HyperUniverse

how good . . . or how bad is a CVT gearbox? after my latest engine issues, I am thinking of a nice new subaru (maybe an outback this time), but they all come nowadays with CVT gearboxes. You press your clutch as it should be and don't grind any gears when changing them, and you change its oil a bit more often than regularly, and I know a manual gearbox will last for a million miles and back. Would a CVT gearbox last that long? Or put the question differently: what shall I do so a CVT gearbox would last that long? *** the other question is petrol usage and self-maintenance near to diesel, for say about 8000 miles per year? for about £200 per year more expensive I'd switch to petrol but for £500 more I wouldn't and no hybrid or electric at all please. when I work on my cars I always have little accidents, you know, a scratch here a black fingernail there; but in case of a mistake on an electric power system my family would bring a vacuum to take back in the house. so for a hybrid or electric car I will forbid myself to do any work on it. and to save the planet just so I can kill my family by starving it because all my money went to greedy garages, is a no-no for me forever. besides when the revenues from fossil fuel will stop, they WILL put their taxes up on the electric because we use it as a fuel.

It happened to me once, about 4 years ago. One morning there was no power steering and some light (don't remember what) on dash. Turned the engine OFF, then back ON and no problems. I never fixed anything, never even looked at anything. And it never done it again since. I now believe in japanese gremlins.

So, last Friday driving over the pennines, a 50 minute journey. There is a permanent thumping noise from the engine, in sync with the revs. No loss of power. I know something happened, but turned the music off to listen for other changes in the engine and kept driving more carefully (read within the speed limits). Got home and next morning I see a few drips of oil beneath my engine. Check oil level - in the limits. Check coolant - in the limits. Keep driving since - only short distances. Thumping noise is constantly there, and so is the dripping oil. I got a 5L oil can in the car, just in case, but didn't need to use it to top up yet. I'm only driving to work and back home 4.5 miles away. Check my oil and coolant level at either end of journey. They're still in limits today. Unscrew the oil cap while the engine is running, and there is no excessive smoke coming out of there, and there is no foaming like the coolant would do if mixed with oil. But I can hear the thumping noise better through the oil filler (I'm sorry now I never did check that before, when the engine was out of trouble to confirm if this is the normal thumping/hissing noise of gasses going past the piston rings on a 145k mileage engine). Would be a good idea for you (whoever reads this) to check yours now so in case of trouble later you have a benchmark of what the noise should've been. And best just record it with your mobile phone, and save the video file for use 7 years later. I don't feel any loss of power. Engine runs perfectly smooth at idle or any other revs. So, my thinking: 1. rear crankshaft seal popped out and so I hear thumping noise from the gases that go past the piston rings, and I see the dripping oil of course or 2. headgasket blown up. Going underneath it looks like the oil is right in the middle of the engine, under the clutch. Can't see perfectly as some crossbars are in the way, and they could make the oil drip somewhere else (maybe). If headgasket would've blown I would expected oil on one side of the engine, together with foaming oil and coolant loss, plus not running smoothly and some power loss. If seal is damaged shouldn't I get some oil on the clutch and thus slip? By the way, I do lose coolant at a rate of 1 litre since Jan 2016. I had to top up my coolant twice since then, with half a litre each time, but I couldn't see where my coolant went. Question: was my headgaket blown a long time ago and burning 1 litre of coolant since 2016? Second question: what's your bet, is it 1 or 2? Third question: fix it or get rid of it?

I was in Paris in 2018 when my interior light killed the battery over night. I was gobsmacked that a 20W bulb could kill a battery of 700W power. Jump started from a LandRover, never had a problem since, until last year, when my battery finally died after about 130k miles. I had one thrown in my garden, left over from a mercedes I owned before this subaru, and because the battery was new at that time I didn't want to sell the mercedes with the battery on it (not for the price he offered me). So I kept the battery in my garden, and 6 years later I fitted it to my subaru, started it and is behaving perfectly since then. So, my battery was new - not used for 6 years - and kept in the garden . . . a blue/white Bosch Car Battery 075 I replaced my front bearings at about 140k because of noise, that took me 4 hours each on the street in front of my house, and I need to replace my rear ones now at 145k. A bush here, and an anti-roll bar link there, brake pads and discs . . . Since Jan 2016 I think I spent less than £1000 in parts for this car, excluding tires and oils, did the work myself. Now at 145k I just got a major problem with the engine (and that may force me to change cars). Either the rear crankshaft seal has popped out and is dripping oil when the engine is running (I'd fix this and keep the car), or headgasket blown and dripping oil (I'd sell the car for this). I still investigate what's happened last saturday. Keep driving though.

My 2010 Forester 2.0D does this sort of thing when these next two things are happening at the same time: Air-Con is ON and the Fan is on Full Blast It's not dying at idle, if the engine was at idle when activating these two above. But as soon as I decelerate and leave it in neutral, that's when it dies. It seems that the engine management needs a second to detect what the load is on the engine and adjust the idle fueling accordingly. So, when my air-con and fan is on full blast at the same time, they tax the engine so much that it slows it down faster than the engine management is detecting its load, and thus is killing it. I learned to overcome this by pinching the gas pedal for a fraction of a second after I pulled it out of a gear and I know I want to leave it to idle. That solves the problem. But I repeat: this only happens when both are true. If say the fan is one step lower than full blast, then I can feel the engine slowing below the normal idling for a fraction of a sec after putting it neutral, but it recovers itself immediately and the normal idling kicks in. And it never happens if all the electrics are ON but the air-con is OFF. (air-con could be set on either - cold or warm, it still affecting it like I described) Pay attention if yours is doing the same?

I know I'm replying to a very old topic, but it may benefit other people. In 2016 I have bought a 2010 Forester 2.0Diesel with 96k miles on it. BEST CAR I EVER OWNED. Except for it's size. I like bigger car boots. Front seats are perfect for 2 tall adults, and back seats are perfect for two teenagers. It's just that often I found myself placing ASDA shopping bags on the back seats, as we couldn't fit them in the boot anymore. (yes we like shopping a lot, and cook our food in house). *** As the original poster says that he's doing all the work himself, I do the same. For people like us, a car will last a lifetime (ours not car's); Not because we do all the work, but because we do all the work we understand how a car works and how it feels, and how it drives. We can feel immediately when a squeak or knock starts, and because we like doing all the jobs ourselves, we take care of it immediately. We don't drive the car until it dies, thinking that "I have a RAC or AA recovery, and they'll sort it out". Myself, I have NEVER had, and I will never have a breakdown insurance! And since 1989 when I started owning cars and driving them, I have NEVER got stuck on a road with a broken down car. I'm not saying I've never had a problem with my cars. But I'm saying that all the major problems I've detected earlier I sorted them out on my driveway, and other minor problems that came while driving I've been able to sort them out on the road in a few minutes, and then carry on with my trips. That's what people who do all the work on their cars do. In fact, since 1989 none of my cars have ever seen the garage and the mechanics except for the MOT. And I've never had an MOT failure. *** Now, back to this Forester Diesel. I've read the same bad reviews before buying mine. Just one came true. DPF. But, this car is classed as EURO4, although it has a DPF which should make it a EURO5. So, I decided to make it a true EURO4 as the government guidelines says, and no more problems since. *** About crankshaft snapping. About 20 years ago I had a colegue who was driving our company's car, a Fiat Diesel. And he was reving the engine higher than formula 1 cars, EVERY time he was pulling out from a traffic lights or a corner. The company replaced 3 cars with engine failure in 6 months, and they couldn't figure out why they are so poor quality! *** Oil consumption. Because I do all the work myself, I change the oil twice a year. Easter time, and Haloween time. Comes to about 4 - 5000 miles each change. I get into a shop I close my eyes and point to the oils shelf; I then open my eyes and buy the oil I'm pointing at. In every 5000 miles I have never topped the oil ever, as it never dropped. I am talking about this Forester 2010 diesel. Oh yeah, if you tune your engine for more power, guess what nobody's telling you: Your turbo will force your engine to burn more oil. (if you really want to understand the physics behind this, then google it yourself) *** About the comment one poster says: "Modern diesels are pretty much useless and end up costly ballache and only worth owning" He is right when talking about Modern Audi, BMW, Volvo, Land Rover, Mercedes, and other high end cars. Even the latest Forester with its stupid CVT gearbox. You get a Manual transmission, and you NEVER have any problems. You change your engine oil twice a year, and you NEVER have any problems. You NEVER rev your engine thinking of winning the formula 1 trofee, and you NEVER have any problems. *** Fuel consumption: 64mph = 50mpg on motorway. 70mph = 45mpg town = 33mpg *** mechanical work done on this car in 60,000 miles of my ownership: 1. brake disks x 4 pieces 2. brake pads x 12 pieces 3. tyres x 8 pieces 4. engine oil and oil filter as stated above 5. gearbox and rear differential oil x twice 6. rain wipers - 4 or 5 times 7. brake calipers rebuild once (rubber boot cracking and the piston rusting) 8. exhaust replaced with a stainless steel one - never a problem anymore 9. wheel bearings changed at 150,000 miles (no play in them but noisy at high speed) *** No water leaks in the cabin from the huge sunroof (but I'm not parking it under a tree so there's no drainage clogged with leaves). No other problems at all. And I do believe in driving on the edge of the speed limit. If anybody is driving at 25mph in front of me, then I overtake them to keep driving at 30mph. So, I do tax my Forester every day, and yet it doesn't want to die. *** Verdict: If you do your own work on cars, and you don't buy a lot of groceries, then Subaru Forester 2.0 Diesel with a Manual transmission is IDEAL for you. If you live in a big city that's going to forbid you driving a reliable car, then you are bound to buy a Modern Car