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Last year I bought a 99 Forester with 150K miles. I have put 20K miles on it since I bought it (roughly a year ago).

 

I am having several issue's with the vehicle and am hoping to get some advise.

 

(1) The car has a fairly sever loping idle. It does not stall but comes close to doing so when left idling in neutral. The plugs and plug wires have less than 30K miles on them. I also changed the fuel filter shortly after purchasing the vehicle

 

(2) The clutch has had very little resistance over the last couple of months...and today it started sticking. The car does still shift.

 

(3) I lose power when I reach between 3,500 and 4,000 RPM. So I have to make sure and shift prior to 3,500 RPM

 

(4) Sometimes when I first start off the car stalls as if it is not getting any gas. This happens about 1 out of 10 starts and goes away after a few minutes.

 

The check engine light comes on and stays on. I had assumed that this was for an oxygen sensor. But with everything else that is happenning, I am beginning to suspect that sometype of sensor may have gone out.

 

I know this is a lot of information. But I am hoping that some of the experts here can limit the possibilities so that I do not start replacing things that do not need to be replaced.

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I own a 99 Forester with 180,000 miles. FIRST, was the timing belt changed at 100,000 miles? Be certain, because you'll be waving bye-bye to your engine if the timing belt wasn't changed.

Let's start easy and cheap. When was the fuel filter changed? All your symptoms could be caused by a clogged fuel filter. Then I would run a high quality injector cleaner through the system.

Clutch? If it's the original clutch, at 150,000 miles it could be worn out.

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I own a 99 Forester with 180,000 miles. FIRST, was the timing belt changed at 100,000 miles? Be certain, because you'll be waving bye-bye to your engine if the timing belt wasn't changed.

Let's start easy and cheap. When was the fuel filter changed? All your symptoms could be caused by a clogged fuel filter. Then I would run a high quality injector cleaner through the system.

Clutch? If it's the original clutch, at 150,000 miles it could be worn out.

 

Thanks for the feedback Dude.

 

- The timing belt is fairly new. It has less than 30K miles on it

- I put a new fuel filter in it right after I bought it. I thought that was causing the issue...but it did not improve the problems. It has about 20K miles on it.

- I will definitely run some high quality injector cleaner through the system.

- I do believe that it is the original clutch.

 

 

 

I had the codes run at Autozone

There were 4 codes

 

Codes 1 and 2: cylinder misfire

 

Code 3: don't remember the exact code but the guy told me it was probably related to the gas cap. I have heard this is a common issue with this car

 

Code 4: Bad O2 Sensor (not sure if it is the rear or front) I'm not a big believer in replacing these. Do they actually impact performance ?

 

Last night I inspected the master and slave cylinders on the clutch. In the process I discovered that there was a pin hole leak in the hydraulic hose that connects the two. This explains the loss of pressure. I pulled the hose and have ordered a new one from the local dealer for $ 23.00.

 

I also pulled the plugs and they were worn very badly. They were white which I understand can be indicative of over heating. This car burns oil pretty quickly so I sometimes find myself running a quart low. I am pretty sure that this is the cause of the overheating to the plugs. There was oil in the "plug cavity" but there was no oil on the igniters.

 

I started the car up last night after installing the new plugs and noticed that the lope was not as bad...but it is still there. Interestingly enough the lope goes away when I kick on the A/C Compressor.

I will install a new PVC valve and the replacement hose in a couple of days and hopefully the majority of these problems will go away.

What are your thoughts ? Do you think that the issue's I discovered above can account for all of the issue's that I outlined in my original post ?

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Subarus are usually very, very good on oil consumption. If your car is using a lot oil, that may be a bad sign. Since it's cheap and easy, I would do a compression check on the engine. Might as well make sure that the engine is tight before you go off spending time and money on a problem.

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If you read the other threads, you'll see that for a lot of owners, the 02 sensor has caused some major problems with idle, rough running, etc. (It might be worth a look to research this in the threads.) Let us know what happens with your car and good luck.

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Subarus are usually very, very good on oil consumption. If your car is using a lot oil, that may be a bad sign. Since it's cheap and easy, I would do a compression check on the engine. Might as well make sure that the engine is tight before you go off spending time and money on a problem.

 

I suspect that my car is burning oil at higher RPM's. The car loses power/hesitates when I exceed 4,000 to 4,500 RPM....and it also blows black smoke out the exhaust at these higher RPM's.

 

Are these signs of a serious engine issue ?

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I suspect that my car is burning oil at higher RPM's. The car loses power/hesitates when I exceed 4,000 to 4,500 RPM....and it also blows black smoke out the exhaust at these higher RPM's.

 

Are these signs of a serious engine issue ?

 

Hell, yes. DO A COMPRESSION CHECK, NOW. The engine MAY have been trashed before you bought it. Run real low on oil even one time, and you're looking at a ring job, at least. Know where you stand, check the compression.

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After replacing the clutch hydraulic hose and the spark plugs the car is running a lot better. There is much more power and the hesitation is gone.

 

The clutch/transmission is running like new and the power loss at 4,000 RPM's has disapeared. I mistakenly assumed that the plugs were in good shape because the wires were brand new when I bought the car 20K miles ago. But the existing plugs were extremely worn when I pulled them.

 

I still have a loping idle. I am going to replace the front O2 sensor and see if that fixes the problem.

 

I will then go get the codes cleared and see if any codes pop back up.

 

I will also be running 2 applications of Auto-Rx to clean out the sludge in the engine.

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You mentioned oil on a spark plug boot. Sounds like you have a leaking valve cover gasket. Not too crucial, but you will want to address it.

 

I don't think this is your problem, but just something to be aware of. The 99's used a film style MAF instead of the hot wire style. There were a lot of problems with it from what I've read. However, I believe the replacement units are relatively inexpensive.

 

Commuter

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You mentioned oil on a spark plug boot. Sounds like you have a leaking valve cover gasket. Not too crucial, but you will want to address it.

 

I don't think this is your problem, but just something to be aware of. The 99's used a film style MAF instead of the hot wire style. There were a lot of problems with it from what I've read. However, I believe the replacement units are relatively inexpensive.

 

Commuter

 

Thanks !

 

I'm assuming that the valve cover gaskets would be easy to replace ? How much of the engine would have to be disassembled to get clearance ?

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