idosubaru

Wow that’s awesome. Thanks for posting that. That’s interesting to see their diagnostic depth and some notes on verifying communication with Subaru higher ups. Very cool. Sorry of course this is not at all awesome or cool for you. The “symptoms changed when wiggled” nearly guarantees a very short area of wire or connector damage. That’s how I used to diagnose wiring problems on old Gen 1980s Subarus. I’ve found engine wiring harness/connector failures that way in those. wiggle the wires until the engine runs differently, or it alternates from starts/doesn’t start, and you found the short. But those have all been 25+ year old old Gen with green corrosion inside the wire insulation and much lower grade connectors than modern Subarus. Every time it’s been a harness plug issue or the wiring within 2-3” of the harness. Yours being newer won’t have those issues but still wouldn’t surprise me if it’s close to a connector or that firewall pass through. It won’t be at a random spot mid-loom.

I’m sure you did this but consider asking them how well equipped they are at diagnosing potential wiring issues the dealership wasn’t keen on identifying. A lot of mechanics and shops aren’t into chasing wiring gremlins and will guess or simply won’t do it. One hurdle is I’m not sure the issue is confirmed ? You’re not positive it’s the harness are you? The FSM spells out each step and should be readily found for free online. I might have one I can send a link to I’m pretty sure this job is easy once the dash is removed as it exposes everything under/behind it

Highly unlikely coolant. It would have had issues shortly afterwards, not delayed. Also the connections are fluid resistant, they are very well sealed and not prone to taking on fluids. I've never seen modern connectors get wet and have issues. Submerged or directly in line with a profuse leak and older connectors without any seals i've seen issues, fuses blown, melting things - but not just a one time dousing of modern subaru connectors. Given their proclivity to jump to conclusions and limited diagnosis, their suggestions have to be taken lightly. There's no knowing if this is just a one wire problem or 20. So maybe you could still get lucky to get this thing to an independent shop and find it's not as dark and unfixable as they seem to suggest. I'd ask them to video/photograph what they find with the wiring.

Top shelf OEM nothing but the best?!

Sounds like guessing and warranty avoidant. Prob best served somewhere else. Very strange and they won’t let you see your own car?. I’ve seen numerous damaged wires and if there’s significant symptoms there’s melted plastic connectors. Brown plastic. The wire sheathing burned off, or very hard and brittle from heat exposure. Blown fuses. I’ve even seen melted fuses. Don’t want to over state it and I can’t see the install/custom wiring nor am I that good at electrical systems, but stereo wiring causing damage in the engine but no stereo wiring damage and the stereo still working seems like a stretch.

Do you believe their assessment? The stereo currently works right? Is it wired directly to the alt or have a large amp/capacitor? The stereo harness is quite a bit distant and removed from the engine harness, that doesnt make sense. It cant damage the far away engine wiring without damaging the wiring at the stereo. It’s not like the stereo wiring is better than the engine wiring. I’m surprised they could say that with a straight face or without more explanation. Can you get it to an independent shop?. They’ll install a lower cost used harness and probably charge less labor. Probably lower cost in the long run

I’d clear the codes, pull the ABS fuse and then read the codes and post them all here. Theres a chance you may have separate issues. I don’t see the ECU running the engine perfectly fine but causing the ABS to go haywire that seems very unlikely post us some check engine and any other system codes If you try programming the ECU let us know how it goes I’ve got an Autel scanner that does all the SRS, VDC ABS, etc, but don’t know if it has that functionality Use Subaru headgaskets too on that other engine.

engine (or trans) has to come out. Otherwise it’s easy. You generally do a complete clutch job while you’re in there unless you love pulling engines multiple times.

Vibration under load, accelerant or uphill, is almost always the inner CV axle joints or the front diff. Since they’re almost touching it can be hard to distinguish the two. with the lift my guess is the axles. I have an SJR 2” lift and aftermarket axles can’t handle it. Bang bang bang rear view mirror shaking

Yeah just pull the ABS fuse - it'll drive just like a vehicle without ABS and the brakes will work perfectly fine. Then you can move on to other issues until you figure out a repair option. I'm not sure about reprogramming the ECU - I wasn't aware there were scanners that could do that, but I haven't tried. The local dealer charges $100 to program and I think you need all your key FOB's on hand to do it all at the same time. Unless maybe they can do ECU and FOB's separate, but I'd have them all on hand just in case. They charge the same amount no matter how many keys you have so it's a good time to add a spare since the programming of it would be free. Are you sure the ECU is bad? They do fail but that's kind of new for ECU failure. Are you sure the front diff/trans is bad on it? Sorry that's rough. I'm not a huge fan of the 05-09 era - the struts are weak, the power steering pumps fail all the time and aren't easily rebuilt/replaced/aftermarket suck, wheel bearings worse, swaps and other work harder due to the canbus and immobilizer issues, all downgrades from prior generations. And headgaskets. Ther're not really that bad if you replace the headgaskets, and the struts/power steering aren't going to strand you, the automatic transmissions are the 4EAT and very stout, capable of a lot of miles. Headgaskets - use Subaru gaskets, resurface the heads, clean the bolts and holes, and torque properly and they shouldn't fail again for 100,000 miles. Aftermarket gaskets often fail within the first year.

Just pull the ABS fuse for now so the car is usable without battery dying and obsessive noise/brake activity. Pop the hood and open the main fuse/relay box by the strut tower. Fuse slot 1 there. Or fuse slot 33 in the cabin fuse panel down by your left knee. On mid-90's Subaru's they had a common issue where the ABS relay would fail and cause the exact same issue - ABS activating nonstop even when the car was off. Just replace the relay. Not sure if you have one or where it's located. Could also be a the controller. I'd bet it's not mice but maybe, I have seen rodent damage. Sounds like the same thing could be happening here. On those units the relay was actually attached the ABS unit you have pictured.

That was decent of them to try, I mean they're trying to flip something imperfect for a low trade value/appease you, but still decent they're considering options. Some Subaru dealers will install used parts, depends on the dealer, it's worth asking. car-part.com probably has cheap ones since they've already got the car disassembled. i'd ship it for $100 if the dash wouldn't take days to get out.

2900 labor more reasonable than 4000. seems like all those engine pulls it’s possible the harness got yanked or compromised The 2014 bulkhead i have is yours for $1,000 shipping included lol.

It had an engine pulled right? (Maybe even twice, I seem to recall you having a hard time on this thing) 1. Did this CANBUS issue, or any similar issue exist before then? 2. Why was the engine pulled? I think it was mechanical/warranty but trying to be thorough and have the whole timeline 3. How long after the engine pull did the issue start? If it happened after that, there’s a good chance something that happened during work. There’s a few online hits for what has been a relatively obscure part for decades online. Theres complete dash removal video for bulkhead from I-wire. They sell replacement bulkhead connectors requiring de-pinning/re-pinning which seems prone to housing issues/wobbly pins, etc. I wonder if yours could have a damaged connector ? You said they saw damaged wires though? Nothing directly related to yours but 2011 Outback - there’s a couple interesting pictures and noted issues here https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/engine-bulkhead-harness-connector-problems.504735/

If you were digging into this yourself at all you could look into the service manual and what it says about bulkhead replacement. I might even have the 2014-2017 forester, I rebuild a totaled 2017 forester two years ago. I scoured through this crosstek which would very similar in form factor, process, labor - for you briefly but couldnt' find it. Although I did find the dash removal under interior/exterior trim. https://www.sucross.com/subaru_crosstrek_service_manual-728.html

Oh wow, they dug in. It may require dash removal. That's often mentioned as being a 8-12 hour swap for a dash but I've never done one. $4k implies 25 hours of labor. Still a lot of fat in there but maybe there's more to remove and there's a little bit (not much) engine side disconnecting too. Best case scenario would be to identify the precise cause. If it's just light damage or concentrated to a couple wires, find the compromised wires and replace just those individually by passing them one by one through the fire wall. But Subaru can't do that. They only replace entire parts, they wont just run a new wire to bypass a bad one. If that's the case you'd be better off going somewhere else who can do that. If it's excessive damage like rodent damage - then you're probably sitting where you are right now - need a whole new harness and to make sure no other wires were also damaged. The rodent damage I've seen is always one of two areas - really easy/convenient areas like behind a headlight or areas with lots of food - around seats or foot wells in a car with kids. Maybe anecdotal but I've seen a few and those things have always held, not counting old cars that sat for years which is unlikely to be yours.

Has it always made the noise since the clutch job or just started making the noise?

I don’t think there’s anyway to prove it. but yes, it could happen If they got damaged during engine work the most likely area is right by the engine. The connector itself or pins or wire from engine to firewall areas. Maybe the connectors were left plugged in during lifting or left on the IM and stretched, etc. It would be nice to verify a bad wire - check resistance/continuity from cabin to engine. Find one bad wire and then test that wire from the engine to the firewall. See if the compromised area is between the engine plug and firewall.

just noise or vibration and noise? what happens if you also turn the steering wheel without changing speed? Like around a downhill sweeping curve If it’s just noise then clutch or pilot bearing related. vibrating under load is usually inner cv axle joint or front differential. surprised it doesn’t do it when accelerating up hill. Try getting to a stop sign facing up a steep slope and accelerating fast while turning very sharply. Does it make noise then? If you suspect front diff - drain the front diff fluid and sift through the oil for gear bits or swirly metal Thunk between shifts is probably the rear differential bushings or transmission bushings. Window weld can be used to fill in the old rear diff bushings. Clean and prep well. Cut cardboard circles to hold the window weld in place from one side,’and slowly build it up a little at a time so it doesn’t “fall” or flow out of place

Look for a complete hatch. Can you just live with it? If leaking, have it reinstalled. If it’s shattered and hard to find a replacement I wouldn’t be beyond attempting a DIY polycarbonate solution with an eye towards easy future replacement. Some car folks use them for unavailable parts and some postions are less problematic than others. NASCAR vehicles use it. Of course they’re designed with it in mind but the rear hatch is about the best place to use it and mitigates most of the downsides. .

T-Type: is that the 1/2” T shape trim at the exterior top of the windshield? The stalk of the “T” sits down in the windshield gasket?

Miss the simpler days as well. I've ran into issues with that area before fender, headlights, grille, hood all follow one anothers curves. trying to figure out which of those need to be swapped to use different year parts.

Yep, more logistics, though still the best option in terms of price, warranty, and local access rather than shipping the product and shipping potential warranty claims.

Don’t know, only have the H6 one written down and it’s not the same part number.

Subaru part # 10103AB820 New Subaru short block, 3 year Subaru warranty, $2,000 https://parts.raffertysubaru.com/p/Subaru__Legacy/Short-Block-Engine/49223018/10103AB820.html