Engine pinging noise resulting from short skirt valve design failure. Requested advice from manufacture was told to take vehicle to a dealer. Dealer refused to acknowledge problem. Engine life is greatly reduced by this problem. Dealer recognition has occured regarding this flaw. This is the second subaru I have purchased. Similar problem in first vehicle resulted in dealer replaceing short block. Although disappointed at flaw customer service at first dealer prompted purchase of second vehicle.
2001 Subaru Forester engine complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 18 of 18, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Vehicle engine sputters, surges and shakes intermittently. Sometimes stalls when stopped. Sometimes accelerator significantly hesitates provide engine speed. Very dangerous when crossing traffic or merging. Mechanic replaced coil pack, spark plugs, wires, pcv valve, adjusted throttle position sensor. Dealer reports problem unknown and not under warranty at 43,000 miles
At about 25,000 miles my 2001 forester stalled 3 times in my driveway and shook a bit. I had the idiot-new-owner-package with the dealer where they did all the maintenance, etc. And was scheduled for an oil change/whatever maintenance anyway so I asked them to check it out. They could not reproduce the problem and it did not happen again to me until several months later. Now at 38,000 miles (3000 miles after warranty and after the end of the idiot-package) it happened again. This time it stalled on several occasions both in parking lots and at stop lights. It shook at an idle and the check engine light came on. A local shop diagnosed the problem as a failed coil pack. He also noted that the apparent cause was that it appeared no maintenance had ever been done. The spark plug change and a 30k mile tune up that were on my service tickets as having been performed were probably not actually done. There was no way to prove that without towing the car to subaru at my expense and then probably having them still claim the service had been done. I drive very conservatively, don't speed, don't take off quickly and live in a moderate temperature/weather area (northern va). There is no reason that with proper maintenance this should have happened. Subaru of america says it is a dealer problem. The dealer claims no wrong doing. I can dispute the point and have it towed to another dealer for verification of the lack of proper maintenance, which we all know will not be their finding or pay the $530 repair straightaway. I chose the latter. Is there anything I can do now to get subaru to refund the cost of repair?
The vehicle stalled on several occasions.*dt
Blown head gasket causing leak of coolant at 75,000 miles on a 2001 subaru forester
Exhaust fumes some co poisoning symptoms 2001 subaru forester posted by dave on february 08, 03 at 06:52:29: I fueled my forester with 91 octane premium fuel and took off on a 5 hr drive to denver. There were extreme driving conditions 40 MPH winds and ground blizzards. Set the cruise control at 75 MPH and it was all the car could do to maintain 70 MPH in high gear and on some hills it would downshift to a lower gear to satisfy the computer setting of 75. After 2+ hours of driving I noticed a strong smell of exhaust fumes. I developed a headache. I opened the brrrrr windows and wrote a note to the effect that if I succomed to co fumes and died for my survivors to sue subaru. In the state capitol, I stopped at the d.o.t. And went into the testing lab and borrowed a co tester then went back onto the interstate (the car was idling while in the lab). I was woozie and disoriented classic co symptoms. Scarie! Anyhow back onto the road for a 15 min attempt to reproduce the scenario. The fumes were gone the co detector stayed at zero/ppm, I suppose the convertor had cooled off. On the return trip the wind had died and the engine did not hafto work quite as hard there were still some times of slight smell of the fumes but not as intense as on the initial 2 hour experience. I also refueled at the 2 hr mark with 87 octane fuel. I believe that the purchase of a small co detector may be a good idea for safety. And I believe that the manufacturer should investigate this as a possible serious hazard but have no idea how to go about initiating such a thing. This post is to further that cause. Cc: subaru mfg.com
Vehicle keeps stalling out in the middle of operation, highway, street.
Vehicle sputters and shakes intermittently after first taking off. Also, stalled at various speeds 3 times. Dealer cannot remedy the problem.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2001 Subaru Forester?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history