I believe that I have a leaking CV joint boot in my 2006 Outback. Occasionally smell something burning. Lifted hood and had some smoke. Saw leak and a friend stuck a finger into a hole in the boot.
View 9 RepliesI recently bought a 1997 Subaru Outback. There is a burning smell sometimes and can't quit put my finger on any specific time that this occurs. Also, I find the heat is really crummy. Takes a very long time to heat up and never gets really warm. I might add that when I bought this car the air conditioning "condenser" was not hooked up. It came with the car and looks like a small radiator. Could this have anything to do with either problem?
View 2 RepliesOver the last 6 months I've have to add at least a couple quarts of oil between oil changes but I can't figure out where it's going. it's not burning oil (as far as I can tell) nor can I detect any leaks. I thought it might be a head gasket but I would have assumed I would see some oil residue around the crank case but it looks relatively clean. the car has 174K miles and is otherwise in good running condition. Why I can to add so much oil? I'm also using high-mileage oil for each oil change.
View 4 RepliesI've got a 2000 Subaru outback with 170k miles on it. I recently pulled a code for a bad line pressure solenoid and replaced it. About 500 miles later the oil temp sensor light started flashing so I turned the car off and when I turned the car back on it wasn't flashing and hasn't come on since. No CEL. I'm now about 2k miles after changing the line pressure solenoid and now whenever I drive over 10 or so miles my car smells like the clutch is burning. He idle is a little rough, i.e. it vibrates a little more than usual and the car is a little slow to respond when I gas it.
View 19 RepliesI have a 2000 Outback, 80K, and I've been having brake issues. The first thing I noticed was a burning brake smell. I pulled over and found that my two front wheels were very hot. I pumped the brakes a few times and let them cool down and drove on. Pulled over in a bit to check them and they were fine. Took the car to the dealer who said, "We can't really find anything wrong with the fronts, but the backs are sticking a bit and we fixed that." So, off I went. Of course, it happened again. Left front seemed the hottest, but this time I noticed that the rear wheels were warm as well. Took it in again. Again, "We don't know." "Could it be the calipers or the lines or the ABS chip," I asked? "Well, yeah, maybe the front calipers." So they replaced the front calipers.
Picked it up and noticed two things of interest on the print out: "Rear brakes hanging up," and the front pads are a 8mm and the rear at 3mm! Hm... Seemed fishy to me. I had all the pads replaced a year and half ago. The last set lasted 75K, so this is odd, as is the discrepancy between back and front. I had the dealer pull the service record. In May the rear were at 5mm. Two weeks ago they were at 3.5mm. Yesterday they were a 3mm. I asked, "What would cause that?" They said, "Well, probably whoever did your brake job didn't clean the brakes up well so they are getting stuck and wearing down." I took the car and drove 60 miles, mostly on the highway. Fronts wheels were cool. Rear wheels were warm to hot.
Our 2000 Subaru Outback has just over 200k. We want a vehicle that is safe, but do not want to put a lot of money into this. At the last service the dealership said the left ball joint boot and power steering rack boots need to be replaced and the rear differential bushings are broken or loose. All of this would be > $1000 to repair. They said that the ball joint could get dirty and fail catastrophically and be a safety issue. Is that right or will the steering start to feel rough beforehand? Can we drive it safely?
View 11 RepliesIntermittent problem: put car in park and key will turn to off position but not "lock" and therefore cannot be removed. Subaru specialist could not replicate problem, Theories include need a new factory cut key, dirty console, cylinder/steering column tumbler, solenoid, switch , but we think it is some connection between the shifting into Park. Speedometer was replaced about 2 years ago--possibly jumbled something ??
View 2 RepliesI have a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback that has been having a sporadic starting problem for almost two years. Occasionally and mostly when it's cold, but not always, the car will sound like it's going to start for a second and then go dead. I will have to turn the key over and over, sometimes many times until it "catches". And so far it's always started, eventually. I have a new alternator and battery, the belts are newer, a rebuilt engine with about 50,000 miles and have had the starter and relay system checked, which was okay. My mechanic, who's been working on Subarus for years, is stumped. He says to wait until it happens again and have it towed in so he can look at the car while it's acting up.
View 6 RepliesMy 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?
View 3 RepliesMy 2013 Subaru outback four-cylinder is burning 2/3 of a quart of oil per 1000 miles. It is not leaking anywhere so I know it is burning the oil. The dealership says I need to replace the engine, I'm just wondering is it bad on anything else in the car if I keep driving it for a little while before replacing it? how much longer I could go?
FYI: The power train warranty is void because of rear end damage and a rebuilt title.
So it appears I have another oil leak to contend with. I recently took the Celica on a road trip to Las Vegas, about 600 miles round trip. During the trip I would occasionally smell burning oil and upon retuning home I saw a puddle of oil, maybe four inches accross under the car. The only sign of leaking oil I could find on the car is at the front of the motor, coming from underneath the oil cooler, everything else is clean. It looks like the burning oil smell was from oil dripping on the exhaust but the puddle was farther back on the passenger side. How would the leaking oil pool farther back on the passenger side instead of directly under the actual leak? All the seals were replaced when the motor was swapped, so I can't see something on the timing belt side leaking.
View 6 RepliesFor the last month or so my car (2005 Subaru Outback LL Bean) has been producing a burning odor. It smells like air out of a latex balloon that has been burnt. I took the car to my mechanic but was unable to reproduce the smell. He asked if the car only produced the smell going uphill as it could be my coolant leaking. Since then I have noticed that the car does in fact produce the smell primarily, if not exclusively going uphill. But coolant should smell sweet not burnt?
View 12 RepliesMy 2016 Outback, 10K miles, occasionally does a weird thing. The dealer is far from us, so I'm putting off taking it in, especially since they will be unable to reproduce this. Every now and then when I try to start it, it does not crank. The dash lights all come on, and dim when I turn it to the start position. But instead of cranking, it just does a soft stuttering click, exactly as if the battery were nearly dead. But if I try a few times, suddenly it cranks perfectly and starts right up.
View 15 RepliesMy mechanic cannot figure out what's wrong with my car My car is a manual trans 1996 Toyota Corolla with almost 154K miles. I had the oil changed two weeks ago (about 1000 miles with my commute), and at that time, I let my mechanic know that it's been losing oil and so check it over. At that time, he changed the oil, cleaned the engine, and added a dye to the oil to show up any leaks.
I took it in this past Thursday for him to locate the leaking, and the mechanic let me know that 1) It came in mostly dry (no oil), 2) there was no visible leaking except for a seepage around the oil pan, which he says could not account for the loss of 4 quarts of oil in two weeks, and 3) it's not burning it out in the exhaust system.
A bit of the history of the car. I got it when it was at 59K, used, and there were a number of things wrong with it that I didn't discover until later, such as that no maintenance had been done to it at all in the 60K someone else had owned it. It came to me needing a timing belt, brakes, and an engine and radiator flush (the radiator fluid was brown instead of green).
At one point at around 70K, as a stupid teenager, I did let it run dry. The oil light came on, I panicked, shut it off, dumped in two quarts (which brought it to full on the dipstick, which I thought was weird), and took it straight for an oil change, where they told me it was dry, which was odd, because I'd just put 2 quarts in it.
After that, there were no issues until it hit about 120K. At that point, I started smelling burning oil and there was smoke coming from under my hood, so I towed it to my mechanic at the time. He replaced the valve cover gasket, the rear main seal, and the head gasket (with engine block machining and all). That more or less cleared the problem up, but then I took it across the country on a 3K road trip, and it ended up accidentally running dry again. Oil light came on, I shut it off, dumped in oil, took it for a lube job.
Since that time, it's been occasionally throwing me an oil light when I go downhill (I figure that this is because it's low but not out, and the change in pitch reduces the pressure?). Each time it does this, I've shut it off, coasted to a stop, dumped in 2 quarts (which brings it to full on the stick), and gone on, berating myself. These times have become more frequent, however, even though I now check the oil regularly.
So before I endure the deserved lectures about being dumb, yes, I blame myself, but regardless of my lazy maintenance, it's becoming ridiculous. My car is now finding a way to lose a gallon of oil over the course of 1000 miles, with no discernible leak or consumption.
Also, why my oil light comes on when it's only 2 quarts down on the stick sometimes, and then sometimes goes almost dry without throwing the oil light? I just got it back with the oil topped up, more dye in the engine, and instead of going for 2 weeks, I'm going for 1 week to see if maybe he can catch it in the act of learning this magic trick of vanishing oil.
My 2003 Subaru outback has a gas smell when i first start it on very cold mornings. I live in New England. It goes away after the engine is warm. Also, it never happens in warm weather.
View 3 Replies05 outback xt ... I bought this car last October and don't know the history of what has been replaced and what is oem. That being said I have had a horrible smell (imagine a skunk eating rotten eggs) when I back the car up. I also have a problem with my car hesitating when i accelerate but it goes away once the car is warm. The check engine light has never come on when driving but I know it works.
View 6 RepliesI have a 2004 subaru outback that smells of gas when the tank is filled. The smell persists for a couple of days after the tank is filled. It started in the spring and I brought it to the dealer but they couldn't find anything. It seemed to go away during the summer but now that the colder weather has started the problem has returned.
View 6 RepliesI have a 2005 Subaru Outback XT with turbo. I have had a strange problem the last two winters and have stumped two mechanics, so far.
At this time of year, it is necessary to warm my car up for a few minutes in the morning. Last winter, when I warmed my car up, I would smell gasoline outside of the car and in the cab. It only happened when it is about 25 degrees or less outside. After about 10-15 minutes, once the car was warm, the smell would go away. I figured smelling gasoline was bad news, so, I took it to my mechanic who said he found a loose clamp in the engine. He tightened it and it fixed the problem. I didn't have any other issues that winter or through the next year.
But, this winter, the problem is back. I have moved, so, I took the car to a new mechanic (recommended by friends) and told him the issue. He said that he found a loose clamp between the engine and the turbo and tightened it. He said other than that, he can't think of anything. Well, that worked for a few days. But, now, the problem is back and with a vengeance. The smell is a bit different. Still like gasoline, but kind of like exhaust, too. And it is strong. I have to open the windows for a few minutes to air the car out before I can drive it. I took it back to the mechanic, but he is stumped and not sure what to do next.
I think my next step is to take it to a Subaru dealer, but with a 10 year old car, I'm hesitant to go that route. Though, I love my car and want it to last AND be safe to drive. What is going on?
My 2010 Subaru Legacy has been leaking oil since the last oil change, and also smelling like burning oil. I took it back to the mechanics, and they told me something about oil pooling from previous oil changes into the splash pan, soaking into the foam in or around the splash pan, and the foam got so saturated that it is now dripping oil. The good news: no new leak, only a residual leak.They cleaned it up, replaced the foam, and topped me off-no charge.
My questions: Does this sound right/common? Or are my mechanics sloppy to be saturating foam in or around the splash pan? And is the burning oil smell related to all this splashing and pooling oil? This is the third oil change related issue I've had with them. First they didn't fill my oil to the appropriate fill line (I believe they over-filled
Then the next time they did not tighten my oil cap enough, which caused oil to spill and burn, and they couldn't diagnose the issue (I took it in complaining of the smell of something burning-almost like plastic burning, and they looked at me like I was crazy, and told me they couldn't smell anything burning. Getting it fixed took a chance encounter with a different mechanic, and he knew what it was by smell! Now I do, too).
I recently rebuilt a 97 Subaru Outback Legacy, and everything was fine however, whenever I've taken it on the highway, I began noticing a distinct odor of burnt oil. Last night I got home and I actually began seeing smoke. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that oil was running down the differential, dripping onto the power steering and then onto the exhaust. When I looked at the flywheel it had no oil on it so I'm assuming it's not engine oil, however the oil that is dripping looks like engine oil (Im using mobile 1 full synthetic). The fluid levels are all ok, transmission levels ok, engine oil is a little more than full( I added 1 gallon before starting it up for the first time) and there is differential oil, but I know the smell of differential oil, and the oil that was dripping down the differential was not differential oil.
View 3 RepliesMy Subaru Outback 2004 has 136,000 miles. Recently the check engine light came on and the mechanic diagnosed leaking head gaskets, cost to replace $2,000. Does it make sense to fix it or bite the bullet and get a new car?
View 3 Replies