Stuartspanners

Yes.....I have heard that a re-calibration of injectors can sometimes make a noticable difference, I dont have the firmware to calibrate myself, and i would say it takes approx 5 minutes to quiet down once started in current cold weather, but then it ticks over as per any diesel and drives absolutely fine, .....sounds like a loud metallic crack crack crack sound when started though? Totally appreciate that as with any vehicle, intermittent rattles, knocks, misfires etc: are the worst kind of faults to accurately diagnose ! .....thanks for all the replys, if anyone on here owns one of this year (2010 /11 or later and has similar noises when starting from cold ? Then by all means get in touch ......

Therein lies the problem ....... Like yourself and others on here, I and a number of associates are aware of the older petrol engines ( 2.5 etc: both here and North America ) having suffered piston slap for whatever reason ? and yet many are still going strong miles later.......but "Not" the later Boxer Diesel's, very few people seem to know anything about them, in fact it's hard to find private or trade individuals that even own them, let alone work on or talk about them, it's not the prone tensioner slap , nothing like that noise, and it's been replaced anyway, nor can I believe it's rod or bearings, they simply wouldn't, and couldn't, have lasted this long ? ....... This has a full Subaru history ( plus my own maintenance ) was owned by a mature sensible owner, has never towed or been off road to my knowledge? so it's not abuse or maintenance related, I would simply like to know if anyone has a 2008 / 2011 Forester with the 2.0 EE20 Boxer engine that's only noisy when cold ........ but you try finding someone ! Still loving it though, and often get asked ......"Is that a Lexus?"

Hi there, ......must be different down your neck of the woods, not so many "Pre 2008 / 2010" Foresters about up here with sensible mileage, especially ones that are not Farmer owned anyhow, and to try and find one that hasn't been a pet carrier or used off road is almost impossible, this one has only had 1 Private Owner before me and is fantastic throughout. I'm still not worried as using it daily ...... BUT .....I'm always waiting for it to go bang in the winter as it' just knocks so loud on cold start, but as I say, I've down over 40,000 miles on top of the 46,000 that was already on it, and it never has ! ...... still as quiet as ever once warmed up ? What I'm really looking for is someone else to say, "mine does that, it always has" ....... or..... "I know exactly what that is, change this or that" ..... trouble is, I know my way around this engine and so do a few other Subaru Techs I know, including a great Main Agent Guy who has worked on loads of them, and even he is baffled, the noise sounds incredibly like piston slap, but never heard of a Boxer Diesel suffering from that ?

My thoughts too......but surely it wouldn't last 40,000 miles would it ? I've seen that problem on a number of pre 2010 engines, but haven't actually worked on any later ones with the crank problem, that's not to say it doesent happen, I've just not come across any myself, plus it's so damn quiet once it's warmed up, and in the summer months you hardly notice it ? .....On any other diesel or petrol engine a loud knock when cold usually spells disaster, certainly i dont know of any other make I've worked on where a noise that sounds like a big end knock gets quieter the hotter it gets ! ....and certainly not one that's, still going strong 40,000 miles later ! .... as a seasoned engineer I'm baffled .....either I've been incredibly lucky, or this is a very unusual characteristic of this particular engine ?

Hi, yes I'm a newbie, on here at any rate, but have been a lifelong Subaru fan and there is not much I haven't worked on over the years. I currently run a late 2010 2.0 Forrester with the flat four Boxer Diesel engine. I am always being asked by customers how i find it and whether they should buy one? Now that's a subjective question, because we all know that every make of car has something that folk won't like about it, even those that have an opinion...... but have never actually owned one themselves ! .... My own vehicle has done nearly 90,000 miles of which i've covered around 40,000 of those both here and abroad..... Since day one of owning it, it has "knocked and rattled" from cold, ( which is why the customer got rid of it and I aquired it ) I changed the tensioner (only slghtly better) I changed the oil every 5,000 miles ( no difference ) I changed the injectors, waste of time ... I ran Slick 50 for a year, marginally quieter, or was I just kidding myself ? .....in the end though, even i stopped worrying and just used it, and guess what ? Nothing happened.....it didnt blow up.... it didnt get any worse, it didnt use any more fuel, in fact it has never let me down, and yet three years later and 40,000 miles of hard driving, it still knocks like a hammer on a block of metal for the first 5 minutes or so after start up.....then as suddenly as it came....it disappear's ....and all is silky and smooth, and quiet for the rest of the day, and continues to be as I write this .....So, whats the point of this post? Only to say that sometimes even us so called mechanical professionals can over worry something that actually isn't a worry at all.... its just accepting and living with the fact our vehicles are sometimes not as perfect as we would like them to be, be that through design or otherwise....Subaru are indeed a left field choice, not to everyones liking, they can be a strange and complex beast at the best of times....but I'm growing more and more attached to my "not perfect" mode of transport, in a normal world, engines with problems tend to start quiet and get progressively noisier as the problem increases..... with Subaru and this particular engine it simply gets quieter ! .....or is it just mine ?.... Happy driving 2018.