wandersub

Please forgive the simple question... I have a 2001 Subaru Forester that had the transmission changed out long ago for a used transmission. Where do I find the part number of the transmission? I just want to confirm it's the same as the original equipment. I'm just trying to replace the pan gasket but the replacement I got doesn't fit and I'm pretty sure I ordered the right gasket. Thanks. Alan

Sorry, forgot to mention it's a 2001 Forester with 230,000 miles

Last year and now this year my air conditioning will be running normally blowing cold air and then for no apparent reason it will start blowing unconditioned air. Last year I took it in to a dealer who charged me $1000 to fix a few parts that were "leaking" and didn't fix anything. Then I took it in to a local shop who said the pressures were off, recharged and it seemed to work normal through the rest of summer. This year it started again. I bought a bottle of freon from Autozone that had a gauge on it. It initially showed low so I charged it. It said to turn it from 12 to 3 ever few seconds which I think I overdid and over-pressurized the system. I bled it back down from the high side. Now it runs OK for a little while, starts honking like a goose (honk, 3 seconds, honk, 3 seconds, ...) then eventually it starts blowing unconditioned air again and the honking stops. Today I could hear the compressor clutch quickly clicking in and out while driving down the freeway. Any ideas on something I could check myself or do I suck it up and go back to my local shop? I trust the guys it just didn't get fixed the last time and I really can't afford to spend a whole lot. Thanks in advance! Alan

I've had my brother and dad walk along side the car when the klunk is happening and we're all sure it's coming from the front end. I'm pulling the front brakes this weekend to change them. We were going to look around for any signs of something making contact. Alan

Thanks for the idea but I drive all the time with my back seats down. I have two dogs that love to travel and they get first dibs. My wife's car has the seats up but I'm sure those are locked in. Thanks again though. Any shot is appreciated. Alan

I don't think it's the antilocks. I've had the antilocks activate before and they're a lot quieter then my klunck. Thanks for the idea though. Alan

I have an '01 Forester. There's a problem that will show up after driving for a little while. When I hit the brakes I get a loud KLUNK. Sounds like a dull metal on metal. It could be hard rubber or plastic on metal but I think it's metal on metal. It happens as soon as I hit the brake petal. If I then lift my foot and let it roll forward a little way and then hit the brakes again it will klunk again. It's a single klunk each time. I usually have to be driving for a while before it starts the klunk. Sometimes I may go for days without it happening but once it starts it usually keeps doing the klunk on every brake application until I've parked the car for a little while. On an interesting note, my wife drives a '06 Outback. Her car has recently starting having the same klunk with pretty much the same symptoms. I thought maybe my car might have something to do with a bad break job but her car has 40k miles and hasn't had a break job yet. Any thoughts. Thanks for any help! Alan

I want to change my fuel filter on my 2001 Forester. My book tells me to disconnect the fuel pump relay so that I don't have pressure in the line. It shows the relay as being one of three connectors grouped above and to the left of the brake pedal. I can't find anything down there that closely fits the bill. I've attached a picture with two different harness groups and I'm hoping maybe you guys can point me to the fuel pump relay. Connectors 1 through 3 are pretty much against the side wall towards the driver door. Connectors 4 through 6 are right above the hood release. I'd appreciate any direction you could give. Alan League City, TX

Thanks all. The car has 160K miles on it and I have had the front O2 sensor replaced on recall twice before and I think for each of those I actually had an O2 sensor code show up, not just the cat. The problem always seems to come back. It's not just the cat code but also a lull during intial acceleration. I've been told that can be a sign of a bad cat as well. Any opinions on that. Alan

I have an engine code on my 2001 Forester that's been coming up for a while telling me I have a catalytic converter (CC) problem. I plan to replace it but I have a couple quick questions. 1) How do I tell if I have California or Federal emission standard CC? Does it matter since I live in Texas? 2) I found a replacement part for the full front and rear CC assembly but it doesn't show any gaskets on either end. Is that right? 3) Should I replace the oxygen sensors as well? Front, Rear, Both? 4) Is there anything else I should be checking that may have caused my CC to go bad in the first place? 5) I read the manual I downloaded on line a long time ago and the repalcement looks pretty simple. Any gotchas I should be aware of? Thanks for your help! Alan

The rearview mirror on my 01 Forester is all screwed up. Half the mirror is tinted and half is not and the compass isn't working. I'd like to just replace the whole thing but it costs $165 new... FOR A MIRROR! Does anyone have favorite salvage yards that have newer model subarus. As I understand it talking with my dealer, the same mirror was used on the 2000-2003 Forester, Outback, Impreza, and Legacy. Thanks for any help! Alan Webster, TX

I'm afraid either I wasn't clear about which part I need to remove or I just have to remove more than I thought I did. The problem is with the vent/defrost control in the same console but above the stereo. Do I really need to remove the console around the shifter and back just to get at the controls in that console that the stereo shares? By the way, if it makes a difference, it's an automatic. Thanks again. Alan

I need to pull out the center console on my 2001 Forester to see if I can figure out why when I switch from defrost to floor to vent it always stays on defrost. I've never pull the console off before. Could anyone tell me where the screws and hooks are? I assume there's some screws hidden under bottons and things like that and probably some plastic snap hooks around the edge that I don't want to break. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks Alan Dayton, OH

I just found out I have a leaking valve cover gasket on my 2001 Forester. I would like to replace this myself if possible. I'm a fine mechanic with a Chilton's or Haynes at my side but, as I'm sure you know, that's not available for this car. I've got a pdf copy of all the service manuals available but so far have found them to be less then useful. I haven't found anything in there yet about replacing the valve cover gaskets. So a few questions: 1) Did I overlook it? Is there a section in the service manuals on replacing the valve cover gaskets? 2) Is it a hard job without experience or a manual? In other words can I fake my way through it? 3) Assuming I have to go at this without a manual, any tips, hints or suggestions that may help me along the way? Thanks in advance. Alan

Hey Folks, I was wondering if there's any way to check out what trouble code is causing my Check Engine light to come on without having one of the computers that can read it. I know in my old chevy I could run a jumper line from one connection to another and it would cause the Check Engine light to blink out the trouble code. Does anything like that work on a 2001 Forester? Thanks for any help. Alan

The only reason my '01 has a trannie issue is because an oil change place partially drained my differential fluid when doing an oil change. Can't prove it but I'm pretty sure that's what happened. My guess is some kid started draining the diff fluid and stopped once he realized it wasn't oil. He probably then drained my engine oil and never topped off the diff. I then proceeded to drive ~800 miles towing a boat like that! Learned my lesson!

Just wanted to post a quick thanks. We finally got the transmission off with a little bit of gentle prying and pulling. Of course once we got it off I found my problem was much worse than I had hoped:boohoo: Oh well, on to find a used transmission. Thanks again.

i am working on the removal of the automatic transmission from my 2001 forester i have removed what i think are all of the bolts, i count 5 bolts and two nuts leaving two studs at approx the 4 and 8 o'clock positions. i removed 4 bolts from the torque converter mounting and the aft transmission mount is free. i can not seem to get the engine and tranny to seperate i have tried everything i can think of. if i releave preassure on the tranny jack the whole engine pivots as one unit. there is no sign of seperation anywhere. HELP PLEASE!!!!