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Subaru Crew Problems & Solutions
19283 messages, Last post on May 01, 2013 at 9:15 AM
You are in the Subaru Crew Forum.- Your Host is kcram
What is this discussion about? Subaru Impreza, Subaru Outback, Subaru Forester, Subaru Legacy, Coupe, Sedan, Wagon, SUV
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Your Community Leaders are ateixeira and rsholland.
#3394 of 19283 Thanks! georgeinmd2 by kying
Jun 08, 2004 (9:55 am)
My daughter's 1999 Forester was finally towed to my mechanic (45 miles away) yesterday after sitting on our driveway blocking my wife's Audi TT for 10 days. My mechanic said exactly what you said: it's stuck in both 3rd and 4th gear. I haven't heard the bad news yet: $$$ to fix it. My other daughter also drives a Forester (2003), and she's really worried now. One of my co-workers bought a 2004 Forester last August because he liked ours, and he told me yesterday that his was stuck in Park (he has an automatic), and it had to be towed to the dealer. He's lucky; his is still under warranty, and he also got a free rental car. I was so embarrassed when he told me that at work. We had it with Subaru; we will stick with our German cars! But you said it happened to your BMW, and we have one of those too ... so well...
#3395 of 19283 by p0926
Jun 08, 2004 (10:17 am)
Haven't been able to check this forum for several days but still want to respond to a couple of posts.A. Re the faulty airbag indicator light: Let the dealer fix it again. This is only the 2nd time it’s happened and there could be a number of reasons why the first repair didn’t permanently fix it (bad batch of sensors, loose connection, etc). In any case the repair is covered under the warranty and as you surmised, will still be covered beyond the 36k mark since the problem initially occurred during the warranty period. As to how many chances should you give the dealer to fix the problem, I would say at least two. Take Patti’s advice and go ahead and call 1-800-SUBARU3 so that they’re aware of the issue but I wouldn’t do anything further unless the light comes on for a 3rd time. IRT Elissa’s lemon law remark: I’m sorry but I think it’s reckless to be throwing around such a term at so early a point. The lemon law is intended as a last resort when all else fails with owners being expected to exhaust all other possible avenues of recourse first. Threatening to invoke the lemon law just because one warning light has come on twice serves no purpose and makes it that much more difficult for true lemon law cases to be heard.
B. Re the problem with the gas pump shutting off: Unless I’m totally off my rocker it almost has to be a plugged vent tube, in which case dry gas is useless. I think the some folks were confused by the post. It’s not the fuel pump in the tank that’s shutting off (dry gas could help that) but the pumps at the gas stations. That tells me that the vapor recovery system isn’t working correctly so when the gas is going into the tank the fumes have no where to go and therefore trip the pump’s automatic overflow shut-off valve. So… it sounds to me like the dealer was on the right track. I would definitely take it back and tell them that the problem still exists. You’d think that there would be some way for them to test the system. In any case I would expect them to fix it for little or no charge since they already took $600 of your dollars and didn’t solve the problem.
-Frank
#3396 of 19283 by ateixeira
Jun 08, 2004 (10:47 am)
Sticking with Germand cars may not be the best way to minimize reliability problems, given they tend to be the worst cars in that regard.You've just had some bad luck. Hopefully it'll improve.
-juice
#3397 of 19283 kying, by georgeinmd2
Jun 08, 2004 (12:44 pm)
I wouldn't take my experience with German transmissions as a guide... mine was a '67 BMW 1600 with a bazillion miles that had spent most of its life in NYC (not with me!) Note that according to the mechanic, my Forester was stuck in reverse, not 2 gears at once. -- George#3398 of 19283 by ateixeira
Jun 08, 2004 (1:05 pm)
Folks, those are the only two cases that have been mentioned here on Edmunds, and I'm talking about during the SIX YEARS I have been lurking around.This is not a common occurence by any stretch of the imagination. It is extremely rare.
Complaints about the synchros for first gear are more common, but that's about it.
-juice
#3400 of 19283 by p0926
Jun 08, 2004 (2:05 pm)
I just shake my head when I see someone swear off ever owning another of anything just because they had one significant problem. Of course it's easy to look at the problem rationally and understand that it could happen to anybody (or any make) but when it happens to you things take on a whole different perspective.-Frank
#3401 of 19283 Re: shudder [nine51 #1863] by frog
Jun 08, 2004 (5:14 pm)
Replying to: nine51 (Oct 24, 2003 8:10 pm)
is the improved wrx clutch the same used in the legacy/ob in 03/04, or does the imprezza have a different design alltogether? Wondering if 04 ob/leg can expect clutch probs or if the equiptment is solid???
#3402 of 19283 shaking head p0926 by kying
Jun 08, 2004 (6:06 pm)
You can shake your head when you don't have a Forester blocking your driveway. For me, that is 2 busted Forester transmissions in 10 days with 2 out of 3 Foresters that I have ever driven in my entire life. Beat that! I have a 1994 Plymouth Voyager with 137,000 miles in my garage now, and its transmission (or anything else) has never got stuck. Figure that one out! (Now that I said it, it will be stuck when I try to drive it next time.)- p0926 (Jun 08, 2004 7:22 pm)
Replies to this message:
#3403 of 19283 Re: shaking head p0926 [kying #3402] by p0926
Jun 08, 2004 (7:22 pm)
Replying to: kying (Jun 08, 2004 6:06 pm)
I apologize. I didn't realize that you had two Foresters that both had the same problem. I'd be upset to if I were you. However, there's no way that two going out that close together can be a coincidence. Like Juice said, a transmission failing completely is extremely rare in Subarus so I'd suspect foul play or something along those lines. -Frank
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