Subarus aren’t unreliable, people just don’t take good care of them. The previous owner bought it new and drove not only a lot of highway miles but a lot of city miles too (between upstate NY to NYC). Always changed the oil on time. Not sure what has been replaced on the car, but we do know it’s the original engine and transmission.

Previous owner replaced it with a new Outback!

It was, however, not a comment on the way I drive.

So I took my 2020 Forester for an oil change and tire rotation drove home and didn’t use my car till the following morning to drive to work. When I parked and was idle I started to hear a clunking noise coming from the engine bay. I called Subaru and told them about it and they said bring the car in and they’ll take a look.

My fear is it’s something with the engine, but the rep told me “we don’t go near there” and that’s the troubling part. This is not the first time I heard this from a service manager. Those words are weird to me because how do they do their 40 point or whatever inspection? Also, now I’m worried they don’t do the inspection properly either since they recommended spark plugs and PCV valve replacement. Both got done at a separate shop. Do those not get inspected and just put down by mileage of the car? Idk I’m just worried about the situation if the cost of the repairs is going to be huge.

I’m kind if lost and don’t know what to do.

The first time I heard “we don’t go near there” was when I lost the cap under one of headlights and I called to see if it popped out or something and if they could check if it was in the shop. They took it as I was blaming them, which kind of took me for a shock.

Any help with the situation would be appreciated.

It’s been a journey. Love this car more than anything

Thought y'all would appreciate this Outback we just completed at our shop!

Have a P0456 code. It popped up around 3 weeks ago for the first time. At that time, the car had an AutoZone gas cap on it. After a few days, the check engine light turned itself off. Then, a few days later on startup, it came back. Same code, P0456.

Bought an OEM cap and cleared the code. It went 6 days without an issue. Then, when starting the car in the morning again yesterday, light came back. Checked the code, still the same P0456.

Historically, this vehicle has had many evap issues for codes. Not always P0456. It's gone through most of the leak sizes codes in its past. Each time one gets fixed, a new or different one would pop up a few months later. To date, the vehicle has had the purge valve replaced, then a few months later a new code came up and had the charcoal canister replaced, then a few months later a new code popped up and had the purge valve replaced again. Then a few months later the catalytic converter went bad, that was replaced. Now, here are a few months after that and we are at P0456, evap system "very small leak" detected.

I've noticed that this code only comes up under specific circumstances, such as after the car was sitting in a driveway for 10+ hours AND the fuel tank was around 75% or so full. It only happens every few days after driving, perhaps just a coincidence with when we do or do not refill on gas on particular days or evenings?

What's likely the culprit at this point? Vehicle is a 2013 Subaru Legacy, 115k miles.

Got these at autozone for free when I got my oil, anyone know if this is a good cleaner? If not what’s a good brand anyone can recommend
Car is a 2016 Subaru legacy

I have only Mac devices and the macOS map updates for my vehicle, my Mac identifies as malware. Subaru is aware, but have no control over the map vendor. Have any of you found a way around this problem. I would like to have the most recent maps.

Hey guys, gotta small issue that hopefully doesn’t get larger.

When trying to open my doors today via the fob, nothing. Battery in fob is new enough. I manually open the door and attempt to start it and nothing, zero, no click. I reluctantly connect basically this oversized power bank with battery cables I got for these exact situations I guess. I connected, crossed my fingers and within 20 seconds of the small amount of juice, the car started.

I did a bunch of tests over the next 2 hours today while on the road. I had to use the battery backup jumper one additional time. And same thing, started up quickly.

Also, I have noticed on starting, that at times, it will just about turn over and then it stops. (As if you depressed the brake pedal too soon while starting.)

Yesterday before the starting problem started, my center screen with CarPlay/settings etc rebooted a few times over an hour time period.

Battery is 5 months old, took it to O’Reilly, they tested battery and alternator and both checked out fine.

I’ll prob take it to the shop this week, but does anyone have any idea if these things are connected?
Or other thoughts. Much appreciated!!

Hey everyone!
Just bought a 2018 BRZ (FA20, 6MT) with around 87k miles on it.
This is a cold start video. I’m not very familiar with how these engines are supposed to sound, and something about the idle sounds a little unusual to me, especially in the second half of the video.
Does this sound like normal FA20 noises to you guys, or do you hear anything concerning?
Would really appreciate some opinions from people who own or work on these engines.
Thanks!

I made this flyer and have been passing it around town.

I’m trying to organize a community event in Georgia. I know there’s a Subie Crew around GA / AL that has events in ATL but I’m not affiliated with them. I’d love to join or collaborate if possible though.

DM me if you can make it and I’ll send you the QR code! I’d love to have everyone there.

The dealership consistently tries to push repairs on my 2018 outback. The most recent case was yesterday. I went in for an oil change; they recommended I replace the rear brake pad, which was at 4mm.

That same afternoon, I went to a local Cassidy location to get my wheels aligned after getting new tyres at Costco. They said my rear brake pad was 8mm and was fine.

I don't know if my Subaru dealer is sloppy or just a bunch of frauds, but I learned that I'll always get a second opinion from somewhere else whenever they recommend anything during oil changes. Maybe I'm naive and equated my positive perception of the car's quality (which I love) with that of the Subaru dealership.

I own Subaru Outback 2018 with Gold Plus warranty extension 100kmiles / 10 years /0 deductible.

I bring that to dealership because of some strange noise. It was 99k miles on odometer.

Dealership after diagnostics told me that the issue is with "STARTUP NOISE IS DUE TO LACK OF OIL PRESSURE TO CAM GEARS

AND CHAIN TENSIONERS, GOES AWAY AFTER OIL PRESSURE BUILDS

UP, NORMAL. DURING IDLE OR WHEN DRIVING CAN HEAR SLIGHT TICK

FROM VALVE TRAIN. REC VALVE ADJUSTMENT ON BOTH HEADS'

I raised this to headquarters. Answer - please bring car to different dealership. I'm in rural area, and drip to another one will be at least 2 hours.

After I picked up the car, I got different interesting email from Subaru:

"Please understand that at this stage as the vehicle has no active warranties or coverages, you'll be responsible for any repair costs, including the diagnostic fee. The diagnostic fee is a fee charged by the retailer to inspect your vehicle. Subaru is unable to waive this fee. I know this might be disappointing to hear. Our retailer partners would be happy to review and see exactly why you are having the issue you are and recommend the proper repair. "

They admit in writing that Valve, that according to the book https://www.subaru.com/content/dam/subaru/downloads/pdf/brochures/added-security/Subaru_Added_Security.pdf should be covered, it did not cover and the issue is not a dealership, but the inability to support claim under the active warranty and they dropped it without cause.

Subaru rep refused to escalate, move to different rep, or do something else at all.

Dealership points to Subaru.

Any ideas?

Did the standard green Long life Subaru coolant have silicates no one seems to have an answer and some websites say the engines require non and some mechanics around here say it doesn't matter so I'm baffled

I recently replaced my front wheel bearings with BCA brand assemblies. The passenger side bearing immediately started making noise. I replaced it again with another BCA, and now that one is howling too.

I have a new Subaru CV axle on that side, so I know that’s not to blame. I torqued the axle nut to 162 ft-lbs.

I’m at a loss, and obviously frustrated. What am I missing? It’s a 2012 Legacy with 220,000 miles.

New 2027 crosstrek wilderness tidepool teal just came into our lot this morning

Hi guys, so to cut to the chase, I know very little about cars and have been in desperate need for a car and am nervous about buying one without having some feedback from people who are more knowledgeable than I.

This is a Subaru Forrester 2012 2.5 sport 4d
It has 160,000 miles on it
Owners price is $3000

I’m desperate and yes make fun of me all you want in the comments, I’m just new to all this

Thank you guys! ⛵️

I'm taking over a 2023 Subaru Forrester from a family member next month, and I'm starting to look at any improvements I can make.

One thing I've never liked about Subaru's is the keyfob. I feel like it's not intuitive, and you can't differentiate buttons by feel.

A quick look at key fob replacements on Amazon all duplicate the standard Subaru key fob style.

So I just wanted to see if anyone has been able to upgrade their fob to a different style

​

Negative clamp on Forester battery terminal is not seating correctly. Have to jumpstart the car every time.

Can I replace the actual clamping component (circled in red) without replacing the entire negative terminal assembly (which includes the expensive sensor part?) The full assembly is about $150.

Original 2003 wheel bearing.

Wish me luck....

After replacing the Torque Converter Pressure Control Solenoid a little over 18 months ago, I'm once again getting a P2763 code. At first it was just the code with the transmission seeming to perform normally, but now it seems the solenoid has completely failed and the TC is "slipping".

While I knew premature failure was always a possibility given Dorman's poor QC, I'm still planning to do the same repair again, given that even including a the cost of second repair it's 1/3 the cost of a new valve body.

Is there any reason you can think of why I shouldn't just go the same route again? Is Dorman still the best/only source for the TC pressure control solenoid? I've also come across suggestions to replace the other solenoids and the AWD solenoid at the same time. Given the Dorman HIGH failure rate, and the LOW failure rate of the other solenoids (not the TC Pressure Control), I'm not inclined to fix anything that isn't broken. If reliable AWD solenoids are obtainable though, I'd entertain doing that this time around, though.

Thanks!