Daskuppler

Hello Everyone, My Forester developed a nasty rattle which was tracked down to a failed tack weld and rust on the heat shield above the muffler. Attempted fixes failed so I dropped the muffler and looked around. the seam on top of the muffler is failing and split open and the rest of the heat shield is toast as a result. Does anyone have suggestions on which muffler I should put on? I do not want stock, I would rather upgrade and get a little more high end torque/hp, even if it is negligible. I'll sacrifice the low end torque since the engine is frequently revved pretty high (lots of high altitude and mountainous driving)...What can I say, I like the skinny pedal. Also, would I need to reroute pipe or could a new one just be welded up in place? I have a trailer hitch installed which does reduce available space a little. I could potentially gain access to a welder, but I'm not going to be able to bend pipe to do any further modifications. I'm looking to increase sound but there's no need to be obnoxious.

If I identified it properly, it is sitting under the rear bumper right next to the tank. If it is not rusted, it should come off pretty easily.

Thank you for the input. I definitely need to look at it and see what I can find. It's annoying to take 10 minutes to fill the tank! If the car had been topped off, I presume the excess fuel flows into the canister; would the fix be to drain the canister or are they damaged for good at that point?

It is not driven terribly frequently, but never sits for more than two weeks. The car is not typically topped off as long as I've owned it (since 2011). I'll look for a diagram and see what I can figure out. I have a scope camera as well so maybe I can get a sneak peak into the hoses and such.

Hello Everyone, I have a 2002 Impreza TS with 120k on it. Recently, I have been having issues filling the gas tank. When fueling, the pump shots off after about 3/4 gallon if on full flow. From what I've read, this is likely something to do with the EVAP canister which is $125. I know they are on there to control fumes and meet EPA compliance. Is there a way to bypass them or are they essential for the engine to operate properly? It seems like one could simply disconnect the breather hose from the fuel tank or at the canister and it would solve the problem in exchange for a thrown code. Thoughts? Thanks, Andrew

Hello Everyone, I have a 2014 Forester Premium with the plastic knockouts where the XT has fog lamps. Someone backed into the car the other day and kicked the bumper out a little bit (no biggy, no scratches, and it pushed back in). Apparently, there was some damage behind the scenes to the black plastic cover as a recent trip down a rough dirt road resulted in the loss of the plastic piece. I know you can pick up the plastic trim piece for under $20 and the OEM fog light kit is over $200. Are there any other options that don't look jenky? Also, since this car did not come from the factory with the lights, do I need to wire in a switch or are they tied to the headlights? I presume it it is all pre-wired except for a switch? Would it be possible to tap into the headlight circuit (I have LED lamps so draw on that circuit is low).

Hello Everyone, I have a 2014 Forester 2.5i without climate control. This morning the HVAC controls were dead when the car started. It was cold, but only in the high teens this morning. After driving for a little while, everything came back on. The entire cluster was dead. Any ideas? Fuses all look good, all connectors at the back of the cluster were tight. A head unit was installed a couple months ago, no other work performed. Parking brake safety switch wire was wired direct to ground. I'm at a loss and have been unable to replicate the issue. Google research points towards a control module, but I think they are only installed if climate control is on the vehicle. Thanks

The fluid is fairly new, about a year old and is Amsoil. I guess I'll just stick with the usual premium pads and rotors from the local auto parts store. I'll be honest with the oil, I never verified what Subaru put in our what they never was when I returned the the second check. I did run another 4000 miles before the oil change which would have been enough to burn close to a quart and it was not low. I'd rather not have to add oil consistently on an engine with 65000 miles.

Hello Everyone, I have a 2014 Subaru Forester non turbo. The engine has consistently burned Mobile1 oil since I bought it a few years ago. Tried Amsoil and it did better but the engine still burned over a quart of oil over the change interval. Subaru did an oil consumption test had no issues but did find a faulty PCV valve. The valve was replaced and the car still burns Mobile 1. It does not appear to burn Subaru oil which is fine, it's just difficult to get for me. Has anyone had a similar problem and found an oil that works? Also, the front brakes are due for replacement. Would I notice much improvement going with an EBC pad and/or drilled/slotted rotors? The car frequents the mountains with heavy loads. Comparison would be to premium autoparts store pads and standard rotors. Cheers, Andrew

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.