Daskuppler

Hello Everyone, I have a '14 Forester Premium with 112k on it. I am on a road trip and about 800 miles into the trip, I started hearing a cyclical thumping coming from the back of the car. The best I can tell is that it is coming from the rear passenger tire. The wheel bearing was replaced on that wheel approximately 10k ago, I do not feel anymore heat in the passenger hub versus the driver, but that's not exactly a scientific approach to feel it haha. I still have about 3000 miles to go. Thoughts? I have some tools but limited so there's no replacing the hub or CV axle. Could it be anything else? Any way to isolate one from the other? A bad CV might make it home, a bad hub could be catastrophic. About the same time the noise developed, the car seems to have developed a little bit of stumble under about half load and between 2k and 3k rpms. It's very pronounced, no CEL and it doesn't really feel like a misfire. It's there every time and not present under full load. Also, the SRS light has started coming on periodically. I suspect this is just a bad connection, but you never know what systems are connected these days. Thoughts? Cheers, Andrew

The blend door control is very stiff so maybe replacing the cable would be beneficial. The heater usually works pretty well, but it could be out of whack to where it's not turning the heat completely off. I'll dig into it a little more and see. It might be time to take it to the shop. Do these cars have a pressure switch? I don't see one when I look for parts at the auto parts store. I'm guessing it's all controlled by the ECM, but I'm not entirely sure. If I remove another shim, there is no gap so I just removed the one.

So I checked the clutch air gap and it was at about .23, which is way out of spec. I pulled the clutch and removed one shim from the shaft and put it all back together. It seems to be working better, but I noticed the side vents blow cold air and the middle vents blow coolish air. When the compressor cycles off the center vents turn hot (like the heater is on) and the side vents turn coolish before the compressor comes back on. Any thoughts?

Definitely none of that. There was a little bit of leakage in my the low pressure line, but I replaced the o ring and it's hosting vacuum now.

It does not sound like the compressor is slipping, but I don't know. I can throw some feeler gauges in and check the gap. It runs for a minute or so then shuts off and comes back on 30 seconds or so later. It was blowing cold air when running initially but slowly got worse and now only blows hot air even with the compressor running.

I replaced the evaporator, drier, high pressure line, and the valve core on the low pressure line. I then pulled a vacuum on the system for about 1.5 hours. I turned the pump off and it held vacuum for 45 minutes at which point I hooked up the refrigerant. The system took roughly 16 ounces (guessing by what it felt like was left in the can) and the AC was blowing cold. It was cold at the time (35 degrees) so I didn't test it too much. Today, it was about 65 so I gave the AC a run and it was cold, though not ice cold, for a while then it would get warm, then cold, then warm, and so on. I got home, threw the gauges on it and low side reads 52psi with the compressor off and high side reads 80psi. Witch compressor running, low side drops to about 30 and high side goes to about 90. I pulled some refrigerant out and low side pressure drops to about 20psi when running, but is still about 50 when off. What's going on? I'm lost.

I agree, having a shop do it is a better option. I can recharge a nearly empty system in my garage with an auto parts store kit for $50. If thje AC doesn't perform as desired, I can always take it to a shop where they recover the refrigerant I already put in, vacuum the system, and put it back in. I get charged almost nothing since the refrigerant was already there. I guessed at 4 ounces based on what was left in the can. No, none of it is done per spec, but it works for the most part. When I did the same process on my wife's '14 forester, it seems to work fine. The air at the vents meets factory specifications so I'm happy with the fix. The shop wouldn't install a Subaru Compressor but still wanted the $1100 to do the job.

Can you really trust a partially rubber line that's been in a junkyard for who knows how long? Just the store bought cans. A/C Pro Synthetic Refrigerant w/ oil to be exact. If the system isn't cooling as desired, I can always take it to a shop and have them vac it down. It's still cheaper than paying them for refrigerant.

Back to square 1, Rock Auto will not Ship to Colorado.

I just ordered a new high pressure and low pressure line. I also got a new condenser since mine is pretty chewed up after a rough 135k miles. I also got an O-ring set since the system will be apart. I'll post back once it is all installed and it warms up a little.

I just ordered a 30" Diode Dynamics bar. It should fit on top of the crash bar behind the bumper cover so it's almost a factory look and is still somewhat protected from road debris. It will add an additional 6,000 lumens. If anyone is interested, I can follow up on this thread.

I'm working on getting one. Looks like they are $340 from Subaru.

I looked at this morning. When I first turned the AC on, the compressor was short cycling. It would run for about 2 seconds then turn off and repeat. Since the gauge showed that the system was overcharged, I let a little bit out. It then stopped short cycling and never came back one. I put the gauge back on, and the pressure read 0. I added about 4 ounces and the compressor kicked on, the low pressure line was cold, but it was still short cycling a little bit. It would run for about 15 seconds then shut off and come back on about 20 seconds later. While it is cycling, pressure rises to about 38 while the compressor is off and drops to 10 while it is running. There is an oily residue where the high pressure line turns to rubber coming off of the compressor. Bad compressor? Bad pressure switch?

Hello Everyone, I have a 14 Forester and am looking to add some auxiliary lights to the vehicle. I do not have an aftermarket bumper or anything else to mount to that would not be present on a stock vehicle. What have you guys done? Light pods? Light bar? Cheers

Is it really leaking? It's been holding for almost a year. Obviously there is a leak at one location, but could that be because it is overcharged?

Hello Everyone, I have a 2002 Impreza with about 135k on it. Last summer the AC started to not blow as cold as desired, in fact it was borderline warm. I added some refrigerant assuming I would have to address a leak later but I could limp through the summer. Adding refrigerant helped , but temperatures soon dropped at the vents, even though the gauge still read around 32 psi. Best I can tell is the compressor kicks on as there is a load on the motor when I turn the AC on. The low pressure line is slightly cooler than the engine bay temperatures but by no means cold. High pressure line is hot. The condenser at the front has seen better days and has a lot of damaged fins, though no sign of a leak. I checked pressure again without the car running and it read at almost 50psi. I'm not quite sure what happened but that's where it sits. There is some sign of leakage on the high pressure line where it goes from a rubber hose to the hard piping attached to the compressor, but this was not present last summer. I am guessing this is due to the fact that the system is now overcharged. Any ideas where to go from here? Cheers

I got it all done. Temps at the vent got as low as 45.5. it's 70 outside. It took about 16 ounces.

Looks like it comes oiled, as do most new/remanufactured units these days. I would certainly hope that for $900 they could add $0.30 worth of oil. I'll be working on it tonight so I'll post back with a conclusion to the Saga. I might be in touch with you again shortly, I have a 2002 Impreza with an AC that's not working as well. There does appear to be some visible leaks. One vehicle at a time though.

The shop quoted 1100 to do the job with a remanufactured unit from Napa. I presume this is likely to have issues since it is most likely a remanufactured unit that already failed because of the known problems. Would I be better off just spending the $900 for the OEM one? It is in stock at my local dealer today. Anything I should be wary of when replacing the compressor? I haven't really looked at it but it looks like it's just a handful of bolts and look out for the refrigerant that leaks out. Then recharge with the auto parts cans that contain oil. Also, is it likely the compressor? The AC seemed to work fine not more than a couple months ago. The car is a 14 forester, 100k on it. We live in Colorado. The compressor makes a terrible noise and never shuts off or blows cold air. Is there a way to troubleshoot it prior to spending the money?

Okay, so you can't just grab the recharge units at the auto parts store and refill lol. I agree, not worth it at that point.

Hello Everyone, I turn the AC on today and had no cold air. After further investigation, the compressor is incredibly noisy (buzzing, clicking, and running continuously), From previous research, I noticed there is a TSB out for the compressor, but Subaru won't cover anything. Can I recharge the system at home from empty, or does it need to be done with a special machine when it's completely empty after the compressor replacement. Also, do I need to replace the dryer if I open the system to replace the compressor? Cheers

The struts are KYB. Ball joints, true rod ends, and wheel bearing are Moog. The end links be are mevotech. I'll get a pry bar on it tomorrow if it's not too cold lol

I did the work. I'll check the to bolts, they looked good but I'm give them a good crank I forgot to mention I replaced those as well. They still looked right, I'll throw a wrench on them though.

Hello Everyone, I have a 2014 Forester 2.5i that has recently started clunking if I hit a bump while turning. It is most prominent when turning left and hitting a bump with the passenger front tire. The noise comes from the passenger front tire as well. Tie rod ends, ball joints, struts, and the passenger wheel bearing were recently replaced. The clunk did not appear right after the work, rather a couple thousand miles later. I checked to make sure everything was still tight and it is. There is no play in the steering wheel or tire. I did notice that the coil ionthe strut is shifted about 1/4 inch from the stop on the spring perch. I can't iimaginethis would be an issue, but I suppose it's possible. There is no abnormal tire wear Thoughts?

Replacing the wheel bearing fixed the problem