My car, a 2001 Subaru Forester, has been acting oddly. No power, choking and sputtering, unable to get up to speed.
My husband thought it was the knock sensor, as this is a common problem with Subaru and had occurred on his Legacy Wagon.
He went out and pulled it off to check it, and it was, indeed, broken. Unfortunately, he let a gasket slip out of place while he was moving things to get to it, and the car didn’t idle properly, just revved and gasped and revved and gasped.
This was late enough that it was dark out.
He got to drive me to work the next day.
A day later, we went to a car parts store and picked up a new knock sensor and a new gasket to replace the damaged one. I stood and held a flashlight while he worked on it. It was a cold, rainy day so it was half pulled into the garage.
At one point, we lost a bolt that fell in the leaves gathered at the bottom of the drive. It took a while, but I found it again!
But he got it all put back together, it idled properly… and the problem didn’t go away.
His next suspect was one of the oxygen sensors, something that is also a common problem. So he pulled it and tested the car to see if it improved. It didn’t. At this point we would just be throwing money at the problem guessing. Off to the shop it went.
We got the call back yesterday morning. It was, in fact, at least partially caused by the oxygen sensor, but it can take 16 hours or more with the battery disconnected to clear the data in the car’s computer. So we were close, but just didn’t know enough.
Now, my car is in the shop for a few days waiting for the part – the shop guy said he thought it was all of the problem but didn’t want me to damage the car trying to drive it when it might not be the only thing.
It’s going to be at least $500.
UGH.
Here’s to hoping that that’s the fix!
Have you owned a Subaru? Did you have any of these common problems rear up and bite you? Inquiring minds want to know! *smile*
