Trying to not be had by my dealer.

[redderthanafeut]

Hey all, I've had a 2000 Outback for a couple of months and took it to the dealer once so far, they seem nice and all but I just want to know about a few issues I've had them deal with and some that I'm considering if ya don't mind

It's a manual

 

1. high idle. When the car is cold, idle is at about 1-1.5k rpms, no big deal. If I go a little ways in 1st, put the clutch in, but leave the shifter in first the rpm's will go to about 3k rpm's. If I put the shifter in neutral, rpms go back down to about 1k like I would expect. Is this normal to help warm the car up?? It just seems strange because it only happens when the shifter is in gear (with the clutch in).

 

I first asked my dealer if this was normal and he said he didn't really know but said they'd look at it. They found the idle switch was loose and misadjusted so they tightened it and adjusted it. Still have the problem, and now I've noticed that if I let the car just sit (when cold) the rpms will drop and almost stall, but then recover. I think they charged me about $100 for this.

 

2. Door catching when opening. The window catches the seal on the top, they adjusted the door/window which fixed it for $85. I've noticed the passenger door does this a little too, is it worth paying another $85 or is the adjustment pretty simple?

 

3. Car pulls to the left pretty much all the time. I'm assuming it's an alignment issue, what should I expect to pay?

 

4. When shifting into 3rd, it feels like the shifter kind of hits or catches something..It really doesn't affect the shift but just feels kind of off. My dad's driven quite a few manuals and said it didn't feel like anything to worry about. This is my first manual so I really don't know what to think. Any ideas? Should I have the dealer take a look?

 

Thanks,

 

Greg

[eVoMotion]

Hi - is there a Subaru mechanic in your area. Often a better option than dealer prices.

 

we had high idles on our 97LGT when cold.

 

No info on the door or shifter.

[aldouse]

Hey all, I've had a 2000 Outback for a couple of months and took it to the dealer once so far, they seem nice and all but I just want to know about a few issues I've had them deal with and some that I'm considering if ya don't mind

It's a manual

 

1. high idle. When the car is cold, idle is at about 1-1.5k rpms, no big deal. If I go a little ways in 1st, put the clutch in, but leave the shifter in first the rpm's will go to about 3k rpm's. If I put the shifter in neutral, rpms go back down to about 1k like I would expect. Is this normal to help warm the car up?? It just seems strange because it only happens when the shifter is in gear (with the clutch in).

 

I first asked my dealer if this was normal and he said he didn't really know but said they'd look at it. They found the idle switch was loose and misadjusted so they tightened it and adjusted it. Still have the problem, and now I've noticed that if I let the car just sit (when cold) the rpms will drop and almost stall, but then recover. I think they charged me about $100 for this.

 

2. Door catching when opening. The window catches the seal on the top, they adjusted the door/window which fixed it for $85. I've noticed the passenger door does this a little too, is it worth paying another $85 or is the adjustment pretty simple?

 

3. Car pulls to the left pretty much all the time. I'm assuming it's an alignment issue, what should I expect to pay?

 

4. When shifting into 3rd, it feels like the shifter kind of hits or catches something..It really doesn't affect the shift but just feels kind of off. My dad's driven quite a few manuals and said it didn't feel like anything to worry about. This is my first manual so I really don't know what to think. Any ideas? Should I have the dealer take a look?

 

Thanks,

 

Greg

 

1. give it more time to warm up. from what it sounds like you should've have had it idle switch re-adjusted. its normal. but now since you did, dont panic if it starts to stutter as if it's choking during warmup / idle. tis' normal.

 

2. window issue - have mechanic check it out... dont get ripped by dealer.

 

3. alignment issue or could also be uneven tire pressures. double check tire pressure if checks out fine, go to local shop and have realignment... sorry forgot costs on alignment, i just usually hand them my credit card and charge away.

 

4. open up the shifter housing and check for any possible obstructions. but from what it sounds like, it seems normal with the normal wear n tear of the car.

 

 

some questions for you...

 

1. you mentioned that you owned a 2000 outback for a couple of months so far. purchased used? or hand-me down from family member?

 

2. mileage on the outback?

 

3. if you weren't the original driver of the vehicle, did you know what kind of driving habits or how the vehicle was used prior to your purchase?

[redderthanafeut]

Thanks for the responses, let me field your questions.

 

I really don't know if there is a mechanic in the area which is why I took it to the dealer, I figure most shops are used to good ole domestics...How can I find out if there's a Subaru mechanic, just open up the yellow pages and start calling?

 

I kind of figured the revving might be normal, but when the dealer mechanic shrugged his shoulders I thought I'd have them look at it Oh well. I did some searching on this forum too and a few mentioned that it's in part to help rev match when upshifting which makes sense I guess. Since reading this I noticed that it does keep the RPMs up somewhat when clutch is in but shifter is in gear, it's just a little more noticeable when cold. As far as letting it warm up more, it seems the more I let it warm up (at least more than 10 minutes) the more the car sounds like it's going to stall but never does. I guess it just wants to be driven

 

Window-Yeah I imagine pretty much anyone could do that, perhaps even myself if I want to put the time into it.

 

Alignment-I thought of tire pressure right away too. Three were at 40PSI and the drivers rear was at 25PST so I figured that was the problem. Brought it up to 40 and problem remains. Haven't checked it since though, maybe it's got a leak.

 

Shifter housing-Any documentation on how to do that? I'm sure it's easy but I usually find out after I've taken 50 screws out that I only needed to take out two.

 

aldhouse-your specific questions.

1. Yes, purchased used from a small time dealer who just happened to get this vehicle. They didn't really know much about it and priced it about $3500 below blue book and we talked them down further from there. We'd been looking for a very long time (5+ months)with no luck, my old car broke down beyond repair, and we found this for a great price. We checked it out as much as we could, ran a carfax, and even got a chance to go under it since they had it parked in a garage. Everything looked great and performed great on the test drives.

 

2. Bought it with about 80,000 miles, has about 83,000 now.

 

3. We really don't know much about the previous owner. The car was in a single "minor" accident as reported by carfax and had no other reported problems. All scheduled maintenance and recalls had been done. The clutch feels great, very responsive, but I do believe it's the original. I might do the scheduled 90,000 maintenance early just because I'm curious if there is anything we don't know about. It truly feels great all around though.

 

Thanks again,

 

Greg