Pilgrim 54

'05, OBW, 4 cyl, 5sp, 54K miles started rapping on cold (15deg F) morning on start up. Never done this b4. Would last apx 5 minutes at which time it would get less and less till it disappeared completely. Was doing this everytime it started up with verying intensity, dirrectly related to ambiant temp. That's right. It never did it... Then once it did it, it always did it on cold start up only. Took it to the dealer and was diagnosed with a bad T-belt tensioner which they replaced (on 100,000 mile warrentee). Replaced the tensioner on maintenance 15 months ago when I discovered the belt was loose on the big turdy tousand mile service. Was surprised to find the T-belt loose but there it was. Since I was already in there I did it myself. You had a warrentee and u did it yurself?! Like I said I was already in there. I saw it as a chance to bond with my car... and I've been turning wrenches a long time... That's my story and I'm sticking to it... Yes, I used a torque wrench. Replaced an Idler pully and the belt as well which I felt were SLIGHTLY worn but worn non-the-less by the slack. All this was ONLY 15 months and 15.5K miles ago after which the car ran great, smoother too, with no problem. The Sube dealer, who did the work this time, found no other issues...nothing was lose...and replaced only the tensioner saying it was "beginning to freeze". The one I replaced was frozen and the engine made no noise; just caught it on maintanence. The end result is on cold start up everything's fine...noise gone...all's well. QUESTION: So what to f@*%? Is this going to be a continuing saga? I can't believe with all these like built engines runninig around that I got two defective tensioners?! How common an issue is this??!! The first tensioner let go @ 38K/2.75 yrs and the second just 15.5K/1.5yrs latter? I guess I'll have to start pulling a belt tension inspection every 12K? Hell the new WRX uses a couple tensioners and variable ones besides to achieve their variable valve timing if I'm looking at the picture in the Performance mag correctly! EAGADS, I'm glad I don't have to deal with that complexity! So are these tensioners messing up with this kind of frequency for others out there or am I just lucky? PILGRM

USMBs a great sight! Thanks for all the imput one and all!!! Have a great Holiday!! I'm on the side....Pilgrim

Ferret You hit the nail on the head. Read my post about the tensionre. Great advice!! This thing could have caused a great deal of pain had one of the cam gears slipped timing!! Pilgrim

Nipper The reason I looked at the timing belt was it is supposed to be inspected at the 30K service. Then this fiasco started cause upon removing the inspection cover on the left side of the engine I found I could move the belt up and down about an inch!! Now that is simply not right. This car does not get a lot of miles on it. It sits some times for a week at a time. Finally got the thing disassembled. (Used the old tried and true starter motor method.) Upon removing the lower belt idler pullies with the belt sitting there with no tension on it the tensioner snapped all the way open all of a sudden. It was bound up. New tensioner ought to do the trick. Trouble is the one that was on there was not that old to begin with.

I think the belt is loose because I removed the left inspection cover and discovered I could move the belt coming from the left cam (SOHC) up and down about an inch!!!?? Can't be good. Using a starter motor to remove this bolt is an old trick I've employed in the past but was not even sure of the thread factor. Though left handed thread was a stretch I've never seen b4 I've never seen a hydrolic tensioner before on a timing belt! (Why rounded belt cogs?? Just to tempt fate??!!) So what is the proper torque for reassembly? Once again I must say your help is appreciated. Have a good day all. Pilgrim

Trying to remove the harmonic ballencer to get the timing belt cover off!!?? Timing belt is loose and needs to be tightened up. 2005 H-4 non-turbo engine. What in the hell did they put the thing on there with a 550# pneumatic wrench!!?? What & where do we hold the engine so it don't turn over? Put it in gear with the E-brake on as tight as I dare and that did not work. Took the starter out and found a place to engage the flywheel gear then proceeded to bend a Snap-on 30" breaker bar!!!! Is it left handed threads? Anyone been here done this?

One of the things everyone SHOULD do when considering any vehicle purchase is pull sample VINs from similar rides you're interested in, then take them to your insurance provider. Suddenly a sweet deal might not be such... Realizing you're going to have to pay those costs year after year. Insurance premiums are a great indicator of real safety as the provider is EXTREMELY biased and bases their rates on the true cost of claims in the past. Their premiums are simply a matter of business. When I purchased our '05 OBW I used this method and it worked well. When the agent looked up the OBW her reaction was one of disbelief! She wondered outloud how the premium of an auto in the price range of a new OBW could be so low. To me anyway that spoke volumes about safety comparrisons with other manufactures. The insurer base their premiums on ALL factors. In other words not just personal injury but costs of property damage as well as repairs. Something to think about. She told me that it is surprising how many people don't even consider the cost of insuring a vehicle in their chioce of a new car. Pilgrim 54

And we've had trouble with it since it was new. Had the reprogram et all...Living in the hills of western Pennsylvania we USE our OBW, 5M. We don't abuse it but we do our share of dirt roads out here. We miss it when it's not here but they did give us fuel and they ran it over a hundred miles not "hundreds of miles". The important thing is they think they found something. Thursday the 15th they're going to install the new switch so we'll have the results for you post that....Pilgrim 54

Pilgrim 54 here...Took it to the dealer and left it there for four days. They put better than a hundred miles on it and discovered that the neultral switch is malfunctioning as you described!! They did not have the part in stock and have ordered it. Will have it installed this coming week and will post the results. Thanks Jim

Boy time flys when you're having fun...Our '05 OBW now has better than 32K miles on it and things were going swimmingly when one day on an extended ride the cruise shut off... Over the past three of four months this has gone from a V E R Y intermittent occurance to the way it was b4 we had the "flash". Have had it back to the dealer twice now and been dealing with SOA as well but have been unable to get it to act up while the tech is in the car!!! Am bringing it in Monday 02/26/07 and leaving the car there for four days till Thursday. Just going to let them take it and drive it to replicate the problem.. Going through this crap all over again and SOA acts like they've never seen anything like this before! It is UNBELIEVABLE that anybody could take such a poor interest in the quality of a basic function such as this. With all of the paperwork that we've generated and the fact that this is our first Subaru one would believe that they'd be upfront and proactive with a lasting fix. But no all they want to do is turn a blind eye. Pretend there is no elephant in the room! I'm reminded here about their choice of tires to put on an automobile that is designed to go anywhere at anytime in any weather. The BF Goodrich PE92s on the car were so bad I had them removed and canned them. They still had great life on them with 29500 miles on them. Why shouldn't they they're made out of plastic!! But I digress... I know it does not sound it, but we love our car and use the AWD weekly having to travel a dirt road a couple of times a week. The car is solid, responsive (for the size of it) and comfortable. I would rate it's overall build quallity as above normal. Perhaps this is why this fundamental, now reoccuring flaw is so exasperating. What is truely aggrivating is SOAs reaction to this reoccurring problem. Why not simply take the bull by the horns and fix the thing without making us go through these ridiculous hoops and ladders!!! I must remember the tires...What a shame. Pilgrim 54

80MPH @ 3000!!! Holy cow I'd leave that alone. Would love numbers like that. But as I say I'm turning 3300 RPM to get 70!!! That's simply too fast to expect decent mileage not to mention longevity. Certainly it seems that there must be someone out there who's addressed this problem.

Pilgrim 54 here. My '05 Outback wagon with a 5-speed manual is geared too low!!!! 70MPH is 3300RPM! That's simply too damn fast! Still I get 26-29 MPG But I know that I could do so much better if I could get the cruising engine speed down to about 2600. Already I'm using about a quart of oil every 1500miles and I'm not surprised at this consumption because of the Rs it's running. Has anyone out there got a fix? Are there trans gear choices? Rear ends would be cost prohibitive. For example what about using a 6-speed out of a STI? Is the 6th gear an overdrive? Seems hard to believe Subaru would use this low a gear in Germany. There must be choices....

Pilgrim 54 here After all these months since Thanksgiving I must admit that I've not been on-site much to keep up with the latest on this thread. Update on my '05 Outback 2.5i is that it's functioning FLAWLESSLY...still. Have put on about 5000 miles since the flash and it does not surge going down hills. Cruise is still functioning like a normal cruise. Don't know whether I just got lucky or what. Do not have the problem you're talking about with accelleration down hill. You have a problem that you should be able to replicate for your dealer. Accellerating down hill can't be called "performing as designed" if you ask me. There is a deeper cause.

Just go and tell them to look this thing up. They are refusing to give me the TSB #. They're still acting like it's an isolated issue. This is a brand new bullitin so you'll have to ask them to check. But it's there and the fix works. If your dealer is a larger one they may be able to re-program the thing on-site. Good Luck!!!

They say they reprogramed the computer. In '05 they went to a drive-by-wire system. We test drove THREE new '06s on the lot and they ALL did it. I agree that it is a bad batch of computers hence not everyone is experiencing the problem. My mileage is quite good. 2.5i with a stick. I get 28-30 mpg though I admit I drive pretty conservatively. That has been unaffected by this change. They are being mum about the TSB #. I think they're frightend we'll cause a recall. You'd think they'd voluntarily want this stuff fixed!!!