George9219

Does anyone know if the alternator from a 2003 Forester will fit on a 1998 Forester? Thanks in advance.

When the relay to my fan went south, I got a CEL.

After any overheating event, I would check the head gaskets. My 1998 Forester blew a set at 184,000 following a minor overheating. Aluminum engines don't like excessive heat, ant the h. g.'s on the phase 1 2.5l are notoriously week. BTW, if your fans weren't working properly, you would get a CEL.

When I bought the Forester, I looked at the same three options I did this time, RAV4, CRV, and Forester. At that time, (1998), the Forester was the easy winner...no contest. This time around, the RAV4 was the easy winner. You guys that are knocking Toyota have no idea what you are talking about. I'm not going to bore you with all the stories of my Freinds' and relative's experience with Toyotas, except my buddy who had ran a 4wd pickup for 300,000 miles, and sold it for $1,800. Also, for you Toyota "experts" out there, the RAV4 has a timing chain, as should all interference engines, IMNSHO. I'm not knocking the Forester. I got eight years and nearly a quarter million miles of service out of it. Bottom line is, I drive about 30,000 miles a year, and my livelihood depends on a reliable car. The Forester was simply too expensive to keep running at this point. How many of you have actually attempted to drive 30,000 miles in a year with a vehicle that has 200,000 + miles on it. While I'm venting.....How about the reliability factor of the early Foresters? Head gaskets, wheel bearings? I feel Subaru should have paid at least a portion of the repair costs on these items. My daughter has a 1997 RAV4, purchased new, with 185,000 miles on it. Only normal maintenance and wear items, no failures. By 185,000, I had replaced two wheel bearings and a set of head gaskets on my Forester. I'm not saying not to buy a Subaru, only that there are other viable options out there, and not to explore them because of brand loyalty is stupid. If I hadn't started looking around for options in 1998, I'd be driving a (shudder!)Ford.

After 8 years and 249,000 miles, I walked away from my 1998 Forester and purchased a new RAV4 4cyl AWD. The old girl just became too unreliable and expensive to maintain, (not surprising at that mileage), and after looking at Subes and Hondas, as well as Toyotas, the RAV4 was just a head above the others. Plusses: No more timing belt worries, a lot more interior room, comfortable seats, similar performance to my Forester, and did I mention no timing belt? Just went through my first tank of gas and averaged 27.7 MPG with a mix of two lane rural roads, and light city traffic. Frankly, with Honda coming out with an all new CRV later this year, and the new RAV4 this year, Subaru is going to be left in the dust.

Yup. On closer inspection, the unit I described appears to be part of the headlight assembly, so wouldn't cause a CEL. I'll head out tomorrow AM to get the bad news.

Hi folks, I have a 1998 Forester L automatic, which I puchased new, that currently had 249,000 mols on the odo. I have been through the wheel bearing and head gasket issues, and with normal maintenance, the car has run like a champ since the HG replacement at 184,000. My question: At the very front of the engine compartment there are two units mounted on either side next to the level indicators. They consist of a thin plastic rod inside a plastic housing, mounted to a black housing that has 13.8% printed on it. The one on the driver's side is missing the clear plastic housing, likely knocked off when I changed the battery yesterday. About 100 miles after the battery swap, I got a CEL. Could the loss of the housing cause the CEL? What is this unit, and how expensive is it to replace? If I replaced it myself, how do I reset the CEL? Thanks in advance for your help. George