on...
My wife reported to me yesterday that the vehicle was turning itself off while driving. I was not in the car to verify any of this, so this part is anecdotal. After 45 minutes of driving, she said the engine was "hiccuping" and the gages were dropping to zero and then bringing themselves right back up to the current RPM and speed. She said the ABS light came on. The first time the vehicle did this, she reports that it did it many times in rapid succession. She described it as "the gages were going crazy". After turning around to come back home this happened once more, though not in rapid succession. It was a single occurrence of turning off and back on again. She indicated that the vehicle did not require a restart with the key. I suspect that this was because she was driving at highway speed at the time.
She brought it right to the mechanic and - as is the case with all intermittent issues - they were not able to repeat the failure in any way. So, being an engineer, I decided I wanted to experience it for myself and do a few tests.
Today I drove 45 minutes to work, 10 minutes of small town driving, 25 minutes of highway driving, 10 minutes of small town driving. Lucky for me (!), in the first five minutes of driving, the radio cut out, power steering died, and I heard fuses or relays clicking as I was gently braking and gently taking a right turn. I continued the right turn off into a parking spot on the side of the road and stopped the car. I turned the key to the off position, put it into park and restarted the vehicle right away. No problems. All was fine.
The vehicle did not do this again for the entire trip. However, I did perform some tests to see if I could repeat a similar failure with the ignition alone.
1) Turning the ignition off and quickly back on again by hand while rolling at highway speed (~55 mph) will cause the vehicle to kick back into a normal running mode.
2) Turning the ignition off and quickly back on again by hand while rolling at lower speed (~30 mph) will require a restart by turning the key all the way to the "start" position and not just the "on" position.
3) Turning the ignition off with the key (as in 1 and 2) DOES NOT cut out the radio. Note that when the intermittent defect occurs, the radio will cut out and then come back along with the engine and instrument panel.
4) Wiggling and stressing the keys to put strain on the ignition switch doesn't seem to cause anything to happen.
5) The battery is only a few months old and a general inspection of the battery terminals, cabling, and fuses indicates that everything appears to be in tact and clean.
I'm not the most experienced car person, so my terminology is probably a little off and that's all I have for now. I feel like this is a common ground issue and if I could only identify which ground services the instrument panel and radio and spark plugs I could inspect it and clean or replace a connection. My limited research reveals that there are many grounds throughout the engine compartment, though.
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I thought it was the tired due to the cold weather. But now it is warmer the noise is still there. Bareknuckes previously mentioned wheel bearings as a potential problem. The car is driving (sound-wise) like I have some huge mud-bogger tires on or like crossing a cattle-guard continuously. so loud (in the cabin) that sometime I forget to shift because I hear the humming rather than the engine.
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I have a 2003 Subaru outbackI got my AC charged since it was not cooling. As soon as I left the shop I had a fog horn noise coming from the passenger side of the car. It comes and goes and even occurs when the defrost is on. Also the car runs rough when the noise occurs. The roughness stops and the fog horn noise stops when I turn off the AC or defrost. I took it to my mechanic and he has never heard that noise before. It really sounds like a fog horn.
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My Outback makes a thunking noise when I let the gas or clutch out quickly. I took it to my mechanic, who replaced a broken transmission mount, but it is still making the noise. He works out of his garage and doesn't have diagnostic tools or a lift, so has some difficulty with diagnosing problems. Otherwise he's a very competent mechanic--retired airplane mechanic actually--so I trust his judgment. For the moment, however, he is stumped as to why the thunk remains.
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I recently (~2 weeks ago) had the air conditioner's compressor replaced in my 2003 Subaru Outback. Now, when I turn it on, it makes several loud noises like what an elephant would sound like. As well as noises that sound like a bubble popping in the "bubble blast/bubble popper" smart phone games. Every time it makes one of these noises, it also chugs the vehicle a little bit. If I turn it off, then back on again and set it to the lowest fan setting, it eventually stops.
Of course when I called the place where I had the compressor replaced, and brought it back in to them, it did not do it for them. I'm just glad that it FINALLY did it today for my husband to hear. That way I don't have to hear about it being chalked up to "pregnancy brain imagination". It originally started happening only if I had the air conditioner already on when I turned the vehicle on. Now it has progressed to every time the air is turned on in general. What could be happening?
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My 2011 Subaru Outback 3.6R (bought in Feb ’11, and has 4k miles) has already had several issues in its short life. In just the past week I've noticed a sloshing noise coming from the gas tank. I first heard the noise when I was backing out of my driveway. I also notice the sloshing sound whenever I go over a bump or come to a quick stop. To determine where exactly the noise was coming from, I parked the car, turned off the engine and I pushed on the rear bumper to make the car move up and down. After doing this I determined that the noise is definitely coming from the gas tank.
Is it normal to hear gas sloshing around in the gas tank when driving? Could there be something wrong with the gas tank?
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I've got a 2008 Subaru Outback with a 5-speed standard, 50K on it. Lately, when I depress the clutch pedal, it makes a whining noise, in any gear or even in neutral. It goes away when I release the pedal. But it also stops making the noise when the engine warms up. That's the part that confuses me.
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I just purchased a 2017 Outback. I noticed a rattling noise (like marbles) coming from the engine upon startup in the morning only. The noise goes away after a few seconds. To me it sounds like bearings rattling due to low oil pressure, but the dealer says that every Outback and Legacy does this. It has a timing chain and the engines use 0-20 synthetic oil. Is this normal.
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