Check Engine light on Suburu Forester 2002

Asked by MDVIC May 28, 2020 at 01:36 AM about the 2002 Subaru Forester

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I brought a 2002 Suburu Forester in Dec 2019. The day after I took it home the
check engine light went on, so I took it back to the car yard and they did a
scan, said something about oxygen and the light went off, but by the time I got
home it was back on. Few weeks later I had the car serviced, but they found
no codes, but did find $1500 worth of repairs and over the last few months I've
had them fixed (new top radiator hose; new front filter; rear oil seal leak; wheel
alignment, right hand inner drive shaft; new brake fluid; plus the drive belt
snapped and that was replaced.

The last repair was the rear oil seal leak. After I collected the car the check
engine light was off. But after 4 drives (all around 4km each) it came back on. I
took it back to the same mechanic who still couldn't find any codes, infact, it
wasn't even coming up, though 2003 came up but no error codes were found.
They have suggested fitting new oxygen sensors which is going to cost me
around $700. This is a 'general' mechanic, not a Suburu specialist.

I'm concerned this may not fix the issue and is a waste of money. Could it be
something else? Why would the light go off and then come back on? Could it
just be a faulty light? Why aren't they getting any codes? And would a Suburu
mechanic have a different scan tool (but cost more regarding any repairs)?

2 Answers

48,660

You're getting a CEL that won't scan? ANY cheap scanner can read any CEL code on any Subaru after 1996. Does the $1500 include that rear main seal? If so, it's perhaps not an egregious total. I believe the 2002 had only 3 O2 sensors; the rears are cheap, but the front may be $150-200-ish. Nonetheless, it's $500 max...not $700. But the fact that this guy can't give you a correct diagnosis is a real red flag! Go but a $35 Actron small scanner and diagnose it yourself in under 2 minutes, eh?

Thx for your reply. Bear in mind I'm in Australia so costs are in AUD. The $1500 was for all the repairs including the rear oil seal. I'd checked with other mechanics and prices were comparable. My mechanic didn't charge me for the recent code scan. A different 'regular' mechanic charges $15AUD for a basic scan, whilst a specialized Suburu mechanic wants to charge $88AUD (yeah, no thanks). I'm going to have another regular mechanic do a scan to see what they find. But I think the issue is that something is wrong with the electrical system which is why nothing is registering on the scan tool. We'll see what outcome there is with a different mechanic. The car drives okay for an old car and no other warning lights have ever come on. But I will get some second opinion before committing to the oxygen sensor replacement.

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