Frustration with 2001 Outback LL Bean 3.0 L H6

[Jon Macey]

Hello all:
I have been having recurring problems with my Outback and wanted some
thoughts/opinions from those who appear to be quite knowledgable in this
group.

Since the last week in March of this year, I have been having a problem with
the tach/RPM bouncing when slowing to a stop; no foot on the gas. This does
not appear to be an idle problem, as the car does idle smooth. The check
engine light went on twice in about two months after this initial March
incident. The dealer said the first fault code was the throttle position
sensor, which they supposedly replaced. The second fault code was supposedly
an ECU recal, which they said they had to send it out for. They had the car
one whole week that time.

Neither of these "fixes" has taken care of this problem.

The last time I had the car in the shop, one of the things they did was
resurface the brake rotors since I was having the pulsating pedal response.
(No, this was not the ABS kicking in. I know what that feels like as it had
happened in the winter.)

That was just a few weeks ago. Now, my brakes are making a very high pitched
squealing sound, which seems to stop when I put my foot on the brake to
stop. I am assuming that this is the pad wear indicator; and wonder why the
dealer did not notice the pads were on their way down when they had the
rotors off?

It has been one thing after another with this car. A 2001 LL Bean Outback
with ~7 k miles on it when I bought it in December of 2001, now has ~ 28 k.
Before this car I had a 1993 Pontiac Grand Am, which had problems of its
own, but nothing as recurring and annoying as this. I am considering trading
in on either a Nissan Pathfinder or a BMW 3-series something.

Very frustrating since I do like the car for the features it has, which are
why I bought it in the first place.

Any ideas?

 

[Tony Hwang]

Hi,
The original owner knew something you did not maybe.
Tach problem sounds like some wire loose somewhere.
Maybe a ground wire for the whole ECU? If indeed this is the case,
it is pretty hard to pinpoint. I had an ongoing intermittent a/c problem
which took two summers to solve. Loose cable harness plug behind the
a/c control panel was the cause. Which I think was disturbed when I had
factory stereo replaced. Deal was no help with repeat visit. I had to
took apart dash myself to find it. How about Honda Pilot or CRV?
My family is very happy with them.
Tony

 

[kl]

Jon,

Does just the tach bounce, or do the RPMs actually go up?

I have a 2002 H6, and very occasionally when I'm parking I notice the
the engine revs up just a bit, kind of like tapping the accelerator.
For me, it doesn't happen often enough to be a problem, and when it does
happen it doesn't cause any problems. But I would like to get rid of
this behavior.

kl

 

[Edward Hayes]

My Forester raises and lowers about +/- 150 rpm when air conditioner pump
cycles or when shifter from forward to reverse. eddie

 

[kl]

In my case, it may be the A/C. I'll have to pay attention to it,
especially since I'll be using the A/C less as the weather cools. I can
try toggling the A/C to see whether that causes it.

I don't think my issue is caused by the shifting, since it sometimes
happens when parking head in, which doesn't require shifting.

kl

 

[Jon Macey]

Hi,
The original owner knew something you did not maybe.

True, I am not the original owner; Subaru Corporate was. I was told this was
a Subaru Program car or something like that. Anyway, the 'problem' did not
occur for the first year I had the car.

 

[Jon Macey]

My Forester raises and lowers about +/- 150 rpm when air conditioner pump
cycles or when shifter from forward to reverse. eddie

My 'problem' occurs even with the AC off, and often 250-500 rpm. Not really
a functioning problem as the car does run fine otherwise. Just very
annoying.