Ask the Car People.SM


New Subaru Impreza Owners - Give Us Your Report!

321 messages,  Last post on Jul 01, 2012 at 6:12 AM

You are in the Subaru Impreza Forum.

What is this discussion about? Subaru Impreza, Car Buying, Sedan, Wagon

Messages Page 21 of 33

#198 of 321 2009 Impreza Engine Vibration by marti875

Oct 02, 2009 (1:51 pm)

I am a first time Subaru owner and really like the car so far….can’t wait to see how it does this winter. I have a regular Impreza..not WRX or GT model. It has about 6,500 Miles on it.
 
I am having some concerns over a vibration that is coming, I think, from the engine. At happens between 1500 and 2000 RPM. It mostly happens after I try to accelerate after driving at about 35 mph for a short while but has happened at higher speeds. It acts as if it should be downshifting from 3rd or 4th but seems stuck and I get a real nasty vibrating noise. It’s like up-shifting a standard car too soon or not downshifting for more power. From inside the car, it sounds like I have one of those mufflers attatchments that kids put on their cars to make them sound like a V8. Eventually the car will go strait to passing gear at about 40 or so.
 
I am going to call the dealer and have them look at it.
 
In the meantime, has anyone else experienced anything like this? I was really surprised by how loud it can be at times since Subaru made changes to reduce engine vibration.
 
Thanks in advance for any replies.

#199 of 321 I've got to admit by nippononly

Oct 04, 2009 (11:30 pm)

I am liking the hill holder feature more and more all the time, and it works a lot more smoothly than the one the old Subes from the 80s had. I know, because I had one! Those were the days of broken clutch chains - a far cry from today.
 
I am not a fan in general of added junk to do what the driver should be able to do themself, but this one is really a convenience and never hangs me up.
 
I am more in love with my new OBS now than 6 months ago when I bought it. For me, that's really saying something, as I am always on the lookout for my next new car.
 
I would be curious to know if anyone out there has taken a non-WRX Impreza, and added the rear sway from the WRX. If so, did you need to change out any of the rest of the suspension or the front sway, and did the dealer make a fuss about it for any reason?
 
Oh, and marti875: nope, no weird vibrations in mine like the ones you describe. But mine is not an automatic, and it sounds like yours should be downshifting and isn't?

#200 of 321 Re: I've got to admit [nippononly] by marti875

Oct 05, 2009 (8:44 am)

Replying to: nippononly (Oct 04, 2009 11:30 pm)
Thanks, that is what I was thinking also. I drove it in sport mode over the weekend and I had no problems.

#201 of 321 Re: I've got to admit [nippononly] by xwesx

Oct 05, 2009 (10:06 am)

Replying to: nippononly (Oct 04, 2009 11:30 pm)
And how is your mileage doing? I pulled 28.9 driving my new '10 Forester (MT) home from Seattle. Best tank was 30.66; I was hoping for better, but was not driving to maximize fuel economy (covered the 2150 miles home in 49 hours) and the car is still new.
 
27.5 is my latest single tank reading - filled up today. After my disappointing results recently, I decided what the hey, I would stop focusing so much on saving gas and start having more fun with the car (!!), and I was surprised to find that the fuel economy reading dropped very little.
  
For the first 5000 miles I have averaged 28 mpg right on the nose.
  
'09 OBS 5-speed.
 
Oops! Wrong thread; consider this one answered!

#202 of 321 Re: 2009 Impreza Engine Vibration [marti875] by jerryfarina

Oct 10, 2009 (11:28 pm)

Replying to: marti875 (Oct 02, 2009 1:51 pm)
Hey Marti875,
 
Yes! I am leasing a 5-door Impreza that I got only 3 months ago and it also rattles going into 3rd gear. Most of the time this happens while going up hill or accelerating on an on-ramp. It's as if the car shifts too soon into 3rd and the car makes a low rattle and there is no power. If I give it more gas it'll downshift and be fine.
 
My old car was a stick and it sounds and feels just like it did when I would be in too high of a gear.
 
Any way to fix this problem? I may take it back to the dealership to see what they say.
 
Oh, another problem I have is that the interior rattles in different spots when I go over bumps. Like the driver door handle and left pillar by the windshield. It's really annoying. I'm starting to think Subarus are low quality (this is my first).
 
If anyone has any advice....thanks.

#203 of 321 Re: 2009 Impreza Engine Vibration [jerryfarina] by nippononly

Oct 11, 2009 (10:10 am)

Replying to: jerryfarina (Oct 10, 2009 11:28 pm)
I have no rattles or squeaks in my OBS (now 6 months old). If I did, I would head to the dealer and ask them to fix them.

#204 of 321 Re: 2009 Impreza Engine Vibration [jerryfarina] by oldladydriver

Oct 12, 2009 (7:10 pm)

Replying to: jerryfarina (Oct 10, 2009 11:28 pm)
Have the same, or similar, problem with my 2008 Impreza 2.5i auto transmission. After it has moved into 3rd or 4th gear, really have to gas it to get it to downshift - and until it gets around to downshifting, there's a lot of vibration - and engine pinging. I've had the transmission "relearned" twice at the dealership - with no luck. I think it must be a design problem with these models - the shifting is unpredictable. I've had a bit of luck with tapping the accelerator to get it to downshift when I need power - but it's really annoying to have to do this. If anyone has any luck getting this fixed - please post the specifics here, I'd like to hear more.

#205 of 321 Re: 2009 Impreza Engine Vibration [marti875] by shobson

Oct 17, 2009 (1:24 pm)

Replying to: marti875 (Oct 02, 2009 1:51 pm)
Hi, I have exactly the same problem. A vibration sound when accelerating up a slight incline at around 40mph. Sounds like it's it too low a gear and needs to shift up quicker. Also does it when on on-ramps joining highways. Was really quite loud and was doing it a lot. Took it to dealer who replicated the problem. The mechanic couldn't find anything wrong and then took the loaner car out, which made the same noise. So they then said it was 'normal' to make this noise as the loaner car was doing it as well. Think the mechanic reset the memory and it does make it less now, but I think it's coming back more. This was 8 weeks ago. Had the car 6 months now. It's a 2009 Impreza automatic.
I traded in a 2003 Impreza outback sport that also made the same noise, very loudly. It didn't start to make this noise until a few years old though, and I didn't expect the brand new car to start having problems.
Did you take it to the dealer - What did your dealer say?

#207 of 321 Re: 2009 Impreza Engine Vibration [shobson] by marti875

Oct 21, 2009 (1:11 pm)

Replying to: shobson (Oct 17, 2009 1:24 pm)
Yes, I took it to the dealer this morning. I had recorded the sound on a hand recorder, which we listened to before the drive. I took the tech for a drive and reproduced the sound at about 1500 rpm and around 40 mph. He did something to a heat shield, which he said was touching an exhaust pipe where it shouldn’t. He also said there was something in the Subaru system about the air box causing noises so he worked on it too. It didn’t make the noise on the way from the dealer to work this morning. We’ll see how it does over the next week. They said to bring to bring it back if it's still making the noise and they will keep it and give me a loaner. I don't have the fail codes with me that the tech entered into the Subaru system with me. If you need them, I can post them.

Messages Page 21 of 33

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement