millers15

Fairtax4me and Bushwick- Subaru dealer in southern New Jersey says a "converter" (?) in the transmission is not functioning properly. Apparently this part can be replaced without replacing the transmission. The dealer called Subaru of America, and the home office said "replace the entire transmission, and charge the customer zero" Although the 2007 Legacy only has 65,000 miles, we still thought that this was generous, and are very pleased. While we have had more repairs with our Subaru's than we foresaw, we have been extremely happy with Subaru of America on more than one occasion. They have more than stood behind their vehicles with us. When we bought the Tribeca, the GPS was messed up and the dealer failed repeatedly to fix it. Eventually it was fixed, and Subaru of America made 3 car payments for us as a compensation for our repeated trouble with a new vehicle. thanks you both for your efforts and time -doug

Fairtax4me Thanks so much. It may be a little while until I post again. I most likely will take it to Subaru dealer an hour away. Talk soon thanks again. Will post when I have an update -doug

Fairtax4me more info/clarification. my wife reminds me that a Subaru dealer that we sometimes use out of state put 4 new snow/all wheel drive tires on in December. The ride is a little rougher than before, but Subaru dealer said that this is to be expected. There is not much "profile" to 2007 Legacy tires (distance between wheel and the road.) And we are happy to exchange a less than "super soft" ride for excellent traction Our mechanic, in trying to figure out this issue, mentioned to my wife that if tires are not placed on the car "correctly" that their could be significant consequences and damage to the vehicle. I do not know what he meant about "correct" tire installation (tires that belong on the back being put on the front ? who knows ?) or what he meant in terms of damage but I think he was saying that it was a possible source of this issue, unless we completely misunderstood him. Anyway, he made these comments a while back, before he changed the plugs, wires, and did transmission service. My wife is confident that this issue started a couple of months after the new tires were put on (earlier than what I had said in a previous post, so NOT around the time the dealership looked at the brake linings due to a recall concern-the issue started before that.) She says that the first time that it happened, she was accelerating after the vehicle was idling at a red light. It has happened many times while driving straight down the road at various steady speeds. Thanks again so much for all your time and effort -doug

Fairtax4me http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums/66-problems-maintenance/26509-help-someone-anyone-hesitation-returned.html it is about the 8th post (by dpregs) thanks again -doug

Fairtax4me I will look for that link thanks doug

Bushwick thank you again, and excellent information to be aware of -doug

Fairtax4me, nothing else replaced. On a seemingly unrelated matter, the dealership checked brake linings as part of a Subaru recall. Obviously would seemingly have nothing to do with this, but my wife pointed out that this "rumbling" issue started around the time the dealership looked at the brake linings. If you are thinking I am cynical enough to believe that there are cases of mechanics/dealers accidentally or purposefully causing a new unrelated problem, you are correct, I have become that cynical. thanks again -doug

Fairtax4me, My mechanic, who I have a lot of reason to trust completely, says he changed plugs and wires. This has been going on about 3 months. thanks again -doug

Fairtax4me, Which blog ? do you mean where the person mentioned that they had occasional bucking,etc from 40,000 miles to 139,000 (with subaru dealer failing 5 times to see an error code) before a bad episode of it sent them to a nearby Firestone dealer who correctly diagnosed it and replaced a sensor ? Or the blog where the person listed (an older method per your comment) the method to check a TPS to see if it was faulty ? Thank you Fairtax4me -doug

Re-read the posts and I may have mislead Fairtax4me and/or Bushwick. I am not familiar with code scanners, but I was under the impression that my mechanic could in fact "establish a connection" with the scanner but that he was not getting any error codes. (I can double check with him tomorrow) I am sorry if I was communicating something differently. Bushwick: are you saying that in those 2 instances that the scanner was not even "connecting" properly due to bent/misaligned pins ? (regardless of the presence or absence of error codes) Thank you again -doug

Dear Fairtax4me, Thank you again. I appreciate your help very much. You are probably correct that the TPS is not the issue, and I will most likely either try to find an independent garage familiar with Subaru's as you suggested or take a longer drive to a Subaru dealer about an hour away, as the one extremely close has a terrible track record, including with their lack of honesty. Meanwhile, will try to rule out the issue Bushwick had. Thank you Bushwick, and thank you Fairtax4me -doug

Can't tell you a lot, but our close friends have a base model 2007 Forrester (too small for their liking and they wish it had a few options). They have put a ton of miles on it with very few repairs needed. We are the original owners of a 2007 Tribeca that has all options as it was basically a dealer demo. We are basically happy with it and will continue to drive it, but are relieved we bought the gold warranty as there has been numerous repair issues. Also, gas milage has been maybe only 15 city and 19 highway, despite using premium gas (not required). We have owned a 2007 Legacy station wagon since January 2012 and are having issues with it, but love the incomparable handling and safety of Subaru's and will continue to drive Subaru's. I suggest negotiating a good price on a gold warranty unless you are a mechanic. On your decision which model, make sure you are ok with not having certain options. Also look up which has more cubic centimeters (interior space). Do they both have removable mats for the back ? Similar tire life ? Car fax report and/or Subaru maintenance/repair record ? Roof rack and/or rear hitch available ? If so, with which vehicle can they be had for lower price ? If you want one of these or both, negotiate now for them after they give you their "bottom" price (ask for them for free, and compromise if necessary that you will pay for the part and they install for free) I am sure that you realize that the later model year Forresters and Outbacks are larger and more similar in size to the Tribeca, which does not sell well, maybe because of gas milage. Adjust the seats forward and back and have you and other relevant parties sit everywhere. By the way, I would buy a Forrester or Outback, and would probably decide based on price and my above comments Hope some of this helps -doug

Is this a correct method to diagnose if I have a bad TPS (found in another site) ? Also I want to confirm that you are saying that I have TWO TPS's. Thank you. The throttle position sensor, TPS for short, is a sensor that is used in an internal combustion engine. These can be fuel injected engines or carbureted engines. The TPS is used to monitor the position of the throttle butterfly valve. When we accelerate, the butterfly opens a little or a lot to allow air into the intake manifold, depending on how much you are accelerating. There are a few signs that could be a signal that the throttle position sensor is failing. The first and foremost is a possibility that your check engine light could come on; this is a light on the dash that sometimes appears as a little engine or sometimes it simply says check engine. Next scenario is that the car idles rough, this is when the vehicle is in a stationary position and you get a rough feeling from the engine almost as if the vehicle wants to stall out. Finally you may find that the vehicle hesitates on acceleration. To make a proper diagnosis we first need to get our tools in order. The main and only item in the tool list is what is called an ohm volt meter. Once you have identified the TPS sensor, turn on the ignition, do not start the car, make sure the volt meter is on twelve volts DC. Locate the connector that goes from the ECM (engine control module) to the TPS. Once you find this disconnect it completely from the throttle position sensor. There are three prongs; the center prong is usually the negative connector. Once this is done, take the volt meter and connect the negative side (usually the black wire) to the ground terminal on the battery. When this is done take the positive lead, (usually the red wire) and attach it to one of the other prongs. The volt meter should read five volts, if you are on the reference wire for the TPS. If it reads anything below five volts then you are on the signal wire and need to go to the other prong in the connector. If it reads nothing on the volt meter then you are on the negative connector. Once you locate the reference wire, and it reads five volts then you know that you are getting proper reference voltage to the TPS. Therefore you have just eliminated a faulty power feed to ECM. The next step is to put connector back on the Throttle Position Sensor. Take the positive lead for the volt meter and put it to the signal wire in the back of the connector, this is known as back probing. Take the negative lead from the volt meter and put it to the center wire which is negative on the connector, take the butterfly shaft and turn it gradually and as you turn it you should get a gradual count upwards to five volts. If the volts fluctuate backwards or forwards then you know you have a faulty throttle position sensor.

Thank you so much. Will look into diagnosing with a high-end scanner as you suggest. Meanwhile, have I misunderstood, or is the best way to proceed at this point, or is there are other possible causes that would make sense to look into right now ? Thank you again -doug

Don't know which plugs were used, but I could find out. The issue was going on before the plugs were replaced (although the plug replacement was probably due, the plug replacement was an attempt to fix the issue) Any idea how we would narrow the issue down to a bad TPS ? (more sophisticated scanner than what my mechanic possesses, as you mentioned in your earlier post ?). Also, what might be a good vendor to purchase a throttle body ? I really appreciate your help !

It only happens when driving and not turning. However the mechanic working on it for us noted that he felt there might be a turning issue. It basically happens while accelerating and usually at low rpms. It feels like a "hopping" of the rear wheels as if the transmission and engine are not communicating to each other. The transmission has been checked and looks good. Just did a tune up and changed the transmission fluid and filter. There is only 65,000 miles on the vehicle so while we did the spark plugs I am not sure the O2 sensors are ready to be changed. The mechanic also indicated that he couldn't get a reading on the diagnostic scanner. Just read a blog that advised that their Subaru was doing something similar since it had 40,000 miles on it (now has over 130K) and finally someone at Firestone replaced the TPS4165 Trottle Posn Sensor and it seems to have helped. Would like your thoughts???

Let me correct bad grammar and a lack of clarity on my above question (next time I need to proof read). Middle of the post should read "he found no bits of metal when doing transmission service and he said that this usually indicates that there is NO transmission issue" Thanks Doug

Our 2007 Legacy Station Wagon (owned since january 2012) has recently started to give us intermittent rumbling sound/loss of power for 2-4 seconds only intermittently. It is not loud. On a 15 minute drive it may occur 2-6 times. It feels like maybe transmission/axle/all wheel drive related. (Computer or sensor related ?). Our mechanic, who we have had take excellent care of 9 different extended family vehicles over the last 15 years, is somewhat baffled but has experienced this issue himself on test drives. He just did replace the transmission oil in an attempt to resolve the problem and also looking for bits of metal at that time, but not found no bits of metal and said that the result often indicates that there is probably on transmission issue. We recently experienced a failing transmission on a 1996 Montero and the issue with the Legacy does not feel similar. The local Subaru dealer is a train wreck and dishonest. Our mechanic says he is getting no error codes (don't know if it is possible to check for diagnostic error codes for a long period of time during a test drive). I read one post on another site that seemed to be describing a similar issue and that 5 trips to the Subaru dealer yielded no error codes or resolution but that when the issue worsened, they happened to be near a Firestone dealer who immediately diagnosed a bad sensor, and they replaced the sensor and resolved the issue. Any ideas ? Thanks- Doug