potter2010

Years ago I had a battery mysteriously draining overnight. Replaced the battery as it was pretty shot, still happened. Everything seemed to check out initially. I even took it to NAPA (where I got the battery - small town) and they hooked it up to their fancy battery and charging system tester. They gave it the thumbs up. After much searching and advice from online I ended up finding it was a leaking diode on the alternator. I can't remember the various tests I did but this rings a bell: Hook up a load tested, or multimeter should work, to the battery terminals then start up the car. The charging voltage should look good but give it a minute and if the voltage slowly drops below what is acceptable that can indicate a bad diode. The more knowledgeable members can certainly correct me on this and maybe I'm way off base with the issue but thought I mention this. Could you swap the alternator from the other Forester into this one and see if the issue persists?

I had a similar gas smell on my 2001 Legacy but only in the winter and when idling or driving slowly. On advice from the forum I went around and tightened things up and it went away. I wasn't leaking anything but enough vapours were escaping somewhere.

I'm no expert but for a 1997 I was say that going to the dealer is overkill if you're only going for supplies. I've looked around and Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Full Synthetic Motor Oil seem to be the top recommendation for a Subaru, though there's lots of opinions out there. It's not cheap and if you're thinking that the car isn't going to last for many years something cheaper should work fine. I think that generation only calls for traditional oil anyway so it wouldn't hurt it to go non-synthetic but quality oil. For oil filters I've had MANN, WIX, and Purolator recommended to me. Basically anything but FRAM, though some people like them. I didn't get around to replacing my transmission fluid on my older Subaru so I'm not sure if you really need to real stuff, but again it depends on how long you think it'll last. I'm driving a 2010 now and the Subaru fluid was strongly recommended to me. The 2010s don't have a replaceable filter on the transmission but a 1997 should and I would think that the same companies that are good for oil filters should be good for transmission ones as well, just my assumption.

I'm no expert but my thought would be that larger, wider tires would have more rubber in contact with the ground which should provide more grip. Now, how much difference would there be between those two? I don't know, probably not a ton. I'm interested if I'm correct or not.

Okay, okay. I'll admit I was taken in by this but I've learned my lesson now. I've been looking up the process for a 2010 Outback 2.5 CVT. A few questions: -No one seems to change the filters. Granted it seems like a pain to get to and is rated 'lifetime' (but I've been taken in by that before). Is this something that needs doing? -A few guides mention that a relearning should be done at a shop afterwards. Yes, no? - Amsoil CVT fluid was mentioned as good, if I can't get ahold of this or Subaru fluid, anything else recommended or to stay away from? Thanks!

A bit of a tangent, but I have a 2010 Outback for a couple years now and maybe I'm horribly wrong but I thought the service schedule said the CVT fluid wasn't to be touched. Did this change on the newer generations or should I quickly change mine?

I did it on a 2001 Legacy I had, next generation but should be similar, and it was quite easy other than as mentioned getting the plug out. Depending on how long the current block heater has been in there it may be just as hard. Have a piece of pipe handy or a long cheater bar and maybe someone to turn it as you hold it in place. Nothing was in the way and other then a bit of coolant making a puddle it wasn't bad. Remember to use high temp stuff on the threads, I think it's the red one that was recommended? It was a few years ago I did it but if I remember correctly a socket fit over the end of the heater plug to tighten it in so should be the same to loosen it. The 2010 Outback I have was a pain as the exhaust is in the way. :S

I'll have to take a look at the specifics to my year/model as there have been a few different ways posted on here and on Youtube and see which is the easiest. It seems as long as you can create enough give there's no one specific way. Thanks everyone for the advice, I probably wouldn't have made my way to the seal until I'd replaced a few other things. It might take be a bit of time to get the part and do it but as long as the snow doesn't get too deep and the temperature not too far below zero it looks like something I could take on. I'll post the update once it's done. Thanks again!

Sounds like some wingnut did. I've looked at some image tutorials online and seems like I could theoretically do it myself, though I'll guarantee it'll be longer than an hour for me. I'm still in the learning stage. It looks like I can get enough play on the axle by unbolting a few other things to get it out so I may get away without having to get an alignment after since everything doesn't need to be disassembled. Wish I had your shop nearby! There's some things I'll take the gamble on but a seal like this certainly makes sense to go Subaru brand. I figured the axles were probably similar to other but if I'm not mistaken the 2010 was the first year of that generation so it's good to know that even going back to 2005 will be the same/similar. When we replace them I'll get Subaru ones, and I wanted to last time, but just couldn't do it with the other repairs and buying a second vehicle. My wife also gets parts through NAPA at cost +10% so it was hard to pass up! I've played around with digital FSM before but how the heck does anyone ever find anything in them? I'm assuming a true physical copy is a easier but I seem to spend longer going through the files than what it'd take to do the repair.

Damn. I was hoping for a easier/cheaper fix. Everyone here seems to agree that it's gear oil leaking and the axle seal seems like it might be where the leak is coming from versus the gasket since the inner cv joint isn't dry and that side of the differential is wet. I'm guessing the procedure for putting in a new seal would be very similar to replacing a half axle, a butt load of work, though I still need to check my Haynes manual. Is there any chance of the non-Subaru axle causing damage or needing to be replaced at the same time as the seal? About how long do these seals last? I'm wondering if the axle change damaged it or it could have just gone on its own.

Thanks for the replies. It's Thanksgiving weekend up here in Canada so I've been away/busy for the last few days. I got under there today and checked the fluid as 1 Lucky Texan mentioned since when I initially noticed it I just wiped it up. It hadn't been driven much in the past week so there wasn't as much dripping as before but what I could get was, minus the dirt, honey coloured and had a smell of grease/glue stick/bit of exhaust. From searching I'm thinking this is differential fluid? I only had a few drops to go on but didn't smell like oil to me. With regards to Coryl, we bought the vehicle almost two years ago from the second owner. He was an independant mechanic and Subaru fan. From my knowledge everything was up to date on the maintenance prior to the purchase. I keep up with the minor stuff like oil changes myself but brought it in last winter for a few things that were due since we were going to be in a City with a dealership and I didn't feel like messing around outside at -40. I'm assuming everything they did was done decently well and probably as you say it just loosened things up. I'd probably follow up with the dealership, even though it has been ~6 months since who knows what they'd say, but it's a seven hour round trip so may not be worth it. We had a bunch of front end stuff last fall and winter needing to be replaced, practically new under there. I had some noise from the inner joint when driving and had a local mechanic change the axle since I was on the fence if I'd be able to do it myself, never done it before. Lots of people speak highly of him. It is a non-Subaru axle as the mounting repair costs were getting up there and it was a bit out of our budget at that time. I fully understand that it'll probably go earlier that a Subaru one but I knew that going in. I didn't reboot it as the joint was making noise. When I looked today the inner joint area isn't 'wet' but it isn't dry either. I figured it was whatever was leaking getting up there but maybe it's the grease coming down? You can probably see based on the differential, or so I've read, that this has a CVT if that makes a difference. Any thoughts as to the two possibilities? Thanks again everyone.

I have a 2010 Subaru Outback 2.4L with about 144,000 miles. I was doing an oil change on Monday and saw some fluid leaking. The area I've circled had fluid on it with it 'pooling' on the bolt near the middle of the circle. It appears to be coming from the front differential but I am by no means an expert and was wondering if I was right. I'm only guessing this because of the 'Diff Oil' label to the right. Last winter as part of some scheduled maintenance I had a Subaru dealer replace the differential oil since it was -40c out and a couple of the things were beyond my comfort level. Over the summer the Subaru is our second vehicle so it didn't get driven much but I started noticing some small spots of fluid on the driveway. I wasn't too worried and was going to check next time I was under there as there wasn't any major spots and I couldn't see anything from the top. If it is the a differential seal/gasket, it seems like something that needs replacing before it destroys itself from what I'm read but I wanted to get some thoughts before running ahead and doing something. Thanks!

I ended up getting this on a little while ago. I figured out what my confusion was.....they are already opened up! I was thinking they needed to be squeezed open but just needed to be squeezed so they get over the lip and close. Other than that it went well with only a few drops ended up on the driveway.

I had the same issue with my 2001 Legacy. Never did figure it out but seemed like it was the neutral safety switch.

Oops, yes, it's a 2010 Outback. Yes, that o-ring and clamps. The clamps looked a little odd so I thought I'd ask about opening them before I get out there and have to figure it out. So squeezing the two tabs opens them enough to fit on? It seemed like it was probably that simple but I wanted to double check. Ah, yes. Thanks for the suggestion. I probably wouldn't have thought of that but I expect there to be some spillage. I'm hoping to siphon out the reservoir to minimise the mess since I'm taking the hose off but in reality it probably won't be as clean as I hope. I'll also toss some pig pads underneath. Hopefully this takes care of the whine.