Not so Eco Friendly: '03 Subaru Forester X 2.5L Auto

[NoD~]

So I've been wanting a winter/offroad/camping/towing vehicle and, for whatever reason, got fixated on the idea of a Subaru Forester. Was large enough to do all I wanted, AWD, plenty of power, looks like an old station wagon in the body (which I like)... so after a few months of looking around, I found one!



It's an '03 Model X (the most basic) with 250,000 miles on it (holy cow...). The were asking $1,490 for it and, from what I could tell, it was a steal of a price. We looked at it and knew right away it was worth it: It was in great shape, single owner who seemed to have a hard time letting go of the car.

Right away, I can tell you this: MPG sucks on this thing. 15 gallon tank and already to about 1/4 after less than 300 miles! OUCH! Not used to that...

I really didn't want an Automatic, but manual ones were hard to find and expensive. This isn't going to be a daily driver, so MPG isn't critical... but I'm still thinking CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Eco(ish)Plans:
-LED Light Changeups (already did a few, mostly burnt-out dash lights)
-Skid Plate (should help aero some)
-Underbody coroplast panels
-Remove cross bars, maybe passenger mirror
-Possibly rear aero spoiler
-Possibly adjustable WAI
-Possibly adjustable grill shutters (Single large open grill, might be easy!)
-Light weight wheels and eco-tires (for on road travels)
-Light weight crank pulley
-Change out to synthetic fluids where I can
-Block heater, oil heater pads, possibly trans heater pad
-Possibly an aero-shell topper storage box??

Not so Eco Plans:
-Offroad tires
-1" lift
-Breather tube extensions
-Trans cooler
-Possibly add in some sound deadening/absorbing/decoupling
-Possibly change out some of the exhaust (but nothing LOUD or annoying)

It didn't take long to find the mechanical problems. I saw a lot of oil under the car, so just planned a head gasket swap (as these are notorious for needing them!) I got the valves nice and lapped and replaced plenty of seals, as well as cleaned a TON of carbon out of the combustion chamber. New timing belt and pullies, as a pulley was completely seized anyways. Lash adjustment... list goes on. Tried to concentrate on keeping it running reliably and efficiently.

I still have some leaks and issues, but little by little, it's coming together. Been driving it daily since I can't get my Insight out of the garage without tire cables!

I've ordered an OBDII adapter so I can see what kind of real-world MPG this gets. Like to get some base line data before going too nuts on improvements. The owner before me said only 20mpg, though I doubt he was really putting his numbers into a spreadsheet and monitoring it.

Anywho, been meaning to post this up. Don't expect it to be a huge MPG success, but know that I'll be slowly modding this over the years.

[hotshoetom]

Ok I know its a different body but all 2.5 subarus share some commonality and as the owner of a 91 wagon with a 2.2 and manual transmission, I can share some of my experience with you and give you some ideas for making it meet your needs in a marvelous way...reason I say this is I use mine for towing and general daily use, have 210,000 miles on it and its doing its job. Would enjoy telling you about some of the mods and how they have worked for me.

[kafer65]

It should be getting around 26 mpg in light mixed driving. I'd be checking the wear items first like air filter, timing belt/chain, spark plugs, dirty injectors with bad spray patterns, vacuum leaks and oil in the antifreeze/overheating = toasted head gasket, brakes dragging. I've never seen fluid changes to synthetic make much of a difference. One of the biggest improvement I get on my gear is from airing up the tires. I could not get my '04 FXT above 23 mpg even using COBB tuning. I've learned a ton here and would have probably been able to get a bit more out of it but I really liked the acceleration too much to stay out of it so 320-350 miles to a tank was common for me.

[NoD~]

Hey gang, I'll take all the help I can get!

Even learning to accelerate with an automatic is a challenge... lol.

The fuel injectors and fuel filter are the only things I haven't really touched. Otherwise, new gaskets, belts, pullies, and fluids (except diff and trans fluids. Trans fluid still looks bright red, but did change the filter).

I'm pretty close to empty, so I'll get a base line tank soon. Note that there is no pre-warming on this tank (block heater on order) and it's been anywhere down to -8*F outside on this tank! So I'm expecting disappointment in my life soon.

It's got Ecopias on it right now. I've been trying to keep them 40-45psi and will go higher eventually, but traction is already meh do to snow and ice (which are more factors that hurt MPG! Doh!)

[kafer65]

Oops, I missed the maintenance part of your post do to lack of sleep. Twenty mpg may not be abnormally low in several scenarios I can think of.

[ThermionicScott]

Originally Posted by NoD~

Right away, I can tell you this: MPG sucks on this thing. 15 gallon tank and already to about 1/4 after less than 300 miles! OUCH! Not used to that...

Relax! Don't freak out yet. The fuel gauges on Subarus are notoriously "non-linear". The needle dives into the low end faster than reality because they presumably want drivers to refuel sooner rather than later. Once your comfort level with the car improves, you'll get many happy miles while the needle points to "E". Most of us have an idea of how many miles we can get per tank throughout the year and keep an eye on the gas light in case we come up short.

(But maybe fill up a small gas can and keep it in your trunk while you test the gas light for the first time. )

That said, these cars don't make getting good FE easy. The weight, the AWD, and the aerodynamics all conspire against us. So it's even more incumbent on us to drive carefully and do mods if we want respectable gas mileage.

[skyking]

Don't set your goals lofty high with that one. As everybody says, the utility costs. Since you have a great MPG rig for daily driving, I would not go crazy with efforts on the subie.
I'd recommend cleaning off that rack drag, and making a nifty removeable boat tail for just the top part. That will yield the most improvement for effort. Bonus is it won't detract from the offroad capabilities.
coroplast underneath is going to be problematic if you play in the dirt. It will build up on it and you end up adding a ton of weight or losing it outright with load. It is amazing where the dirt has build up in my ram truck, we ar talking tens of pounds of concrete like hardened mud that I have to chip out.

[redpoint5]

I wouldn't put too much into trying to improve MPGs. The 2.5L autos are stubborn. I owned a 2007 Legacy for 1 month and tried as hard as I could to get good fuel economy, and could only manage 23 MPG. That was much worse than my 2.2L manual Legacy which averaged 28 MPG. I also wasn't a fan of the sluggish auto tranny.

I'd get the alignment checked, especially if you are putting new meat on the wheels.

Don't bother with lifting the vehicle. It's already tall and capable of clearing many things. All that will do is reduce the longevity of the axles and reduce your fuel economy. If you put good chains on, you will be able to push quite a lot of snow. Other objects you can just steer around or over.

ZeroHour has this thread detailing the extensive modding he did in his quest for 35 MPG. He only achieved 28.

[skyking]

^ pictures like that one are why I don't think highly of coroplast under a rig like that. Too much fun to keep out of the crud and it will make short work of tearing it off.

[Hersbird]

They have a lot of gear, at least my manual one does. Anything over 65 and it's really purring. I often end up in 5th gear by 30 mph shifting at 2000 rpm. At least it pretty effortlessly accelerates with all that leverage. I have heard the autos are actually better off road. Without a low range (at least in the US) the manual requires you to slip the clutch constantly and it just can't handle it. I get 25 around town with my manual but it doesn't improve that much on the highway at least at 65. I did get it well into the 30's once on the highway using pulse and glide, up to 70 down to 55. That probably took the steep gears out of the equation a bit.