Souperoo

OK, I may trade it in for a newer model. In the mean time I'm not driving it.

Thanks. I guess it would just be a matter of luck dropping the pan and seeing if I can access the offending rod. Which one is not accessible? And is it possible to narrow down which cylinder it is by pulling plug wires one at a time?

Thanks but that wouldn't explain the copper in the oil.

I posted before about this and there seemed to be a little confusion on whether I can or can not replace the rod bearings without splitting the block in half. Something about not being able to access #1 rod bolts. I did an oil change and after the oil sat for 2 days til I poured it out to be recycled, copper had settled to the bottom of the catch pan. Amazingly the knock is almost difficult to hear. If I could get to all the bearings would it be a waste without a new/ground crank?

And I thought GM was bad with 7psi. On my GM hot rod I installed a 30psi switch for the warning light in addition to a gauge.

Lucky, speaking of that, is the easiest way to check the oil pressure by removing the sender and installing a temporary gauge?

Would piston slap go away under load? And what is the chance of only 1 piston slapping? By the way, I don't know for sure what piston slap is, is it the skirt slapping on the cylinder wall? Thanks

I dumped some STP in it and it got quieter but still there. The startup noise that sounds just "like" lifters got really quiet, pretty much gone. The knock that is in question does get louder with RPM if out of gear. With a load on the motor it's very very difficult to hear while driving. If I do pull the motor I'd probably fix it so I know what I have when I'm done instead of a junk yard motor. The timing belt kit was Gates I think.

Timing tensioner was replaced along with the rest of the timing belt parts. Same sound before and after. Maybe I'll dump some thick crap like Lucas in it and see how it sounds. It's not very loud now, I'll see what happens. Thanks for all the ideas.

Thank you both. I think I'll take both bits of advice and keep driving it and try a little heavier oil, I think I put in something pretty lightweight. This last arctic blast of cold weather it only got down to 18F here and this weekend highs in the 60's! And a double thanks for the little rundown of the way the engine is built, although something just hit me, if it's not hydraulic why does it tap when first started then quickly it goes away? Sure sounds like hydraulic lifters, in fact sometimes one of them taps a little longer, maybe for a minute til it stops.

2004 Forester 2.5 non turbo 201,000 miles. It has what sounds like a rod knock, not real loud and it's been there for a couple thousand miles and hasn't gotten any worse. It's been there since I had the car, at first I thought it was just a noisy lifter. Can only hear it when out of gear and rev it a little or when neither accelerating or decelerating. How hard is it to replace the rod bearings without pulling the motor? While I'm at it I'll also do the head gaskets. My skill level is a few notches down from a mechanic but above a shade tree mechanic. I have rebuilt a V8 by myself with good success. And while it's that far apart should I do the rings also? I'm wondering if there is enough room in there to hone the bores? Or just pull the motor and rebuild the whole thing? Or get a low mileage motor from pull-a-part? I know right now there is only 1 2004ish forester there, anyone know what other years will swap in with minimal effort? Or I could just drive it and if it doesn't get worse, keep driving it.

I tried one more thing in case the heater coolant control valve was leaking, I put a pair of needle nose vice grips on the heater hose. No change.

I already did put gauges on it, already had a cheap set. I forget the numbers, but they are in spec. The one thing that I wonder about is how fast the high side goes down when the compressor stops. I'm guessing at about 100# drop in less than 2 seconds. I have no idea if that is normal? After that initial drop, it takes a long time to equalize the 2 sides. How hard is it to get to the temp sensor? I've had enough off to access the radio but don't know how much more would have to come apart and how time consuming it is. The sensor you mention, is that an electrical sensor or a bulb that regulates the expansion valve? And/or does it have both? Also as mentioned, until the car gets really hot, only one fan runs with the compressor. The cool side of the condenser gets hot enough to burn a finger with 1 fan running. When both fans run then it gets hot, but cool enough to hold. Also I believe the fans are running on low speed.

I should have mentioned that I did try a little over and under charged. Works better under charged, but still blows warm almost as soon as the compressor kicks off. It did the same thing overcharged also, it just didn't get as cold in between the off cycles. And of course tried it with the proper charge and still get the warm cycle. Oh, and I found the sun load sensor, I was looking on the wrong side.

Yes the climate control part does change operation depending on load, and it will slow down the fan speed by itself on one of those rare occasions that it gets cool enough. But when you go manual, the fan speed should stay on whatever you set it at, which it does, but it gets warm. The schematic shows a sunlight load sensor which is located on the dash but I sure don't see it on mine? There is also a temp sensor somewhere close to the evaporator (I think). When I get a chance I'm going to take out the control panel which gets me closer to that sensor. Just to the front of the ignition switch is a tiny vent that pulls air in to monitor interior temperature. That might go the temp sender I just mentioned? Manual shows to put a narrow piece of paper in front of it to see if it is pulling air in. It does, but surely not much. Not enough to pull the paper toward the vent, but enough to very slightly hold it there as I pull it away. Again I think that is for the climate control but I'm not sure. I may put tape over it to see if it gets better or worse.

2004 Forester, climate control. With A/C set as cold as it goes, it gets cold, then it seems like only a second after the compressor cuts out, the air gets warm. This cycles back and forth like this. Today driving in a heavy rain, it got colder than ever! I noticed that when the compressor kicks on, only the right side condenser/radiator fan runs. The left side spins just a little then stops. Should both be running when the compressor is running? At times, I think when the engine is hot, both fans will turn on high, so both fans do work. Thanks in advance

What kind of noise? Is the belt slipping? Have you tried tightening it? I have a problem with ancient fluid, it stinks like hell and after 200,000 miles it's probably not up to standards anymore. I took the hoses off mine and used a turkey baster to empty the reservoir , filled it, steered it, drained it again then filled it a second time. I don't know if it applies to this system, but in my other car it tells you to fill it, put the front wheels on jack stands, turn the wheel both ways to the stop a few times WITHOUT the engine running. Check the fluid level and do it again. That was with my original(?) pump and it worked fine. Oh, last time I turned the wheels both ways with the engine running. I'd try the turning on jack stands trick a few times with the engine off. But I do not know anything about aftermarket pumps or if they are known to have problems.

Hmm, I saw the movie but don't recall that scene. In fact all I can picture from that movie is that beautiful house he lived in.

Like I said, the old one started loosing the vacuum in 10 minutes. Also I've had many high mileage cars that did indeed hold the vacuum overnight, I've never had a car that didn't. If not for that, I never would have suspected it was going bad. There are only 3 things that can cause the problem. The check valve inside the vacuum hose, the hose itself, or the booster. I'll ask my mechanic friend if the vacuum leaking down in 10 minutes is normal on some cars. Since the new hose with the check valve didn't fix it, I saved the old one. So just for curiosity's sake, I'll swap it with the new one, that's easy enough. No, a bad master cylinder would act completely different. The proper way to test it would have been to use a vacuum pump with a gauge. Simply pump and pull a vacuum, hold it, and watch the gauge to see if it leaks. But I don't have a vacuum pump. The old booster is boxed up to be shipped for a core credit.

All I know is that the first couple weeks I owned it, it didn't do that. Then it started to do it overnight, rock hard in the AM. Then after 10 minutes. Now it takes overnight and I got 1/2 pedal worth of vacuum. That's a big difference, not the placebo effect. Now thinking it runs better without the vacuum leak, that could be the placebo effect. (however it does run smoother after I wash it )

Hmm, the pedal only went half way down this morning, so it only had a little vacuum left. It does however seem to be easier to pull out in 1st (standard shift) then it was before so maybe the old one did have a significant vacuum leak. Changing the booster included disconnecting the brake lines from the master cylinder which meant bleeding the brakes, and I like to go overboard and flush the system (used a quart of fluid). In the front the old fluid was really dark on both sides, so at least that has fresh fluid again. For whatever reason, the rears came out clean from the start. All but one bleeder required a map torch till they were red then quenched with a wet rag (rinse and repeat) twice to break them free. Pretty easy to bleed them by yourself. Put a hose over the bleeder and into a can and pump away keeping the master full of course. Oh, my A/C took refrigerant when I first got the car. Underneath the booster and master cylinder is an a/c line with a joint. It had some oil around it so I tightened it up and was surprised at how loose it was. Hopefully that was the only leak. I sure am hoping I run out of problems soon.

My 2004 Forester started loosing the vacuum in the canister after sitting overnight. Press on the brake before starting and it would be rock hard, start it and it works. I first suspected the check valve in the hose but that didn't cure it. It kept getting worse, to the point that it would loose vacuum in 10 minutes. It also started running a little odd and I was thinking the vacuum leak was the problem. I just changed the vacuum booster and I am hoping that was the problem. On the test ride it did seem to run a little better. The brakes work great. But a question. After turning off the engine, how many pumps of the brake pedal do you get before it runs out of vacuum? I'm only getting 1.5. Is that normal? I'll know in the AM if it held the vacuum overnight, I hope so because it was a real PITA to change. Worst part was working under the dash, that isn't exactly comfortable. I know I should have posted here BEFORE buying/installing the booster but didn't think it could be anything else.

Pretty much when the roads no longer have traces of white 99% of it is gone. The worst thing is that now everyone is going away from salt spreaders and spraying a brine solution before the snow starts. It's bad enough to drive over the white road, but get behind the brine truck with wet brine on the road and it coats the undercarriage far worse than the old style salt ever did. They are even using the brine here in east TN. My little brother drives his truck out in the sand at the beach when he goes fishing and his old truck had holes in the frame. He traded it in and got a new one. Now he has 2 lawn sprinklers that he drives over to wash it out each time. We'll see in a few years how well that works.

Ah yes, THAT bolt. I did use a breaker bar that's about 20" long. Yes it required some force to get it to turn, the previous owner worked at a ski lodge so it got plenty of salt (most of the bolts are rusty but no rust on the body). Anyway, it was tough but took more time to go into the garage and get the long breaker bar than to get it to turn. From there I used the impact wrench which did nothing before the breaker bar. A torch is on my wish list. The video was about 45 minutes too long for me so with the new bolt, I'm guessing he cut the old one. Over the years the best thing I ever used on rusty bolts is heat. Get it slightly red and turn it when it's still hot and they go pretty easy. Forget the penetrating oils like PB blaster unless heat is not an option. Even then I've never had any luck with penetrating oil. When the other side goes, now I know to get a new bolt just in case, but with no torch I go to the sawz-all.

Ah, it wasn't that hard to do with just a pulley puller and a seal and bearing seating kit from Horrible Freight. Oh, and a big hammer. . But I suppose I do more than the average DIY'er. In another car I rebuilt the automatic trans and the motor and now the rear differential. The best part is that the Forester is now QUIET (shh quiet). Also the originals were ball bearing and the new ones are tapered roller bearings, much much better.