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It appears that the misfire was a decaying coil, that really helped with driveability other than the automatic seems to be struggling on what to do with all that extra power Going to replace the axle soon.

Wires look to be correct diameter and were new when I got it. All of the protective covers are installed and everything looks to be routed correctly. The guy who did the work prior to me buying it is a Subaru guy, used to wrench full time but went into something else when the economy tanked some years ago. He rescues Subarus for fun, now. I can't imagine him using anything other than NGK's, he had a stock of them in the garage last time I was there, but I can ask. Switched front tires to rear one side at a time with no real change. I did see that the inner boot is torn on the drivers side axle and I can see the joint underneath so that needs to be addressed, I'll do that first and see what kind of effect that has.

The misfire appears to have been a knock sensor, no CEL or anything else as a clue. I'll move on the to suspension wobble next.

Plugs and wires were replaced right before I bought the car with 205k on it, so maybe 20k ago. It was a Goodwill donated car with a botched timing belt job but it's a Carolina car with no rust so a Subaru guy rescued it and went through everything before reselling it to me. Has 2.5 RS heads on it as well. Wouldn't a bad plug/wire cause a misfire based CEL? The howling is probably more a low hum that seems to be coming from the front and changes pitch/tone as straight line speed increases/decreases I can't get it to change pitch/tone by turning side to side at speed to load and unload the wheel bearings which is how I typically figure it out on a VW and why I'm not sure it's behind the noise I hear. I was thinking maybe axle/CV joint, i need to pick up the front end and start prying on stuff.

thanks for the reply. this sure seems like the same problem my bad knock sensor caused on the Forester so it's good to know that can be a problem and not cause a CEL. I'll replace the sensor and see what happens. I'll check the other items on your list and rotate the tires front to back.

Car is a 2002 Legacy wagon 2.5 NA with an automatic tranny and 225k miles. No CEL at the moment, but I have a P0420 for the 02 sensor that comes and goes, has been doing it for a long time (I've had the car for 3 years and 22k miles). Problem 1 (I think I have two separate problems). Symptoms are misfire type shuddering on acceleration under load and dismal mpg. Seems a lot smoother when revving in neutral or park versus driving. The driving version of the problem seems like something I've seen with a bad knock sensor on a past Forester 2.5 NA but it caused a CEL for the knock sensor when that happened. Is it possible to have a failing knock sensor that does not cause the CEL? Any other cause for this behavior that wouldn't cause the CEL? Problem 2. I have an occasional slight steering wheel wobble that seems to be most noticeable between 2.2k and 2.5k rpms, it settles down above and below that, at 2k or below it's pretty much unnoticeable. Tires are new, balanced when installed as usual, no comments made about bad wheels by the installers. Coupled with the misfire, it's tough to separate them completely when driving but a misfire should not cause the steering wheel to wobble unless I had play up there somewhere. I'll get a clunking noise up front when turning the wheels slightly from side to side with the car stationary. I'm told that is some play developing in the rack and pinion. I get a very slight howling noise from the front end that rises and falls with the speed of the car. Front brakes do need to be replaced, I've had the parts for a long time but have been unsuccessful at getting the bolts loose up there. The howl makes me think wheel bearing? I'm not quite sure about the wobble. it's been there a lot longer than the slight howl, so i think it's separate from the wobble. Struts are not bouncy and I get no noise from pushing/pulling on the wheels. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

My plan developed into "I don"t have time to mess with it so I replaced it". i have two other projects in process that need to be done before cold weather so I really don't have time to wrench on anything else right now. If anyone is local to Dayton Ohio, you can have it for $1,500. http://dayton.craigslist.org/cto/5727048486.html Otherwise, it goes into the barn and becomes a Vanagon swap donor down the road and the rest gets parted out when the Vanagon is done. Thanks for the help, guys! I'll get another one some day and take less of a gamble next time.

I need to have some work done on my Subarus (02, 03, and 06). Looking for someone in the Dayton Ohio area that you guys know and trust. Thanks!

Will do. I actually have a guy about a half hour away, I met him when I bought my Legacy wagon via Craigslist. He buys repairable Subarus from Goodwill auctions and the like,rebuilds/repairs as needed and puts them back on the road. He's done timing belts and other stuff for me, can do about anything on a Subaru when he has time. He works out of his garage evenings after he gets off of his day job. He currently is swapping a Supra inline 6 into a BMW 3 series in the garage (not sure why, other than it's not been done before) so he can't take on a lot of side work due to space and weather considerations. I have this work to do and my son's Legacy GT needs some work done as well, having trouble getting him to do it.

The car did have torque bind when I bought it, but I liked the rest of the car enough to take the risk on it and the price was reasonable for the risk. I called my usual guy who does side work and he recommended the oil change as a starting place after jacking it up and giving it a pry or a shake to be sure nothing else was at fault. He said the oil change might help but it was a place to start. The previous owner was nice enough but reminded me of someone who spent too many of his formative years in a facemask hooked to a very large bong, if you know what I mean. He said something under the car had been replaced and thought it was the center differential when I mentioned it but I suspect it could have been anything from the oil filter to an exhaust clamp out by the tailpipe.

I hosed down the steering coupling and U joint with PB Blaster before I left for the weekend and it was good last night, drove it 30 miles to work this morning. Thanks very much for the help with that! Now I need to find somewhere to have the viscous coupling done, once I find a replacement. Some bad noises under that car on sharp corners.

Thanks everybody. I have a lot to look at when I get home next week.

Also, I've seen discussions on torque bind being something found only in an automatic? Not so, I guess. One other thing I forgot to report from the Subaru guy after he drove it...this Forester apparently has a optional gear ratio, maybe a low 4:xx versus a high 3.xx? Might be part of the S package, I've only owned the L version so I don;t know. I do know that this one will get out of it's own way a lot better than my other Forester did, certainly better than the Legacy, but the Legacy weighs 10% more. It's not on a par with the GT but it's definitely spunky. Subaru guy said that contributes to the problem because of the additional torque from that gear ratio option.

I did find the U joint on another search, I'll look at that, thanks. I have an OBDII scanner, used that to find the knock sensor and the secondary 02 heater fault from the missing cat. Pirellis from my Legacy did not help. Problems in driveline are unaffected by warm up. I used the official Subaru oil from the dealer and they knew the VIN, not a good idea?

Thanks for the reply. Just to be clear, installing a set of matched tires from my Legacy wagon did not help the problem.

Hey there, I have a nice 2002 Forester S 5MT I need to make a decision on keeping or letting go and I can't figure out what's actually wrong with it. It had a driveline problem when I bought it about 3 months ago but it's developed a steering problem over the last few days that caused me to park it. First, the steering problem: It started out with just a hint of heavy steering feel occasionally and eventually got more noticable and I had a bit of belt squeal. I checked the fluid level and it was good when checked, no signs of aeration, belts appear to be relatively new. I noticed that the jack bolt to tension the belt was broken off but the belt tension seemed good. I replaced the bolt and set tension to around .5" in the center of the top span. I did not check it for aeration after replacing the bolt, but the only noise I now get from the belt is a very tiny bit occasionally at full lock so that seems better. The steering seemed a bit better but during my commute back and forth to work (70 miles total), it got progressively worse and it has settled down to the following symptom: The steering is very hard to turn in either direction from center for a very short distance, maybe 15 degrees, and then it appears that the power steering kicks in, and then it gets tough to turn again. This happens in either direction, symmetrical to the center position of the steering wheel. . There is absolutely no noise from the power steering system Any ideas? The driveline problem: When turning in either direction with around 45 degrees of steering wheel, I get the sense that something in the suspension is shifting slightly and then returning to position. It's a fairly muted noise but I can feel something moving. When making a sharp turn in either direction, maybe 90 degrees of steering wheel, I get a fairly sharp mechanical noise in addition to a larger feeling of something shifting under the car. I have a buddy who works on Subarus a lot, he does TB changes and other stuff, knows them pretty well. I took it to him and he jacked it up and pushed/pried on everything to see if he could find play anywhere and there was nothing that stood out. He suspected the struts were original and thought we should replace the mounts and struts because he's seen them develop steps or ledges that cause this. I was . For the alarming metallic noise on turns he recommended changing the transmission and rear end oil with Subaru OEM and see if it got better. It has not gotten better. I noticed that some of the fluid from the bottom of the transmission was dark when first draining. I wanted to see if I could get that noise straightened out before putting any money in the car with the struts and mounts etc. Any ideas on the driveline stuff? I've read adding some Lucas tranny juice sometimes helps and that's easy enough. Car drives perfectly and quietly in a straight line, the car is tight and quiet over bumps, no hint of a problem. Turn a corner and all hell breaks loose. Tires on the OEM alloy wheels when I bought the car were same size,two different brands. I've installed equally worn 4 Pirellis on OEM alloys from my Legacy wagon as a test. I'm leaving for a few days but wen I get back, I plan on jacking it up and getting back under under it to be sure there is nothing I missed in the driveline, U joints or something like that. I recall the rear lower trailing arm bushings seemed a bit soft but the Subaru guy indicated they weren't bad enough to cause what I'm feeling. I also read something about pulling the AWD fuse to put it in FWD mode and see if that removes the problem? Information from the PO (not a car person) is that the car was traded in at a local Subaru dealer on a new one and his dad got it from the auction 4 years ago. He told me he had front brakes installed (true) and what he called the center differential (not sure about that) replaced. It has 192k miles on it and there is not a hint of cold start knock and I've never heard a quieter engine so I think it must have been replaced. .It's an S so it's got the leather wheel and shifter, heated cloth seats, and the best OEM stereo I've ever heard in a car, as well as no rust top or bottom. Other bad stuff... Someone did a very serious weld job on a test pipe in place of the second cat but somehow disabled the CEL, might have removed the bulb, I just know it doesn't light up when the car starts. I see a second cat heater fault when I scan it and I get some small backfires in the exhaust when shifting, so i assume the mixture is off a little. MPG is normal, I saw it drop off and caught a bad knock sensor with a scan so I fixed that. Sorry for the length, as mentioned I am at a decision point with the car. Either I dump he money into it to fix the steering and driveline (may end up way upside down in it and still have a test piped car with disabled CEL wizardry), pull the engine, ECU, and wiring for a Vanagon swap down the road and part the rest, or sell it as is and take the loss. I love Subarus, I bought my first 82 DL hatch back in 85 and I have three right now (06 Legacy GT, 02 Legacy wagon and the Forester) but I'm not sure about what it will take to save this one. TIA Joe

I am getting a lot of water inside the rear hatch mounted lens assembly on my 01 Legacy wagon I am getting a lot of water inside the rear lens assembly on my 01 Legacy wagon. Lens meaning the large red plastic component with SUBARU on it. How much water? when I open the hatch, water trickles out of the access flaps for the rear lights, it's coming from around the bulbholders for the running/brake lights on the hatch. It's been raining lightly this morning, nothing serious, I can't imagine what it will be like when it really rains. There was a small crack in the lens assembly just about in the middle of the SUBARU lettering and I caulked that as a test and it did nothing to slow it down. I cannot find anywhere that looks like it's a spot for a leak, has anyone seen this and know where the water is coming from? Thanks!

Car is a 2001 Legacy 5MT with 127k on the 2.5 engine swapped in just before the PO bought it, 233k on the car. What it does is stall when cold the first time or two I come to a stop. Just drops like a stone past where it should recover and idle. Once warming up, it drops a little past idle and recovers, once warm it idles like a kitten. I've looked around on the web and it appears there are some recommendations for this problem, such as temp sensor, plugs and wires, fuel system cleaner, fuel filter. I've changed the fuel filter, added some Lucas fuel system cleaner, and ordered NGK plugs and Denso wires and a temp sensor. Awaiting delivery from Rock Auto. My only remaining question is how sensitive the Subaru fuel injection system is to vacuum? On a Bosch (early Volvo for example) FI system, it is extremely sensitive to vacuum and this could be a small crack in a vacuum line that closes when it gets warm. Any time I bought a Bosch FI car, I always replaced all the vacuum lines on general principles. I should mention that the CEL is on for the 02 sensors, details on the CEL are below. The CEL's have been on since the PO bought the car (maybe since the engine was swapped in, can't say), he had them scanned and they were related to the 02 sensors. I replaced both with the correct Denso units for a manual trans 01 (front is called an air/fuel on the box, rear is called an 02 on the box). The CELs (my generic OBDII scanner shows 2x P1133/front 02 sensor heater from what I can find on the web and 2x P0141 bank 1 sensor 2 sensor heater malfunction, I assume this is the rear?) come on immediately as soon as I start the car after I clear them. Key to on, CEL off - key to start, CEL on. As soon as the car starts, it appears that the codes are set. A local Subaru guy mentioned that there were problems or a TSB for ECU problems related to 02 sensors or a possibility that the ECU may be behind the problems? I searched the web and can't find any official TSB's for ECU's for this year of Legacy. Does anyone have any knowledge of this TSB? Is it possible that the ECU is responsible for the problems? The Subaru guy checked the wiring when doing the TB service and did not find anything wrong. I just find it odd that both of the codes show up immediately as soon as the car is started, that doesn't sound like wiring to me. I couldn't find any fuses or relays for the 02 circuit that wouldn't affect something else? Thanks for any comments/suggestions. Interesting tidbit - I actually have two Legacy L wagons that are exactly the same colors inside and out, mine is a 2001 manual and my son's is a 2002 automatic. Mine has a few more options but otherwise identical. i was looking into the changes in 02 sensors between 2001 and 2002 and when comparing VIN's, I found that these cars were 189 apart on the assembly line (9 hours based on SIA web site). The 2002 went to North Carolina, the 2001 stayed in Ohio, and both ended up in my driveway in late 2014.

Thanks for the reply. It's only one direction, I made sure of that. The boot is totally gone and I'm not sure how long it has been that way. I'd like to start driving this thing, I'm pretty close to having it sorted so I'll probably do an aftermarket short term and have a good look at the axle once out and see if it's salvageable rather than turn it in for the core.

I wanted to update this in case someone did a search later. I found a video on the web that duplicated the noise and decided it was most likely that the timing belt tensioner was making the noise. On any other car I would have thought death by flying parts was imminent but on a Subaru, that noise isn't terminal. I had a local Subaru guy do a complete timing belt service on it and he verified the tensioner was shot. Everything I reported other than the CEL's seems to have been addressed by the TB service, and he verified that the TB components were original on the car. I checked the title and the engine actually has around 125k so I got lucky that everything lasted that long. I'm still trying to sort out the CEL's. I've heard it could be a problem with the ECU from when the new engine was swapped in or just an ECU problem in general. I discovered something interesting when digging into this one, i have a 2001 and a 2002 Legacy wagon - same car, same color, my 2001 is a 5MT and my son's 2002 is an autobox. I talked to a few Subaru people I know and one mentioned how the 02 sensors changed year to year and I decided to look into that. I discovered that the 2002 uses a completely different Denso sensor that is common to manual and automatic models (2345003 upstream and 2344132 downstream) versus the 2001. I decided to see when my 2001 was built and based on the last digits of the VIN I found it was built 189 cars before my 2002. That’s approximately 9 hours based on production numbers from SIA online. The VIN code for model year is correct but talking to a friend who worked at Nissan Nashville and GM Moraine Truck assembly, there are big differences between how various companies treat year end runs and changeovers on their assembly lines. What I’m wondering is if my “last 9 hour run” of 2001 ended up with the ECU and 02 sensors for a 2002. The car seems to immediately“reject” both sensors when it starts. I have a friend who works at the local Subaru place and I emailed the service department there to see if they could be sure what was installed on this car. Funny how I ended up with 2 cars so close together when one originally went to Ohio and the other was originally shipped to North Carolina but ended up back in Ohio.

On my "new to me" 2001 Legacy wagon 5MT, I have a vibration back up through the steering wheel and in the pedals when turning left. It only happens with the car in gear and in motion and seems to be most noticeable in first gear and before full lock. With the car standing still I can turn back and forth with no problems and with the car out of gear and coasting while swerving slowly back and forth I don't notice it, car is fine once in motion. While putting the front O2 sensor on, I noticed the boot cover for the pass side CV joint was not good and had been that way for a while. I'm thinking this is probably the culprit and a new axle assembly on that side is the cure? Makes sense based on what I hear and feel but I've never run across this before and I'm new to AWD and Subarus. Any harm to drive it like this till I can get the parts and get it in to be fixed? Realignment required after the work is done? It's probably been doing this for a while. I just noticed it when I swapped on some used Yokohama's in place of the equally used Fuzions that made the car vibrate like crazy. I wanted to see what other noises might be under the roar from the Fuzions and I found out, haha. Thanks

Let me start by saying I know little to nothing about Subarus. I have a lot of experience with other types of cars and engines but the only flat 4's I work on are my air cooled VW's. But I'm ready to learn because I plan on swapping a Subaru engine into a Vanagon one of these days. This patient is a 01 Legacy wagon 5MT with 232k on the body and 140k on the engine. I have some O2 sensor related CEL's to sort out. I'll update that thread in a bit but I wanted to run some interesting behavior by the experts on here. First off, note that I had this car checked out by a local Subaru guy and I paid what he told me it was worth as it was, which wasn't a lot. I have another 02 Legacy wagon that is exactly the same (color and all!), but an automatic so I have something to compare this one to. I also had a 98 Forester some years ago with 198k that had cold start knock. I have something more than the usual cold start knock that I am familiar with. It's quite loud and SEEMS to be coming from the timing belt cover on the driver's side area when the car starts and runs at high idle. It's accompanied by serious belt squeal from one of the belts on the front of the engine, I assume the PS belt because when I crank the wheels back and forth, the noise changes. If you rev the engine up past 2k, the knock smooths out. If you drive maybe 10 minutes, the belt noise and knock both go away and it runs like a dream. I sent a video of the car in cold start mode to the Subaru guy and he thought that it might have a failing timing belt tensioner. The Subaru guy listened to it after the PO had driven it 20 miles to have it checked out (noises had all quieted down) and he listened to it up and down and did various things to it and it acted normally. He finally starting pulling plug wires to individual cylinders and thought the cylinder nearest the noise had a bad main bearing. I didn't hear the change but I trust his judgement. The only other experience I have with a bad main was on a big block and there was a pronounced rattle AFTER revving the engine when the oil warmed and thinned out. We found half a delaminated main bearing in the pan when we pulled that one apart, I didn't hear that same rattle after revving on this one when fully warm. Let me add this interesting bit, the last time I started the cold started car when it was in high idle mode, I turned the wheel to full lock left and right to see how the PS squeal would react and at full lock both directions, the BRAKE and battery light would come on. Off of full lock, and the lights would go off and stay off. When I revved the engine down to normal slow idle, the BRAKE and battery light did not come on at full lock. So anyway, thanks for reading this far. First, if a timing belt tensioner on a Subaru was failing, would it create enough drag to create belt squeal and the knocking sound when cold and the battery light at full lock as the alternator slowed down? On water cooled VW's such as a TDI, the tensioner usually silently fails and kills the belt and the engine. Second, no, I don't know when the last TB service was done. I'm told the engine was changed 40k ago with an engine with 107k miles. TB service on a 2,5 is due at 105k, right? I don't know that it was done, let's assume it wasn't because we don't know that it was. If the engine truly has a bearing problem, I should change the engine instead of change the TB and tensioner. If you guys think a tensioner could cause all this, I'll do the TB and tensioner. Third, here is the CEL info: Car had CEL on when I bought it, PO said it needed oxygen sensors but I bought it cheap and factored replacements into the cost. Replaced both front and rear 02 sensors with the specified Densos via Rock Auto. Cleared the codes twice and the CEL came back on immediately when I started the car. Always 4 codes in this order: P1133 P0141 P0141 P1133. I know what they are, just surprised the new 02 sensors didn't sort them out and I am getting them twice. Anyone seen this before and have a suggestion? Would wiring to the rear 02 sensor cause something like this? The harness looks a little funky just prior to the plug. Maybe not having the rear plugged in all of the way? Sure thought I heard a snap of the plug engaging? I'm open to suggestions and comments on any of this. I'd like to salvage the car because it is in excellent condition otherwise (and I like the color, which seems rare for a 5 speed wagon around here at least. Thanks