If I were back in 2012 when i got my 2006 Forester 2.5XT, hell yeah, I'd buy it again for 6000 Euros. Today I wouldn't, the EJ255 are old engines, with expensive problems and, at least in my country, high taxes. I absolutely enjoy the car, but sometimes I want just to get rid of it. My dream car was, is and will always be a blue 2004 Impreza STI (blobeye), but it will remain a dream.
The ej255 is a very strong engine, I have 2007 xt with 215,000kms or 130,000 miles. Once again it's not a race, regular maintenance and service and not flogging the thing everyday. Fun fact if you are going track day or race any car you need to use different oils and stronger components and after you have finished your fun you always give the car a full service. Check out Mrsubaru's UA-cam channel he debunks all Subaru myths and is a very good mechanic.
@@ThisguyisDonJohnson preach! I’ve got two 2004 FXT’s, one with 125k miles (manual ) and one auto (250,000!!!!! MILES!!) both FXT stage “3” or STi stage 2, both have up and down pipe, vf39, upgraded fuel pumps, intercoolers and custom tunes from cobb, killer b oil pickup, windage trays, and 06my+ oil pan... the auto is a bit more built engine wise, but these are my forever cars.
sure. I bought a 03 Forester last week with 125K miles and bad head gaskets (the seller had a garage check it for oil leaks)...do I put the 01 Forester engine in or do I stick with the plan to redo head gaskets ? Might be faster to swap engines, but I am not sure if they changed sensors or connection plugs...
I own a 2007xt and my mother owns an 2006 xt (both SG) happy campers for years . Living close(read about 30KM) to unlimited autobahn stretches at least insures my EJ is doing some work. Apart from being a bit anal on the oil changes there is a minor oil sweat on the (righthand) driver side after going for a walk.(excursions above 100Mph for about an hour or 2). Could be I am am just lucky.
Been thinking about getting a used 08 model for a while now, this list made me happy that there weren't bigger issues to deal with. Awesome vid, subbed.
For the head gasket, make sure you check the pH of the coolant often, it has to be between 9.5-10, I use simple strips for aquariums. Flush it if it gets to 9.0, make sure you have the right coolant specification when you replace it and always add a bottle of Subaru Cooling System Conditioner SOA635071. Check your rested battery voltage (before you even slide the key in), it has to be above 12.4V and check the grounding copper flat cable between the engine and the body. All these things work together to protect the badly designed head gaskets from galvanic corrosion. What you check on the cap is coolant in the oil, I had exhaust in the coolant, I've used a UView 560000 Combustion Leak Tester to check it. I had the air pump relay removed and then deleted from ECU at the Subaru dealer when I went for oil and filters change, it didn't cost me anything extra.
Really enjoy my 06 xt. The banjo bolt is news to me. Will be checking into mine. Deleted my secondary air pump. Was able to keep all my pipes on. An AOS and the cylinder #4 cooling mod are GREAT ways to increase reliability.
For sure! The AOS will add alot of hoses but it is crucial to keep oil out of the combustion. Also get a quality one from cobb or iag. And the cooling mod. Check out getadomstune.com I have the aos in my xt and the cooling mod in my wifes wrx. XD if only i could afford an aos for the wrx. The coolingmod is pretty cheap.
I owning also one of this Forester at this time 297`000 km, can confirm biggest issue so far was the secondary air pump or valves, which i deleted. AC Clutch still running, but makes noise, not fixed yet, cause in Switzerland not so hot ;) Engine it self is still stable and running good. i had to replace the MAF sensor, which i cleaned first a few time, but a new made it much better and was not expensive. at 286`000 km had to replace the clutch, also i feel pretty good for the stock clutch lifetime. at around 293`000 km the rear suspensions was leaking, so replaced it now with a pedders etreme XA adjustable suspension, which drives much much better now. at around 290`000 km i had to replace the drivers side Window regulator, which was around 280 swiss franc, maybe 300 US $ Stock Exhaust still living but getting little rosty, but not leaking yet, this i guess will be next part to replace i guess. So far no other issues, Engine is stock, dry, no leaking, also gearbox still good, sometimes it struggles little bit from 1. gear to put the Reverse Gear in, but hey soon 300`000 km on it. shop.pedders.com.au/pedders-extreme-xa-coilover-kit-160053.html?_ga=2.103724352.117833281.1612878534-328973518.1612878534
If you are in the market for a Subaru WRX, STI.....get a manual 04-08 Forester XT. You wont regret it. Some bolt ons and a tune will vastly improve thae car overall. It has alot of usable space while being just slightly bigger and weighs about the same as the WRX and STI. These are extremely hard to come by for a good one so happy hunting!
Thanks for posting this information about the Forester!! You helped me, and others make an informed decision about buying or not buying one. Keep up the good work, God bless.
Thank you! I'm glad that you were able to find this video helpful. Feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions, I've learned lots more since this video! Once again - thank you very much for the support!
Great video man I am thinking about getting a Forester XT soon. Your video helped out a lot and cleared a lot of things up for me. Thank you for all the good info!
2:45 Anyone consider doing the secondary air pump delete should be aware that this doesn't take "several hours." You will be fighting rusted, decade-old exhaust bolts to remove a very large number of parts on your vehicle. I'm pretty competent at automotive stuff, and it took me upwards of 12 hours to have everything back together. It requires getting to *very* hard-to-reach bolts that require items such as a 24-inch socket extension, with a universal joint, followed by a deep-well socket. Notably, you'll also need a "crow's foot" slit O2 sensor socket to remove the sensor from the passenger-side exhaust manifold. You will need a long breaker-bar on nearly every exhaust bolt, and you'll have to put your body weight on it. Some will strip off, and you'll need to know how to deal with that. It's totally within the realm of the committed non-professional, but I want to make sure no one hears "several hours" and gets the impression that it's a minor job. If you do it, for the love of god replace every fastener with stainless and put anti-seize on them so you don't have to live that hell next time you work on those systems.
You know that proper schedule maintenance prevents all these issues and not flogging the shit out of it everyday also helps to give longer life to the car. The majority of knobs who kill the Subi are ones that thinks it's a race car and are lazy in maintance.
What you did not mention and what I think is one of the biggest issues of this car is rusting of the rear strut towers. If you want to get the car that was driven in winter time you have to check them. SF an SG foresters have this problem, and most of the ones driven in colder climate need a complete strut tower rebuild
This is scaring away people from an iconic no-problem car! you can make these kind of videos about ANY car, but in most cases the video will be twice as long. Subarus are known for their reliability, this Forester is no exception.
Hey M M, thanks for voicing your concern. I'm sure my viewers will appreciate your comment. While it's true that Subaru is known for their reliability, they're also known for the headgasket issues for the non-turbo EJ series utilizing the graphite-layered head gaskets. MrSubaru1387 has very good video content on this. No vehicle is perfect and I wanted to make this video to provide transparency on potential issues with buying a used vehicle (presumably with knowledge of history with the car). As you'll see in the description, research was done on these issues and I've personally experienced several of these issues myself. Fortunately, I am able to do the repairs myself but I cannot say the same for others (which these repairs could end up costing more than what they paid for the vehicle). In conclusion, these issues are well known in the Forester community - all I did was did the research and made this video to inform others to make the right decision. If I was able to prevent someone from buying a lemon (and cannot afford the repairs) then I would consider this video a success. Thanks again!
Hey Stanky, Are you located in the States? For the 03-04 XT, they actually came with the same shortblock and heads as the STI of the same generation (EJ257). With that, you could turn tune and get more HP than the standard EJ255 or other variants I believe the rest of pretty similiar Hope that helps!
From my experience. There is no shop or mechanic who wanted to work on my subaru. The only excuses were - its japanese car, we are in europe, parts are hard to get, it has boxer engine, you have to remove it to change spark plugs. It was all such a BS, that Im doing all myself.
I have a 06 Forester and the engine light has been on for a while now. I changed the catalytic converter and the light was off for about a week. Now It’s on again and I don’t have the money to fix it...
Hey Diego, Thanks for sharing, that's unfortunate to hear! Do you by chance know what the OBD2 code is? It may be a bad downstream O2 sensor if it's emissions related and runs fine
I just recently started getting into cars and I can’t find one anywhere I saw one in California and that’s all I can find(I live on the east coast) I really want one but I’m having trouble finding them
Great to see others getting into the Forester scene! In NC, there have been a new SG Foresters XT's for sale on Facebook marketplace / private sale. Hoping you find one soon! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
Yeah idk if you're still looking but FB marketplace really is the place to find them. Just use different major cities as your location and set the range to 500 miles and you can search the whole US quite quickly. Unfortunately many good ones sell quickly, I've been monitoring daily but I probably won't have the money to buy for another few months. The ones on the market for several weeks are high mileage, need work, "i know what i have" pricing or a combo of all, a really clean 2007 XT sports in DGM w like 120 or 130k miles was listed for $8k or $9k and sold within 8 hours.
I still got three years till I can legally drive a car which gives me time to think about what car do I want to be my first car I have been thinking about a Toyota mr2 mk1 or the Subaru forester XT I love both cars and wouldnt mind getting either one which one do you think is better to get? I have a soft spot for both Subaru and Toyota idk why
Hey Bradley, thanks for reaching out on this! If you're dead set on one of the two, I would recommended the Subaru Forester XT for a few reasons: 1) Available parts (they will also be cheaper to maintain) 2) Insurance costs 3) Practicality of extra cargo room The mk1 MR2's are great as a project car but could be very difficult to maintain as a daily driver due to the reasons I listed above. Definitely doable but it could be considerably more difficult and/or expensive. Looking forward to seeing what you decide to go with in the end! Feel free to reach out if you have any other additional questions!
Even though the MR2 is a great car I would also recommend staying away from it mostly because it's a two seater sports car in the eyes of the insurance company. So the insurance will probably be very high for young driver's up until you are 30.
THE #1 ISSUE he should have told you about is that the EJ25 motors are NOTORIUS FOR DROPPED EXHAUST VALVE GUIDES ------usually on the #3 cylinder,-- setting a P303 code ( missfire on #3 cylinder ) aluminum heads and steel valve guides are not a good idea,- but subaru did it anyway, --- aluminum heads NEED BRONZE VALVE GUIDES to avoid this from happening.
Do you need to have the car retuned after deleting the air pump?? My 06 forester xt had its go out and I want to delete it but not sure all the requirements
Hey Devin, thanks for reaching out! I used a Tactrix cable to turn off the Check Engine Light to delete the codes related to the Secondary Air Pump Delete. You wouldn't need to re-tune the car as the SAP is only used for cold start up. Feel free to reach out to me directly on Instagram for more information - I didn't want to document this process for the public due to the difficulty/room for error on this process
Thanks man! I'm considering the purchase of a 2.5xt from 2010 (the generation right after, same motor). Do you know if they fixed some of these issues on that generation, or are there other issues..? Even though it is far from being the most reliable subie, it still looks like a dream driving such a light suv for that category!
Hey @Gag d, Unfortunately the 2010 FXT's still suffer from very similar issues -- I don't believe Subaru attempted to permanently fix the issues until they switched to the FB engines w/ the timing chains (but only time will tell if this is the case) Biggest items I would confirm with the seller before purchase would be: 1) Timing belt replacement (unless they have proof/receipt that it's been done, i'd replaced it regardless with a OEM quality set) 2) Head gasket leaks (I'd check for milky oil and/or oil leaking from headgaskets at the bottom, which you may need to remove the undertray. *** They typically don't fail for the Turbo models due to using a multi-layered steel gasket but they can*** If the price for a XT is too good to be true, it problaby is :( 3) Depending on the mileage, i'd be vary of the turbo too (unfort, the only way to check is to remove the downpipe and check for turbo play, but they are relatively inexpensive) 4) Even though it's turbo, I try to not abuse/WOT the engine much because the ringlands and piston bearings can fail on piston #4 (closest to the LH driver) due to improper cooling at the LH heads. There are mods to mitigate this -- if possible, I would check and see how the previous owners treated it. I'd imagine that if they were younger, it's probably been thrashed around the streets a bit more) Besides these issues, the car is definitely a dream to drive! I'm glad this video helped you and feel free to reach out again if you'd like a more detailed discussion on this!
I don’t know if you already did a video on the products that help with the code deletes but it’s something I’d like to see in addition to a video on how to delete the air pump with the block plates.
Hey Pauly, I haven't made a video on this (I only briefly discussed them in my videos) - when I did these repairs, I wasn't 100% certain they would help so I did not film properly. Now that I know (I've gone about 5K miles with no issues/returning CEL) I will reconsider making an in depth video. In the meantime, please feel free to reach out about any discuss i questions - thanks again!
@@davechangauto I wonder if the air pump delete and the fuel module delete would cause any smog issues out here in CA. I’m in San Diego although I think my last smog check was just a computer hookup to the ECU not the sniffer up the exhaust...
@@da9pauly From my previous research and understanding, the secondary air pump only comes in during a cold start for roughly 20 second (to feed additional air into the catalytic converter at cold start) Considering that your vehicle would have been running (driving to get inspected), there should not be any issues with the SAP or passing smog That's what I was able to understand when I was doing additional research on deleting the SAP - fortunately for me, my county doesn't do smog testing!! As for the fuel module delete, I'm actually not too sure how this would affect smog testing. I'll continue to dig through the furoms and see what I can oil together, thanks!
Hey S. John! In the states, the XT is very popular and people will get excited when they see the hood scoop on the Forester (in NC, the FXT is more rare than a WRX/STI). Unfortunately, the prices on the XT's are shooting up due to it's growing presence on UA-cam and social media. Compared to other moderately tuned cars, the FXT requires a bit more maintenance (just like the WRX/STI) due to the items I mentioned in this video (low oil levels will cause catastrophic damage). Because it's the EJ255, you can easily add more power with a simple tune and extra modifications to beef up cooling (not as much as the EJ257, which is in the STI models - be careful here!) Adding more boost might affect the head gaskets as well (which should not be a big issue if you are pushing stock) Although parts are not as cheap as your usual Civic build, parts for the Forester is readily available and STI parts go right in. That's a very high level view but hoping this helps a bit! Let me know if you have any specific questions and I can go more in depth (to the extent of my knowledge) Thanks again!
The block off plates at the secondary air valve doesn't help you sht. It will still show you the check engine codes sooner or later. You can delete those with the cheapest $5 aliexpress OBD2 reader and with Torque or some similar app, but the code will come back. P2441 forever I think.
Hey Misi! Thanks for the input The block off plates aren't supposed to do anything except for blocking off the heads (you only need this for peace of mind). However, when the SAP fails, the proper method of deleting the codes (rather than temporarily clearing with a cheap OBD2 reader - there's a very big difference between delete vs clearing) from the ECU is using a legitimate Tactrix cable, OpenPort, and EcuFlash. The alternative will be to use a Cobb AccessPort. But I'm not surprised that a $5.00 knockoff wouldn't work for this application The forums have plenty proper instructions and how-to's I've had my SAP-related CEL (about 10 codes from ECU) deleted and haven't had any issues since then (4 months)
@@davechangauto It doesn't matter what you use to clear the codes, if it's cleared it's cleared, and it will come back if the error is still there. In my car both were plugged and in the first couple of times the code was deleted with a really expensive tool by a professional car electrician, but it doesn't matter, the code came back. I unplugged the pipes, cleared them too, made sure the pump is working, disassembled cleared and reassembled the two valves and it helped a bit but that's it. I have a P2441 code 5-10 times a year and I can handle it with a 5 dollar reader, less often in summer, more often in cold weather.
@@misi2752 hes not saying "clear" the code. Hes saying remove it from the cars computer so the code doesnt even exist anymore to pop up. It cant come back if its not in the database for the car anymore. Tl;dr, you give it tactical alzheimers lol
Iam going to buy one in four days. It got 46000 km on it. MY07 2.5L turbo. Any advice beside the things you pointed out in your video? It has been at a Subaru dealer for the services until now..
Hey Kevin! Hoping that everything goes well with the purchase! That's incredibly low km. A new update from my side would be to make sure the transmission is still good. Are you picking up an AT or MT? If you're picking up an AT - just make sure the transmission oil has been replaced. They're known to last to 400,000 km so you should be good to go Another good tip is that the clips that hold spark plugs to the coils are very fragile. If these flips break, it can cause misfire. If you're changing spark plugs, be careful with disconnecting the coilpacks
Hey Nigel, thanks for reaching out! Could you clarify what you mean by the "car doesn't idle"? Could it be idling rough? If so, there may be a vacuum leak. If it doesn't idle at all, it may have low compression (blown ringlands) For your second question, would you be able to confirm which sensor it is? Could it be the MAF sensor right behind the intake?
1 not a major issue I've personally never had a problem 3 not really a major issue 5 wouldn't say a lot more common it happens but easily fixed not really a major issue 8 that's just regular maintenance 9 ok so we've got 1 major issue, probably best to get mls gaskets I've heard that it fixes the problem permanently for non turbo engines not sure about turbo engine because they already have similar gaskets
My last 97 outback non turbo had 400,000kms on it the only major thing that needed doing was the headgaskets (wish I knew about the MLS gaskets) apart from that and regular maintenance I can't think of many things that actually went wrong starter motor and knock sensor come to mind both very easily fixed. Buy a good car keep a good car like most cars treat them well with proper maintenance and it'll be fine
supposedly, in 03, they addressed the head gasket issue, but I'm not sure. When I was at the dealer (Cochran, Monroeville, PA) last year, buying parts, I noticed a full shop and engines everywhere....and a bunch of arrogant pricks at the parts counter.... Subaru dealer in Butler PA, 1000% better.
I think you'll get a good price selling the motor and then you can LS4 I'm joking maybe a 20vavle all I can say I hope this car treat you good and don't let you down when you're in a pickle bcs Boxer their amazing performance engine and awesome with weight distribution but the maintenance will you turn a blind eye to Subaru's in general
Would you still consider getting a Subaru with the EJ25 motor? Let me know what you all think!
If I were back in 2012 when i got my 2006 Forester 2.5XT, hell yeah, I'd buy it again for 6000 Euros. Today I wouldn't, the EJ255 are old engines, with expensive problems and, at least in my country, high taxes. I absolutely enjoy the car, but sometimes I want just to get rid of it.
My dream car was, is and will always be a blue 2004 Impreza STI (blobeye), but it will remain a dream.
The ej255 is a very strong engine, I have 2007 xt with 215,000kms or 130,000 miles. Once again it's not a race, regular maintenance and service and not flogging the thing everyday. Fun fact if you are going track day or race any car you need to use different oils and stronger components and after you have finished your fun you always give the car a full service. Check out Mrsubaru's UA-cam channel he debunks all Subaru myths and is a very good mechanic.
@@ThisguyisDonJohnson preach! I’ve got two 2004 FXT’s, one with 125k miles (manual ) and one auto (250,000!!!!! MILES!!) both FXT stage “3” or STi stage 2, both have up and down pipe, vf39, upgraded fuel pumps, intercoolers and custom tunes from cobb, killer b oil pickup, windage trays, and 06my+ oil pan... the auto is a bit more built engine wise, but these are my forever cars.
sure. I bought a 03 Forester last week with 125K miles and bad head gaskets (the seller had a garage check it for oil leaks)...do I put the 01 Forester engine in or do I stick with the plan to redo head gaskets ? Might be faster to swap engines, but I am not sure if they changed sensors or connection plugs...
I own a 2007xt and my mother owns an 2006 xt (both SG) happy campers for years . Living close(read about 30KM) to unlimited autobahn stretches at least insures my EJ is doing some work. Apart from being a bit anal on the oil changes there is a minor oil sweat on the (righthand) driver side after going for a walk.(excursions above 100Mph for about an hour or 2). Could be I am am just lucky.
Been thinking about getting a used 08 model for a while now, this list made me happy that there weren't bigger issues to deal with. Awesome vid, subbed.
Hey St. Clout,
Glad I could help! Owning my Forester has been a blast so far!
For the head gasket, make sure you check the pH of the coolant often, it has to be between 9.5-10, I use simple strips for aquariums. Flush it if it gets to 9.0, make sure you have the right coolant specification when you replace it and always add a bottle of Subaru Cooling System Conditioner SOA635071. Check your rested battery voltage (before you even slide the key in), it has to be above 12.4V and check the grounding copper flat cable between the engine and the body. All these things work together to protect the badly designed head gaskets from galvanic corrosion.
What you check on the cap is coolant in the oil, I had exhaust in the coolant, I've used a UView 560000 Combustion Leak Tester to check it.
I had the air pump relay removed and then deleted from ECU at the Subaru dealer when I went for oil and filters change, it didn't cost me anything extra.
Hey Dan,
This is great, thanks!
Hoping this comment will help others with their head gasket issues!
Really enjoy my 06 xt.
The banjo bolt is news to me. Will be checking into mine.
Deleted my secondary air pump. Was able to keep all my pipes on.
An AOS and the cylinder #4 cooling mod are GREAT ways to increase reliability.
Great, thanks for the heads up on the AOS and cooling mod! Will look into this asap!
For sure!
The AOS will add alot of hoses but it is crucial to keep oil out of the combustion. Also get a quality one from cobb or iag.
And the cooling mod. Check out getadomstune.com
I have the aos in my xt and the cooling mod in my wifes wrx. XD if only i could afford an aos for the wrx. The coolingmod is pretty cheap.
I owning also one of this Forester at this time 297`000 km, can confirm biggest issue so far was the secondary air pump or valves, which i deleted.
AC Clutch still running, but makes noise, not fixed yet, cause in Switzerland not so hot ;)
Engine it self is still stable and running good.
i had to replace the MAF sensor, which i cleaned first a few time, but a new made it much better and was not expensive.
at 286`000 km had to replace the clutch, also i feel pretty good for the stock clutch lifetime.
at around 293`000 km the rear suspensions was leaking, so replaced it now with a pedders etreme XA adjustable suspension, which drives much much better now.
at around 290`000 km i had to replace the drivers side Window regulator, which was around 280 swiss franc, maybe 300 US $
Stock Exhaust still living but getting little rosty, but not leaking yet, this i guess will be next part to replace i guess.
So far no other issues, Engine is stock, dry, no leaking, also gearbox still good, sometimes it struggles little bit from 1. gear to put the Reverse Gear in, but hey soon 300`000 km on it.
shop.pedders.com.au/pedders-extreme-xa-coilover-kit-160053.html?_ga=2.103724352.117833281.1612878534-328973518.1612878534
That's great to hear - thanks for sharing your experience with this! I'm sure others will fund this very helpful
If you are in the market for a Subaru WRX, STI.....get a manual 04-08 Forester XT. You wont regret it. Some bolt ons and a tune will vastly improve thae car overall. It has alot of usable space while being just slightly bigger and weighs about the same as the WRX and STI. These are extremely hard to come by for a good one so happy hunting!
Hey RONIN! Thanks for the advice on this!
I seen this video a couple of years after having mine, I fell really lucky know, I don't ever have any of this issues. Nice video
Thanks for posting this information about the Forester!! You helped me, and others make an informed decision about buying or not buying one. Keep up the good work, God bless.
Thank you! I'm glad that you were able to find this video helpful. Feel free to reach out if you have any specific questions, I've learned lots more since this video!
Once again - thank you very much for the support!
Great video answers some questions I’ve had about my 2007 Forester especially the gas fumes by the gas filler door
Glad to be able to help with this Pauly!
I have a 2007 JDM Forester STI. Bought it with 130.000km and drove without issues and regular maintenance till 184.000 :) It still works
I have always wanted one and might get on in the future, would you recommend one or have had any interesting concerns about STI?
Wow what a find!
I'm about to hit 241.000 km / 150,000 miles on my XT
Great video man I am thinking about getting a Forester XT soon. Your video helped out a lot and cleared a lot of things up for me. Thank you for all the good info!
Hey Chase, glad I could help!
Feel free to reach out to me directly if you have any questions about my experience so far.
2:45 Anyone consider doing the secondary air pump delete should be aware that this doesn't take "several hours." You will be fighting rusted, decade-old exhaust bolts to remove a very large number of parts on your vehicle. I'm pretty competent at automotive stuff, and it took me upwards of 12 hours to have everything back together. It requires getting to *very* hard-to-reach bolts that require items such as a 24-inch socket extension, with a universal joint, followed by a deep-well socket. Notably, you'll also need a "crow's foot" slit O2 sensor socket to remove the sensor from the passenger-side exhaust manifold. You will need a long breaker-bar on nearly every exhaust bolt, and you'll have to put your body weight on it. Some will strip off, and you'll need to know how to deal with that.
It's totally within the realm of the committed non-professional, but I want to make sure no one hears "several hours" and gets the impression that it's a minor job. If you do it, for the love of god replace every fastener with stainless and put anti-seize on them so you don't have to live that hell next time you work on those systems.
Thanks for the tip Will!
Fortunately for me, I didn't have any issues with rust but i'm sure others will appreciate your experience and feedback
2006 Subaru Forester XT AT, 196k. Really good condition and bone stock, I've had for 3 years and been reconditioning.
Thanks for sharing! My experience with Forester has been going very smoothly too! Hoping for 250K before I need to swap the transmission.
You know that proper schedule maintenance prevents all these issues and not flogging the shit out of it everyday also helps to give longer life to the car. The majority of knobs who kill the Subi are ones that thinks it's a race car and are lazy in maintance.
Very well said!
What you did not mention and what I think is one of the biggest issues of this car is rusting of the rear strut towers. If you want to get the car that was driven in winter time you have to check them. SF an SG foresters have this problem, and most of the ones driven in colder climate need a complete strut tower rebuild
That's why I specifically looked for one in the southwest.
This is scaring away people from an iconic no-problem car! you can make these kind of videos about ANY car, but in most cases the video will be twice as long. Subarus are known for their reliability, this Forester is no exception.
Hey M M, thanks for voicing your concern. I'm sure my viewers will appreciate your comment.
While it's true that Subaru is known for their reliability, they're also known for the headgasket issues for the non-turbo EJ series utilizing the graphite-layered head gaskets. MrSubaru1387 has very good video content on this.
No vehicle is perfect and I wanted to make this video to provide transparency on potential issues with buying a used vehicle (presumably with knowledge of history with the car). As you'll see in the description, research was done on these issues and I've personally experienced several of these issues myself. Fortunately, I am able to do the repairs myself but I cannot say the same for others (which these repairs could end up costing more than what they paid for the vehicle).
In conclusion, these issues are well known in the Forester community - all I did was did the research and made this video to inform others to make the right decision. If I was able to prevent someone from buying a lemon (and cannot afford the repairs) then I would consider this video a success.
Thanks again!
How much is that?
@@isrealnek1654 for what?
I’m thinking about getting an 01 or 02 xt. Either that, or an 04. What do you think? Are there any major differences?
Hey Stanky,
Are you located in the States? For the 03-04 XT, they actually came with the same shortblock and heads as the STI of the same generation (EJ257). With that, you could turn tune and get more HP than the standard EJ255 or other variants
I believe the rest of pretty similiar
Hope that helps!
Thank you so much! Getting a Toyota now
Glad I was able to help in making an informed decision!
Lol
My daily is a camry !
From my experience. There is no shop or mechanic who wanted to work on my subaru. The only excuses were - its japanese car, we are in europe, parts are hard to get, it has boxer engine, you have to remove it to change spark plugs. It was all such a BS, that Im doing all myself.
That's unfortunate but I'm glad that you are able to do it by yourself!
I changed my foresters spark plugs witgout taking the engine out. You just havw to remove battery and airbox
I have a 06 Forester and the engine light has been on for a while now. I changed the catalytic converter and the light was off for about a week. Now It’s on again and I don’t have the money to fix it...
Hey Diego,
Thanks for sharing, that's unfortunate to hear! Do you by chance know what the OBD2 code is?
It may be a bad downstream O2 sensor if it's emissions related and runs fine
I just recently started getting into cars and I can’t find one anywhere I saw one in California and that’s all I can find(I live on the east coast) I really want one but I’m having trouble finding them
Great to see others getting into the Forester scene! In NC, there have been a new SG Foresters XT's for sale on Facebook marketplace / private sale. Hoping you find one soon!
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
Yeah idk if you're still looking but FB marketplace really is the place to find them. Just use different major cities as your location and set the range to 500 miles and you can search the whole US quite quickly. Unfortunately many good ones sell quickly, I've been monitoring daily but I probably won't have the money to buy for another few months. The ones on the market for several weeks are high mileage, need work, "i know what i have" pricing or a combo of all, a really clean 2007 XT sports in DGM w like 120 or 130k miles was listed for $8k or $9k and sold within 8 hours.
I just recently bought a 05subaru forester xt and im having the air problom i will get that fixed this saturday
Aisin kit is the only way to go.
Agreed!
Thanks!
I still got three years till I can legally drive a car which gives me time to think about what car do I want to be my first car I have been thinking about a Toyota mr2 mk1 or the Subaru forester XT I love both cars and wouldnt mind getting either one which one do you think is better to get? I have a soft spot for both Subaru and Toyota idk why
Hey Bradley, thanks for reaching out on this!
If you're dead set on one of the two, I would recommended the Subaru Forester XT for a few reasons:
1) Available parts (they will also be cheaper to maintain)
2) Insurance costs
3) Practicality of extra cargo room
The mk1 MR2's are great as a project car but could be very difficult to maintain as a daily driver due to the reasons I listed above. Definitely doable but it could be considerably more difficult and/or expensive.
Looking forward to seeing what you decide to go with in the end! Feel free to reach out if you have any other additional questions!
Even though the MR2 is a great car I would also recommend staying away from it mostly because it's a two seater sports car in the eyes of the insurance company. So the insurance will probably be very high for young driver's up until you are 30.
THE #1 ISSUE he should have told you about is that the EJ25 motors are NOTORIUS FOR DROPPED EXHAUST VALVE GUIDES ------usually on the #3 cylinder,-- setting a P303 code ( missfire on #3 cylinder ) aluminum heads and steel valve guides are not a good idea,- but subaru did it anyway, --- aluminum heads NEED BRONZE VALVE GUIDES to avoid this from happening.
Hey James, thanks for bringing this up!
Do you need to have the car retuned after deleting the air pump?? My 06 forester xt had its go out and I want to delete it but not sure all the requirements
Hey Devin, thanks for reaching out!
I used a Tactrix cable to turn off the Check Engine Light to delete the codes related to the Secondary Air Pump Delete. You wouldn't need to re-tune the car as the SAP is only used for cold start up.
Feel free to reach out to me directly on Instagram for more information - I didn't want to document this process for the public due to the difficulty/room for error on this process
with the air injection valves, the valves themselves are only 145 bucks each and the pump is 150. if you choose to do it yourself.
Thanks for the tip/info Matt!
Thanks man! I'm considering the purchase of a 2.5xt from 2010 (the generation right after, same motor).
Do you know if they fixed some of these issues on that generation, or are there other issues..? Even though it is far from being the most reliable subie, it still looks like a dream driving such a light suv for that category!
Hey @Gag d,
Unfortunately the 2010 FXT's still suffer from very similar issues -- I don't believe Subaru attempted to permanently fix the issues until they switched to the FB engines w/ the timing chains (but only time will tell if this is the case)
Biggest items I would confirm with the seller before purchase would be:
1) Timing belt replacement (unless they have proof/receipt that it's been done, i'd replaced it regardless with a OEM quality set)
2) Head gasket leaks (I'd check for milky oil and/or oil leaking from headgaskets at the bottom, which you may need to remove the undertray. *** They typically don't fail for the Turbo models due to using a multi-layered steel gasket but they can*** If the price for a XT is too good to be true, it problaby is :(
3) Depending on the mileage, i'd be vary of the turbo too (unfort, the only way to check is to remove the downpipe and check for turbo play, but they are relatively inexpensive)
4) Even though it's turbo, I try to not abuse/WOT the engine much because the ringlands and piston bearings can fail on piston #4 (closest to the LH driver) due to improper cooling at the LH heads. There are mods to mitigate this -- if possible, I would check and see how the previous owners treated it. I'd imagine that if they were younger, it's probably been thrashed around the streets a bit more)
Besides these issues, the car is definitely a dream to drive! I'm glad this video helped you and feel free to reach out again if you'd like a more detailed discussion on this!
I don’t know if you already did a video on the products that help with the code deletes but it’s something I’d like to see in addition to a video on how to delete the air pump with the block plates.
Hey Pauly,
I haven't made a video on this (I only briefly discussed them in my videos) - when I did these repairs, I wasn't 100% certain they would help so I did not film properly.
Now that I know (I've gone about 5K miles with no issues/returning CEL) I will reconsider making an in depth video.
In the meantime, please feel free to reach out about any discuss i questions - thanks again!
@@davechangauto I wonder if the air pump delete and the fuel module delete would cause any smog issues out here in CA. I’m in San Diego although I think my last smog check was just a computer hookup to the ECU not the sniffer up the exhaust...
@@davechangauto thanks for the reply!!!
@@da9pauly
From my previous research and understanding, the secondary air pump only comes in during a cold start for roughly 20 second (to feed additional air into the catalytic converter at cold start)
Considering that your vehicle would have been running (driving to get inspected), there should not be any issues with the SAP or passing smog
That's what I was able to understand when I was doing additional research on deleting the SAP - fortunately for me, my county doesn't do smog testing!!
As for the fuel module delete, I'm actually not too sure how this would affect smog testing. I'll continue to dig through the furoms and see what I can oil together, thanks!
@@davechangauto thanks for all the info you’re bad ass!!!
How popular is the fxt? And how do they hold up compared to other average/moderately tuned cars?
Hey S. John!
In the states, the XT is very popular and people will get excited when they see the hood scoop on the Forester (in NC, the FXT is more rare than a WRX/STI). Unfortunately, the prices on the XT's are shooting up due to it's growing presence on UA-cam and social media.
Compared to other moderately tuned cars, the FXT requires a bit more maintenance (just like the WRX/STI) due to the items I mentioned in this video (low oil levels will cause catastrophic damage). Because it's the EJ255, you can easily add more power with a simple tune and extra modifications to beef up cooling (not as much as the EJ257, which is in the STI models - be careful here!) Adding more boost might affect the head gaskets as well (which should not be a big issue if you are pushing stock)
Although parts are not as cheap as your usual Civic build, parts for the Forester is readily available and STI parts go right in.
That's a very high level view but hoping this helps a bit! Let me know if you have any specific questions and I can go more in depth (to the extent of my knowledge)
Thanks again!
Really considering a 2008 forester. It has 80k miles and asking 7k. Good deall???
The block off plates at the secondary air valve doesn't help you sht. It will still show you the check engine codes sooner or later. You can delete those with the cheapest $5 aliexpress OBD2 reader and with Torque or some similar app, but the code will come back. P2441 forever I think.
Hey Misi! Thanks for the input
The block off plates aren't supposed to do anything except for blocking off the heads (you only need this for peace of mind).
However, when the SAP fails, the proper method of deleting the codes (rather than temporarily clearing with a cheap OBD2 reader - there's a very big difference between delete vs clearing) from the ECU is using a legitimate Tactrix cable, OpenPort, and EcuFlash. The alternative will be to use a Cobb AccessPort.
But I'm not surprised that a $5.00 knockoff wouldn't work for this application
The forums have plenty proper instructions and how-to's
I've had my SAP-related CEL (about 10 codes from ECU) deleted and haven't had any issues since then (4 months)
@@davechangauto It doesn't matter what you use to clear the codes, if it's cleared it's cleared, and it will come back if the error is still there. In my car both were plugged and in the first couple of times the code was deleted with a really expensive tool by a professional car electrician, but it doesn't matter, the code came back. I unplugged the pipes, cleared them too, made sure the pump is working, disassembled cleared and reassembled the two valves and it helped a bit but that's it. I have a P2441 code 5-10 times a year and I can handle it with a 5 dollar reader, less often in summer, more often in cold weather.
@@misi2752 hes not saying "clear" the code. Hes saying remove it from the cars computer so the code doesnt even exist anymore to pop up. It cant come back if its not in the database for the car anymore. Tl;dr, you give it tactical alzheimers lol
Iam going to buy one in four days. It got 46000 km on it. MY07 2.5L turbo. Any advice beside the things you pointed out in your video? It has been at a Subaru dealer for the services until now..
Hey Kevin! Hoping that everything goes well with the purchase! That's incredibly low km.
A new update from my side would be to make sure the transmission is still good. Are you picking up an AT or MT?
If you're picking up an AT - just make sure the transmission oil has been replaced. They're known to last to 400,000 km so you should be good to go
Another good tip is that the clips that hold spark plugs to the coils are very fragile. If these flips break, it can cause misfire. If you're changing spark plugs, be careful with disconnecting the coilpacks
@@davechangauto sadly an AT, yes. The plan is to change it to manual after my master's course..
hey good day and good info. Does anyone know why the car doesn't idle or seems to be powerless if a particular sensor gets wet?
Hey Nigel, thanks for reaching out!
Could you clarify what you mean by the "car doesn't idle"? Could it be idling rough? If so, there may be a vacuum leak. If it doesn't idle at all, it may have low compression (blown ringlands)
For your second question, would you be able to confirm which sensor it is? Could it be the MAF sensor right behind the intake?
@@davechangauto it starts but does not run properly or smoothly. It seems to sputter then cuts off
@@davechangauto I'm not sure what sensor it is
1 not a major issue I've personally never had a problem
3 not really a major issue
5 wouldn't say a lot more common it happens but easily fixed not really a major issue
8 that's just regular maintenance
9 ok so we've got 1 major issue, probably best to get mls gaskets I've heard that it fixes the problem permanently for non turbo engines not sure about turbo engine because they already have similar gaskets
My last 97 outback non turbo had 400,000kms on it the only major thing that needed doing was the headgaskets (wish I knew about the MLS gaskets) apart from that and regular maintenance I can't think of many things that actually went wrong starter motor and knock sensor come to mind both very easily fixed. Buy a good car keep a good car like most cars treat them well with proper maintenance and it'll be fine
Thanks for the feedback!
Can u plz send pics u guys
And also front lower control arm rear oil filled bush leaking making car track weirdly on unsealed roads esp!!
Thanks for the heads up!
🤔 makes you wonder if Subaru ever attempted address these issues
🤷♂️
supposedly, in 03, they addressed the head gasket issue, but I'm not sure. When I was at the dealer (Cochran, Monroeville, PA) last year, buying parts, I noticed a full shop and engines everywhere....and a bunch of arrogant pricks at the parts counter.... Subaru dealer in Butler PA, 1000% better.
I know its a bit much but switch the engine bcs not gonna lie boxer's suck when it comes to maintenance (sorry I don't mean any harm bro)
I think you'll get a good price selling the motor and then you can LS4 I'm joking maybe a 20vavle all I can say I hope this car treat you good and don't let you down when you're in a pickle bcs Boxer their amazing performance engine and awesome with weight distribution but the maintenance will you turn a blind eye to Subaru's in general
Thanks for the heads up Khaliel!
I'm currently researching more into this - what has been your personal experience with the FA/EJ engines?
Thanks!