Am I going nuts? Hesitating, cold, or going bad?

[muse]

Okay, maybe I am. I have big trust issues when something goes wrong with my car. Here's the story: I have a 2001 Forester S (automatic) with 55K. Couple of weekends ago I came back from a relatively short trip, car drove fine. Came home and about an hour later went to the store. On the way to the store I noticed a weird bogging-hesitation sensation. Thought maybe it was my shoes or something under gas pedal. On the way home from the store, noticed extreme bogging. While going uphill to my house, I had to really put my foot on the gas pedal. I barely made it up my driveway--had to put it in first. Next day, took it around the block, only slight bogging. Did not drive it until I took it to my Subie dealer a week later. On the way there, (about 20 miles), car was okay as long as tach was above 2,000 rpms. At the one stoplight I hit, car was idling low and temp gauge went back down to cold (this was after 14 miles). (No overheating issues at all and no check engine light.) I kept one foot on brake and the other on gas to keep the car going at the stoplight. Subie dealer diagnosed bad gas and changed fuel filter and put dry gas in it. They couldn't find anything wrong with thermostat. They ran car, kept it overnight and drove it again in morning. Said car was fine. I tooled around town down there and it seemed okay. So this is my big paranoid question: I feel/think that there is a slight hesitation when tranny is shifting from 2nd to 3rd. Is car too young to have tranny issues? Is this a cold problem, (although I noticed it after driving around for 10 minutes)? Should I wait until I've gone through a whole new tank of good gas? Would bad gas have caused these issues? HELP

[Texas S]

Reading through your post I was thinking 'clogged fuel filter', so maybe that's all it was.

 

Do you know if the dealer reset your ECU? It will take awhile for it to relearn itself after that incident if you don't reset it. Just disconnect your neg terminal, press the brake pedal for ~~10 sec to drain the charge, then reconnect and drive the car like you normally do (ie bat out of hell or how many lives per gallon style), should get it back to what feels normal for you. You'll have to reset your preset stations on the radio, and clock.

 

I had that exact model, and constantly reset the ECU to get rid of transmission lags. Man I miss that car, one of the best looking Subarus ever in my opinion.

[muse]

Thanks for the quick reply. I didn't realize that the ECU needed to be reset if the fuel filter was changed. Is this so? I will call them tomorrow. Thanks again! (How did you know how I drive? )

[muse]

Am taking my car back to dealer! Did the soft reset (a couple of days ago) that Texas S suggested, car was okay. Went down the hill yesterday, noticed "shifting" problems and hesitation. "Clicky" sound when car going from 2nd to 3rd. Car was parked at a B-day party for 3 hours and on the way back home noticed rough idle, lurching, and uneven throttle response. What are possible causes for this: MAP sensor, fuel pump, fuel injectors, air intake, ECU, or other? Anyone else have this problem?

 

2001 Forester 55K automatic

[beezer]

Have then check the knock sensor, maybe it is cracked and it is screwing around with the timing. Plugs and wires and that sort of stuff should be looked at to.

[Lesbaru]

My gf had the same problem with her 02 Forester. In her case it turned out to be a messed up O2 sensor.

[muse]

Thanks all! I appreciate being able to go in with some "ammunition". I will post when closure is had.

[Guest hoamskoold]

Sounds like you're having the same problem with your 2001 Forrester that I'm having with my 1984 Ford Econoline. The first thing I would have done is change the fuel filter like you did. Did you ask them to take note of the condition of the filter when they changed it? That can tell you a lot. As for other possible causes, your list looks good, plus maybe the O2 sensor like the other user suggested.

[muse]

Thanks for the advice all. They looked at it today and still no resolution. They are keeping the car overnight and will continue with it tomorrow. Other than that, no info yet. I'm getting more paranoid about the whole deal as time goes on.

[muse]

Well, they checked for codes, (none, Cel never came on either) , checked wiring, sensors, etc. They ended up reprogramming the ECM and it's been running well. We'll see if this was truly the case, I have logged about 225 miles since I got it back. Not wanting to see them until my 60,000 mile service. Thanks for all of the advice.

 

Forester 2001 S Automatic

Former Brat owner (drove her 'til she blew up)

[02subyL]

I have an '02 Legacy with similar issues. Did the reprogramming fix it?

[muse]

Well, for the most part it did. Temperature gauge still goes down after driving in the morning when I drive it down the hill and then goes back to normal when I get to the bottom, (14 miles down). (I just got it back yesterday for the "supposed" fix on this. Still no codes. Need to give the dealer a ring a ling.) Basically, the car's ECU freaks out when it learns a driving condition like "driving with bad gas in the tank". They had not reset the ECU after the filter change, so that's why the car was driving erratically. I have logged about 1,000 miles since the reprogramming. It's interesting to note that the LA Times had an article in the business section yesterday about the various problems with car computers and the many sensors that rely on it. I am hoping that this was an isolated event. The explanation in the article was that a car computer is not unlike a PC, sometimes it just needs to be rebooted. This was especially the case with my car, as it was not receiving any codes from the various sensors, therefore supposedly there were no "problems". Hope this helps. I am still continuing to research this subject.

[blitz]

I'm inclined to think that your t-stat may have frozen in it's tracks as evidenced by the temperature drop on the long downhill.

 

You could actually be experiencing minor overheat events on the uphill grades without knowing it due to the dummy temp gauge that shows "normal" through a wide range of temperatures. As the weather warms up more this could become a critical issue.

 

Frankly, I'm surprized that the ECU hasn't thrown a code.

[muse]

Well, temp gauge was back to normal this morning, (no drops). I too was surprised by the lack of code throwing. I thought that the ECU was possibly defective but the computer reader showed it was not. I was also worried that it might not have been registering proper temps at all. Car is running fine. Hope it continues.

[muse]

Okay, it's been a while since my last post on this subject, but I thought I'd give a heads up for anyone else going through this. Over the summer, the car would hesitate/cut out while making the end of the climb up to my home in the mountains. This would happen intermittently, some days it would drive fine, other times it would do the herky jerky dance. (Car would be fine as long as the terrain was flat.) Took the car to the dealer. At first they drove it up the mountain (of course the problem would not duplicate), checked connections, etc. and was told without a check engine light, there was nothing they could do, (I actually really like them, they are definitely not parts throwers over here.) So now it's December, and the car starts doing it consistently- four days in a row. I call the dealer- no check engine light/ no help. Four days after this, guess what, the stinking light comes on. I was estactic because now I would have closure. The problem happened to be the front O2 sensor. Fancy that. I think that my problems over the summer and until now were the result of the sensor starting to fail, and when it finally failed, voila- check engine light. I had been researching the problem with my car all the while and it all pointed to the O2 sensor. I should have gone with my gut on this one and had it replaced earlier. What a difference!

[nipper]

good deal. Too any people rely on the puter to throw a code to tell you whats wrong, when good ol fashioned detective work works best. the puter will only throw a code when the sensor constantly senses something out of range. If it is an intermittant problem, the cel may go on and offf, or never show at all.

 

 

nipper

[muse]

Amen to that!

[Lesbaru]

Oooh, yeah! Gold star for me! (actually, for my gf) The dealer told her the same thing about first checking for cruddy fuel and changing the fuel filter, then when that didn't solve it, immediately told her that one of the O2 sensors on the Forester is too exposed to the elements and tends to get messed up. They replaced it and all was well. If her Forester does it again, we will go straight to having the O2 sensor replaced.

[muse]

Yeppers, you get a gold star!!!