macnore

I have 2005 outback with a SOHC with 100,000 miles. The timing belt was changed (DIY) 3500 miles ago. Now just recently there is a odd noise on cold startups which goes away after a couple of minutes. The frequency does NOT seem to match the speed of the idle. Sounds like something bouncing around inside near the front of the engine. Could this be a injector going bad and when the engine warms up a little the fuel can ignite more fully? Or could this be a knock sensor? Could it be that simple?

I had a problem with fuel supply and thought it was the fuel filter. But doing some research I came across a thread that warned against over filling the fuel tank. I was in the (bad) habit of squeezing as much gas in the tank as I possibly could and in doing so the extra fuel ran in the overflow and in to the CAT which will cause premature failure of the CAT. Try not to over fill your tank if indeed this is something you might be doing. Maybe the raw fuel will burn off and things will return to normal. It is possible that your rear O2 sensor will need replacing.

To whom it may concern: if you think my Subaru came with this problem you are wrong. The rather rapid onset of this twitchie problem started after about 95,000 miles. the tire are in good shape and I don,t carry dog food. This problem started abruptly, one day it was fine and over the next two days it was there (on the same road, at the same time of day, at around 40mph and with the same two average people in the outback). I then parked the car for the winter. Perhaps it is the rear struts. So far I have not read any comments by somebody with a 05 outback with this problem that has resolved it. So please lets keep this simple by not speculating and maybe we can make the roads a safer for all..... I feel better now!