@doubleopinter You can throw the CARFAX report away. It is useless/worthless. It tells you what has been reported. It DOES NOT tell you what has NOT been reported. You don't mention if this is a Turbo or NON-Turbo.

What to look out for?

• Oil leaks in and around the front timing cover.
• OBDII hidden codes.
• Signs of burning oil, so if possible ask for service history, NOT CARFAX reports.

Ideally you want to start your inspection with a cold engine. That way you can see if the coolant has signs of oil mixed in. And see how the vehicle/engine behaves as it warms up.

Good luck,
bman

 

@bman400 the Foz has a stick so it's not a turbo. Turbos were auto trans/CVT only after 2008. And no Eyesight on sticks in 2017--I researched 2017's bigtime when I bought ours and drove/considered a stick, a low-end XT, and ultimately bought a regular 2.5i Premium.

With any stick shift vehicle, do some brisk shifts and confirm synchros are working well. There is a rev hang problem that made me NOT want a stick on 2017 after having rev hang on my '09. These are not fun to drive in a performance sense at all...pretty much agricultural.

Throwout bearings may be an issue--my '09 ate one early and my son had another one fail. You won't have to worry about CVT or Eyesight issues, so my main concern beyond that might be oil leaks/burning.

I think there were some people that had strange rusting on door seams on the edges of the doors and jambs. Ours does not have that problem but it's garaged.

There were some global AC condenser issues but those would have been fixed early on under warranty. Ours went in 2019.

I had an '09 with a stick and my son still has it with 203k miles; our '17 is a CVT and is up to 75k miles.

 

Washed my '17 thoroughly yesterday for the first time. Have had it a month. 28500 miles. Saw a few orange spots (rust colored) under the paint, or under the top clear coat. There were MANY areas of that black pigmented 'Armor All' that the dealer's detailing had over sprayed. Most came off with the wash and "scrubbing" with microfiber cloth. I'm pretty sure the rest will come off with a good wax job. The orange - not too sure about those.

 

OBD2 should pass readiness. If it doesn't the battery was recently disconnected, probably to hide a check engine light. Facebook and Reddit are full of people with CEL's days or even hours after taking ownership. So many dishonest sellers.

Insist on a start from dead cold. Some conditions such as rod knock can quiet down as the engine warms. Ideally you want to look at the car first thing in the morning, after it has been sitting all night. Feel the oil filter to tell if it has been running. Vehicle running when you arrive is a red flag.

Check front control arm bushings and rear wheel bearings and CV axles. These are extremely common failure points for 2014 to 2018 Foresters.

 

Pre-purchase inspection with your trusted mechanic.

 

A/C was an issue on 2017's. Here is a TSB that applied to US Subarus:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2021/MC-10188184-0001.pdf

The best thing you can do is get a PRE-purchase inspection by a mechanic of YOUR choice, preferably one very familiar with Subarus.

Below is a screenshot of Consumer Reports reliability data for a 2017 Forester:

Drive system ding is probably related to CV axle.
Suspension/Steering ding is probably related to wheel bearings and control arm bushings.
Climate System ding is probably related to A/C failure.

 

Check with a dealer to see if the a/c condenser TSB later became a recall in Canada as it did in the US.

Another question for a Canadian Subie dealer is if the warranty extension (15 years/150K miles - about 240K km) on the upper exhaust is valid there. My old '17 developed the telltale loud exhaust on a cold start and occasional exhaust fumes in the car. It was a $4000 job and Subaru paid for it all even though my car was otherwise out of warranty.

 

Another question for a Canadian Subie dealer is if the warranty extension (15 years/150K miles - about 240K km) on the upper exhaust is valid there. My old '17 developed the telltale loud exhaust on a cold start and occasional exhaust fumes in the car. It was a $4000 job and Subaru paid for it all even though my car was otherwise out of warranty.

I had the exact same problem and warranty repair on my 2018.

 

Problem areas commonly reported on SJ Foresters (we have a 2018):

1) Valeo AC condenser leaks / replacement campaign (ours done in 2022)
2) Rear wheel bearings and updated backing plate (ours done last week)
3) RKE/TPMS module damaged by water leak from RR side window near gas cap (not on ours so far)
4) DCM (communications module) fails. Had DCM and battery replaced once, occasionally still faults

 

I would crawl under it & look for rust. also take the spare tire out & look for rust coming thru the sheet metal

I once test drove a 2015 while helping our Son shop for a car. everything looked fine until I looked around. I told the salesman they should be ashamed for selling something so rusty, I mean it was BAD. don't ever remember seeing rust coming thru the sheet metal under a spare tire before. he shrugged his shoulders & said "it passes state safety inspection"

buyer beware

 

I went to see the car. Sorry I should’ve mentioned that it is at a Toyota dealership. The car looks good aesthetically and I scanned it. There are no codes and the last time it was reset was 45 days ago so I’m fairly confident that at least the ECU doesn’t have any problems. Took it on a test drive and one of the bearings is definitely shot. It’s pretty damn loud. I don’t have a lot of experience with what Subaru clutches feel like but I think the clutch is probably getting a bit old, although it does not slip under heavy acceleration. I discussed it with the sale guy and he’s fairly adamant that they would change the bearing. I wouldn’t buy it without it.

I noticed that when the key was in the ACC position the radiator fan was running. Not entirely sure what that means. The coolant was below the low mark when it was cold. Blue coolant? No signs of oil leaks.

 

The car looks good aesthetically and I scanned it. There are no codes and the last time it was reset was 45 days ago so I’m fairly confident that at least the ECU doesn’t have any problems.

Where the monitors (EGR, fuel, catalyst, etc.) all reporting as ready?

I believe there are thirteen monitors.

If any were not ready then it hasn't been driven enough. Number of days since reset doesn't matter. Miles and restart cycles is what matters. It has to have been driven 50 to 100 miles and have had a certain number of off/on cycles.

I'm emphasizing this because so many people get scammed by sellers trying to hide a check engine light. There were two on reddit today alone.

 

Also what is a Subaru clutch supposed to feel like? The one on this car felt very springy and squishy. I have a VW so I’m used to a very smooth actuation.

 

I've decided to pass on this one. Red flags for me are

• Low coolant level.
• At least one blown bearing.
• I'm not super familiar with what these cars are supposed to sound like inside but the engine sounded pretty loud in the cabin. I wonder if it was a leaking manifold issue.
• The fan running when key is in ACC/ON and the car was cold and not running.

I'm sure someone will snatch it up in like a day but I don't feel like finding out. It was 2hrs from my house so it was also impossible to take it to a good shop.

 

Obviously, the dealer did a poor or non-existent job of checking out the car which is red flag in itself.
FWIW...Re the radiator fan. On my 2018 the fan does not run on a non-running, cold engine with the key in the ACC/ON position unless the A/C is turned on.

 

Ya I specifically turned off the AC button the second time I tried it.

 

@bman400 i once caught a Honda dealer lying about their FS car’s mileage based on a carfax. The odometer had been rolled back back 30 or 40k miles. So they aren’t worthless. Still get a mechanic tos look it over and run an OBD scan.

 

As others said, check the front lower control arm bushings. You can see it by simply looking under the car with a flash light. The bushing, if bad, will have a bunch of dry rot looking cracks. If really bad, you will feel it at highway speed like a wobble (almost like an out of balance tire, which you sometimes can get to momentarily stop if you initiate weight transfer as sublte as a lane change).
Listen for rattles from the muffler, they are prone to failing at this mileage from the baffles rusting and coming loose.

 

As others said, check the front lower control arm bushings. You can see it by simply looking under the car with a flash light. The bushing, if bad, will have a bunch of dry rot looking cracks. If really bad, you will feel it at highway speed like a wobble (almost like an out of balance tire, which you sometimes can get to momentarily stop if you initiate weight transfer as sublte as a lane change).

Those are two different bushings. Rear control arm bushing that cracks do not cause the wobble. That's the forward bushing and only way to see if that's worn is wiggle the wheel with the front off the ground or driving it around highway speeds around a slight turn.

 

Yep, we are talking about the same thing. I was only commenting on the front LCA bushings. You just lay down behind the front wheel, partially stick your head under the car, and have a good flashlight ready. Had mine replaced 11 months, the driver side front LCA bushing went bad based on the above symptoms at about 74k miles. The symptoms built up in the year leading up to replacement. $695 before tax is what I paid to have one LCA replaced with alignment.