[First road trip in my 2004 Forester XS]

On 5/26/2020 at 4:54 PM, forester2002s said:

Check your spare tire!

And check that the wheel lug-nuts are not on so tight, that you cannot remove them using the Subaru-supplied wheel-wrench.

I just had to take my tires off not too long ago so I know they shouldn't be torqued to tightly  

[First road trip in my 2004 Forester XS]

On 5/26/2020 at 7:05 PM, 1 Lucky Texan said:

make sure you have a quality (Japanese preferred) radiator cap.

maybe swing by Discount Tire and have them check for nails.

clean the glass inside and out.

does a Forry have a cabin air filter? - when was it changed last?

 

I do, I'll do a full wipe down before I leave. Turns out they do I've never thought about it, meaning at least 2 years haha

[First road trip in my 2004 Forester XS]

On 5/26/2020 at 5:10 PM, heartless said:

probably tension needs adjusting, but check the belt for cracking. If you see cracking time to replace it.. if no cracking, just adjust the tension a little

a good metric socket set, spare belt, and a ready to mount spare are pretty much the number one requirements for a long trip.. also a good jack and tire tool, to get the spare on the car if needed.

On a long trip, i might carry a bottle of premixed coolant, and a quart of oil or two.. maybe a bottle of tranny fluid (also used as power steering fluid) and a small bottle of brake fluid. Probably wouldn't use all of them, but nice to have handy if needed.

Luckily no cracking, belt still looks to be in great condition. I'll have to pick up a metric socket set this weekend. Thanks for the advice! 

[First road trip in my 2004 Forester XS]

3 hours ago, john in KY said:

Check coolant level and go for it.  Do't over think this.

Thanks, sometimes I think worst case scenario when it comes to cars, better safe than sorry haha 

[First road trip in my 2004 Forester XS]

3 minutes ago, ocei77 said:

+1^ and the rest of your fluids

As a precaution I keep an alternator belt in the car and basic sockets and wrenchs

You can drive about an hour w/o one, but then I would probably be in the middle of nowhere.

O.

That's a good call! As of last week my belts squeak extremely loud when first starting my car, and occasionally when accelerating from a complete stop. I've been extremely busy and haven't had time to pop the hood and check it out. Any ideas on what's most likely the cause? The belts are less than a year old :/

[First road trip in my 2004 Forester XS]

Hi!

This is my first post in this forum so please excuse any formatting mistakes. I own a 2004 Subaru Forester XS with roughly 175,000 miles on it and am going on a road trip from Utah to Montana (an 8 hour drive) in the middle of July. The farthest I've taken my sub so far is roughly 2 hours one way. Last year I had my head gaskets replaced, I recently replaced my ball joints, rear hub bearing, got new belts, and had my ac fixed. I'm pretty nervous about taking this long of a trip as I don't know how it will hold up. Does anyone have any advice on things I should check, precautions to take, or any information that might prove useful to avoid any problems during the trip? Thanks!