CROSSTBOLT

What is a MIL? DO NOT FORGET that in the U.S. "they" make us use MTBE wintertime additive in ALL the gasoline we buy and that struff destroys fuel economy.

We are really happy with our Baja. Would have preferred a more "utility" exterior and interior for serious back country and four-legged passenger-hauling. Does not surprise me that it is being discontinued since everyone we meet thinks it is really neat. Thinking something is really neat and buying one are obviously two different things. Since Subaru is holding just over 1% of the entire market they have to be careful of sales losers. We think it is an immensely practical vehicle for our uses and it it fun. Could be bigger, more powerful, could be this or that. We think they did pretty well. But then we are pretty gung-ho for Subes in general.

You will find the trailer light connector at the rear of the right rear (naturally!) wheel well. It is tucked up out of the way and has a blind 6-pin weather plug in it. It is very near the very rear of the car (kinda poetic!) tied down with a plastic hold-down. It is NOT inside of the bed.

I cannot quantify it but when I rotated tires on my '01 Forester with the full-size spare on a steel rim, that spare was red-faced, white-knuckle, compound hernia HEAVY and the alloy road wheels with the same tire on 'em practically floated! I know it was more than 5 lbs difference. Dat was one heavy spare wheel!

I know some of the guys & gals are gonna groan when they read this but give it a try anyway since ya can't hurt anything: Reset the ECU. Two methods exist 1) Remove battery ground for 30-45 minutes and reattach; 2) Remove ECU fuse for the same amount of time. May be marked as ENG IGN on your fuse panel. Plug fuse back in. Start and idle for 15 min to warm up everything. Drive it off smoothly for 1/2 hour. Do NOT engage cruise control during this learning drive especially with MT. See if it improves with this reset and learn. Get the codes read for free at AutoZone if it does not. Let everyone know what happens. I had a 2001 Forester & traded at 51K miles-never did what you got.

MAKE SURE the gas cap is tight by hearing the ratchet noise on final crank. Reset ECU by either pulling ENG IGN fuse or disconnecting battery ground for 30 minutes or more. Otherwise, expect to put about 3 tanks of gas thru the engine and if you have no other CEL issues, the light will go out. Get the codes read for free and report back & we will go from there.

Our first Subaru was a 2001 Forester. It was a Great car! I hated to trade it for the '03 Baja. It was all around neat and well made. I had a few issues about the Forester but none involved reliability. It was the Paragon of reliability and did not leak anything. Welcome! Keep checkin' this forum and asking questions AND making comments. You will NOT find a better bunch of folks and some very knowledgable folks.:santa:

IMO, anytime ANYONE at a dealer says ANYTHING that sounds like, "Oh, that's normal...," it is time to run to this forum & get the straight scoop. Even a waterpump dynamic seal is NOT supposed to leak & when it does it means something is wrong and needs. repair. Static seals are the same thing. To these dealer jokers, anything to get you outta their face or divert your attention from their ignorance will be used on you. It is not nor will be anything but BS!:argue:

No matter what, it is cheaper to fix the old ones than to buy new ones. Alias is right about the only thing not tested: the radiator cap(pressure). The Forester is a neat vehicle. Stick with it and use personal references if you are not gona do the work yourself.

Gas cap. Our 2001 Forester gave us the CEL between TN & WA. I took off the cap which I had forgotten to tighten until the slip ratchet clicks three or more times. It may take about three tanks of gas for the CEL to go out. That is with the gas cap tightened properly each tank.

VERY NICE! Extremely nice lookin' ride.

Just think of a few things that could go wrong upon starting the engine. Cat in the fan belt comes to mind as one possibility.

The tests done by Dunlop were very extensive by any standard. There were variations for extremely wide tires and low normal forces. However, the end result was as I previously stated, no matter how simplistic it may seem. My question is are there NEW formulas that exist that reflect steel belt radials, tread design, etc. By the way, depth of water has to be about 1" or more for one type of hydroplaning. There are two other types but we are just concerned with Dynamic Hydroplaning.

Is there a new formula for Hydroplaning Speed? I learned from the Brits that it is 9 times the square root of the tire pressure. That is, 54mph for 36psi. This is valid for 1" or more standing water. The tests and subsequent results were a product of the late '50s by Dumlop with bias-ply tires.

NO, I do not want a meter. Well, not just yet. I am eager to complement you on your approach, your TEAMWORK approach to get a good deal for EVERYONE. It could only happen on USMB!

You already have a code for the evaporative cannister, right? Go ahead & check it and call us in the morning. With that high of milage the can should be about full and if it is it backs up into the float bowl on a carb and into the fuel on FI. Let us know what you find there before you tear the engine apart and disconnect the exhaust. Do the easy stuff first.

VABrat, I'm gonna let you buy my next Baja! VERY good price, I think. GeneralDisorder, What is 4WD D/R? I know you know it is AWD and 50-50 with the stick 5MT. So much yellow because yellow is IN for ALL makes of SUV! It is very cool, I am told. Yas, ours IS yellow....

That is great! Didn't take you long to make up your mind! Tel me and the rest of us if it does not violate any rules, how much did you settle on with the dealer? I did the on line quotes for the '03 and still went for the local dealer even he did not have the best quote, just because he was local. NEXT TIME we go somewhere else. That is the best quote even if we have to drive 200 miles.

We are happy with our Baja. It is serving us well as a touring car and a pop-up trailer puller. It has adequate power in Tennesse and other relatively low elevation hilly country. Cruises right up some pretty steep hills in 5th gear, with or without the trailer weight. The most fun is public reaction. It so far has been positive and enthusiastic. The craziest thing is that people will look right at the back end of the thing and ask, "Who makes this?"!! We get 27-30mpg summer and 25-27mpg winter with a 5spd MT. We had a Forester with 4AT which was good but the 5MT is better. Yes, we have carried all sorts of stuff in that little "truck" bed and even have used the bed extender once! I use the switch door when I carry long lumber or my RC plane. Get a local auto custom upholstery shop to make you a tonneau cover for less than half of what Subaru wants and enjoy yourself!

Please define "open" and "closed" deck. Remember, put it in terms a four year old can understand!

THIS is why I am reluctant to have a clutch tantrum at the dealer for my '03 Baja. Those guys of yours left the starter loose and the subsequent jumpin' around finally broke something. Yeah, hold them responsible! That starter shoulda lasted the life of the car. Well, nearly so. Don't be too hard on your wife. No crime in being ignorant. There is crime in staying that way. Another thing: Ignorant can be fixed, Stupid is FOREVER!

More convenient to pull the fuse for the ECU or Engine Ignition(Eng Ign) on the interior fuse panel. I ain't that smart: I learned this technique right chere from all deese guys and gals!

I put Coopers on our '01 Forester when we had it. Had good service for the year+ we kept it before trading in on the '03 Baja. The OEM Yokohamas were gone too quickly (<40K miles) for my thinking. Why put on a 160 mph rated tire? Even the Forester will not go that fast. Very few people fall for Michelin that were French diehards since they started making them in Dothan, Alabama. Maybe the Coopers down under are made in a local plant that just cannot get it together.

I think your windshield is leaking top center.

I jumpered a relay at the left hand panel of my '01 Forester to make the rear outlet "hot" all the time to keep the electric cooler on while we were doing, well, something that required the engine to be off and the car locked. The downside was the seat heaters were also "armed" all the time, too. Had no problems since we were smart enough not to leave stuff on too long. Our Dodge minivan had either a relay or a blind plug for outlets that were either off with the engine or hot all the time at the customer's preference. Neat, huh?