Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with forester

Nobody light a match!

The Winsome Parker Lewis — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:55:48 -0800

Why do I smell gasoline when I'm in my car? I drive a 2003 Subaru Forester. Yesterday I started smelling gasoline inside the car. I haven't noticed any fluids or leaks under the vehicle, and the gas cap is tightly secured. My fuel needle doesn't seem to be dropping any faster than usual. I'm slightly past due for an oil change, taking it in for one this weekend. I've accidentally been a bit rough on my transmission and starter lately, grinding gears a bit harshly and quickly restarting the engine after a stall. These were brief but I'm paranoid because this is my first stick shift. Hopefully those are unrelated to the gas smell. I am mechanically uninclined.

I found this thread, which in interesting but beyond my level of car-maintenance skill. Any suggestions? How seriously should I treat this issue?

Vrooom. Put put put put put.

gauchodaspampas — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:47:19 -0800

Is my car broken? I somehow managed to stall my automatic transition. WTF? Is it a crazy fluke, or possibly a sign of trouble? The car is a 2001 Subaru Forester. I was running quite late, and was driving in a way that is probably not good for transmissions when this happened. It happened when accelerating from a stop. I wasn't over accelerating, but rather, gave a teeny of gas in anticipation of the car ahead going, then rolled on that a bit while they got going, then tried to accelerate a bit more when they got going, but stalled (that is just my best memory of the sequence of events).

So is this a bad sign. I've never stalled an automatic, or heard of anyone doing so. Have you ever stalled an automatic? Was it a sign of things to come? Were you driving stupidly as I was?

Aftermarket lights for an old Forester

fleeba — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:01:06 -0800

I want to replace my 2001 Subaru Forester's signal lamps. Where do I go? I'm trying to clean up my Forester's exterior, so I'm looking at fixing my lights first. I've been googling for aftermarket lights, but I can't seem to find what I want!

1. Where can you buy clear signal/side lamps? After having a broken signal lamp for a year, I like the clear look :). However, I've only been able to find "universal clear stickers," which doesn't seem right.

2. Would OEM headlamps and tail lamps from an '04-'08 Forester work with an '01? My headlamps are yellowed and scratched, so I'd like to replace them.

Thanks!

How to make my car alarm stop?

Sheppagus — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 12:34:35 -0800

I bought a Forester without the key fob & the alarm won't stop going off. I bought a 2007 Forester from a dealer without the key fob. They gave me three keys, but no remote lock thingie.

When I unlocked the car with one of the keys, a bad thing happens and the horn goes off and the lights flash. I somehow made this stop but am afraid of it happening again. I used one of the other keys and it only chirped at me a few times, but I was able to start the car and drive it.

Can someone who owns a Forester tell me why this is going on? Is it connected to locking the car using the power locks? Do I need a replacement remote lock thing? Will getting a replacement lock thing involve a lot of money and a Subaru dealer?

Is there a trick in the meantime that will allow me to lock, unlock and drive my car without making the alarm go off?

Automatic climate control?

jal0021 — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 07:25:20 -0800

First car with automatic climate control. How does it work? About a month ago, I bought a 2008 Subaru Forester. It's the first car I've owned that includes automatic climate control, and the owner's manual isn't particularly clear on how it works. I've been running it in "semi-automatic" mode, giving me greater control over settings, and since it's been hot lately and most of my driving is done during the day, I've almost always kept the temperature at its lowest setting (65F). However, now that's it's starting to cool down outside (I live in Colorado), I've been setting the temperature a bit higher (~70F) and have noticed that, when I do, the air flowing from the vents is much warmer than I'd expect.

While driving to work this morning, however, things got more complicated. I set the temperature to 70F only to have the heat itself kick in. The outside temperature at the time was 62F, but I was driving into direct morning sun, so it was warm enough inside the car that I wanted at least some cooling - not heat. Out of curiosity, I set the temperature even higher (~85F), and the air coming from the vents continued to increase in temperature. So, it wasn't like I was getting full heat at 70F. I continued to drive for awhile with the temperature set at 70F, and while the temperature of the air seemed to fluctuate some (there was a hint of cooling every so often), it remained warm until I got to the office.

So, my question... is this how automatic climate control systems work? Since the outside temperature at the time was 62F and the car had been sitting outside all night, I can only assume the ambient temperature of the cabin was no higher than 70F. By setting the temperature of the climate control to 75F, would it compensate by blowing hot air in order to bring the temperature up as quickly as possible?

For what it's worth, the owner's manual seemed to indicate that keeping the temperature at its lowest setting (65F) would result in maximum cooling, no matter what, and since that's where I've been keeping it until now, that would explain why I'm just now noticing this quirk... assuming it is a quirk, that is, and not a problem that needs servicing.

Help me avoid car overheating in my Subaru?

Kickstart70 — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 16:34:23 -0800

Help me with my Subaru Forester overheating problem? About a month ago, my wife, our baby, and I decided to take a trip in our new-to-us 1999 Subaru Forester. Very hot day, air-conditioning was cranked, and we were fine until we started to head into an area where it was more hilly (between Chilliwack and Hope in British Columbia).

As soon as we started climbing hills, the temperature guage climbed high...almost getting into the red. Immediately I put down all the windows, turned on the car heater, and bled off the heat (that worked very well for the car, not so well for wife and baby). It kept happening though, and we turned around and limped home. While we drove after this on the way home, on level ground, the heat did occasionally rise and I took it slow and careful until we were home. Through all of this, fluid amounts were fine, both front fans came on ok.

I took it to a recommended car repair place and they did as much testing as they could, and found no reason for it. There also appears to be no damage to head gaskets or block warping, as I've been warmed happens occasionally with aluminum blocks.

Since then we've done a lot of in-city driving, including a few multi-hour trips without incident. On Thursday this week, we are going to head on a road trip (9 hours of straight driving, but we'll take lots of breaks for the baby). The forecast is for 21C temperatures for Thursday (way down from the 32C we experienced on the overheating day).

Other than not running the air conditioning at full blast, what can we do to avoid this? Recommendations much appreciated, but abandoning the road trip plan is not an option.