Daskuppler

That's a valid point.

From my research, it seems.like a drain and fill is the recommended procedure and even what the dealership frequently does. It sounds like a special machine is required to flush the CVT and the wrong one will ruin it. Most failures seem to be the valve body, but who knows if that's a design thing or fluid related. I doubt it's fluid related as failures are all over the board mileage wise and it doesn't seem to be tied to poor maintenance. But again, there's not much official documentation. These things seem to run pretty clean since there's not many clutches, but they do still need a change and Subaru recommends every 30k for severe duty, which is pretty much daily driving if you live in a city. They don't specify if that's a drain and fill it flush though. Logic would say that draining 4.5 qts out of 13 and putting 4.5qts of fresh fluid back in leaves you with 13 qts of slightly less dirty fluid, but still dirty. Seems like you would have to do 4 or 5 drain and fills to have decent fluid again, which is a waste of fluid and time if it could just be flushed. I find these cars very frustrating with the lack of information. It seems like everything was just out together with the hopes that they were right, but the engineers don't really know how it works or why it fails...which is just ludicrous. Maybe this is all because they don't want people working in them at home...

Is it worth having the CVTs flushed periodically? Or is an annual drain and fill enough? 120k on my car and I've done a drain and fill annually for the last 4 years. Is a flush every 4 years better?

Thank you everyone for your input. I am think I'll just stick with new OEM axles. Doesn't seem like it's worth the headache to rebuild them and wait and see if I got everything right only to do in it again in the near future.

What grease do you use?

Yeah, it's a non turbo. I picked up new axles from the dealership today, they informed me they have stopped working with CVJ axles due to quality issues. I know they used to be highly recommended, but they seem to be having some problems.

Yeah, I noticed that buying for my bugeye. I was able to get some remanufactured ones from Subaru but they were still quite expensive. Are the rears prone to failure as well, or do they hold up pretty well since there's less travel and no steering knuckle movement? I can't say I have ever seen a rear CV axle replaced unless it was in a crash.

It's from both sides. Passenger side sounds like it's both litter and inner CV joints, driver side seems to be only the inner. Of course it is hard to hear exactly where it is when you're driving and it sounds just like traction control which is frequently going off given the snow and ice these days. I'll check car-part and see what they offer. I looked into RCV axles and the general consensus was you really don't want stronger axle because failure pushes from the axle to the hub or differential. I don't think strength is the issue here since nothing is really breaking. It seems to be a design issue, or maybe low quality grease/materials. RCV is also 4 times the price and doesn't make anything for Subaru. Oh how I long for the days of a reliable vehicle that was affordable to fix. This thing is just full of $1,000 bills.

The batteries are usually only good for 10 years, sometimes less. I had the same thing happen with a different vehicle. The tire shop never mentioned replacing them and the batteries started going right after I got new tires. It sucks have to pay for the remount and balance plus sensor cost when you just paid for it. The tire shop can check the battery for you and give you an idea before they do any work.

I have a 2002 Bugeye with 138k on it. It runs very well and we take care of it. We try to take care of the 2014 but it is getting rather expensive to keep it running and working properly. I know the automotive parts store CV axles aren't worth buying and obviously rebuilding isn't a good deal either. Are there aftermarket CV axles that ARE worth buying that are better than OEM? Maybe something from the rally world? Is this a side effect from taking the vehicle lightly off-road? I wouldn't think that some very low speed driving on uneven terrain would destroy a CV axle at stock height, but maybe they really can't handle any sort of wheel spin with the suspension flexed.

Hello Everyone, I have a 2014 Forester with 120k on it. A clicking noise has started to develop in the front end while accelerating and turning. The clicking, sounds nearly identical to the traction control system, but is present regardless of traction control activation or not. My initial thought is CV axles as the symptoms seem to mach them the best, but I thought I would get some opinions before I spent $1k on CV axles. Recent work in the last 20k: All 4 wheel bearings have been replaced with OEM bearings. New struts (KYB) New ball ball joints and Tie rod ends (sadly these were Moog) New lower control arms (OEM) OEM CV axles were rebuilt by reputable local shop Short block replacement (by dealership) Front diff fluid changed (I think I used Mobil 1 at specified weight) As I mentioned before, the clicking is only present while turning, though not usually at full lock. It is present turning in either direction, and exacerbated by cold temps (it's currently 0 degrees), though there is slight improvement once the car starts to warm up a little. The noise is almost identical to the traction control noise, though it happens independently of traction control While inspecting under the car and at the front wheels, I did not find anything loose or out of place. There is a very slight bit of play on the inner CV axle joint at the differential, but it is hard to tell if its on the splines or internal to the joint. I can see the assembly move every so slightly when I push on it, but it also feels like there might be a very slight bit of movement inside. There are no tears in the boots or sign of grease loss. The axles were rebuilt about 30k ago by a local reputable shop. I pulled the factory axles off, took them to the shop, and picked them up the next day. I thought I might save some money by having the OEM axles rebuilt, but it seems like maybe that was not $300 well spent. Is there anything else I can check prior to purchasing new axles from Subaru? I know better than to try out the auto parts store axles. There are 3 TPMS codes all related top decrease in pressure and two SRS codes related to a faulty passenger seat occupant detection mat. No lights on the dash. and no VDC/traction control codes. Cheers, Andrew

Have you pulled a plug to check and see how the system is running/burning? https://www.motorweek.org/features/goss_garage/spark-plug-diagnosis/ How old are your plugs? How are the wires?

When you peel back linings and remove panels, look for water trails. There are.almost always visible paths where water as been. Especially if there was dirt anywhere nearby. It can be a tedious process and you have to look very closely, but use common sense in where to start and be methodical. You may want to disconnect the batter while you are searching and drying out.

Sounds like a lot of work to get the LEDs squared away. Maybe I'll just stick with the incandescent bulbs

Good to know, thank you. Is there a reputable brand or is it just kind of a crap shoot? Any idea what size resistor is needed?

Hello Everyone, Has anyone swapped their cluster/dash lights out for LEDs? I have to replace my heater box and figured it might be a good time to swap out the 21 year old incandescents. This is for a 2002 Impreza TS. If you have done it, did you use a different color? I am contemplating red for the night vision, but don't have a preference beyond that. Any recommendations on brand? Google pulls up a gazillion Chinese no name brands but nothing that seems to be a well known brand. I would hate to switch them all out for faulty bulbs. Thanks!

Nothing free that I know of. I use the Innova 5610 scanner, it works best week on Subarus and is available on Amazon.

The brake light flashed in my 14 Forester when brake fluid was low. I don't recall the cel being in though. Any codes?

I would get OEM. I installed the FelPro MLS on my 02 251 about 60k ago and have had no problems, but FelPro supposedly has some issues with Japanese vehicles. I also used FelPro intake, exhaust, and valve cover gaskets. The valve cover gaskets failed, everything else has been solid. Go OEM for the water pump gasket, tubing belt, tensioner, and idler pulleys. I just did the timing kit, it ran me about $500

If this happens to anyone else, you can manually turn the temperature control doohickey with a set of curved hemostats.

Plus one for it leaking somewhere else. You can see oil nr differential all the way to the driveshaft indicating that it's definitely leaking there.

There's calculators online for the calibration difference. It's pretty negligible on how the speedometer reads vs actual speed. Weight and diameter can make a difference in feel though probably negligible going up maybe a centimeter in diameter. Weight will also probably.be negligible, unless going from a street tire to an AT, but they you get stuffer sidewalls so it defeats the no purpose here. I did go from a passenger tire to a load range e duratrac on my.offroading rig when I built it. That was a huge difference. I also added probably 15lbs per corner though so it's expected.

https://www.9news.com/article/news/nation-world/subaru-ascent-suv-recall-park-outside-fire-risk/507-8690a0ec-2c14-441a-ac33-d6f77616f6d6

That's what I figured, but you never know. Do you have a favorite place to buy non OEM parts that aren't carried at the auto parts store? Everyone defaults to Rock Auto but they don't ship to my address.

Do you know if this shortage BS is across all manufacturers, or is Subaru struggling more because they are a smaller manufacturer? I can't get anything for any of my vehicles, but they are all Japanese...