2009 Subaru forester will not accelerate, looses power and the stalls
Asked by Tessa007 Oct 23, 2018 at 05:10 PM about the 2009 Subaru Forester
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
My car starts but only drives a the pace of a crawl
for about a block I can floor.it and I still have no
power and then it stalls. I have replaced the
headgasket, cat converter and fuel pump
assembly and nothing is working. No check engine
lights are on. My car has been in shop for 2
months ( is that normal?) And I am still not told
what is wrong. I keep fixing things and still don't
have a fixed car. How I'm told it 'might be the
computer ' ..... has anyone had this happen and if
so how did you fix the issue?
Any suggestions is very much appreciated
7 Answers
Hornet_2497 answered 5 years ago
If your car has over 100,000 miles, the timing belt may have jumped a cog or two and may even break causing damage IF it is an "interference engine" and I think it is. So if it suddenly started running horrible, that's what they should check for next. There's an inspection hole somewhere to examine the belt before taking it apart. Get a quote. Hard to believe there is no check engine light on but scan for codes anyway. Guesswork is expensive. Maybe they should be paying for their mistakes.
Hornet_2497 answered 5 years ago
I am not familiar with the 2009 Subaru but if it is a DOHC engine, it is an "interference engine". DOHC means double over head cam engine design. That means it will have four valves per cylinder or the four cylinder engine will have sixteen valves. Okay, the SOHC Subarus are all "non-interference" engines. No engine damage occurs if timing belt breaks.
I called another shop ( referred to me by friend) and by me just explaining the problem over the phone he said that he thinks it could be the timing belt aswell. I'm getting it towed to him on Friday so let's hope its just the belt or a dirty filter/spark plug or even a wire and that he doesn't take 2 months and still I have no answers
Tessa007 is your vehicle fixed and if so what was the issue...?
Tessa007 I am having the same issue with my 09 Forester. When I step on the gas the engine starts to rumble and not move. They car starts fine. I just got a new used engine put in and haven’t seen any other problems. Did you get your Forester fixed and if so what was it that they did to fix it. Thanks
Skillitmade answered 3 years ago
I'm currently dealing with the same, I deal with subarus quite a bit personally just a hobby. I have a 2009 forester base 2.5na auto I bought it in this condition with supposedly new timing done. I checked timing looks good, Idles fine, revs fine. While I'm driving it spits and sputters over 15-20mph and struggles to gain power. I've replaced the header cat pipe, plugs, and still no change, but if I remove the exhaust manifold and let it hang just held on my the bolts and allow exhaust gas to easily be released I have power( that was just once while putting that to the test ) Only other thing I can think of is bent valves from previous under jumping time and and having the timing replaced or ringland failure.
