Sometimes the Subaru standard transmission just does not want to go into reverse. I don't see a pattern here, but when it happens I have to double clutch it, or hold the clutch peddle down and move from first to reverse.
View 3 RepliesAfter having changed the oil in my 04 Forester multiple times, I must have lost my mind and drained the transmission fluid. I realized this when I started it back up and it wouldn't move. Clearly I put an oil filter on with engine oil around the seal. Should I do a tranny flush or can I just replace filter (with correct one) and fill with tranny fluid?
View 16 RepliesA significant amount of engine oil was added to my automatic transmission line. I drove the car (2010 subaru forester) for about 10,000 miles. I noticed the transmission slipping. I brought it to the dealer. They found the engine oil in the transmission, flushed and replaced the fluid. The question is How badly is my transmission damage. The warrenty is now voided and I am afraid that I will need a new transmission fairly soon.
View 4 RepliesI have a 09 Subaru Forester (automatic) with 56,300 miles on it. Within the last 100 miles, the transmission has started 'hiccuping' as it changes gears. Also, when the car is cold and first started up, as I drive the rpms rise to around 3k when switching gears; sometimes holding there for anywhere from 3 seconds to 12 seconds before finally changing gears. As the car warms up, this problem disappears, but the 'hiccuping' continues. I took it to the dealer and they flushed out the transmission fluid, but problem still persists. I called the dealership asking for a new transmission because it is still under warranty, but they refused. They are going to check pan for metal shavings, and if they're present then they'll replace trans. If not, then they will replace other parts until problem is fixed.
Also, another important question: If I had the transmission fluid replaced, would it be possible that they may have cleaned out any metal shavings, and when they check 100 miles later, there wouldn't be any? I'm worried that I'm going to get screwed because they eliminated any metal shavings and when they go to look again none will be there because there hasn't been enough mileage put on the car to make them appear again. I do not know enough about cars to know if this is even a possibility. They refuse to honor the warranty until they go through a checklist of possible repairs, and I'm nervous that list will run out when I hit 61,000 miles and warranty runs out.
A gather that the recommended interval for a transmission fluid change is 3 years or 30k miles? And that is drain, change the filter if any, and refill, not ask because the users manual says nothing. Does this apply to a CVT transmission? What about differentials?
(2015 Forester, non-turbo, CVT)
Is it necessary to check (or change) the fluid levels in the CVT and the differentials?
The manual has the following confusing statement for those:
Continuously variable transmission fluid. It is not necessary to check the transmission fluid level. Check that there are no cracks, damage or leakage. However, the fluid inspection should be performed according to the maintenance schedule in the “Warranty and Maintenance Booklet”.
The Maintenance Booklet list inspection every 30k miles for : Transmission gear oil, CVT fluid, front and rear differential gear oil.
Another question, how is the Transmission gear oil different from the CVT fluid? And should there not be a third differential, or is that part of the transmission?
When my 06 Forester was still under warrantee I brought it to the dealer to diagnose a "stutter" in the transmission after I had slowed down to about 10mph to turn onto a street and started to accelerate. They could not find anything wrong and so I have lived with it until recently when I decided to try the local tranny shop that has a good reputation. They could not find any problem although at first they thought it might be engine related (mass air flow sensor), but that was ok.
View 2 RepliesI have a 09 Subaru Forester with 66k miles that vibrates like it is going over rumble strips when it up shifts from 3rd to 4th gear. It occurs under normal (not brisk) acceleration. I had the trans fluid changed at both the 30k and 60k services. I have owned this since new. It began before the 60k service. Also, sometimes the tach will increase revs during this as well. I don't know if this next thing is related but when I once need to merge quickly into interstate traffic I gave it a good amount of throttle and the tach revs increased but the trans did not follow with an immediate down shift.
View 4 RepliesI 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.
Reverse stopped working after it's been driven for a while. It works when it's cold. I'm actually hoping this was caused by my stupidity (though it may have nothing to do with the problem). A while ago I wanted to change my oil, but opened the auto transmission plug instead. I decided to put new trans. fluid in it. I thought I would add trans fluid until I could see it on the dip stick. After the problem with reverse started I tried to again read dip stick but can't tell where the level is, so I decided to drain trans. fluid to measure it. Owner's Manual calls for 8.8 qts. Drained fluid measured only about 4 qts. I added more. Now it looks like dipstick shows it ~2 inches above the full/hot mark. Questions:
1) Would fluid level affect reverse and not forward (with which there is no problem)?
2) Is method of draining trans. fluid & measuring it a valid way of telling how much is in it, i.e. would all... or most... fluid drain out so the 8.8 qts. in the owner's manual should be added back in?
3) Am I misreading the dipstick? I've tried letting it set for 4 or 5 days, but still fluid seems to smear high on the dipstick.
I have a 08 Subaru 2.5i Impreza and until now I thought this was a fluke but it is happening more frequently this week.When I park my car I engage the the parking brake and put the shifter into first gear, turn the car off ... etc... When I go back to the car I depress the clutch, start the car, apply the brake and disengage the parking brake. I then proceed to shift to reverse to back out of my parking spot, here is where the problem lays. More often then not the car shifts to reverse and I am on my way but every so often the shifter refuses to go into reverse until I release and depress the clutch pedal. After that it drops into reverse and away I go.
View 4 RepliesI have a 1995 Subaru legacy wagon, 176K miles. The reverse went out about 10 months ago; all the other gears shift fine and it runs great. Do I have a bad transmission or could it possibly be some kind of switch or solenoid? I have searched the net for hours and keep coming up empty.
View 1 RepliesI have a 2004 Subaru Forester xs and the a/c goes out intermittently. I was told I need a new compressor clutch and that the whole compressor assembly will have to be replaced. I contacted another mechanic and he said that he would fix just the clutch but I should replace the whole thing. So, what do I HAVE to do? Are these prices in line? Can I get used parts or discounted parts?
View 2 RepliesI have an '06 Forester XT 2.5 turbo that has, what I can only describe as a stumble around 2500 rpm. The car's maintenance is always up-to-date, and never has anything under 91 octane run in it.This started out when you had the cruise set and now does it all the time whether or not the cruise is used. I've had it to 2 shops including a Subaru dealer that had it for a month and couldn't find the issue. We've been through injectors, coils, maf sensor, etc. to no avail. The trouble code that we're given is a misfire in cylinder 1. We discovered, while trying to find the issue, that there was only 30psi in that #1 cylinder and the valve guides were the issue. So the motor was pulled, heads planed, etc. and new guides installed. Also, put in a new timing belt, and so on, that is usually done when the motor is out.They have done a leak down test and compression tests as well. This is my wife's car and she absolutely love it, so I need to get this figured out.
View 2 RepliesI just bought this car for my daughter. It's in very good shape; runs like a top. But the gas mileage is a lousy 20 mpg. All of my trips are local (no stop and go stuff as we live in the country). A buddy of mine with the same car and similar driving habits says she gets 25-28 mpg. So far I have changed the oil, oil filter and air filter.This can't be the best I can expect, can it?!
View 10 RepliesAt 56,000+ miles on my 2006 Forester, I was horribly shocked to learn while having 60,000 maintenance done that my head gasket was leaking. inclusive of timing belt replacement required. I have read some discussions in this vein, but none regarding a car with this few miles on it. It does not seem right. I have had other issues with this car, my 2nd forester. I do not know what I should do.
View 12 RepliesI have a 2015 forester & the seats are not wide enough so my right leg rests on the front corner of the seat & after driving 70 miles my legs & back are hurting. I think the outback has seats 2 inches wider , that could work.
View 2 RepliesSometimes when the AC is on automatic control it will kick out of auto control into manual control and the fan will speed up. All this happens without touching anything. Dealer said it's working fine.
View 1 RepliesI have a 2003 Forester that has low air flow thru the vents if you try to use the AC or heater.
If you turn the speed from 1-4 you can hear the blower fan turning faster but the air coming out of the vents is very low. YOu can hardly feel it. I checked to see if there was a cabin filter and there was none.
Even though you can barely feel the air coming out, when on AC the air feels cold and when on heat it feels hot.
I bought the car brand new in May of 2009. All was good until February of last year when the battery died. I kind of wrote it off as one of those things that's part of life in AK. But then the same thing happened in November - yes, it was cold again, but it died after I'd successfully started it and drove it to my husband's work. He was inside for maybe thirty minutes. Not wanting to waste gas, it turned the car off and listened to the radio. When hubby came back, I tried to start the car and ... nothing. We had to get it jumped. Hubby said I shouldn't have been listening to the radio with the engine off. Anyway, I had a service appointment at the dealership a few days later and mentioned that the battery died again. They checked it and said it was weak so they replaced it.
Now, of course, I'm super-paranoid about everything that could be draining the battery. I turn the lights off whenever I turn off the engine (even though that's supposed to be something the car does automatically), and only listen to the radio when I'm driving. I've made sure that there's nothing plugged in any of the power outlets, and I don't have anything that's aftermarket. Oh, and middle of last year the radio/CD player died too, and that had to be replaced. Don't know if it's linked, but it's still odd.
The only advice the dealership had was to drive it more. I guess I'm pretty severe on the car - work's maybe a fifteen minute drive (20 if it's snowing) and a fair few of my journeys are short ones, for a variety of reasons. Plus, it's Anchorage, AK. Severe driving's standard here. But I never had these issues with my other cars, and my driving patterns haven't changed at all. Could there be something that's draining the battery that I haven't thought of, or am I really stuck with driving around Anchorage aimlessly for at least 20 minutes each time I get in the car?
Okay, I've been trying to diagnose this problem for ages. Whenever I top off my tank with fuel, the garage smells of fuel until I use up about a quarter of the tank. The smell stays mostly outside of the car. So far I have replaced the drain filter (a few years ago), fuel filler neck, hose leading from the filler neck to the tank, and had the system pressure tested. I'm fairly certain it's not the tank because the car has been undercoated since new and my mechanic saw no signs of a leak when he replaced the rear crossmember recently. My next guess is either the gas cap, the charcoal filter, or some hose leading to/from the charcoal filter.
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