knelson

It covered my 99 Forester. Grrrrr...

Check out this thread... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55211 You may just really and truly have a speedometer issue. Seems to be common on all 99 platforms. Need to replace entire speedo head, and NOT the sensor in the tranny.

I'm on my 3rd Subaru. Love them for the most part. But SOA seems to be getting pretty bad at responding to customer complaints. My speedo head (99 Forester) went at about 72,000 miles. That's just wrong. I just had it replaced earlier this year. No response from SOA. I had my A/C compressor go on that same Forester right around 60,000 miles. And I just had two front wheel bearings go out on my NEW 06 Outback at 2900 miles! While I did get an initial response from SOA on my wheel bearing inquiry, additional questions have gone into a black hole. I bought my 06 Outback without even blinking an eye at other cars. This latest round of quality/customer service may cause me to look at other brands when it comes time to replace the 99 Forester. I hate to do it, but I'm just not too happy about cars that need dumb things (speedo, AC compressors, wheel bearings) replaced that in the past have been designed to last waaaaaaay longer. It's not like these cars are cheap to start with, so why do they seem to be cutting corners?

Yes, and that's the reason they put the big, glowing orange sticker in the driver's side door jamb that states when the odometer was changed, and what the mileage on the original was. You can't miss it!

Those buttons do NOT light up on mine. (Same model as yours). Think that's normal. Not sure what exactly you mean, but mine are fine. However, I did notice the first time I washed it that the edge of the plastic liner that's inside the wheel well in the front wasn't seated UNDER the lip of the metal fender. I just pushed it back in place like the rest of the plastic panel. Maybe that's what you're referring to. Gaps between front doors and front quarterpanels are 3/16" to 1/4" on mine. Looks fine to me.

Not true. Or at least if it is, my dealership didn't know about it. (It's an LCD odometer folks.) You have to live with the new mileage and a sticker on the car stating the mileage that the odometer was replaced. Don't know if the sticker in the door jamb is a State or Federal requirement, but here in WA that's what they do if there's a discrepancy in the odometer reading. I had also heard that the odometer could be reprogrammed (on this board, I believe!), but only by someone with the equipment to do so. That's why I took it to the dealership. When I went to drive it away from the dealership and saw the odometer that said 000002, I was a little miffed. I went back in and asked why it wasn't reprogrammed and just got a blank stare. After explaining what I *thought* was going to happen, they just shook their head and said it couldn't be done.

Is the odometer working fine when the speedometer needle is stuck? I'm guessing the answer is 'yes.' The sensor wasn't bad - it's the speedometer head (inside the dash - what the needle is attached to) that's bad. As noted here already, seems to be a common problem on late 90's models. Just had it replaced on my 99 Forester - same design as the Outback. I'd lived with it for years and finally got tired of it. Works like a champ now.

Hmm... axles don't leak. Maybe what they did was replace your CV joint/boot at the end of the axle? The boots protect the CV (constant velocity) joint, and the boots can get tears in them exposing the CV joint and flinging grease all around. Either way, good thing on the alignment. Might have them check your rotors. I suppose if your wheels were causing that much chatter, it couldv'e made your brakes wear uneven. Now even though your tires are running true, your rotors might not be. If they haven't been turned down already, they can probably just resurface the rotors without having to replace them. But that's just my armchair diagnoses... wait for the real gurus here to chime in before you do anything!

Brake rotors warped? But then you would've felt that before, unless your shaking from the tires was masking it. I'm assuming you got a 4-wheel alignment when you got new tires? (And an axle? Huh?) If not, you probably should.

One of these days, Subaru will figure out how to do wheel bearings. Just had BOTH my front hubs replaced. Left front was growling bad, right front was starting to go. The kicker is, this was on an 06 Outback with 2900 miles. Even though they were replaced under warranty, I'm still not a happy camper. For the life of me, I can not understand why Subaru chose to try and reinvent something as basic as this - and managed to screw it up.

Officially through Subaru, you have to replace the switch. But if it's like my 99 Forester, you just need to replace the bulb. Pull the switch out and disassemble it... carefully. You'll find the bulb that you can remove and take to Radio Shack. Find the closest match and stuff it back in. Worked great for me. There's a thread somewhere on this board about this - I'll see if I can find it for you. -Kurt

Actually... the only person that told me to put them on was myself, as I was trying to extracate myself from an icy rutted Forest Service road. ...and that's the reason I'm posting! Anyone know of anything that will actually fit on these 06 Outbacks and allow me to still turn my wheel?

OK... I'm not looking for a rehash of the stuff here... http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=46240 (which was "you don't NEED chains", "get studs", blah blah blah), but was wondering if anyone has found "just in case" chains for the 225/55 R17 tires that come with the 06 Outbacks? I live in WA state which actually does require ALL vehicles (yes... even AWD) to carry chains into the mountains, and I have had one occassion long ago, where I momentarily chained up my Legacy. BUT, I was surprised to read in the owner's manual for our new 06 Outback that chains could not be used due to clearance issues with the wheel well. I'm not interested in getting studs and chewing up the roads just to comply with a law that I might run into 5% of the time I'm up in the mountains, but AM interested in having a set of chains "just in case." Anyone with personal experience? -Kurt

Safety? Hmmm... I think you'd be hard pressed to get any regulating agency on board with you on that one. Granted, you don't really know how fast you're going when it's on the fritz, but I drove with mine like that for over a year, probably close to two years. And I can't say that I never knew *about* how fast I was going. Plus if I pounded on the dash just above the instrument cluster, it'd usually pop back to life. (However, this usually seemed to concern the folks driving in the car next to me!) -Kurt

I'd heard it was a common problem also, but I can't remember where. I just had the speedo head in my 99 Forester changed out by a dealer. (Needle stuck at 42 mph from time to time, funky fluctuations between 60-70 mph) I commented that it seems like a lot of these were going out, and he seemed genuinely surprised - no reason for him to lie. Maybe it's just a rumor. -Kurt