My wife's '03 Forester with 45k mi developed cold engine noise (knock) this winter. The dealer diagnosed the problem as left side piston slap, which from my research in this forum and other sites is not unusual. They offered, with no prompting, to install new left side pistons (now on order).

 

This car is leased but my wife loves it and the lease runs out in Aug with a good buyout price, so we were considering buying it. Would you hesitate to do this (after the repair) ? We can just turn it back in but then will most likely wind up with much higher new car payments.

 

Phil08075

As long as the slap noise goes away when warm...its not an issue.

 

Slap noise all the time....bad.

 

As long as the engine is quiet and runs as good or better than before...I would not hesistate to trust it.

My 97 OBW developed the slap at 23 000 km and never got any worse when traded at 122 000 km. It just sounded when cold and then disappeared when warmed up. If I had thought it would be a problem, I wouldn't have traded up to the 02 OBW.

That's nice that they offered to replace the entire left side. (I'm assuming it's covered under warranty?) But don't be too surprised if the slap returns - if you search around, that's happened at least a few times to people who've received replacement parts.