Never ending Subaru Problems!

[MDCORE]

That happened to me just last week for maybe the second time since I've had the
car. Like you said, I just pulled over and turned off the car, waited a minute,
and restarted it. Hasn't happened that much that I considered it enough of a
problem to report.

How would you compare the turbo to the H6? When I bought the car, there was NO
comparison between the 4 and the 6. The H6 won hands down. Would be interesting
to hear from someone with real experience with the H6 and the new turbo.

And how much do you miss the Mac?

Duke

 

[Peter Berkey]

First year models were not a good choice in the old days but the

chances of unknown problems still has potential today. Against my
better judgement I bought the first model Legacy sedan, 1990. Did
not even consider Subaru's before then. I was amazed at how perfect
the car was for a first model design. But you can't win 'em all.
Forester problems diminished considerably after 98/99 but I waited
until '02 to buy one. There was talk of major design change for '03
so decided I'd better not wait any longer. Been real happy with it
as I also was with my '95 Legacy wagon. Better luck next time.

My first Subaru was a used '90 Legacy wagon..... it ran like a dream for
years, loved this car 'cept the AT was a little slippery between 2nd &
3rd.... other than that, no major trouble of any kind. Decided to buy a new
'97 OBW because it seemed to be a very SAFE choice, since the engine design
had been refined quite a bit from the '96. Bad decision..... have had
nothing but trouble with this car, the kind of trouble that is very spendy,
and reoccurs every 30,000 miles or so.... the kind of trouble that leaves ya
stranded in the middle of nowhere on a holiday weekend.

Looking to buy a Honda or Toyota next.... as soon as they perfect the
hybrids a little more and come out with a strong hybrid wagon or SUV.

-- Wind Mountain Pete

 

[BBB]

I think that the "major design change" was largely in the eyes of the
marketing department. I'd peg the changes somewhere around the
"significant evolution" level.



Peter Berkey wrote:

There was talk of major design change for '03 so decided I'd
better not wait any longer. Been real happy with it as I also
was with my '95 Legacy wagon.

 

[Ken Teich]

How would you compare the turbo to the H6? When I bought the car, there was NO
comparison between the 4 and the 6. The H6 won hands down. Would be interesting
to hear from someone with real experience with the H6 and the new turbo.

I'm don't know a darn thing about cars and engines. But that won't stop me
from sharing an opinion I'd considered an OB or Forester in '00 but
didn't like the 4. Didn't feel like there was enough get-up-n-go. Then I
tried the 01 VDC. I enjoyed the 6, seemed powerful enough for the car, never
felt like it was working too hard, even at 8,000 feet. The turbo 4 is great
too! I have not driven it at higher elevations yet, but around town and on
the hwy it is feels strong and peppy (maybe too peppy for my own good
From the little I understand about the turbo it should be great on the
mountains. If you are thinking about one I suggest you get out and try it!!

And how much do you miss the Mac?

Lots! That was a nice stock system! -K

 

[Sam]

Robert,

Wow, sounds like you and I have sister cars :-(

Not sure if you know or not, and not sure if it is helpful at this point,
but the Exhaust shield rattles were a very common problem where they would
replace all the pipes under the car (of course this was done under 30k) but
since they treated it as a defect you maybe able to argue something here.

Your 2500 RPM rattle is exactly what I had as well, it took month to figure
out what that was. It ended up being a part on the firewall (I am not sure
what the exact part name is). It is on the right hand side and it has a
cylindrical shape, I believe it is part of the Cruise Control system as it
has a cable that connects it to the throttle. The unfortunate part is that
there was no real fix, and they ended up wrapping it in insulation to muffle
the noise. Hardly a fix if you ask me, but at least I had the comfort of
knowing that it was something minor and the suspension was not going to fall
out .

Like yourself I owned a Subaru in the past and love the AWD system, but as
other auto makers are catching up and offering similar systems at similar
prices I think my next car will be something different. It is hard to buy
the same car again when it spends more time in the shop then anywhere else.

-Sam

Sounds like you got the twin sister car to my car .

"Sam" <Reply_To_Group@Reply_To_Group.com> wrote in message

Hi,

Wanted to see if anyone else experience the following onslaught of issues
with their Subaru.

I bought a brand new 1999 Outback wagon (back in 99). The following is a
list of issues (in almost chronological order )

[list of problems snipped]

Here's my list...

2000 Outback Wagon w. man. trans - 61,000 miles w. all regular maintenance
performed.

-Driver's side head gasket started leaking coolant the first time at 30,000
miles, repaired under warranty. It's in the shop again right now, it
started leaking again at just over 60K. Dealer says it isn't under warranty
any more -- but I'll be damned if I'm paying for it...

-On it's third set of brake rotors due to warping -- set #3 were aftermarket
units, which are fine so far. Yes, I own a torque wrench and I know how
to use it. I've also had several brake calipers "freeze" which I'm sure
contributed to the warping problems.

-The radiator's been leaking when cold at the core-to-top-tank junction
for the last year. Gotta swap it out pretty soon, I'm getting -really-
sick of smelling antifreeze.

-Leaking oil -somewhere- on the bottom end of the engine (I get drips
on the garage floor). Hard to tell where it's coming from with all the
antifreeze leaking...

-Pulls to the right, but only with the factory "Wilderness" tires -- with
the Michelin Alpins on it the winter it's just fine. Alignment is right
on spec.

-The clutch chatters bad enough when it's cold to loosen your fillings.
A few "hard" takeoffs cures it until the next cold start. Dealer says
it's "normal". Bullcrap...

-Exhaust rattles a-plenty. Mostly just heat shields rattling that the
local muffler shop tack-welded back in place, but now I've got a loose
baffle in the muffler that constantly buzzes at around 2500 RPM.

-While it's at the dealer (again) they're supposed to take care of the
latest recall (corroding rear suspension parts).

My closest dealer is 120 miles away, so it's a real "ball" every
time I need to haul the thing back there.

I've owned several Subarus over the years, this is by far the most
trouble that I've ever had with any of them (and it's the first
new Subaru that I've bought). Even though I -love- the Subaru AWD
system for winter driving up here in Upper Michigan (at least the
manual transmission version), I'm seriously looking at other makes
for my next car purchase because of this 2K Outback's endless problems.

Bob

 

[GTT]

Guys, I am just glad you've married into a small family!

Robert,

Wow, sounds like you and I have sister cars :-(

Not sure if you know or not, and not sure if it is helpful at this point,
but the Exhaust shield rattles were a very common problem where they would
replace all the pipes under the car (of course this was done under 30k) but
since they treated it as a defect you maybe able to argue something here.

Your 2500 RPM rattle is exactly what I had as well, it took month to figure
out what that was. It ended up being a part on the firewall (I am not sure
what the exact part name is). It is on the right hand side and it has a
cylindrical shape, I believe it is part of the Cruise Control system as it
has a cable that connects it to the throttle. The unfortunate part is that
there was no real fix, and they ended up wrapping it in insulation to muffle
the noise. Hardly a fix if you ask me, but at least I had the comfort of
knowing that it was something minor and the suspension was not going to fall
out .

Like yourself I owned a Subaru in the past and love the AWD system, but as
other auto makers are catching up and offering similar systems at similar
prices I think my next car will be something different. It is hard to buy
the same car again when it spends more time in the shop then anywhere else.

-Sam

Sounds like you got the twin sister car to my car .

"Sam" <Reply_To_Group@Reply_To_Group.com> wrote in message

Hi,

Wanted to see if anyone else experience the following onslaught of issues
with their Subaru.

I bought a brand new 1999 Outback wagon (back in 99). The following is a
list of issues (in almost chronological order )

[list of problems snipped]

Here's my list...

2000 Outback Wagon w. man. trans - 61,000 miles w. all regular maintenance
performed.

-Driver's side head gasket started leaking coolant the first time at 30,000
miles, repaired under warranty. It's in the shop again right now, it
started leaking again at just over 60K. Dealer says it isn't under warranty
any more -- but I'll be damned if I'm paying for it...

-On it's third set of brake rotors due to warping -- set #3 were aftermarket
units, which are fine so far. Yes, I own a torque wrench and I know how
to use it. I've also had several brake calipers "freeze" which I'm sure
contributed to the warping problems.

-The radiator's been leaking when cold at the core-to-top-tank junction
for the last year. Gotta swap it out pretty soon, I'm getting -really-
sick of smelling antifreeze.

-Leaking oil -somewhere- on the bottom end of the engine (I get drips
on the garage floor). Hard to tell where it's coming from with all the
antifreeze leaking...

-Pulls to the right, but only with the factory "Wilderness" tires -- with
the Michelin Alpins on it the winter it's just fine. Alignment is right
on spec.

-The clutch chatters bad enough when it's cold to loosen your fillings.
A few "hard" takeoffs cures it until the next cold start. Dealer says
it's "normal". Bullcrap...

-Exhaust rattles a-plenty. Mostly just heat shields rattling that the
local muffler shop tack-welded back in place, but now I've got a loose
baffle in the muffler that constantly buzzes at around 2500 RPM.

-While it's at the dealer (again) they're supposed to take care of the
latest recall (corroding rear suspension parts).

My closest dealer is 120 miles away, so it's a real "ball" every
time I need to haul the thing back there.

I've owned several Subarus over the years, this is by far the most
trouble that I've ever had with any of them (and it's the first
new Subaru that I've bought). Even though I -love- the Subaru AWD
system for winter driving up here in Upper Michigan (at least the
manual transmission version), I'm seriously looking at other makes
for my next car purchase because of this 2K Outback's endless problems.

Bob

 

[timberwolf]

I had the same problem on a 1998 GT. Engine light came on because of misfire in #4 cylinder. Took it to the dealer and they couldn't find problem. Adjusted timing(even though I told them not to because it had been done 1 wk earlier), charged me to change plugs and didn't, changed coil, plug wires. Cost $900. Result: We can't find what's wrong, but if you want to we can charge you an additional $1000 to tear the engine down and see if we can find anything with no guarantees we'll find the problem. Decide this dealer didn't know what they were doing, so took it to another. They called me 4 hours after dropping it off and said the problem was a bad injector wiring harness. Paid $500, took the car home, next day the light was on again and still running rough. Took it back and they tried a top end cleaning. Picked car up 2 days later and the next day the light came on again. Took it back and they had it for over two weeks before telling me that the wrist pin in cyl #4 was bad and that the entire engine had to be replaced. I asked why they couldn't just drop the pan, pull the bad piston and replace it. Apparantly, the way the boxers are made, this is not possible and the entire engine needs to be disassembled to change a piston! After arguing with the dealership, the owner of the dealership, the district rep, Subaru customer service(I would have been better off hitting myself in the head with a hammer than talking with CSR)they agreed to put in a short block for ONLY $4000. Would have been $5500 if I hadn't been a pain in the arse. It took 4 weeks to get the block in because they were out of stock (wonder why). I then started to rad about piston slap in the 2.5 litre engine. I bought this up to the service manager and the regional rep. Neither would admit they had heard anything about it. Piston slap, if you don't already know, is the piston rattling back and forth upon startup until it swells and forms a tight seal. Does a piston moving back and forth sound like something that would make a wrist pin go bad? It sure does to me, since this is what holds the piston to the connecting rod. HMMMMM, coincidence, I think not. But, try to get anyone at Subaru to admit the problem exists.I originally took the car in to the shop the second week of January, got it back the second week of April and traded it the next week. To top this all off, the service manager at the second dealership told me that the reason my engine had to be replaced was that I had installed a K&N filter and the engine was getting too much air. I let him know that either I wasn't as stupid as he thought I was, or he was more stupid than I thought he was. Total cost, approx $6,000 and several years off my life span. Bottom line: This was one of two Subarus I owned at the time with plans to own a 3rd and 4th in the future. I sold the other one I owned (99 Outback) 2 months later and will never own another. At least you know you're not alone. Oh, also on both cars, the windshields had at least 10 chips and 2 cracks in each.