Well that's a royal load of crap...I don't understand how the battery could be related to the evap system?? The original OEM batteries are useless anyway.
Yeah, I honestly didn't even want to get into it with them. Apparently the MNsubaru discount is only on some parts now too. Besides seeing Squiggly and Fuji, I wasn't overly impressed by the appointment on Friday.
New shoes! Switched out the Sport Editions for a set of Enkeis. I'm very happy with how they turned out! Car and wheels are currently filthy, but here is a quick pic from this AM.
Nice! Didn't you say somewhere that they are EDR9's? I've always liked those... Great looking wheels.
Schedule my 30k service for next week at Morrie’s Minnetonka. Looking at the service manual, brake fluid change is a must. However, I feel like I fall under the “severe driving” category and it says CVT and Differential Oil (front and rear) should be changed. I’m leaning towards doing all of the above. Will probably be pretty spendy, but I’m in it for the long haul. Any “professional” opinions on these services?
Honestly, wasn't worth it. IIRC it was $300 something for it and I think they halfassed it and just inspected the brakes.
Personally, I skip going to the dealer (or any shop for that matter) for maintenance and I do it all myself. The 30k service is pretty easy, and the dealer charges quite a bit to do it. The 30K service consists of an oil change (if you're due), new brake fluid, replace engine air filter, new front and rear diff oil, tire rotation, and look things over. If you have a jack, jack stands, and some basic hand tools, you can easily do it yourself. I even quickly found a how-to for you on the front/rear diff oil change: http://www.subaruforester.org/vbull...-differential-oil-change-2014-fxt-cvt-436642/ I do recommend changing the front and rear diff oil, but you can probably wait on doing the CVT flush. Some manuals say the CVT fluid is "lifetime"...but it's generally a good idea to change the fluid around 100k, maybe earlier. If you're towing with it, definitely earlier. And yes, the brake fluid definitely needs to be swapped. If you want to take it to a shop, I highly recommend Pat at DG Auto Repair and Service. He is a former head mechanic from a Subaru dealer and now runs his own shop in south St. Paul. Clean shop, great work, very reasonable prices. I've heard that JM Auto is decent as well, but I do not have any personal experience with them.
Thank you for the info. I do have the tools just not the time or space to do it at this time of year. I’ll give Pat a call. I’d much rather go to local, trusted shop. As far as having a “non-dealer” shop performaning maintenance... what needs to be done to keep warranty intact? Just keep records of work done? I’ll just do the air filters. If it were warmer and I wasn’t such a pussy in cold weather, I’d love to do the differential oil. That would be a great learning experience.
@TMF Scheduled an appointment with Pat for the diff oil and break fluid. Canceled the 30k with Morrie’s. They can do the oil because its still free for me. I need to get my records up on mysubaru.com. I highly doubt I’ll be selling until its worth less than 5k, but it would good to have records anyways. Thanks again for the input.
Pat was an awesome guy. Super nice. Friendly. You didn’t by any chance have an STI motor built there did you? He mentioned someone who did then sold the car years later for BRZ. Anyways, front and rear diff oil and brake fluid flush ran me $180. I’d say I’m completely satisified with that.
Yep, I'm that guy! I bought the block from Rallispec, but Pat did the whole install on my 08 STI. I had him install a variety of other custom parts with the car, and he seriously did an excellent job and charged a very fair price (almost too little lol). Although I sold the car, the guy who bought it is on our race team and the STI is still running strong. I also frequent Race Suit Rental (right next to Pat's shop), so I still see him from time to time.
During cold start ups, I hear a sound like hard wind is blowing. But once it warms up, the sound goes away. normal?
I believe I know what you're referring to...it sounds almost sounds like a brief whine, wind blowing, etc? I hear that on mine. My guess is that it is the secondary air pump that is there to pre-heat the cats on cold start ups.
I get the same sounds and believe it's likely the AC compressor. After coming home from a trip last week, I noticed water under the car and after Googling, it looks like the AC is on whenever defrost is activated even though the AC doesn't show up on the dash. Does anybody get cuckoo like sounds at idle and goes away after 1500 rpms or so. Is this just the normal Subie rumble but just not as loud since it's a DIT motor?
Swapping out the coilovers for stock suspension to I can ship mine out to Feal for a rebuild. Its about time, but I’ve been getting some rubberish squeaking sounds from the front right coilover that was preceeded by chirpy sounds. All the boots are messed up so I’m guessing the shafts are all crummy and some of the seals might be going bad. I’ll be slammin’ ‘er in the early Spring next year!! I’ll enjoy the “floating on air” ride quality of stock suspension before I go back to the “Excaliber-like” goodness of zee coilovers
I'm preparing to sell my Forester XT since I now have my company car. Some parts are already spoken for, but is anyone interested in: OEM rear cargo tray OEM seat back covers WeatherTech front floor mats OEM WRX exhaust (haven't decided if I'm taking this off yet, but if someone is interested, I'd sell it).
Sure. Might come with free mufflers I might actually just leave the WRX mufflers on the car with the FXT midpipe since I already cut the bumper. I need to see how it looks with the Forester mufflers though. Regardless, I'm sure we can work something out. PM me if you're interested.
It was a lot easier getting these out and the coilovers in than getting the coilovers out and stock suspension back in.... CHRIST!! Now I’m having issues with the other rear side. It seems like the top hat bolts and the control arm side of the assembly are crooked (one side will line up, but the other end won’t). I haven’t disassembled thise before so it doesn’t make sense why the left side worked, but the passanger side doesn’t.
I don't suppose there is any way to adjust the sensor or warning for the passenger seat belt/air bag warning? It seems so damn sensitive, I put literally two take-out pizzas on the seat and it triggers the belt light and chime. Anyone else experience this? Obviously I can set the pizza's elsewhere, just found it funny.
Just use the '20 click method' and disable the chime. It's easy. I've done it on every Subaru I've owned.
Let me just start by saying I hate Winter. More specifically, I hate cold weather. Snow is fun, the cold sucks. Anyways, today is the last day back at factory ride height. Breaking out the summer wheels to have my ride height and suspension dialed in, then the winter wheels go back on. Went to the Pay-N-Spray to clean ‘er up before she gets worked on.
Thread bump... ordered a Mishi catted Jpipe and picked up a WRX midpipe from a local member today. Scheduling a protune at JM Automotive soon... thinking the winter shoes need to be put away this week as well. Cheers to spring.
Exciting news! Very interested in your results when you get it all finished. Are you thinking about adding a CVT cooler? I’m also contemplating when to swap my wheels out. I’ll probably wait two more weeks. Or at least until theres a good rain to wash all the dirt and crud from the roadways.
Darn, I saw one of your posts that you were looking for a WRX midpipe and was going to message you, as I have one in my garage. Too late on me! If anyone else is looking for a WRX midpipe, send me a message. I actually have several things that I'll be selling from my FXT and will make a thread shortly.
Parts for sale thread: https://mnsubaru.com/threads/fs-forester-parts-wrx-mid-pipe-floor-mats-etc.53446/
I’ll try to post up something but feel free to reach out. Protune scheduled for April 18th. I am not at this point. If we were in a warmer climate, and given I don’t drive “as hard” as I used to, I’m not planning on it. Also considered a high torque converter but ive seen no concrete evidence that either of those will save the weak CVT. Right, might wait a week or 2. If I do bust out the summer wheels I will be washing them frequently for a while. I just hate the thought of “burning rubber” off my Conti XIce 3’s with mediocre snow predictions - even if it is minimal, the warm days will create more than normal wear. That was part of my thinking when it came to selecting a tire for my Niche’s (BFGoodrich Sport Comp 2 A/S) and why I ultimately chose a high performance all-season over a summer tire with only so much more to gain - also insurance knowing that an occasional spring/fall snow storm or off-road situation throughout the year would not induce panic.
Why do people get so mad when you merge onto a highway at the end of a merge lane during traffic (this is semi-rhetorical question)? I find it more annoying when people stop dead trying to merge into traffic at the very beginning of a merge lane.
I used to do 3k miles until I did an oil analysis at Blackstone....they said I was good to go for at least 7k miles. Unless you're racing it, some people change their oil way too often. If you're curious, do an oil analysis...it's cheap ($25) and easy. Otherwise 6k mile intervals is more than likely just fine.
