2000 Outback- lackluster performance

[Stevo F]

Last year, I bought my father's well kept, low mileage 2000 Outback Limited with automatic transmission and only 70K miles. The car runs and drives great, however acceleration seems laggy for an EJ25 4EAT Subaru, especially accelerating up hills. I've owned a number of other Subaru's of this vintage and none were as laggy, including my old EJ22 '98 Legacy. My '03 Forester with 250K miles and the same EJ251 engine, 4EAT transmission, and 4.11 drive ratio seems much peppier. I know the Outback weighs several hundred pounds more than the Forester, but I can't believe that would be make noticeable difference. I wish there was an inexpensive way to get a little more performance from this car. Too bad the power mode hack for 2nd gen Legacy's can't be done on this car (that only applied to Phase 1 4EAT's), and Sport mode didn't come out until 2005. I can see why the H6 was such a popular option for this model when it came out in 2001.

[el_freddo]

Several things you can do/check: 

- ensure the cam belt is timed correctly 
- check the air filter, if ancient or dirty replace it 
- no exhaust blockages? Hard to tell with this one 
- all fluids in good condition/fresh? 
- tyre pressures good? 

The hardest one of those is the checking of the cam timing belt to ensure the two cam wheels and the crank are correctly aligned. 

We’ve got a 2000 Gen3 RX Liberty (Legacy) with the EJ251 with almost 500,000km on the original engine and it still pulls like a freight train - it’s a manual which is the difference compared to your Oitback with the auto. 

Cheers 

Bennie

[1 Lucky Texan]

seems unlikely at low miles, but a bad knock sensor can keep timing retarded and kill performance. Might be the only sensor that doesn't need to be OEM. most folks report $25 units work fine if you don't overtorque them and make sure to route the cable from them in the same orietation.

[wtdash]

...and there is a post on here (?) or online about the '4EAT power mode' hack for the Phase 2. Not going to make more power but may make is seem more peppy. 

As noted above, ensure all the maintenance items are up-to-date. Low miles but 24 years old - replace on age if not miles. Plugs and wires - NGK /Denso only- may help. Also, if you're suspension is getting soft, it'll make it feel slower.  

From my experience these should have decent initial acceleration...off the line...but then reality of a non-turbo 4 cylinder moving a 3400+# wagon gets in the way...as do hills.

Edited January 11 by wtdash

[el_freddo]

Other issue I thought of is the exhaust mufflers or cat breaking down partially blocking the exhaust. 

Putting a free flowing exhaust on our RX Liberty made it a bit more peppy, improved fuel economy and sound awesome. Win win. 

And when looking for more performance this is really the only performance mod that’s worth doing on these vehicles unless you head down the NA-t route. But you want to be well armed with knowledge to know the limitations of this setup  

Cheers 

Bennie

[Stevo F]

On 1/10/2024 at 6:57 PM, wtdash said:

...and there is a post on here (?) or online about the '4EAT power mode' hack for the Phase 2. Not going to make more power but may make is seem more peppy. 

As noted above, ensure all the maintenance items are up-to-date. Low miles but 24 years old - replace on age if not miles. Plugs and wires - NGK /Denso only- may help. Also, if you're suspension is getting soft, it'll make it feel slower.  

From my experience these should have decent initial acceleration...off the line...but then reality of a non-turbo 4 cylinder moving a 3400+# wagon gets in the way...as do hills.

Yes plugs are just a few thousand miles old and I just put new NGK wires on it. Just replaced both O2 sensors with Denso units as well.