onangaf

There is a very bad odor (kinda smells like sh_t) coming from the air vents in my 2004 Outback. Everyone that gets in my car comments (What's That Smell). After trying to do a little research on the problem I thought it might be mold growing in the air vents. So I took car to my local dealer, they said they put some kind of stuff down the vents and gave me my car back. Well of course I could no longer smell the KA-Ka because of the strong perfume smell coming from the vents of the stuff they put in there. After about a week and a half the perfume smell started to wear off and the Ka-Ka smell has come back. I run the AC all the time, and in recirculation mode. I have to or the windows will fog up. If I use outside air mode, I just get alot of gas fumes in the cabin. Anybody have any idea as to what the Ka-Ka smell I'm having could be from, and/or how to fix the problem. PS, the dealer did not say that there was a mold problem, they just put the perfume smelling stuff in because I told them it might be a mold problem. The car has 17,000 miles on it and is of almost no use to me if its gonna smell like cr_p all the time. Appreciate any help given on this matter.

2004 Subaru Outback - 8,000+/- miles. A rock hit my windshield and left a star burst about the size of a nickel. A local glass company came and sealed up the star burst. The star burst is located about in the middle of the passenger side windshield. To replace the whole windshield is about $350. The money to replace the whole windshield is not an issue. The question is (opinion) with the money not being an issue would you go ahead and replace the windshield, or would you just leave it alone because a replaced windshield will never have the same water tight seal as the original factory seal, and you'd just be asking for water seal problems in the future. Your opinions please.

No, why do you ask that? My other cars AC compressors would cycle on during HOT days, but no where near the frequency of every 12 seconds. Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Toyota Celica, VW Jetta, Mitsu. Montero, Ford Taurus, Jeep Cherokee, none of these autos AC compressors (fans) cycled on/off like my new subie. For peace of mind I need to go to the Subaru dealer and test drive a new Outback and check to see if it's fans cycle ON/OFF "every 12 seconds" like mine does, if so, I'll feel better knowing mine isn't broken. ( I have no way of knowing if the cycling every 12 seconds is what it should be doing or not, and my dealer can not give me an answer, so that is why I turn to the forum for help.)

But should they cycle on "every 12 seconds" "all the time" whenever AC or Defrost is on. It's the every 12 seconds thats bothering me. I could see maybe every minute or two the fans and/or the air compressor cycling on/off, but every 12 seconds seems to much, especially because of the performance hit the car suffers whenever the fans and/or air compressor is cycling on/off. Both my fans will cycle every 12 seconds "all the time" for however long I let the car idle at a stopped condition w/ the AC or defrost on. Thanks for your reply jcase.

Thanks for the reply Jim. This is really frustrating for me. I can not get a straight answer from my dealer and I can not find a way to contact SOA to get an answer. I guess it's better for the fans to come on to much rather than not at all. My concern is that a sensor may be bad or that the freeon level may be low causing the system to go into a fail safe mode where the fans just run constantly all the time every 12 seconds in my case, and with so much cycling on and off you know the fans will wear out sooner than they should or a switch will burn out or something else bad. Also the fans seem to take some power from the engine which means the engine has to work harder and use more gas. I just wish I knew if this was "normal" or not. Well at least I'm not alone.

I need some info from other Outback owners. I have a 2004 Outback 4cyl. w/ 7,500 miles on it (not even broken in yet). When I turn on the air conditioner or turn knob to a defrost setting, the (2) cooling fans under the hood behind the radiator start to cycle ON and OFF every 12 seconds. These fans will cycle ON / OFF all day long with the air conditioner on or with the defrost setting on. It does not matter what the temperature is outside or if the car is warmed up or not, the fans will cycle ON /OFF all day long or until car runs out of gas. Does anyone know if these fans should be cycling ON and OFF like this every 12 seconds, it seems a bit much, do any of you have this constant fan cycling every 12 seconds? I've taken the car to the dealer twice now to have this looked at, but I don't know if they just don't understand what I'm telling them or what. The 1st time to the dealer they told me I needed to bring car back when the outside temperature was 70 degrees or higher (it was in the mid 60's that day). I took it to the dealer today (76 degrees outside) They called me told me my car was ready and that the air conditioner was working fine. So I got in my car started it up turned on the air conditioner and sure enough the fans started cycling every 12 seconds. I guess all they did was check to see if the air conditioner was working (which it always has worked fine) it's the fans cycling every 12 seconds that's the problem or at least it seems like a problem to me. So that is why I need some help from others so that I can tell if these constant cycling fans are a problem or if everyone's Outback does that and that is what they are supposed to do. By the way I asked the mechanic straight up if the fans should cycle every 12 seconds, but he could not give me a straight answer, he just stated that the fans will come on when they need to. If anyone has any info on this matter I'd appreciate it. Thanks

Does anyone know where I can purchase one of the round plastic fog light grilles for a 2004 outback? Dealer wants $50 for this piece of plastic. Thanks

I have a 2004 Outback (2.5) with 7,300 miles on it. From day one whenever I turn on the air conditioner or switch to a defrost setting, the (2) cooling fans under the hood cycle ON for 12 seconds then shut OFF for 12 seconds then come ON again for 12 seconds then shut OFF again for 12 seconds etc. etc. This cooling fan cycling ON / OFF every 12 seconds will do this every time and will continue to cycle every 12 seconds until the car runs out of gas. It does not matter what the temperature is outside it will cycle like this if it is 95 degrees or 25 degrees outside. When the cycling fans come on my headlights will dim and the tach will increase. I had previously posted this problem here before and someone stated that the freeon may be low and causing this. So I made an appointment with the dealer, took the car in, explained the problem, had them bring the mechanic to experience the problem while I was there, at first the mechanic started to tell me this was normal, then he started telling me how the fans operate depending on outside temperature, I told them it did not matter what temperture it was outside it will cycle every 12 seconds no matter what, I also asked them if the low freeon could be causing the cycling and could they check the level. My final response from the dealer mechanic was that they have no way of checking the freeon level all they can do is re-charge the system and that they can not really even look at this issue unless it is 70 degrees or warmer outside, (today it was 65). They could not tell me if constant cycling every 12 seconds was a problem or not. So I'm going to have to wait until it's 70 degrees out and take it back. Do all you Outback owners have your cooling fans cycling ON and OFF every 12 seconds with the air conditioner on or on a defrost setting???? Is this normal???? Thanks for any input (sorry message so long)

I have a 2004 Outback (4 cyl) w/ 5,800 miles on it. The compressor motor (I'm guessing) seems to be constantly cycling on/off. What ever it is that is cycling on/off, drains power from the engine, I noticed my lights will dim as it is cycling. At first I thought the cycling was only happening while running the air conditioner or the interior air setting or with the air set to a defrost setting, but the other day I had everything off and whatever it is would still be cycling on/off about every 13 seconds when at a stopped condition, and I can watch my tach revs lower while its cycling. When standing outside the car you can really hear the (motor/compressor) cycling on and off. Does anyone else have this situation? Is this normal for the heating cooling system in the Outbacks? Could this be a faulty compressor switch? Also while standing outside the car listening to the compressor cycling on and off, I noticed a rotten egg smell coming from the exhaust, is this normal? Thanks for anyones input!