Hi all. First post here. First, I want to say this: I've never owned a turbo charged vehicle and know nothing (NOTHING) about them other than the basic concepts behind turbo charged vs NA. That said, before taking this thing into the dealer, I'm wondering if anyone could provide some feedback so that I don't go in completely stoopud!

My Subie's engine seems to run just fine - smooth and strong; however, I notice a faint, high-pitched rattle (sounds like little bearings rolling around in a tin can - reminicent of "bad gas") under any acceleration. I'm not a complete dummy. This sound is definitely coming from the engine compartment. What I thought might be bad gas turned out not to be - a tank later of premium fuel and the noise is still there. Any ideas?

Also, for any other XT AT owners, has anyone noticed that the shifts aren't the smoothest in the world? Kind of "rough" putting it into R on a slight grade, too.

I'm wondering mainly if this stuff is "normal," or if there's something that needs to be tended to. This thing's got a 7-year/100k-miles warranty, so I intend to take full advantage of it if need be.

Aside from these two little nit-picks, I LOVE this thing!

Haven't heard anything like this in our new XT.

One thing you can do to help with a diagnosis is to figure out if the frequency of the rattle scales with engine speed. (At low rpms, does it start out as a slow tap-tap-tap and then turn into a buzz as the rpms rise?)

In my Audi, I had a noise under hard acceleration or hill-climbing that sounded like stroking the teeth of a comb. It must have been something loose that finally settled in, because it eventually went away. But that, being my first turbo, had me worried for a while. HPH

where you getting ur gas from -it will take more than 2 tank full of gas to fix the problem-after this you need to take ur car to the dealer and have them clear the learned memory-this problem happens alot here in the mid west with are fuel quality-buy your gas elsewhere than the last or same place you keep going

First - thanks for the reply, Subaru_Tech. I'm just really frustrated at this point.

I've put three tanks of fuel in the car, all different brands - exxon, mobile, and shell. i can't recall which was last, but the noise has grown worse and the engine is now pinging pretty bad between 2k and 3k RPM. It sounds horrible - very "loose;" this brand new vehicle's engine sounds like a low-rate 4 banger in a $10k piece of junk. I've sort of gathered that Subaru engines have an inherent knocking, but this is out of control, in my opinion - sounds like a rattle trap when it acts up. Engine idle has grown rougher too - to the point that it feels as though the engine could stall when I turn on the AC - and the automatic transmission still jerks hard from time to time. I'm starting to think buying this vehicle was a real mistake. I hate driving it.

I'll be taking it to the dealer this weekend if I can actually reach someone in the Service department. Needs to be looked at soon. I already feel this has caused premature damage to the the engine.

What grade of fuel are you using? I noticed no mention of octane levels. You should use 91 octane minimum, 93 octane if possible.

My XT rattles as well (something in the back of the car), but it sure isn't pinging, and I have California 91 octane to deal with and plenty of heat.

JD

93 octane - never any less. i'm in miami, fl, so i have plenty of heat to deal with too; unfortunately, mine is pinging. have an appointement next saturday to have it looked at.

check under the hood by the firewall there are 2 metal tubes that run parallel left to right. the are about 1/4 inch dia. if they are near to touching each other they will rattel and hum under power. there should be rubber spacers keeping them apart. spread the tubing, gently, and move the spacer to keep the pipes apart. tthis happened to my xt the 2nd day of ownership I did this fix and it has not returned in over 4k miles. hope this helps you out.