unibrook

I have 2001 Forester with 82k on it. I get the same hesitation, herky jerky action. My bro (mechanics ear and feel) says there is a slight ignition miss at idle. So I am going to start by just replacing the spark plugs and air filter this weekend to see if that fixes it. If not the cure, next I will replace the spark plug wires. Note: I would pull the valve covers and replace the spark plug grommets if I find oil up in the wire boot as that can cause ignition miss. If none of that works, I will replace the O2 sensor or MAF I guess. Will post back here with what happs. Here is the discussion re the sp.plug grommet leak of oil into sp.plug wire boots: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=24449&highlight=spark+plug+grommet

I getcha, thx!

This gets me thinking....which does hurt, yes. Anyway, if the direct gear driven timing system works so well, why did they change to timing belts that have to be replaced?:-\

Cityside Subaru has moved from Arlington to Belmont. They are the dealership to use near Boston. They will do it right, but at dealer prices. If you find yourself near Somerville, use County Auto for any jap car repairs....good service and good pricing.

I test drove a used 2000 Rav 4 with 80k miles on it before I bought the Forester. It was tight and smooth......drove and felt like brand new. Owner said no problems, just did scheduled maint. But it is smaller inside and no rear bumper, I feel safer in the Forester.

Re: If I recall, care needs to be exercised when sliding the new axle onto output shaft. One way the pin looks like it will go in. Rotate about but not quite 180 degrees and it will go in. rick I wonder if this is what I ran into on mine (2001 Forester). I kept trying to get the holes to line up perfectly but couldn't. I don't think I tried to rotate it 180....or 179 degrees, because I was so sure it was going on right. So I ended up just using a large cotter pin instead of the spring pin. Works fine anyway.

I will echo what Noah says......if it is a newer model and you don't need to replace the ball jt anyway. Mine is a 2001 Forester, and I didn't want to risk tearing the ball jt boot so I just removed the two big lower strut bolts instead. They were tough, but the impact gun won the battle!

Go for the used switch. Using a diff key for door and ignition is no biggy.....we have been doing it for years in an old Dodge Ram. Now that I think more about it, try just using a screwdriver or dummy key in the ignition. We actually do start our 1982 GL Sub wagon with a paperclip that we keep in the ashtray. No lie. Almost any key will start the car also. But weirdness, I know, somehow the car never gets stolen! :-)

Dude, if you have the motor out anyway, for the other repairs, just go ahead and put new head gaskets in there. Then it is done and over with. Would you rather drive around with this hanging over your head?

thx guys, I never would have guessed. Is there any sort of periodic maint. I need to do for that? Car now has 140k miles on it. thx.

Does anyone know for sure if this model has a timing belt or chain? It is non-turbo, 5sp manual tranny. thx!

A couple of notes, some in response to EdRach's very helpful axle re&re procedure. Start to finish including setup and cleanup time in my driveway, this procedure took me 3 hrs. In step 1, you might find the axle nut to be a 32mm. It is on my 2001 Forester anyway. There is no cotter pin on the axle nut on my car, just a crimp in the housing around the outside of the axle nut that can be uncrimped with a small punch (the 6mm works well) and some hammer tapping. I used an impact wrench on the axle nut and it came off easily so I think a breaker bar would have worked well too. There is a variety of options for obtaining wheel swing in order to slide the axle off of its tranny hub. I first removed the outer tie rod end nut and cotter pin, then banged its housing with a small sledge hammer until the spindle bolt dropped down. Then I chose to remove the lower two 19mm bolts holding the bottom of the strut to the steering knuckle....the impact wrench really helped here as they were tough. And since this model has no camber adjustment, there is theoretically no worry about throwing that off by removing them (actually, I noticed a tiny bit of play available, so I was able to use this to my advantage when rebolting them as I knew I needed to add some positive camber). But anyway, I chose this route so I wouldn't damage any ball joint boots. Remove the axle toward the rear of the car as there is more swing room than in front of the wheel. I did not need to loosen the bolts at top of strut, nor did I undo the antisway bar. The spring pin near the DOJ slid out fairly easily but was hard to reach on the passenger front side due to the exhaust pipe being in the way (which is the cause of the inner boot cracking--due to the heat--in the first place!). (The driver's side will be easier to do as there is no exhaust pipe in the way). I did it from beneath the car. As others have said, use a 6mm or 3/16" punch with a 8mm extender socket behind it to add length. Take a moment to visually inspect the tranny stub seal before you install the replacement shaft. Mine was fine. The old axle easily slid off the tranny stub and out of the wheel hub easily. ** The new (reman. from Auto Zone $65) axle shaft's spring pin hole did not line up perfectly. So I used a near fit cotter pin instead of the new spring pin. I will get back to you if this causes any problems, but I don't see any harm in it. Heck, someone here wrote that he used a bolt and nut.

I don't think so. Word is on these newer models (I am talking about the 2001 Forester now).... No camber adjustment mechanism. But truthfully, I have not yet climbed under the car to verify this myself.

Yep, under normal circ's I would jump on it earlier.......but we have an infant at home, so in the words of a friend of mine, we "are never going anywhere ever again." And neither wifey nor I drive the car everyday to work or whatever. So, reality is, very few miles will get on the car between now and March. We live right in the city.

My 1989 Saab 9000 Turbo became erratic when I first bought the car used in 2000. It was shaky---intermittent from 0-25 mph for about a year, then it stopped working altogether for the next 2 years. The cruise control and odometer would not function when the speedo was not working. Then, one day.......it fixed itself. Worked perfectly thereafter. I assumed the problem was in the speedo head sensor. But I never dug to test/play/replace anything in there.

Uh, you would be picking that 94 legacy up really cheap, right?

Glad to hear the belts were changed on time. I hate when I buy a used car and the seller/dealer leaves me having to guess which items have been maintained or not. "uh, yeah, um, I think my ex-wife said she got that done......there um, might be some repair receipts in the glove box...." Crikey. So, to make the world a better place, I keep a spreadsheet of all work done on my car including mileage, date, cost, symptoms, yadda, yadda. And I hand the spreadsheet to the buyer when I sell my used car. Lemme tellya, if the buyer knows anything about cars, his eyes light up and he really appreciates the spreadsheet!

Both run/drive just fine. Surfer kids around town love the 82 GL wagon.......cuz they can tell by looking at it that it is older than they are.

My 2001 Forester had the common clock resistor issue. Took me 10 minutes to remove, fix with my soldering gun, and reinstall it. Been working like new ever since. The passenger front inner axle boot got brittle from the exhaust pipe heat and has torn, so I will replace that axle myself in the spring. Car has 79k miles on it. Overall, I consider that darn close to trouble free.

This is what we always used on those a few years back, works well. http://www.shop.com/op/aprod-p22258451-k12-g-~ball+joint+fork-nover

Be glad you have a camber adjustment bolt. My 2001 Forester has no camber adjustment mechanism. None. Prev. owner slid into a curb giving the driver's front wheel positive camber. Nothing can be done short of putting it on a Guardian Rack and bending steel. I just drive it as is.

First owner of my 2001 Forester got 75k miles on the OEM clutch before it started slipping. It was changed just before I bought it. We got 14 yrs and 135k on the oem 1982 GL wagon clutch. But we drive her gently....don't want to rattle her rust too much. Gotta post a pic of her on here sometime....held together with paint bucket metal riveted on and Great Stuff insulation foam.

Try keeping more air in your tires. Try 35 lbs, and you will get better mileage as a bonus!

Ah yes, that is the beautiful thing about owning cars without sunrooves. No leaks. Love it. I actually deduct $ from the price I will pay for a used car if it HAS a sunroof. Just a leak waiting to happen.

Our 1982 GL Wagon has that black tar-like Rusty Jones undercoating on it. Had it from day one. This car lives at the beach and is a rust bucket everywhere except where the undercoating was applied.