Subaru - Forester :: 2011 - Rattle At Start Of Acceleration
Oct 13, 2014
My 2011 Forester makes a rattle sound each time I accelerate either uphill or on level ground. The sound is reminiscent of the pinging sound from cars from years ago when we were told to use a higher octane gas. It's only at the start of the acceleration, not continuous. The sound seems to come from below the car, either under the hood or under the body, not inside the passenger compartment. Most websites say loose heat guards, but this would mean I'd hear the rattle throughout the acceleration, wouldn't it? Brought It to the dealer twice and they couldn't hear anything. No surprise. I hear it with my 2013 Legacy also.
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I purchased a 2012 Subaru Forester 2.5X Premium (automatic transmission) in November 2011 with 4 miles on it. Since the get-go it has had issues, but we thought that some of them might work themselves out as we broke the car in (which we were religious about). At the first oil change, we told the dealership about the issues we were experiencing and got the expected "the computer doesn't say anything is wrong" and "we couldn't replicate the problems" excuses. We were told to bring it back if the problems continued. Well, they've gotten worse. Here are what we are experiencing:
- Erratic shifting. I commute from the mountains to the city every day, so I need power from the car. Sometimes, when I'm heading down a hill and I tap the gas slightly to give myself a little boost, the car will suddenly downshift, even though it was sitting at 2500 RPM and didn't need to get any extra power beyond more fuel. Going up the hill is worse, as if you are not actively accelerating (including if you are trying to maintain a constant speed), it will upshift on you and you lose all power, so it will need to downshift to make up for this. It does this constantly for the entire drive home. Everyone who has driven this car in the mountains has experienced this.
- Jerky transmission. When the car shifts, it is super harsh and tends to throw you forward or back. Even when on flat ground it shifts roughly.
- Sluggish acceleration. If I give the car any more gas than I usually do, it hesitates before going anywhere. One day I needed to get over on the highway fast and floored it - it took the car about 2 seconds to respond. Then, yesterday, we were turning on to a highway from a side road and I tried to accelerate (gas about 1/2 way to the floor) and it didn't respond at all for about 5 seconds and the "Check Engine" and the traction control lights started flashing at me. We were on a paved road with no gravel, water, ice, etc and the traction control light began flashing on the straight, not while we were turning. There are also days when it feels like there is an anchor tied to the car and it just doesn't want to give me any umph at all.
- Rough starts. This is the really weird one as there is no rhyme or reason as to when it happens. Some times it takes the car several revolutions to turn over. Oddly, it's never on the really cold (under 20 degrees F) days, but it has happened when it is ~35 degrees and a couple of times when I have started it in the middle of the day to grab lunch and it is ~65 degrees out.
- Running rough. This usually happens after a rough start, but can also happen at other times. It just idles very rough and won't calm down. These are the days I have the worst time with the shifting issues.
I had a 2001 Forester that threw a rod, which forced me to get this car. Everyone who has driven both agrees that the 2001 was quicker, easier to drive, and had more gumption than the 2012. It also had less problems even though I purchased it used in 2005 (until the whole rod-throwing thing, of course). I really want to love my 2012 Forester, but I am so upset that, for the first time in my life I have a new car, and it runs terribly.
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I have a 2012 Subaru Forester with 27,000 miles on it. It has a rattle that started out in the glovebox area, and has migrated to areas around the dash, center console, liner by the sunroof control etc...I have had the car in the shop 5+ times, the last time being a week and a half. Everyone is baffled by this rattle. It seems to come and go. The glovebox liner was replaced, and other areas insulated, yet it still rattles, although it is not consistent.
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I've spent a lot of time and money putting in nice speakers and audio equipment in my 2009 forester. I also got all of the rattles and vibrations out of the interior except for the passenger side door. I've used sound dampening and checked everything I can, but somewhere on the door panel there is a vibration that I can't find. So, the only thing I can think of its too seal the various seams on the interior of the panel with something. .. caulk or glass sealant?
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I purchased a 2001 Subaru Forester about 4 years ago. Within 48 hours of buying it from a dealer, the check engine light came on showing the PO420 code. The car was running fine without any problems and it was suggested to us by 2 independent mechanics that Subaru is notorious for throwing this code, so we didn't investigate it any farther besides doing a fuel system clean/flush that was offered to us by the dealer.
Lately, the car has started sort of shuddering during acceleration so we figure it's time to look into this more, but just trying to figure out where to start. From what I understand, this model has 2 catalytic converters and 2-3 O2 sensors. I've been reading as much as I can on the topic and watching videos trying to figure out our options and whether we should try replacing the O2 sensors first or just go for replacing the whole shebang. I know we cannot afford the pricey repair of it all right now so the car will have to sit for quite some time before we can do that; however, if we can figure out how to do it ourselves, we could get it done much sooner.
My questions are:What is the likelihood that this could still be an O2 sensor issue considering the shuddering when accelerating?
What other signs do I look for besides rattling in the cats to know they might be bad?
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I love my 2011 Forester except for one thing. (you all knew this was coming) it seems to take forever to warm up! My Forester has a blue light on the dash (Coolant temperature Light) It turns red if the temperature is too high and it is blue when the car is started and then goes out when the car is warmed up. To me, this seems to take too long. My Forester has 50,000 miles on it. The other day I timed how long it took to warm up. The forester sat at work for 8 hours. When I started it up to go home, (it was 42 degrees), it took almost 4 minutes for the blue light to go off indicating the car was properly warmed up. All my coworkers were long gone. I bought the car new and I intend to drive it for many years so I have been waiting for the blue light to go off. I get a hard time from friends and family telling me to get going...I don't think it takes this long for other cars to warm up.
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Right before Xmas our 09 Forester was hit while parked on the street. The whole front end of our car got wrecked. Was still driveable but we needed a new radiator, AC compressor, fenders, bumper, hood, lights, etc...over 5K worth of work.
As soon as we picked it up we noticed that when you press on the gas the car makes a high pitched whistling noise, almost like the noise when you'd try to tune in an old transistor radio. It only happens when the car is driving and the gas is pressed, not when parked or in neutral.
I know we should have probably brought it right back to the shop that day but I really did not like the shop at all and they are not at all convenient to where I live. I've read it could be a loose cat converter. I checked the air intake housing and that is secure.
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I have a brand new (2 months old) 2011 Subaru Forester 2.5x that has a 4 cyl engine and a 5 speed manual transmission. This past week it's been cold here in New Hampshire and in the morning when I first drive the car, I have trouble shifting from 1st to second gear. When I shift from 1st to 2nd, I hear/feel some grinding noise as I try to engage 2nd gear. This only seems to happen when the car has been sitting around in the cold for a long period of time. Our garage has been cold (34 deg this AM) for the past week and when I drive out of our driveway and on our street I encounter this problem.
Normally, this problem only happens the first time you shift out of first and into 2nd. However, the other day, when it was very cold (5 degrees out) it happened several times as I drove down the street. After it happened the first time that morning, I stopped the car and drove from a dead stop, shifting from 1st to 2nd. I had problems 3 or 4 times trying to shift to 2nd. I ended up double clutching the car to avoid making the grinding sound. I took the car to the dealer. The couldn't repeat it but I didn't expect it to, because the car was warmed up and it was warmer during the day (low 30's by the time I got to the dealer that afternoon). The mechanic changed the transmission oil and checked the magnet in the pan to see if there were any metal pieces. He did not find any metal pieces. That was two days ago.
Unfortunately, every morning since then the car has had the same problem. Once the transmission has been warmed up it runs flawlessly and I have no problems shifting. I've made sure I am fully depressing the clutch for each shift. The past few days I've been taking the car out on an early morning test run and like clockwork, it has problems on the first shift into second, and it usually works fine after that. I have an appointment next week to leave the car with the dealer overnight. They will test drive it to see if they can reproduce the problem. What might be wrong? I have a workaround solution to avoid grinding the gears. I simply double clutch shift into 2nd for the first few times that I shift after the car has been sitting in the cold for a while. However, this is less than ideal for a brand new car.
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I have a 2003 Subaru forester w/ 148k and manual transmission. Recently I have notice two new symptoms, but am not sure if they are connected. First is some bluish exhaust just at startup. Second is a wining sound out of the front of the engine. It fluctuates in time with the rpm. When I pop the hood it sounds like it may by coming from the generator or AC unit which has a wired red powdery substance on it. The wining seem worse for the first 1/2 hr of driving.
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I recently bought an automatic 2003 Subaru Forester 2.5x. Great car but....... There is an intermittent problem with the automatic shift stick. It locks "Parking" mode. When I put the key in and put my foot on the brake, The dash lights up, radio turns on everything is alight but the car won't start. It locks "Parking" mode. I am forced to over ride the lock system by inserting a key into the slot on the right hand side of the stick, putting it into neutral then I can start the car. Its been to the garage three times and is scheduled for a forth visit. Because its an intermittent problem that never happens when they have it in the garage they are having a devil of a time sorting out the problem.
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I recently purchased a 2013 forester and noticed a slight shudder in the car once I start to accelerate but it only lasts until I hit 20mph or so then disappears. The salesman tried telling me it was a normal subaru characteristic and being new to AWD and subaru I was a suckered and listened to him but after owning the car for a week it's more noticeable than when I first drove the car off the lot. I'm not sure if its the tires out of balance or my half shafts or possibly drive shafts are screwy.
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With the very cold weather I'm having problems getting my car to start again after it's been running a while--starts okay initially no matter the temp, run it for ~15 minutes then go to my first work stop. One hour later sitting outside in 0F and I can't get it to start, won't turn over. Just got a new battery, had the spark plugs/starter/fuel line checked "looks okay". Starts after it gets really cold again, needs to sit out for a few hours in the single or negative digits. Dealer is 100 miles away and I have not been happy with the service there.
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2004 Forester does not always start when gear shift shows it is in park. Happens intermittently. Lights, radio come on (battery is OK), but nothing else happens. Car will start after shifting in and out of park and trying again. Have replaced and tightened bushings. Gear shift now moves easily. Mechanic is suggesting a new starter.
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I drive a 98 Subaru Forester with ~190,000 miles on it. This car is incredibly reliable and excluding the following incident I have never had a problem with it. The other day I went out to run some errands and when I came out of the store my car wouldn't start. I turned the key and nothing happened. There was no sound from the engine or starter whatsoever, but the radio, air, etc. came on. It had started perfectly fine just an hour earlier that day. I had a friend and with a few strikes from a hammer on the starter the car fired right up so that appears to have been the problem. It's been a few days now and it has started right up every time I've turned the key since. Was this incident just a fluke? Is this what they call a "dead spot" in the starter? Should I replace it or can I get away with just carrying a hammer and push starting if worse comes to worst?
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Heard a funny intermittent rattle and my mechanic told me that my check engine light should be going on any time now as my cat converter is bad. The part is about a thousand bucks! Looked on line and see some aftermarket ones from walker and some other retailers. My car has 103K miles on it,.
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I recently purchase a 2011 Sonata. It sounds like there is a rattle in acceleration coming from the exhaust (passenger rear)
I had the just alignment professionally checked, and it's spot on, but it seems to pull to the left still.
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I have a 2006 Subaru Forester automatic with about 40,000 miles on it. When it gets cold out, I notice that when I first start driving the car, it jerks/lurches and makes a loud noise when shifting from first to second and second to third. When the car warms up after driving for awhile, it doesn't do it anymore. It's much colder here (high today of zero), the car is doing this much more often. I brought it to the dealer and they completely flushed the transmission fluid (which they said looked yellow instead of red/orange??), but it is still making the noise and having trouble shifting in the cold. They said need to take the transmission apart, so I've been leary about taking it back. My husband thinks I should just drive it until it dies and then get a new transmission if needed.
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I have a 2014 Sonata with 22k miles. I love this car but lately I've noticed valve rattle under acceleration. Brought this up with service tech and he said I'm not driving the car on long enough trips to keep it cleaned off. When I researched the GDI very little info comes up for Hyundai mainly vw and BMW. I guess what I'm asking is is the only fix for the carbon build up removing the intake and cleaning the valves manually or is there another way.
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Every time I start my 2013 Azera there is a rattling of the valves like there is no oil in the top end. I have heard other owners complaining about this so I asked my dealer when I went in for an oil change. The last three changes I have asked and he told me the same thing, there is nothing being reported. So I got my oil changed and went home. Parked the car for 6.5 ~ 7 hours and when I started it up the sound was louder than ever. I called the dealer back and told them. They asked me to leave it overnight so they could hear the noise for them selves. I dropped the car off that evening.
I got a call the first thing in the morning and they said that their tech did hear something and they were going to test it again in two hours and call me back. They called back and said they believed it was the CAM phasers. They gave me the car back while they ordered parts and rounded up a loaner. I dropped it off on Thursday.
Two weeks later (today) I picked the car up. Here is what they did. It turned out to be the CAM Phasers so when they got in there they also had to replace the CAM shafts (All 4) as well. I am sure there was more going on than what they told me, after all they had the car for two full weeks!
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I have a 2013 Azera w/technology package, it has 20,500 miles. I absolutely love the car, have had no issues with it. However, every time the car is started with a cold engine, either from sitting overnight, or sitting an hour when it's very cold outside (20's or 30'sF), there is a loud rattle like something is very loose or I've described it like it sounds like someone threw a bag of bolts in the engine for about 3-4 seconds. Then it runs like a normal engine. I've had it in the shop twice, the 2nd time they replaced the fuel rail injector assembly and all the injectors due to such a heavy carbon buildup in the cylinders. It still rattles horribly. It's an embarrassment to start, it sounds horrible and doesn't sound like the normal startup noise. This concerns me of the longevity of the engine. I have video of the start up noise even.
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I just bought 2011 Camry 2.5 6auto with 57k miles on it. The car make a rattle noise for a second or so on a cold start when sets overnight. I took it to the dealer yesterday and they replaced the timing gear assembly under warranty. This morning when I started the car in the morning it made the same rattle noise. I am going to take it back to the dealer next week.
My question is has any one had this rattle noise? if so, did the noise go away after the dealer replaced the cam gear? Also, Do you think this rattle will affect the engine in the long term?
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