The Dude

Let's see, you paid thousands of dollars for a complicated piece of machinery and you're driving around without having read the owner's manual. Instead of towing something with car, suppose the car had to be towed. Nah, I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure the guy driving the tow truck knows how to tow a Subaru. Those guys never miss.

Lucky you. If you had the 2.5L, or even a newer 2.2L engine, you'd be looking at a minimum of $3,000 for valve replacement. The mechanic is guessing that the previous guy overtorqued the tensioner bolt, although it may an on target guess. The loss of the tensioner could easily cause your timing belt to mistrack and shread. Eighteen months is a long time. The tensioner mounting bolt could have been defective, it happens. Can you prove to the original mechanic that no one else, including you, has worked on the engine?

Hell, yes. DO A COMPRESSION CHECK, NOW. The engine MAY have been trashed before you bought it. Run real low on oil even one time, and you're looking at a ring job, at least. Know where you stand, check the compression.

Next time the engine stalls, see if the headlights, gauge lights, and electrical accessories operate normally. Because, if they do, then the failure is most likely in the engine's electrical system. For example, an intermittent HV ignition pack could cause the problems you described, could it not? In fact, several posters have reported hairline cracks in the ignition pack that caused them to operate imtermittently. Buy, borrow, or steal a digital volt meter. When the engine stalls check the voltage at various points on the engine. Or see if the spark plug is getting voltage, ie sparking. There are a number of ways to skin this cat. However, many mechanics can be counted on to pick the way that requires the least possible effort on his or her part, and the greatest possible expense on your part. Shocking, isn't it? Instead of a diagnosis, replacing the battery was a guess. And a pretty lousy one at that. Maybe replacing the gas cap will fix the problem. Hell, you just never know, do ya?

Subarus are usually very, very good on oil consumption. If your car is using a lot oil, that may be a bad sign. Since it's cheap and easy, I would do a compression check on the engine. Might as well make sure that the engine is tight before you go off spending time and money on a problem.

I own a 99 Forester with 180,000 miles. FIRST, was the timing belt changed at 100,000 miles? Be certain, because you'll be waving bye-bye to your engine if the timing belt wasn't changed. Let's start easy and cheap. When was the fuel filter changed? All your symptoms could be caused by a clogged fuel filter. Then I would run a high quality injector cleaner through the system. Clutch? If it's the original clutch, at 150,000 miles it could be worn out.

One additional consideration for a turbo engine, simmering. I am not familiar with the Subaru, but many turbos need to be simmered after a boost. The bearings in the turbo unit get extremely hot after a boost, the engine must be idled for a while before shutting off the engine. If this isn't done the stagnant oil in the turbo unit will turn to charcol. I know one guy who went through four tubo units this way, a real slow learner. If your son boosts on the way home, parks the car in the driveway, then runs right in to call his GF, things could get expensive. This kind of damage usually is not covered under warranty. SURPRISE!!!

Joe, what can I say? I already replied politely to your question on the viscous differential in this thread. If you thought that my information was incorrect, you should have at least done a search to check out my info. Instead you just reposted the same incorrect info, and asked that someone else do the research and provide you with a website. I'm sure you can do a website or Google search as well as the next guy. And I can be as wrong on something as the next guy. The whole idea is to make sure that the information passed around on this board is as accurate as possible. And that's not easy because even SOA doesn't have the straight poop a lot of the time. No hard feelings, I'm not the most patient guy on the planet. I tried praying for patience for a while, but it just didn't come quick enough.

Yo Cowboy, the viscous center differential is a Subaru MT IS a sealed unit. And no, I'm not going to provide a weblink for you just to prove my point. Tell ya what, why don't you just pry the viscous center differential on your car open with a crowbar or something. I'm sure them fellers down at the Sube dealer will be able to refill that puppy with new silicone fluid in less time than it takes a country boy to milk a sunburned armadillo. Whatever.

HEY YOU. Ya, you, Mr. Metric from the frozen North. It's 1/4" in CIRCUMFERENCE, not tread height. I hope you're not feeling too taxed, ya hoser.

Hi Bjwirth, Once again, you have raised some valid issues. Do I think 1/4" is an excessively tight spec? Yes, I do. Do I suspect that Subaru made the spec tight to deal with clutch pack claims made under warranty? Maybe. I'll say this, if I had a warranty clutch pack claim I sure as hell would measure my tires BEFORE I took the car to the dealership. Because you know they're going to measure your tires at the dealership, and if they exceed the 1/4" spec, you just might have problems getting a warranty repair. Subaru is probably trying to keep their customers out of trouble with a spec that is on the conservative side. But know this, mismatched tires are one of the real weak spots in the AWD system. It is a real matter for concern. If you wanna be Capt. James T. Kirk and boldly explore the unknown, make up your own tire spec and go for it. Drop us guys on Earth a line, and let us know how it goes.

Scoobdude, the viscous differential on the MT is a SEALED unit, you aren't adding a thing to it. When the viscous center differerential is toast, it's strictly remove and replace. The VCD appears to be tougher than the clutch pack in the AT, but I still wouldn't abuse it. Mismatched tires cause the fluid in the VCD to heat up and lock the axles together like a 4 wheel drive system with locking hubs. This a not a normal state for this car. Turns are accomplished by the tires "scuffing" on the pavement to compensate for the locked up VCD. Just what you want, right? The Subaru MT is a tough little car, but it was not designed to be in VCD lock up 100% of the time. Also, excessive heat is a bad thing for almost all things mechanical.

Hi BjWorth, You have brought up some excellent points. First, do you have a manual or an automatic transmission? The automatic seems to be much susceptible to damage from mismatched tires than the manual. When the AT starts to fail from mismatched tires the car shudders when making sharp low speed turns. When the manual fails from mismatched tires often there are no symptoms, you just silently lose your AWD!!!! In general, the worse the mismatch, the quicker the damage to the center differential. Admittedly, the cases of damage occuring under 100 miles involved some very badly mismatched tires. Anyway, if you drive an AT and your tires are that mismatched, sooner or later, one day you'll feel a shudder as you pull into a parking space. I can practically guarantee it. BTW, my 1999 Forester AT has 180,000 miles on it, and I live in snow free South Carolina. So, I'm not quite as picky about the AWD as I used to be. If the AWD ever failed, I'd just slap in the FWD fuse and keep on driving. Anyway, one of the tires on my Forester had a very slow leak. The tires were matched, I still rotated them, and I always filled up the slow leak before it got under 20 psi. The tires were just about worn out, and I was either too lazy, or too busy, to have the tire fixed when I was going to replace the whole set soon anyway. I went about 8,000 miles that way, then one day I'm pulling into a parking space HOLY CRAP!!!, what was that??? The car started shuddering. So, I slipped in the FWD fuse and got a new set of shoes for the car that same day. New tires equalled no problema, the AWD was back on line. Sometimes you get lucky. Even dumb luck counts in life.

Tom, listen to your mechanic, he knows what he is talking about. The tires on an AWD Subaru MUST match within 1/4" in of circumference. It's a pretty tight spec. A fair number of posters have reported damaging their transmission after driving less than 100 miles on a badly mismatched tire. The center diff on the AT is a clutch pack, and it is the component that is damaged by mismatched tires. Replacing then clutchpack isn't the end of the world, but it isn't cheap either. AWD, just like anything else in the world, ain't free.

Check your mileage on your next highway trip. Highway driving has a lot fewer variables than the city, and gives you a truer measure of your car's mpg. If your highway mpg is OK, there is probably very little that you can do. It probably is NOT the problem, but a bad coolant temp sensor can also cause a loss of mpg. If you can get a good scanner, you can check the actual voltage/operation of the 02 sensors. I would guess that your mpg is normal for city driving.

Ok, I'm not the most trusting person in the world. I recently replaced the ball joints in my Forester , and now I'm wondering about steering rack replacements. From an average driver's viewpoint the symptoms for bad ball joints and a worn out steering rack are identical. I replaced the ball joints myself, and it was only $60 in parts. A new steering rack replacement runs well over $1,000. I wonder how many shady mechanics have told a customer that they need a new rack, but only replaced the ball joints, which were the actual cause of the customer's sloppy steering. It's got to be a pretty tempting way for some people to pocket an easy $600-$900. Next time a dealer replaces the steering rack in my car I'm sure as hell crawling under the car after the job is done. $1,200 is a lot of money for just a set of new ball joints.

I'll tell you what I suspect. If it's true, I find it very significant that Subaru has gone to a SEMI-CLOSED DECK version of the 2.5L. The Phase II engine incorporated a number of improvements that, for the most part, ended the internal head gasket failures that plagued the Phase I. But it wasn't enough, the open deck design of the early Phase II engine still allowed the cylinder walls to move (a very bad thing), so the early Phase II still suffered from EXTERNAL head gasket failures. The quick fix? Offer the owners a free bottle of stop leak and a 100,000 mile warranty. I could be off on my dates, but notice Subaru offered the stop leak and warranty to 1999-2002 2.5L Phase II owners. Engineering "counter measures" were supposed to stop external head gasket leaks on 2003 and newer engines. Well, what were the "counter measures", and why refer to them in such a vague way? Why not just announce, "We now have a semi-closed deck design for the 2.5L engine"? I'm guessing here, but some people might say that would be like admitting that all the earlier Phase I and Phase II engines NEEDED a semi-closed deck. That many of the head gasket problems with the Phase I may have occured because that engine had an open deck and the cyclinders "walked". I own a car with a Phase II engine, and I haven't suffered any head gasket problems. But it infuriates me when someone suggests that Phase I owners somehow caused head gasket failures through their own negligence or ignorance. It's just not true. No one with any real knowlegde of car engines would ever make such a charge. I think Phase I owners have suffered quite enough without having their competence or intelligence questioned. As far as I am concerened, the vast majority of Phase I owners who suffered head gasket failures probably are victims.

Peter, I find it rather dismissive to suggest that the many, many 2.5L DOHC Phase I owners whom have posted on this board with reports of failed head gaskests simply were incapable of "burping" their radiators. What gives? Enlightened Phase II owners are just naturally gifted cooling system belchers and thus enjoy a far, far lower head gasket failure rate than their less evolved Phase I owning brethren? How did the half dozen or so versions of the Phase I head gasket address the air entrapment conundrum? What of the Phase I owners who replaced their head gaskets, retorqued their head bolts and experienced no more problems with their engines? Did they sudenly walk upright, sprout opposable thumbs, and aquire the mental acumen required to "burp" their cooling systems? And why have a Phase II anyway? Probably the Subaru engineers in Gumma were really bored one day and figured, "what the hell, let's design a new engine". Yeah, that's probably it. And apparently, even the Phase II has been modified significantly. One poster reported that the Phase II is now a semi-closed deck engine. If that's true, it's a pretty significant alteration. Who knows, maybe it was cheaper to manufacture an engine with cylinder walls that didn't shake all over the place, than produce an endless supply of complimentary oatmeal based stop leak for Phase II owners. You just never know, do ya?

Would I be happy if the AT on my Forester had died at 90,000 miles? No, I think it's reasonable to expect about 150,000 miles relatively trouble free miles from a modern AT. However, I don't believe that Subarus have an abnormally high AT failure rate. If anything, Subaru AT's may be more reliable than average. If you can find a AT servicer wth an outstanding reputation, that may be the best way to go. Most independent shops can service an AT for around a grand, depending on condition. A Subaru rebuilt AT, I believe, will run around four thousand greenbacks. That kind of money will buy a lot of beer.

Actually, the 2.5L engine will run along very nicely without the oxygen sensor. Under normal conditions, even with a failed oxygen sensor, it should be very unlikely that the cat has been damaged. I'll guess that "smog it" means to have the car tested for tailpipe emissions. Personally, I would repace the upstream oxygen sensor before I did anything else. If it has not actually failed, it is very near to the end of it's life. You really have very little to lose. I think a new oxygen sensor is about $90. A new cat is a whole lot more.

Your mechanic is probably an OK guy, but this is giving me a queasy feeling. INSIST on knowing the exact code he pulled off your car, and then you look up the description for the code. The "condition" of the cat is monitored by both an upstream and a downstream oxygen sensor. There is no cat sensor, per se. Unless something abnormal has happened, your cat should be fine. Probably a failing oxygen sensor is leading the mechanic to believe your cat is bad. FYI, an oxygen sensor is actually a primary battery, one that runs on oxygen. The more oxygen, the higher the voltage from the battery. But just like any primary battery in flashlight, it eventually wears out. Yours is about due. Usually only the upstream sensor needs to be replaced.

PROPERLY maintained, the 2.5L SOHC powerplant should have a long life expectancy. So, if you haven't ignored oil changes, like you have the CEL light, you should be OK. First question, what code are you pulling? The CEL is on, so there should be a code. A little black on the exhaust pipe is normal. The upstream O2 sensor frequently fails right around your mileage. That is where I would look first. Unless, for some reason, you just want a new engine.

The 98 Forester (one "r", thank you) has the 2.5L DOHC Phase I engine. It is most probable that Carfax is in error. If in doubt, you can always look at the actual engine. Also, the timing belt on this car should have been replaced at around 100,000 miles. Both the Phase I and Phase II engines are interference types.

The BIG problem with overfilling engine oil is frothing. The crankshaft beats the oil into a foam. Since foam is mostly air, the engine is not adequately lubricated. Engine failure quickly ensues. Nedro, this is not normal. It may turn out to be nothong. But, you need an answer to this ASAP!!!