svmaine

Thanks for all the advice and I'll definitely check out the car-part website. We can't afford over $1k for a motor but $500, we might be able to swing:banana:.

Our 98 Forester's head gasket is definitely blown:dead:, so just venting here a bit and trying to figure out if I should let my dear husband and his mechanic buddy replace it themselves, or replace the engine (which we can't afford), or trade it in as is, or...or...or... It's got just over 200k on it, good shape otherwise...

I stopped at the dealer this morning and they were willing to take a peek:banana: . Unfortunately they did the same thing I did, following the cars101 info, and it still didn't work. However...the button...for one...is not red, it's black, and it's not recessed. And two, yes, the fact that I need to push it to start the car also makes me think it's not the right button. I looked all over for another button but no luck so far. I just had some work done on it by a mechanic friend and while he was working on it it was doing some screwy electrical things, door lights coming on when all doors were securely closed, the horn/hazard fuse keeps blowing...so maybe some wires got crossed or a bad ground somewhere. And since the budget is kind of tight and at least it's running, I think I'll just have to live with pushing a button to start and no remote:(, oh well at least no one can steal it:).

Yep, the battery that came out of the remote is a 12v, mini AAA type battery and that's what I put back in. I did call the dealer and the service guy wouldn't even give me any suggestions, just "bring it in":mad:, which probably means a charge. Maybe I'll bring it to another dealer who maybe would program it for free. Or maybe I'll just have to buy another remote for it, ugh. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Well I'm getting 12.6v out of the new remote battery so that's not it:(. I just think there needs to be some kind of dance on my head routine to get the remote to sync up with the system again?

Yep, that is what I tried and nothing happens after I push the programming button. Although the button is not recessed in any kind of ring. I can't find any other button and we have to push it in order to start the car so I'm assuming it's some kind of alarm disable switch. Since there seems to be no signal coming from the remote it looked like from other Subaru remote descriptions on the cars101.com site that the remote would need to be synchronized before programming since we changed out the car battery, but I can't find anything on synchronizing this particular remote. I still haven't checked the new battery in the remote...tomorrow:).

The car battery, yes. I haven't checked the voltage on the new remote battery yet, I'll try that tonight hopefully. Though if it is bad of course the receipt is long gone:(.

I've got a 98 Forester and believe I need to synchronize the remote vs. programming it. Nothing happens when I hit the unlock and lock button on the remote and I've tried to program it according to the directions on cars101.com and it seems like there's no signal coming from the remote. I think it has to be synchronized before it can be programed, but I can't find any info on the steps to synchronize the remote. On newer models you hit one of the buttons on the remote 6 times but not on this one:(. I'll call the dealership on Monday but was hoping to find the answer beforehand. I just replaced the car and remote battery. TIA!

P.S. Not that it really matters but Tunered if you want to use the correct pronoun, change your he to she:D, and thanks for posting!

Latest update is that it runs perfect, no surging, no dying, with the new timing belt. $500 later I think I learned my lesson about changing the timing belt. I asked the mechanic about why the valves didn't get smashed and he confirmed that it isn't an interference engine, phew! So anyone interested in buying it:) ??!! I hate to get rid of my dear Forester but need to sell it quick to pay for my "new" van.

Can some of you Subaru Gods and Goddesses clear up some confusion:-\ ? I posted to a couple of other forums the same thing as above, that the timing belt slipped a tooth, and they are telling me that my mechanics throwing the wool over my eyes. According to them the engine wouldn't run if the belt had slipped a tooth and even if he did tighten it the idling problem would still happen. So my mechanic tells me that he replaced the timing belt and now it doesn't die anymore, just surges up and down. I had thought that yes with some engines, interference(?), if the timing belt slips the valves get crushed and engine doesn't run. But my engine isn't that type so is my mechanic being honest?

Good news:banana: !! The timing belt had slipped a tooth so when my mechanic reset it the idling was much better. It now surges when idling but it doesn't die. I'm getting the belt replaced and hopefully that takes care of the surging. Now maybe I can finally sell it!

Actually I the timing belt has never been replaced, whoops. I've owned the car since 47k, bad, bad!! I think it is a SOHC. Hopefully I'll find out the results of the compression test by tomorrow.

A compression test was also suggested on a different forum so I called the mechanic this morning and he is going to do one today. I mentioned about a possible valve problem but since when you accelerate the car sounds beautiful, no stalling, so he doesn't think there is anything wrong with the valves. He took another look in his Subaru book and now thinks that it might just be that the timing is off, I hope:)!!

Sorry for the long post but I think the history might be important. It's a '99 L, 176k miles on it. Here goes: A year ago the car started hesitating during acceleration and chk engine light came on, diag. said "misfire #3 cylinder". We replaced the plugs and wires, plug tips were black and engine ran perfect. This happened 2 more times in the span of a year and each time we replaced the plugs and wires and then it ran fine. The 3rd time however a few weeks after we replaced the plugs and wires the chk engine light remained on and I noticed one week that I had suddenly lost 100 miles per tank in mileage. Yes, I'm an anal engineer who calculates each tank . So I took it to the dealer and the computer read "bad air sensor and cat. converter not running at peak" or something like that:). I bought the sensor from the dealer and replaced it at home but forgot to disconnect the battery to reset the computer. The car immediately died after starting with the new sensor. We put the old sensor in and it ran fine. The next day we disconnected the battery, replaced the sensor and again it died, it would accelerate ok but as soon as you let it idle it died. So maybe a bad air sensor? We put the old one back in and this time it ran a bit rough while idling. So ordered another new sensor, disconnected the battery, replaced it and the car did the same thing. We put the old sensor back in and the car would idle for a minute then die, accelerating was fine till you let your foot off the gas. We gave up and brought it to a mechanic and he found a clogged cat. converter, it was glowing red right near the oxygen sensor. He cleared out the clog, ran it and it didn't immediately die but would die after 5-10 minutes of idling. He spent a week running it off and on to try and get a code and nothing came up. He replaced the oxygen sensor and still nothing came up. His thought is that the computer might need to be replaced? I've got a voicemessage into dear Tom and Ray for the show but haven't heard back from them yet. Any thoughts?