Hey guys so just a little background, I just bought my first Subaru, and got this 2004 Forester XT. It has been a great car, but it is starting to have some issues.
Car has around 150k miles on it, engine was recently rebuilt (before i purchased the vehicle).
So it started having problems when i think when I accidentally put crappy gas in the car (it is recommended that premium is always used, and I put some 85 octane or something like that in it one time). As i was driving one day after putting the crappy gas in the check engine light came on with the flashing cruise control and the code was the p0420 ( has to do with the catalytic converters and sometimes the o2 sensors) so I just put some alcohol in the gas to try and clean it out (per recommendation of mechanic) thinking it was just crappy gas gumming up the o2 or whatever. didn't have anymore problems until...
Driving up a hill one day and going fairly fast but the engine cuts out, not a total loss of power but the engine cut out and I couldn't accelerate uphill. So I panic and pull over immediately and nothing seemed to be wrong. So I continued and since then I have taken it easy going uphill, but it still has awful power going uphill. I can't accelerate and the engine "glitches/hesitates/chokes/cuts out" (whatever you want to call it) if i try to accelerate, not as dramatic as the first time though.
continuing I thought a bad o2 sensor was the culprit and tried to remove the upstream with no luck... haha those things get stuck in there. So i gave up with that (rather than try stripping the sensor) and tried the cleaning method recommended by my mechanic again. But it has gotten progressively worse to the point that when the engine is cold i can't accelerate until it warms up. It also has thrown a new code a few times, but this time for the knock sensor p0328, but that will go away if i drive the car for a few minutes (even like 20 minutes will do the job) and it gets nice and toasty. The cel will come back if i turn off the car and it sits for a few hours and gets cold.
If any of you have any ideas or have had the same issue please let me know what I can do.
PS i am a poor college student so major purchases are trying to be avoided... and i am mechanically inclined and like working on cars myself, but have limited access to tools and am by no means a great car diy mechanic
Car has around 150k miles on it, engine was recently rebuilt (before i purchased the vehicle).
So it started having problems when i think when I accidentally put crappy gas in the car (it is recommended that premium is always used, and I put some 85 octane or something like that in it one time). As i was driving one day after putting the crappy gas in the check engine light came on with the flashing cruise control and the code was the p0420 ( has to do with the catalytic converters and sometimes the o2 sensors) so I just put some alcohol in the gas to try and clean it out (per recommendation of mechanic) thinking it was just crappy gas gumming up the o2 or whatever. didn't have anymore problems until...
Driving up a hill one day and going fairly fast but the engine cuts out, not a total loss of power but the engine cut out and I couldn't accelerate uphill. So I panic and pull over immediately and nothing seemed to be wrong. So I continued and since then I have taken it easy going uphill, but it still has awful power going uphill. I can't accelerate and the engine "glitches/hesitates/chokes/cuts out" (whatever you want to call it) if i try to accelerate, not as dramatic as the first time though.
continuing I thought a bad o2 sensor was the culprit and tried to remove the upstream with no luck... haha those things get stuck in there. So i gave up with that (rather than try stripping the sensor) and tried the cleaning method recommended by my mechanic again. But it has gotten progressively worse to the point that when the engine is cold i can't accelerate until it warms up. It also has thrown a new code a few times, but this time for the knock sensor p0328, but that will go away if i drive the car for a few minutes (even like 20 minutes will do the job) and it gets nice and toasty. The cel will come back if i turn off the car and it sits for a few hours and gets cold.
If any of you have any ideas or have had the same issue please let me know what I can do.
PS i am a poor college student so major purchases are trying to be avoided... and i am mechanically inclined and like working on cars myself, but have limited access to tools and am by no means a great car diy mechanic
