Ravenwoods

We bought a 1998 Forester in 2003 with 100,000 miles on it and kept it until it had 335,000 miles on it. We sold in in August of 2025 for $500 and it was still going. Looked like hell though.

Thanks for the suggestions. I've passed them on to my daughter. She has a big savings account and could easily buy a very young car if she valued having a decent looking car, but this one is generally super reliable, which is good enough for her. She'd rather buy a piece of land.

My daughter reported today that her 1996 Legacy (180,000 miles) this infrequent problem. If she accidentally stalls the car by letting out the clutch too fast the car doesn't want to start for a while. She says it's happened about five times in the last year or two. Typically she comes back after 30 minutes and then it starts. It cranks just fine but doesn't start. This morning it happened again and she only had time to wait 15 minutes but no success. So she borrowed my car. About seven hours later I went out and it started fine. Any ideas what causes this?

Well the mystery got solved and the solution is rather embarrassing! I had no idea this car has an immobilizer and that the fancy Subaru key is necessary to start the engine. Shortly before the starter motor issue arose I had a simple copy of the key made at the grocery store for about $1.98. l was using that key exclusively to try and start the engine. Finally on another Subaru Outback forum somebody asked about my key. As soon as I tried the fancy Subaru key the problem disappeared! Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Maybe this thread will help someone else in the future with the same issue.

Definitely an automatic transmission.

I haven't resolved the starter motor not cranking when I turn the key, so I put a female connector on a wire and hooked it to the spade connector on the solenoid so that I can crank the engine by touching it to the positive terminal of the battery. It cranks beautifully but the engine doesn't start. As far as I know this should start the engine when the key is on, correct? It seems like the problem is greater than just the starter.

Another issue I have noticed is that the radiator fans come on when you turn on the ignition. I believe the fans should not come on if the engine is cold. So I thought maybe a bad coolant temperature sensor. I swapped it out but no change. Maybe this is related to the starter problem?

At first the starter would engage and turn the engine over a couple times and then quit. After trying a few times it was only silent, not even a click. I replaced the starter motor but the solenoid does not appear to be receiving power from the signal wire. I looked at the owner's manual list of fuses and for the fuse and relays in the engine compartment and it says something like "except starter motor.". The passenger compartment fuse list in the owner's manual says fuse 21 is the starter relay but the fuse is still good. Somewhere I think I read that the blue boxes to the right of the small fuses are relays and one of them might be for the starter. Can someone tell me where to look? My battery is good and the voltage at the positive connection on the starter motor is the same voltage as the battery.

I got a 2009 Outback special edition instead. Only 95,000 miles on it. It spent 2016-2025 in Arizona and before that in Colorado. Pretty much rust free. I drove it home to Fairbanks, Alaska.

I decided to not get a the XT based on turbo failures. Often when looking at an XT for sale the seller would say something about the turbo just replaced. Also I didn't want to buy expensive premium fuel. I got a 2009 Subaru Outback special edition with 95,000 miles on it instead.

I'm thinking of getting an Outback XT in the 2005-2009 range. Any thoughts on these years? Any specific year I should avoid?

My 2005 Outback has about 148,000 miles and is AT. The P0638 only occurs after about an hour of highway driving. Symptoms are immediate loss of power. The car becomes can barely move itself and idle is rough. I then Turn the car Off and wait 30 seconds. When I start the car it will drive normally for 5-10 minutes before it happens again. If you drive it very moderately at 40mph it seems to not happen as frequently. Working it hard seems to bring it on more rapidly. I have read a common cause of this fault is a bad accelerator pedal. So I replaced that with no cure. Another possible cause is a bad Throttle Position Sensor, which is fully integrated into the throttle body. So I replaced the throttle body and it's GPS with a used throttle body. The replacement was faulty and the problem got much much worse. So I got a new Throttle Body and GPS for $125. Still no cure, and it went back to being a problem only occuring after about an hour of highway driving. Seems like another cause could be the ECM? Any suggestions?

My daughter has a Legacy (automatic transmission) with about 180,000 miles on it. So the problem is very intermittent and has never occurred while I drive it. It seems this car has a MAP sensor instead of a MAF Sensor. There is no check engine light but a PO420 code occurrs from time to time. Poor mileage. Occasionally runs rough or stalls, hesitates, jerks and lunges. Does this sound like a failing MAP sensor? We already removed the throttle body and cleaned it.

I swapped out throttle body with another one that may or may not have a good throttle position sensor. The P0638 only shows up after about an hour of highway driving. So I took a trip today and after about an hour the P0638 showed up. So now I would like to try a PCM from a different car to see if that cures the car. Do I need one specifically for a 2005 Outback or are there other Subarus using the same PCM?

Here is an update to my situation. I get a 0638 code and the car coasts to a stop and the engine is still running in limp mode. The car can go about 2 mph. I shut off the engine for a minute and when I restart it runs normally again. This only happens on longer trips after maybe 30 miles and the car has been working hard. Apparently a dirty throttle body can be a culprit. I looked in mine and it's rather clean. Also the electric accelerator can be a cause. I replaced it and the problem did not go away. The next suspect is apparently the throttle position sensor. Is it true that I need to replace the entire Throttle body as the throttle position sensor is built into the throttle body?

Thanks for the help. The right side of the Throttle body has a plastic attachment, so the Throttle position sensor must be there inside. There is some sort of sensor on the top left. The reason for my question is that my electric accelator pedal was failing,. So I got a new one. I decided to replace the Throttle Position Sensor too and eBay found one that it said fits my car. However the sensor on the top left Throttle body is narrower and doesn't match. Since I replaced the accelator pedal there haven't been any more problems.

My 2005 is nonturbo 2.5 and has the non cable electronic accelator pedal.

Is the Throttle Position Sensor built into the Throttle Body or separate? Maybe in subsequent years it was built in?

Looks like it is located behind the battery instead of mounted on the transmission.

I'm getting ready to change my ATF fluid and watched a Youtube video to see if there is anything different about changing it in this vehicle. I was surprised to see a spin off ATF filter. So I just checked my 2005 and it does not have a spin off filter. Are there certain years the transmission came with the spin off filter? This video was done by a guy in Canada. Do Outbacks in Canada have the spin off filter and those in the US not have that option? My car has 140,000 miles on it.

The engine does turn over a few times before firing up. Perhaps a sign of lower compression? Of maybe the fuel injectors are not as good any more?

A couple weeks ago our 1998 Forester with a manual transmission turned over 333,000 miles. We bought it in 2003 with about 110,000 miles on it. A previous owner had outfitted it to be towed behind an RV and we were told that about 50,000 miles on the odometer were towing miles, so the engine had maybe 60,000 miles on it. We had the timing belt changed at about 120,000 miles on it and it was still good and was the original belt. The clutch went out at about 160,000 miles and we had it redone. The body looks like hell with lots of rust around the right rear fender. Someone drove into the Forester at some stage causing some cosmetic damage, enough for the insurance company to total it. We kept it since the cosmetic damage was rather minor. The trim that runs along the bottom below the doors on the right side was hanging so I just tore it off. The car still drives well and I replaced the timing belt and pulleys, spark plugs, and spark plug wires about a year ago. I have parked it for the winter as I now have a 2005 Outback that I got for a decent price that needed new struts and had a bad wheel bearing. I'm using the Foresters 16" alloy wheels on my 2005 Outback with some new Michelin X-Ice studless tires. The original alloy wheels that came with the Outback have summer tires on them. So I've got decent wheels for the Outback regardless of summer or winter. I'm hanging onto the old Forester as a backup car. I'm expecting visitors from Norway next summer and they could borrow that car while they are here. So I'm not sure what part of the Forester will give problems next, probably the clutch or head gaskets. We had the head gaskets redone when we had the clutch replaced. The clutch pedal does cause some problems when we have hot weather here in Fairbanks, Alaska, when it get about 85 Fahrenheit. Are there many of you who put over 300,000 miles on your Subaru? Maybe I should find another Subaru body that needs an engine and swap it out.

My 2005 Outback did something weird the other day. I started it up and the center display where you can view Outdoor Temperature, mpg, miles until your gas tank is empty, etc., just showed IGN. The headlights didn't come on and the turn signals didn't work. But the 4 way hazard flashers worked. After driving it for a couple minutes the IGN disappeared and everything was normal again. I did a google search and found a single description of the problem. It sounded like the key ignition has a problem possibly from someone having a heavy key chain putting too much weight on the key. And that Subaru had a recall on this problem. The problem has not repeated itself yet. Does anyone have information on this?

My daughter has a 2000 Legacy Wagon, Automatic Transmission, about 180,000 miles on it. When starting from a stopped position, the car starts with only the front wheels pulling, but after a second all 4 are engaged. What's causing this and how can we fix it? It's been like this for a while.

The seller has accepted my $3500 offer.