Subaru - Outback :: 2006 - Started Shuddering At Idle
Mar 30, 2013
I have a 2006 Outback XT, which recently started shuddering (like it wants to stall) at idle... At least that's how it started. I noticed it for a few weeks but with no check-engine light, and no error codes cropping up, I kind of ignored it. It then started to stall at idle. Took it to my local guy, who checked all the simple stuff: vacuum hoses, mass air flow sensor, he even removed and cleaned up the throttle body. But the problem persists.
I guess the part that really has me puzzled is the lack of a check-engine light or an error code. With how computer-regulated cars are nowadays, I'm baffled as to how this isn't causing some alarm to go off.
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Over the last several months, the frequency with which my 2007 Subaru Outback is "shuddering" when I accelerate from a stop has been increasing. It feels like driving over a cattle grate -- a vibration that lasts for just a few seconds, and occurs in the 35-45 mph range. Now is happening on a daily basis, a couple of times per day. Based on some internet searchers, I concluded this might be a torque converter problem. Took it to the mechanic today and, of course, couldn't reproduce the problem with them present. They replaced the transmission fluid with a synthetic fluid and replaced the transmission filter.
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2009 Subraru Impreza Outback Sport (60K miles).. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong with my clutch. When I start my car I hear a squealing noise from the engine that sticks around until my car is warmed up. If I depress the clutch while it's warming up (and squealing), it goes away. Bearing?
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Two weeks ago I bought a new 2012 Outback. While driving in the manual auto mode, the cruise started flashing, the check engine came on, the traction control light came on and the brake light was on. The dealer said it was because I did not tighten the gas cap, letting air in. They reset it but a few days later it came back on again and this time they said it was miss fire code. Since they couldn't figure out the issue, they did the right thing and traded it in for another, identical 2012 Outback. Now, 8 days later, all the same lights have come on.
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I have a 2002 Subaru Outback that recently started making an odd noise. This noise is somewhat hard to describe, but sort of sounds like "urrh ah urrh ah" almost like a rubbing noise or a deep squeak (not high pitched). This noise only occurs when I'm braking, starts when I'm slowing down (going below 20 mph) and becomes more pronounced as I reach a full stop. The noise starts out fast (urr ah urr ah urr ah) and slows down as the car slows down (and gets louder as I come to a complete stop. It is more pronounced when I'm braking going down a hill (louder than when I'm stopping on a flat surface). It does NOT do it when I'm braking in reverse, or when I'm braking going up a hill. You also cannot hear the noise outside the car- only inside the cabin.
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I noticed a low humming noise lately on my wife's 2007 Outback which started at around 40 MPH or so. I thought it might be something with the added roof rack attachment or tires which are Michellen Rain Force tires installed about a year ago. It sounds like an aerodynamic issue to me. Nothing has changed on the roof racks and the tires show no sings at all of unusual wear.
I looked in front of the vehicle and underneath to see if I could see something and noticed the cowling immediately under the exhaust manifold and where I removed the small door for frequent oil changes is bowed down in the rear creating a scoop which I think is the humming noise. I am trying to find the darn door in the garage so I can re-install it, but it got me thinking, is the whole cowling even necessary to have under there?
I know it can prevent rocks and things from hitting the underside of the engine, but is it really more for simply aerodynamics? It is a pain sometimes working underneath because it blocks access to everything. I was thinking of simply removing the entire contraption.
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2005 Subaru Outback XT 2.5 ... We were driving yesterday and the car started making a whirring noise as I accelerated. No noise wen not pushing on gas. Then, the noise mostly went away. Then we heard a rattling noise. Sounded like it was near the front passenger tire. After about another 10 minutes, the check engine light went on and the cruise control was disabled. On our way home (after we stopped to ski), the rattling wasn't so loud, car seemed to be driving fine, but CEL is still on. deas what this might be? Is it safe to drive it about 15 miles to the closest AutoZone to get the code? Or straight to an independent shop?
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I have a 2004 Subaru Outback. This fall I started having intermittent problems starting the car. It would run like a champ, no problems. Then every once in a while when I would try to start it, typically happens after it has sat all night, it would turn over just fine, motor would catch, then the motor would quit running (almost immediately upon start). It is kind of like the old days when your carburetor was not adjusted quite right and you would have to keep one foot on the brake the other on the gas while stopped at a stop light to keep the motor running.
The first time it happened we added "heat" as we thought it might be water in the gas line somewhere. It started, then ran just fine. This winter the problem started recurring more frequently. We added injector cleaner, it seemed to work a bit, but did not solve problem. We took it to the shop, and they could not figure out what was going on as nothing is registering on the computer and the car would start just fine for them. Brought the car home it worked OK for a week or so, then started up again.
The motor would catch then would quit running almost immediately. We were able to get it running good enough to get it to the shop (kept one foot on gas at stop lights, etc so would not kill). My car has been at the shop for two weeks now. It finally misbehaved on their watch, and they replaced a sensor, but they are not sure it fixed anything. They are keeping it so see if they can get a better diagnosis.
My first thought was the gas pump, but they said they had never seen a subaru gas pump fail and usually when a pump goes out, it goes out. They thought it could be electrical, but not sure as the problem is so intermittent. I would like to get my car fixed and back home. It's a great car; when it is running it runs great. The shop we work with is very good, and they are reluctant to start just replacing parts if it is not going to fix the problem.
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2000 Subaru Outback. The head gaskets have begun to leak slightly (oil and coolant), even though I brought it in for the recall at 80K and the dealer put in the additive. I recently (111,000 miles) put in another bottle of the additive coolant conditioner and the leak seems to have at least slowed to a trickle. Is it really essential to have the head gaskets replaced? Or could I just keep an eye on the oil and coolant levels and put a bit of kitty litter in my garage? Some of the information I googled indicates that the recall of this car is for an OUT leak and not an INNER leak--which would be worse. Is it true that an OUT leak is not as worrisome?
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About a month back my wife and I were on our way home from dinner and when we exited the interstate I heard an awful rubbing sound coming from the engine compartment. I wasn't quite sure what it was or how to describe it. I was concerned it was the timing belt right away. I limped it home sputtering and misfiring and listened for a moment before shutting it down.
The next day I checked all the accessories. Nothing wrong there, so I realized it must have been the timing belt. I began striping the rest down and confronted carnage. One of the bearings had gone on an idler pulley and the gear was riding the bolt. the belt had moved out of position and began to cut into the backside of the plastic cover. By some miracle it hadn't completely snapped or jumped timing.
I replaced all pulleys, the tensioner, the water pump, and the belt. After my buddy and I got it back together it seemed fine aside from a slightly rough-ish idle for a day or two, but then the misfire got quite bad. I chugged it up to my wife's parent's place. We borrowed a car from them, and then I went into repair mode again. I reasoned that perhaps the plugs had fouled when the belt was messed up initially, so I replaced the plugs. Didn't have wires on hand. Fired it back up. No bueno. Same misfire and chugging. Still borderline driveable.
So, I tore down the belt again to find that the intake cam on the passenger side was about 5 teeth off. Seemed further out than my friend and I would have left it, but I got it lined back up within a tooth and put it back together. Still no good. Still misfiring. So we tried it a couple more times. One of us started to doubt the cause, but I talked him to try with one more reset. This time I wanted to get everything absolutely perfectly lined up. We did. I fired it up. Silky smooth, ran like a sewing machine. Put it back together and everything seemed fine. For a day or two.
The misfiring began again. It bothered me that I hadn't managed to take care of the plug wires. I had the codes pulled and I had a steady misfire on ... I think it was 4. I replaced the wires on that side and everything was back to normal. Silky smooth operation. For a couple days.
I was on my way to work and had to brake very hard to avoid an accident. Like from 70 to 0 wheel-lockingly hard. Immediately a misfire at idle returned. Doesn't seem to be an issue when not at idle, but it's hard to say. I guessed that it was the plug wires from the other side. I replaced those today, gave it an oil change. Still misfiring. I dropped by autozone. Codes read - misfire everywhere but 3, and I'm guessing that maybe a sensor for 3 is just messed up. The coil pack looked suspect, and I thought I'd do the PCV valve while I was at it. After replacing both the misfires continue.
I've yanked the battery to encourage the computer to reset. I'm at a loss at the moment. The only think I can guess is that perhaps my new tensioner is poop and I've jumped a tooth or two somewhere? I'm looking for guesses and wild theories here. Anything to try. I'm going to reconnect the battery shortly and if it's still misfiring, which I'm assuming it will be, I'm going to have codes pulled again.
Just to head this one off at the pass - I believe I got extremely lucky and did not damage the valves with the timing belt nonsense. Compression seems good, and I doubt it would have ran as well as it did as long as it did with valve damage.
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I have a 2000 Subaru Legacy Outback with 208,000 miles. Last Oct I had a complete tune up done on it: fluids, filters, spark plugs, etc. Ever since then, the gas mileage has dropped from getting around 390-400 miles off a full tank to 290-300 miles off a full tank. I have tried carburetor and fuel injector cleaners and nothing is working. At this same time, it also started idling at 1750 rpms every time I start it, dropping down to around 750-900 rpms after I put it in gear. The timing system was replaced about 7 months earlier. So far the repair shops can't find anything wrong. I also just had the transmission rebuilt and it's still idling fast.
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I have a 1996 subaru impreza outback. It is now dead. Billowing white smoke, coolant coming out of the tailpipe, terrible rocky idle and some smoke coming from the exhaust at the manifold. (assuming it cracked from the harsh idle) I'm pretty good with cars but I've never taken on a head gasket problem myself. I have time to fix it, I just don't really know if it will be worth it. Should i just replace the motor w/ a scrapyard motor? Should I take this opportunity to rebuild and upgrade? I have a crappy chevy to get me around in the meantime. Should I give it a try or just scrap it. I paid 800 bucks for this car and it has 220k miles. No major problems until now. New alt a few months back. Previous two(only two) didn't have any problems at all. I feel like it would be worth it.
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My wife and I recently bought a 2005 Subaru Outback 2.5 XT with an automatic transmission. Last week, we had the timing belt changed by a mechanic I've gone to for the past four years and trust a great deal. He changed the timing belt, drive belts, water pump, pulleys, tensioner and a few hoses, and everything seemed to go off without a hitch. After picking up the car, though, we noticed that the idle seemed much rougher than it had in the past. We can't tell if it's also rough during driving, or when the car is in park or neutral, but there is definitely considerably more vibration when the car is stopped in drive and idling--you can feel it throughout the car. I haven't noticed it until the car has warmed up.
I asked my brother, who is a mechanic in another state, if he had any thoughts, and he said it could be that the belt is off a notch, a vacuum leak or an unplugged sensor. I brought the car back to the mechanic today to see if it he could fix it, and he said that the CEL would be on if it was a vacuum leak or unplugged sensor, and that the car has an automatic idle that the belt change would not have adjusted. He asked if the vibration was getting any better, since when the battery was unplugged it would take the computer awhile to relearn the correct idle, but we've driven it a few hundred miles and it hasn't gotten any better. I left the car with him to take a look at it, but he just called and said he couldn't find anything wrong.
I want to chalk this up to us imagining something, but we both have no doubt that there has been considerably more vibration at least when the car is idling since we picked it up after the timing belt change. Is there anything else that it could be or that I should ask my mechanic?
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My 2007 Outback has had an off-idle stumble since I bought it a year ago. Otherwise runs well and uses less gas than the 2000 Forester it replaced. I've had a smoke test done, cleaned the throttle body, replaced front oxy sensor, and used a variety of gas treatments. I don't trust the local Subaru dealer to work on my car and my local garage has run out of ideas, but suggested MAF sensor may work. Some days it runs better than others. Occasionally I'll see a check engine light P0171 (lean) or P0420 (cat) but it will go weeks between setting those.
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2006 Subaru Outback
I am driving along and my radio go silent. the AC & the blower go out at the same time. I drop off the car in to the Subaru dealer in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. they call me back in a couple of hours and tell me I have bad radio that might work for a while longer but they recommend replacing it. $350 plus tax & labor.
I get the car back and the scan button no longer works & the buttons stick. does this seem right?
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Took my 06 Outback (106K miles) in to have the right front inner & outer CV boots/axle assembly replaced (one of the boots had torn open and was slinging grease everywhere, so no surprise there). When I was driving home after picking the car up, I noticed what felt like a wobble or shudder that seemed to come from the center or right side of the car (I couldn't tell which). It would only happen while accelerating, kicking in at about 20mph and then seeming to go away at about 30mph. It didn't happen at all while coasting, braking, or decelerating. The more of a load there was on the engine, the worse the wobble/shudder was, and if I accelerated very very slowly it wouldn't happen at all or would be just barely perceptable. I didn't feel it in the steering wheel; it was more like something felt through the seat and the car itself, if that makes sense.
So I took the car back to the shop the next day, and although the owner of the shop said he drove the car and didn't notice anything, he decided to go ahead and do the job over under warranty just in case they had installed a bad axle or had otherwise "botched" (my word, not his) the job. He also rotated and rebalanced the tires on the off chance that's where the issue was. Within about 15-20 minutes of picking up the car the 2nd time, I started noticing the wobble/shudder again, always under the same conditions as I've already noted--only while accelerating, always kicking in at about 20mph and going away at about 30mph, and always worse the more of a load there was on the engine/the faster the acceleration. The only additional info I've been able to glean is that it doesn't ever seem to happen when I drive the car first thing in the morning, but starts to happen as the car warms up.
At a complete loss, I crawled under the car and starting looking and poking around for something that might be loose or knocking around. I was particularly interested in determining if there was any play in the U-joints or some kind of damage to the drive shaft. I didn't notice anything except for this--at different points on the drive shaft there are what I assume are balancing weights welded to the shaft. Well, I found a bare spot toward the rear end of the shaft that seems as if a weight used to be there (although I can't say with 100% certainty). The drive shaft is painted entirely black, as are the weights, except for this one shiny, bare-metal, square-shaped spot. "AHA" I thought to myself...balancing weight broke off (although how that would happen beats the heck out of me since it's fairly well-shielded from road debris...maybe it was just a cr@ppy weld), now the shaft is out of balance, hence the wobble/shudder. However, the more I thought about it, the more I wondered...if the shaft was out of balance, why would it only wobble while accelerating? I understand why it might only do it at certain speeds, but if a shaft is out of balance, shouldn't it wobble/shudder at those particular speeds regardless of whether I'm accelerating, decelerating, or coasting? And why would it not seem to happen until after the car had been driven for 15 minutes or so and had warmed up? Again, it seems like an out-of-balance drive shaft is going to be apparent regardless of the operating temperature of the car.
So, could I be on the right track? And if so, is the fix as simple as welding a new weight on there? Can this be done with the shaft still on the car? I think Subaru considers the shaft a non-serviceable part, but I don't want to trash and replace an otherwise perfectly good shaft for what seems like a pretty easy fix (albeit one that is probably beyond my own abilities).
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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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2006 Subaru Outback. It has around 121000. I bought it at 113,000 last October since my previous 1998 Subaru made it to 240,000. So far I've taken it in for all new wiring and a tune up. And I was assured by the car salesman that the timing belt had been changed prior to my purchase. Anyway, since August I've had a rattly/whirring sound that I am experiencing over 15 mph. It seems to be coming from the back of my vehicle. It sounded like I had a hole in the muffler because it was reminiscent of when I lost my muffler on the highway with my 1998 subaru a few years ago, but this sound is definitely not as loud. The sound does increase in volume at high speeds on the highway but has so far not been as loud as my previous experience. (and the muffler is still there when i look under the car)
When I took my car in to get the oil changed a couple months ago, I asked the mechanic to check and see if he saw anything while under there. They told me it was my heat shield.
Recently the noise started being a little bit louder on the highway so I thought maybe it was my tires since they were very due to be replaced. I bought new tires within the last few weeks and there has been no change with the whirring sound on the highway. Yesterday, I noticed a light thunking sound that started happening between the speeds 10-40mph. It seems to be in the front of my car and occurring with the rotation of my wheels. There are no sounds when Idle.
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I have a 2006 2.5 limited turbo outback wagon. Recently the engine light came on not flashing..the cruise control light is flashing. I live in a very remote area over a hour away from a dealer ship..and having problems finding someone with a diagnostic tool..Am I damaging my car by driving it still..I did just prior to the lights coming on filled the tank and after checking the cap I realized I did not tighten it as I should have.
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Just the other day the radio in my 06 Subaru Outback lost the ability to pick up an AM stations. Is this going to be expensive?
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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.
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