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As a new Subaru owner, I am wondering how reliable the Forester is. Any subscribers to this forum have an opinion on the vehicle's reliability? I am assuming that since it's a Subaru, it's a pretty good car. What do you think?

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Our first Subaru was a 2001 Forester. It was a Great car! I hated to trade it for the '03 Baja. It was all around neat and well made. I had a few issues about the Forester but none involved reliability. It was the Paragon of reliability and did not leak anything. Welcome! Keep checkin' this forum and asking questions AND making comments. You will NOT find a better bunch of folks and some very knowledgable folks.:santa:

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Foresters are great like all subarus, great utility and performance

 

However like all other models try to stay clear of any subaru with the phase1 2.5L (DOHC), these engines are prone to head gasket failiure and piston slap.

 

(aka 98 model subarus)

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Originally posted by AK-Brando

I know this should be obvious (and is probably listed somewhere else on this site), but when did Subaru move to the Phase2 2.5L?

 

1999 for Impreza/Forester, 2000 for Legacy/Outback.

 

Phase 1 are DOHC with spark plugs that come straight the side of the heads between the camshafts, Phase 2 are SOHC with spark plugs that are angled upwards from the top of the head.

 

The easiest method to tell them apart other than model and year is to note the spark plug location and the size of the head, the DOHC are much larger and you can see space for two camshaft pulleys on the timing belt cover.

 

Usually DOHC is more powerful than SOHC, but in the EJ25's case the SOHC develops slightly more power, and also develops its power at a lower RPM.

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