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A few questions: Rear speakers have incredibly low volume even with gain turned up on amp (eventually the tweeters start to hiss so I turned it all the way down again) Rear view camera does not show on the head unit Android Auto does not work because it does not recognize an engaged parking brake (my understanding for this is that it is missing a ground, I verified the wires are connected appropriately, can I just run the parking switch wire from the head unit direct to ground or a black/negative wire? Screen mirroring doesn't work at all. Thanks for any input!

Thank you. I got almost everything up and running. The rearview camera doesn't pull up on the head unit and the OBDII shave Sean to be working. I'll have to call Crutchfield again tomorrow and figure it there OBDII and camera stuff. The speakers are in, they sound fantastic. I'm putting the amp in tomorrow so they should sound even better then.

I didn't cut the factory wiring harness, I cut the SU1 harness per the instructions from Maestro. Thank you for the information, I'll look at it

I was able to locate some wiring diagrams from Maestro. I think I have it all wired correctly (I cut off the RCA connections for the speakers from the SU1 harness and connected them to the wires coming from the amp, I matched colors for the rest of the wires from the HU harness and the SU1 harness. I connected the green and black plugs from the SU1 harness to the maestro device. I cut the power connector (Red, Yellow, Black) off and connected it to the HU harness. My one question, unless any of the above is wrong, is what do I do with the wires coming from the OBDII harness? There is a pink plug with a purple and white wire paired with a gray/brown wire (the pruople/white wire is labeled rev in manual transmission which I'm assuming is not used in an auto. The other plug is black and has a red and yellow wire connected to it. Does this splice into the same yellow and red used for power on the HU?

I got everything but none of it came with wiring diagrams. Does anyone have any for a 2014 Forester 2.5 Premium non navigation? Looking for wiring diagrams for headunit and Maestro module. Any input greatly appreciated!

Can I use stock wire or will I need to run new wire? The system won't be maxed out

Justin, That was my plan for amp power. The amp is for speakers so I need to get 4 pairs of speaker wire and the control wire back to the head unit. Will it all fit in the same pathway as the RCA and amp power or do I need to run a different path, maybe around the passenger side? I took the easy route and purchased Crutchfield's kit with it all in a sleeve Thanks

Here's an update: I ended up going with a Kenwood Xcelon DDX906s, an Infinity Kappa four amp (100 watts RMS per channel), and a pair of Infinity REF-96320cx speakers for the front doors. I was planning on placing the amp under either the driver or passenger seat. I saw a YouTube video of a an install for a sub where the power cable was run on the driver side under the door kick panel trim which looked pretty simple. However, the install was on a Forester which already had a factory amp so the RCA and remote wires had already been run. Where is my best path to run these wires? Should I pull the center console, or route the same way as the power cable and take the speaker wires, remote, ground, and everything else above the pedals? The car is relatively new to us so I'm not terribly familiar with pathways in the car. Cheers!

I'll got it with a wire brush and get it all cleaned up and painted. The primer is factory primer and almost 6 years old now. No rust issues but I should probably still get it protected

Where do you live? What's your driving style? I run the Continental TrueContact on my 14 Forester. They are fantastically grippy for a touring tire. Excellent traction on the snow for an all season as well. Pretty good on dirt too. Previous set of tires was BfGoodrich Advantage t/a Sport. They were one of my favorite tires for dry and diet without getting a dedicated toes. They only lasted about 20,000 miles though and weren't very good in the snow.

I already have a new one in the other side, I just left it with the black primer. What do you use to dissolve the steel? Are you saying to use it on the rubbed part by the door panel?

Hello Everyone, I have a 2002 Impreza and noticed the paint was bubbling on the the bottom of the passenger front quarter panel.I didn't think it would be anything I couldn't fix with the angle grinder but it turns out the rust started from the back side and paint was pretty much the only part left. As soon as I touched it, it all fell out. It appears that part of the frame has some rust as well. I'll likely just buy a new quarter panel, but how would you guys go about repairing the rest of the rust? Cheers, Andrew

Thank you for the link, I'll check it all out!

Thank you for the suggestions. I plan on installed the amp when the deck is out so I don't have to pull it again to connect it. I'm looking for a 4 channel with in the ball park of 100RMS, I'll be sure to match the amp output with what the speaker wants. Initially the plan was to just replace the deck and do the speakers and such later, but the deck looks like kind of a pain to remove so I figured I'd do it all at once. I originally did just the deck in my car and it made a huge difference. I put in some cheaper Alpine Type S speakers in my front doors and they do alright. They could use more power but I don't drive it much. Thank you for the crutchfield link, I'll check it out.

Hello Everyone, I'm looking to upgrade my wife's audio system in her '14 Forester. The stock Clarion head unit is having Bluetooth issues despite having current firmware. It sounds terrible anyway. We are an Android family so I've been looking at double din Android Auto ready units and pretty much settled on this: Kenwood DDX9906XR eXcelon but I'm open to comparable options if anyone has experience elsewhere. The speakers are where in struggling. I had intended to go with the Alpine Type R but then saw they were dropping out at about 50hz. I don't plan to put a sub in the car as it is a camping car and we have dogs so I'm not willing to sacrifice the space. Focal seems to have a good set as well. I'm only planning on the front speakers initially. I do plan on putting a 4 channel amp in, I was looking at the Alpine pdx line but, again, I'm open to suggestions. I also read, on another forum, that most people are installing the Kicker upgrade kit because of an apparent need to modify the mounting brackets and wiring harness. What is involved in that? I'm more than capable of fabricating and modifying things, I'm just curious if anyone has any experience. Lastly, is everyone sticking with the 6x9 and how hard are the corner dash speakers to replace? Cheers, Andrew

Bennie, Thanks for the input. All symptoms I was able to find are brakes locking up, especially when ABS is activated. The fluid will congeal if it's missed with a petroleum product, but all the rubber will swell at the same time and the whole system needs to be rebuilt. Based on the fluid I found, I suspect they dumped a cap full of power steering fluid in the reservoir and then said it needs to be fixed. They were obviously told no, I can do it myself. I hate dealerships.

I'm the only one that touches it. We just got home with it. Only the screen was congealed. The rest of the reservoir is still fluid. A little dark but fine otherwise. There was also a clear fluid spilled on the fuse box which is odd... They pulled out the knn air filter and fumoto drain plug and charged us $50 then blamed the pcv valve and oil fill gasket for the 1.5 quarts of oil consumption in 5000 miles lol

Hello Everyone, I had to drop our 2014 Forester off at the dealership for the brake lamp recall and to do an oil consumption test. I got a call this morning saying that the brake fluid had turned to jelly. My research says that this typically only occurs when a petroleum based product is introduced to the system. About a year ago, I did a flush with Amsoil DOT 3 and 4 fluid (the car had about 40,000 miles on it then). The fluid was fine, a little dark but not too bad. The fluid was checked about a month later and it was still fine. The dealership only wanted to flush the system which tells me there was no introduction of a petroleum product otherwise they would have wanted to replace all the rubber as well. The car drives fine, ABS works, brakes are smooth and working as usual. What could have happened? And how do I flush the system with the jellied fluid? I have a pneumatic bleeder that hooks up to a compressor, but it sucks fluid from the caliper end. I have not picked the car up yet so I have not seen it with my own eyes. I'll be grabbing it tonight.

I'm not familiar with known engine issues, do you habe now information or a link to the problems?

Hello All, I bought our 14 Forester 2.5i about a year ago. When it was time for an oil change, I drained the Subaru fluid and put in Mobil1 0w20. About 3000 miles later, the low oil light came on. In past Subarus, I've experienced problems with consumption ruining Mobil1 but never like this. The oil was not low after 6k on the Subaru oil. I can assume the consumption is related to switching brands but I was curious if anyone else had similar experiences. What brands are working well? 0w20 seems really light, is anyone rubbing 0w30 or even 5w30? Cheers

I'm sure they're a great tire. The tread pattern is a little tight for the off-road usage though. There are much better tires if you're not leaving the pavement much and don't push them. We periodically see 100 mile stretches of dirt road and cruise on them at speeds in excess of 60mph. With Subaru's AWD, the car still does fine in snow up to about a foot. If it's dealt snowy we take the truck so score performance was important but not the only factor.

Further update: After nearly 10,000 miles, the tires are wearing well. A recent snowstorm brought almost 10" of snow to Colorado. The tires perform okay in the snow, nothing fantastic. Stopping performance is mediocre at best. Acceleration traction is pretty good for an all season tire. Turning performance is okay as long as there is some loose snow on to. For me, the most important thing is predictability in traction. While these tires don't have the best traction, you know exactly where the limit is and they let go and hook up smoothly. I know exactly what they can and cannot get through and when to expect that glorious slide! There are better all season tires out there for snow Teton, but none that I have tried are as predictable as these. I've also not found a better all season car tire for mud, gravel, rocks, roots, and all the other terrains Subarus are meant to explore! Mud flaps are all necessary for these tires! They chuck rocks like no other!

Thanks everyone for the input. Seems to be a unanimous conclusion of it's normal and nothing to worry about

Is this vapor purge something that would randomly happen? Or maybe be associated with a temperature change?

I was in the garage last night and heard any abnormal buzzing. I was able to identify the source as this black box under my wife's car. It is located in the undercarriage near the spare tire well. The car had been sutting untouched for hours. The buzzing stopped a short while after locking and unlocking the car. Any ideas what the long black thing is or why it would be buzzing? The car is a 2014 Forester.