So I’ve been daily driving a 2006 Forester Non Turbo for about a year now and I noticed an interesting switch under my dash. I’ve come to realize that the previous owner wired up a switch that can make my Forester front wheel drive only, or all wheel drive. Has anyone else heard of this? Will driving my Forester with the switch on (making it front wheel drive only) hurt it? Looking for any input. Thanks, Jay
2006 - Interesting mod found - FWD switch!
('06-'08)
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@ForesterJay06 Yep, not a major mod as there is a 15 amp fuse holder in the engine bay into which a fuse is inserted to make it FWD. Of more interest for you may be this: 4WD On Demand From 4EAT
No point running in FWD unless there is something wrong with the rear drive train ;-)
(I am assuming your vehicle is an auto)
PS how do you know what the switch is doing - is it labeled?
No point running in FWD unless there is something wrong with the rear drive train ;-)
(I am assuming your vehicle is an auto)
PS how do you know what the switch is doing - is it labeled?
@ForesterJay06 looking on the engine compartment fuse box diagram below, curious if your Forester has something plugged in that fuse slot... perhaps wired to that switch you found?
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I don't think it will hurt anything, but it also won't help anything. You won't get any better gas mileage, and all the rear driveline components are still turning so you really aren't saving anything on wear.
Subaru put it there in the event something happened to the rear portion of the drivetrain, so you could still move the vehicle using the FWD parts only. It really wasn't meant to be used for daily driving. They did away with it on the next generation of cars.
Actually, in the manual the reason stated for the fuse to disable AWD / convert to FWD is when you get a flat and put the doughnut spare on the rear.
Thats a good point. Definitely something I’ll have to remember if this ever happens to me
@2.5x_sleeper Just looked in my Fuse box, no fuse in that slot labelled FWD Switch, which is odd because that’s definitely what the switch under my dash controls.
@ForesterJay06 assuming the mod is not as @Kevin referred to in post #2, then the switch wiring could be connected directly to the TCU... basically, just a simple switched ground connection to TCU [B10].
Bobby...
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@ForesterJay06 Can you confirm?
... being turned by the rear wheels.
People were thinking disabling power to the rear wheels would save gas, but the rear driveline drag was still there.
The purpose of de-coupling the rear drive with the fuse was not to save gas or change the handling, but only to eliminate the stress on the automatic transmission from the different rotation rate of the smaller diameter of a compact spare on one end of the car, whether front or rear.
I’m guessing this is how the previous owner did it based on there being no fuse in the engine bay
@vintage42 Good to know that it doesn’t affect my gas mileage, thanks
Yes my Forester is auto
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