I’m known as the Subaru Guy 👌🏾 on my street.

I went on a road trip last weekend and halfway through the drive I noticed that I had been driving in L instead of D. I was hauling a bunch of camping equipment and had the roof rack on the car, so I just assumed the car was driving differently because of the load. I only noticed when we stopped for a pee break and I shifted into park. Embarrassing mistake...oops

Anyway, it was roughly 100 miles of driving in L on country roads over some New England mountains, with maybe 20 minutes of highway driving. No warning lights or alarmingly strange behavior from my car, and I haven't noticed any weird smells since I've been back. The RPM stayed around 4k. It's a 2017 Forester with roughly 73,000 miles on it. I'm wondering if it would be worthwhile to drain and refill the CVT fluid after this, or whether it would be fine without. I've never done it on this car. Since it was a prolonged amount of time to be in L, and I climbed/descended some pretty big hills, I'm worried the quality of the fluid has been degraded.

Is changing CVT fluid the best course of action here? Other thoughts?

Thanks!

Too nice of a day to not want to drive this thing.

Was filling up my Forester and well, actually saw this old first-gen one.

Missing my Comma from my '19 Touring after updating to my '25 Hybrid. Since the Sunnypilot group already has been successful decoding the new angle-based steering, I'm jumping into the fire to see how I might help the Github/Discord groups get the 25+ Hybrid working. I've already modified the Subaru D harness and have it installed with no vehicle errors, but of course am getting the "unsupported vehicle" message. I'm not a programmer, but guess I might become one if it helps get lateral control implemented. So as I teach myself about fingerprinting, CAN frames, and the task of actually posting to Github/Discord without getting flamed, just wondering if anyone else has/is working on this, too?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Comma_ai/comments/1rzwanl/any_chances_the_comma_4_will_be_made_compatible/

Hi, I just purchased my 2015 forester from a Subaru dealership. I went through PPI and they brought up an issue with leaking on the passenger side valve cover gasket that was urgent but not enough to stop the deal, so I bought it with the intention of fixing. I called up a mechanic that specializes in Subarus, and he was very concerned that I had bought this car with the given pictures. He stated that it does NOT look like a VCG leak... something much worse. He urged me to talk to the dealership to try to get them to fix it or 50/50. Since I got a used "as is" car, how should I phrase communication with the dealership to at least get a 50/50 split on the repair costs (if that's even a possibility).

Dealing with oil temp, stability, and ABS light issues and getting code P0971. Don't waste money at the dealer. I found a guy in Vancouver who fixed it for me for 1000, while dealers and shops quoted me 3500 and 2500. Let me know if you need his info.

why do my headlights show a sharp cutoff 30-50 feet ahead of me even in standard driving on local roads? do i need an adjustment? is this typical? thanks

I have a 2025 Forester Limited. I'm interested in a GROUND-LEVEL forward-facing camera. I want to see the parking lines as I pull into a spot. WHY? I still haven't gotten used to the Forester's width, coming from a 2010 VW Jetta. Does Subaru have such a device or do I need to look into an aftermarket one? Or maybe I should just learn how to back into a spot using the rear-facing camera. Whadda y'all think? Thanx much for any recommendations.

My forester died on the highway. RPMS revved real high then car sputtered and i pulled over, shut it off, and it wouldnt restart. A little body shop towed me off the highway and took a look. Car sat there over night and they took a look today and said i was just out of gas. My gas light never came on and the screen said i still had 100 miles left. Ive run out of gas once before in this car and that time my gas light was on and it didnt rev. Just sputtered and started slowin down till i pulled over and shut it off.

Just wonderin if anyone agrees with the no gas diagnoses and maybe my gas meter has gone bad, or if anyone has any other ideas cause i dont trust the high RPM thing it did. It didnt do that the 1st time i ran out of gas.

Any advice is appreciated.

Does anyone recognize this sound? (My husband opens the window around 30 seconds, so ignore that sound). We began hearing it in July, took it into a shop (non-Subaru dealer)at that point
they replaced the CV axle. It didn’t fix the issue. It is an intermittent issue and disappeared for a while, showing up only occasionally. But it has begun to happen more frequently. We are on the verge of winter where I am in Canada, so want to get it sorted out before the possibility of being stranded in frigid temperatures.

Here are some possible correlations we have noticed: it seems to happen pretty consistently after driving at high speeds and then slowing down to city speeds. There might be a relationship to damp weather. Also, if I brake while it is happening the sound stops immediately, it usually resumes as we keep driving, but eventually subsides completely. When I turn the wheel while it is happening there seems to be no effect. It is a font end sound that is heard better inside the car than by opening a window. Yesterday we took it back to the shop and they replaced the front rotors and brake pads. Rears are already done. This didn’t stop it.

The Subaru dealer in my city has a terrible reputation for dealing with. So that’s why we have gone to another garage. But if they can’t accurately diagnose it, I guess we will have to try Subaru, cause trouble shooting like this is getting expensive and frustrating.

2016 Forester - I have the usual oil weep from the bottom left and right corners of this interesting design by subaru that relied on RTV sealant. I'm fine topping off oil every few thousand miles or so, but the passenger side is dripping onto the connector to the primary oxygen sensor. Has anyone found a way to protect this sensor/connector from the oil to reduce the risk of it failing?

2021 Bought her brand new and she's still going strong! Had to show the 99999 as well because it's just a cool number. 😄 Her name is Garnet.

Well I’m back. I’ll be linking my previous post that I thought was resolved here. https://www.reddit.com/r/SubaruForester/s/I7XEk5cLEq
The engine light turned off for about 6 days and then came back - no vehicle dynamic control system light this time (just didn’t take a new picture). Could the MAF sensor need another cleaning? Could this be something more?? Could it be I have to replace the MAF sensor? What else can I try?
Code: P0171

TLDR (linked post): My 2015 Subaru Forester at about 110,000 miles has a check engine light and vehicle dynamic control system notice. I cleaned the MAF sensor and the throttle body air intake.

Dealer noticed my muffler is cracked at the seam and there's some exhaust noise (I haven't noticed because I was bringing it in for brake noise). They want $670 to replace it and the gasket. A quick Google says that's fairly high.

I have basic mechanical skills and access to a jack and jack stands, as well as general power tools. Is this something I can do myself in a day?

What brands would people recommend? I'm hoping maybe $200-300 and would definitely prefer a model-specific kit.

Or is this something I can have an exhaust shop just weld and it'll hold for another however many thousand miles?

Joined the club a few weeks ago ! First car purchase ever !

So the problem is I'm getting codes P0011 & P0021 Its been extensive Oil pump was changed. Banjo bolt filters removed. Timing was checked and was off a tooth but still have those codes. Oil pressure tested good up until the vvt solenoids. Even to the turbo it was good. But here's the kicker the vvts tested great. But I don't know if it could be the fact there aftermarket and dude who had it before me put them in. Maybe there out of tolerance with Subarus standards in oil flow? Tolerances I mean. I ordered some OEM vvt solenoids and if it's not that maybe it's the cam phasers? See under a scan they were able to excel and retard the timing. But not as fast as the ecm wants. Not to mention the angles it does it are always different which is strange. I'm wondering what the odds are that it actually is the non OEM vvts or if this fixed it for anyone else. My oil is clean. And pressure remains optimal. It just reached the 136,000 mile mark

I currently have these on my 2016 Subaru Forester XT 2.0 Touring. I am in Colorado and want to get a set of Bridgestone Blizzaks this year. I’m looking on tire rack and they don’t have the exact size match of my current tire. My question is, out of this list of what they do have available, which option would work and be the most compatible?

2008 Subaru Forester 180,000 miles.

I am having issues accelerating from a stopped position, as well as at higher speeds around 45-50 miles per hour.

When accelerating from a stop the car tends to hesitate around 10 mph. It doesn’t necessarily jerk, but it feels as if it’s empty. It then picks up and I experience higher revs around 4500-5000.

When going 45 to 50 mph at an incline I can have my foot all the way down on the accelerator and the car revs high around 5500-6000 and feels like it doesn’t shift. I top out around 50-55 mph until I am on a level surface.

Since this has been happening I have changed the fuel pump, battery, alternator, and most recently swapped the transmission fluid.

I fear my transmission is pretty much shot. Does this sound like the case, or am I overlooking something?
Is there anything else I can test/try to replace?

Please let me know if you need additional information or have any questions about the behavior.

Thank you!