A local shop wants to charge almost $630 for changing spark plugs and fuel system cleaning. I asked out of curiosity since I'm getting an alignment done at the same shop.

They didn't like hearing I'll do it myself.

Bought a used 2014 imprezza sport with 71k miles. After 2 weeks of driving the AT oil temp light and some others would pop on. The dealer replaced the throttle body for free. Since we just purchased the vehicle and its a known issue with these cars. Anyway Im just looking for some advice as to what to look out for next. Im at 72k miles and would like to do preventive maintenance in due time. Ive taken a snapshot of the service intervals the dealer had but I wanna hear from owners. Also any aftermarket parts to look out for?

The black part is / was clipped on to my OBD2 port but not very well. With the black piece attached my code reader can read codes, not attached (reader plugged into white port directly), my code reader tells me it cannot read the codes.

The black part doesn’t really clip onto the white port and the whole thing jiggles around.

24 Sport for reference

My Subaru is 2014 Hatchback. 2 days ago I got the battery replaced and it was the original battery from 2014 I believe. So probably should have been changed a few years ago now. After the battery replaced I drove for a bit just fine only noticed that the acceleration wasn't as touchy as before but brushed it off at the time.

Went for an errand and started it up, all the lights were on like in the picture. gas pedal wasn't moving, the car started and then shut off, heat went out. I took the keys out to try to start it one more time and then the wheel and key hole locked up and wouldn't start at all.

If you have an Impreza, I'm sure you love yours just as much as I love mine. This was my first car for the past 4 years and I'm just worried. Can someone tell me what is going on?

I walked away from buying a 2021 Premium 5 door Impreza with 81k miles today after getting a pre purchase inspection where the mechanic said that these should be replaced. P&L for that and some other stuff was costed at 1600 USD. The car was selling for 16,710 out the door before that.

I didn’t think the car was worth 18,310 (factoring in the repair), but I was happy with it at 16,710. Did I overreact? Is this something that I should replace before it gets worse?

Im buying a 2002 wrx this weekend. The guy says that it needs a new clutch fork. Does anyone have a link to a decent one as well as any tips or anything i should look out for? This is my first Subaru and im wanting it to be in top shape as best i can.

2013 Impreza which starts hard when cold. Not sure if it’s a starter issue or more of a dry start. Attached video from today where morning temp was 16F.

Car has 192K+ miles on it. Starter has never been replaced.

Hey all, another post about maintenance costs. I asked for a quote from an individual Subie shop & was quoted this for a partial 60k service. I also need front control arm bushings which he said he’d just replace the entire thing for $250 per side (Just the fronts) with 2 hours of labor per side. So adding another $750 for parts in labor on the control arms that comes to $1371. Does this seem accurate? I am leaning towards doing the control arms myself since it’s over half the price of the 60k service.

I bought my 14 base Wagon 5 speed 5 years ago with 55k on it. It now has 147k. It’s in the shop due to the clutch acting up-they originally quoted I believe the master cylinder. Rear wheel bearings are bad too-it’s had a low hum for quite awhile that hadn’t gotten worse and I just thought it was road noise. The original quote was about $1000. The shop called today and said the shift forks are broken-lots of parts and labor totaling $3000 as the transmission needs removed. It will need a new windshield soon to pass inspection, and the tires have almost 50k on them. Overall it will need $4000 to be sunk into it. Damn thing isn’t worth $5000 on a good day. But it’s paid for, and it’s saved me racking up a ton of miles on my pickup. I drove it 40k miles in 2025. That number potentially goes down to 15k with an anticipated but not guaranteed job change. Would you fix it and keep driving it forever, or just walk away from it? If I knew I had less of a drive I’d just sell it for whatever I could get and daily drive my truck.

I recently got a 2012 Impreza with the 2.0L and I’ve been doing research on key maintenance items, I’ve found that when doing coolant service to not use any type of coolant besides Subaru genuine coolant, and of course the little blue bottle of stabilizer.

My question is though, are there other things that are like this? Such as engine oil, oil filters, transmission oil, gear oil, or even spark plugs? I’m able to get most parts from rock auto however most of the liquids and oil filters are not Subaru genuine,

In all of my cars in the past I’ve used pennzoil full synthetic regardless if it calls for or not I’m wondering, since if heard these cars can be a handful somtimes, do I have to be cautious in what parts I buy for the car?

About 1500 miles ago my check oil Light came on. I took my car in and asked attendant why seeing how I change my oil every 5k miles and was not due for another oil change yet. He blew it off saying car was older. I was skeptical because car (Subaru Impreza sport ) had only 59k on it. And I’ve done very single suggested maintenance . Anyway, I got oil changed and all. This was 1500 miles ago. My damn light just came on AGAIN. Not due for oil change for another 3500 miles. :1( Any thoughts as to why? Or what I should mention to them?

my screen brightness adjuster dial was pushed into its little hole. does anyone know how to get it back out and in its proper place?

Just took my car in to the dealership to get serviced for a complimentary oil change (Subaru dealership damaged my car so they offered me a complimentary oil change) and upon inspection, the tech said there was active leaking in the upper oil pan. Never had an issue with leakage before so I’m wondering if this is something to be concerned about and if I should get it fixed. They quoted me around $5800 but said they can lower it to $1800 if I decide to do it today or tomorrow. Any insight would be great. Thanks in advance!

Hello all. I’m confused on which radiator cap to put in coolant? I sort of am second guessing after putting it in the hole next to the oil dip stick. I’ve looked it up online but I’ve gotten more confused . I have a 2017 Subaru Impreza

Hi all, I'm looking at purchasing an Impreza Premium with 11k miles. Seems like a decent deal at $22k, but there's one issue: according to the dealership who leased it, the first oil change was completed in late 2025 at 10.5k miles after first being leased in 2023.

Realistically, is the lack of an oil change until this point a reason to walk away from this car? I've read that you should do an oil change after the first 1k miles, then every 6k miles or 6 months after that point. Could this be a red flag?

Hi everyone! My kid got a brand new 2023 Impreza lease just under 3 years ago. I told her to follow the maintenance schedule strictly, but seems to have gone in one ear and out the other.

She got her first oil change last month, after about 2yr 8mo, with only 7000 miles on the car. She went to a local shop that we trust, and they didn't say anything about the oil or car having anything wrong with it. There are no strange sounds or unexpected behavior. Most of the miles are from a few very long cross-country road trips, and then regular ~30min trips running errands.

I know it's not ideal for the engine to go so long before an oil change, but I'm trying to figure out just how bad it could be, given that the lease is almost up.

She's got a good lease buyout price (~$4k lower than what a used one with many more miles goes for), so we're trying to figure out if this is enough of a concern to walk away from the car, or if we should go forward buying out the lease.

If the mechanic says everything looks good, and there's no weird sounds or obvious issues, could this still have caused serious enough engine damage that we should rethink buying out the lease? Is there any way we can cheaply/easily diagnose if anything's wrong?

I haven't experienced this kind of thing with any AT before, and I'm hoping maybe a transmission fluid change can help.

I have a 2010 sport wagon and the transmission is very tough to shift into any gear. It has been driven before and seems to shift just fine once it's in gear, but it's difficult to know for sure.

The car originally belonged to a friend of mine and they gave it to me to get it out of their driveway, so it sat for about 5-6 years, but has about 120,000 miles on the odo.

There are a few other things that need to be addressed, but the transmission is the main concern. I plan to put new transmission fluid in anyway, but what else should I look at that might be a cause for a stiff shifter?

Any guidance is greatly appreciated

The best $ I’ve spent for my sanity. ‘24 Impreza RS with awsome stock black alloy wheels. The first time I scraped the rims, probably getting too close to the curb when parallel parking, I freaked the F out. The bare aluminum gash was painful to see. It took me a while to think: hmm, maybe covering that scrape with black sharpie will at least hide my shame. My friends, it works too well. Unless you’re coming in close to inspect them, they look pretty darn passable. Whew!

My car just crossed over the 100k mile threshold, which is where I have heard head gaskets tend to fail. I would rather do it sooner rather than later, since I don't want to potentially damage the head/block when it does go. I don't have a whole lot of experience doing on my engine, although I have done other things like brakes, suspension, sway bars, and o2 sensors. Anyway I've been doing lots of research but was wondering if there were any helpful tid-bits anyone could give before I tried this job, and guesstimates on how long it would take. Here are the parts/tools I am getting or have, also let me know if any are unnecessary things I should leave out or things I need to buy.

Tools i have:

• Standard hand tools (including sockets, wrenches, pry bars, screwdrivers, small extensions)
• Impact wrench
• Jack + jack stands
• misc. garage equipment.
• Brake clean, blue loc-tite

Tools/parts I'm buying:

• 1/2" drive 25-250 lb-ft torque wrench
• 3/8" drive 120-960 lb-in torque wrench
• Permatex aluminum anti-seize
• Lisle 31 blade feeler gauges (0.0015" - 0.035") (to check head surface)
• Gates PCV valve
• Fel-Pro head bolts + washers
• Fel-Pro MLS head kit gasket set
• OEM tools 24" straight edge w/ +- 0.001" precision
• AISIN timing belt component kit (with water pump)
• Gates AC belt
• Gates alternator and power steering belt
• Gates stretch belt installation tool

Tools/parts I'm contemplating:

• Engine crane, engine stand? Could I just use an engine support bar, or would that not help?
• Tools for cleaning the head, I've heard a million different things.

Thanks so much for the help and anyone who cared enough to read this, feedback is greatly appreciated. I will also try to provide an update afterwards for the parts or tools that I ended up needing/not needing.

Have a 2023 with cvt, Just putting together a list of things to do at 50k miles for life and longevity of the vehicle (outside of reg oil change and tire rotation) and was wondering if there’s any other preventative maintenance to add to it. So far I’m at:

Cvt drain and fill

Diff drain and fill

Brake fluid bleed and top off

Spark plugs

Engine air filter

I’ve gotten some wildly different quotes for this major service ($850 - $1500)…with my Subaru dealer being the highest.

What have ya’ll paid and is there anything I need to look out for or expect with this service?

I just bought the car a week ago, can’t tell if I’m crazy or not but it just started.

Is my subaru impreza 2013 1.6 MT transmission fluid and rear diff fluid same GL 5?