Minor issues with 2009 WRX

[Iboc_C64]

I am having some minor issues with my 2009 WRX and I was wondering if anyone had dealt with these on a late model WRX yet, or if anyone had dealt with a Subaru dealer on similar issues under warranty.

Problem #1 is that my blower motor for the HVAC is making a funning wirring/humming/vibrating noise. When it started a few couple weeks ago it was quieter and less pronounced, but sounded more like a baseball card in bycycle spokes. It hasn't started to effect the HVAC output yet, but the sound is annoying as hell when the radio is turned down below 32 or so on the stock stereo head unit.

Problem #2 is that when I go up hill and accelerate at the same time, or if I make several passes of other vehicles within a 5 or 8 miles or so, or if I drive a little bit spirited on some back country roads, within a few minutes I get a smell in my cars cabin like hot or burned tires. Sometimes more recently it got worse than just a faint smell and became an obnoxious odor. The worst times that it happened though did not seem to be tied to hard driving, but more so tied to driving up an incline. The first time it happened was around 20,000 miles around this time last year right after I had broken in my new snow tires. It seems to happen worse when I have my snowtires on the car, but doesn't seem to happen on the coldest days, 20°F or lower like today. The other thing I have noticed is that I can smell it stronger outside the car than inside the car and can ussually smell it after my drive home from work. The tires however are not hot to the touch, but sometimes are warm, around 75°F to 80°F. The problem still occured once or two or three times with new summer tires on this summer but not as bad. So I am stumped, at first I thought it was tires, but they dont seem to be the source, especially accelerating to 60mph going uphill. I don't see anything melted under the hood, but that doesn't stop me from worrying that something may be too close to the turbo or exhaust manifold.

I am currently at 43300 miles. I did purchase the extended bumper to bumper warranty so I believe that if either of these issues turn out to be something in need of repair I should be covered. If I do end up needed to have it looked at, I was thinking about taking it to evergreen this time, I have never had my car in to them for service yet though. I was.... displeased with Charlies Subaru. So, can anyone offer some helpful advice?

 

[Matt]

It's under warranty so I'd just take it to them to have the work done but it sounds like the blower motor bearings might be going or you've got a sweet mouse nest that's getting chewed up, not sure about the incline smell. Inski will fix it right up.

 

[4WRXter]

I don't know about the '09s, and you have probably done this, but.......on my '02 WRX, there was a vacuum line near the turbo that didn't melt but did get heated enough over time to become very brittle. It wasn't touching, and to look at it I may not have suspected heat issues. It wasn't real, real close. Check very carefully there.

Blower issue sounds like it might be a mouse nest. Good luck with that.

 

[Iboc_C64]

I would be very surprised if it were a mouse nest. It sounds more electrical, but I suppose its possible. I have not noticed any close vacuum lines, but there are a couple coolant lines close by. I thought maybe I need some kind of heat insulating wrap for the turbo and manifold.

 

[Nigel Prodrive]

I would be very surprised if it were a mouse nest. It sounds more electrical, but I suppose its possible. I have not noticed any close vacuum lines, but there are a couple coolant lines close by. I thought maybe I need some kind of heat insulating wrap for the turbo and manifold.

heater noise is most def not a mouse nest...sounds more like red squirrels or maybe skunks (which might help explain incline smell)

or...something fell down there thru defrost vents...hair pin, coin, french fry stub??!!

 

[Iboc_C64]

I was thinking Pine Needles or a Twig, since I often park beneath trees at my friends houses, even though I don't like to. I will look it over a little more closely with Dan (RangeleyRallyDG) this sunday. We are putting in my HID Low Beams and Fog Lights. I may put in my Kartboy STS myself too, but I will leave the bushings for my Mechanic, I don't care for crawling in the dirt to work on my car as much as I use to.

 

[2point5RS_Dan]

If "WARRANTY" than "DEALERSHIP" elseif "NO WARRANTY" then "look in engine bay" else "do nothing".

 

[Matt]

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when did you get a 94 jag??? if its under warranty dont touch it.

 

[Iboc_C64]

I would not attempt to fix anything warranty related myself, Im not that dumb, I know how warranties work otherwise I would not have paid out the a$$ for an extended one. But since I need to be in there to take off the front bumper and install the Low beams and Fog lights, Kartboy STS and Blue Footwell lighting, and its washed clean at this rare moment in time, then I can at least look for anything visual.

 

[Iboc_C64]

Yup, taking off the bumper doesn't get you far, so we didn't see much. Nothing looked amis from what we could see but it still smells sometimes and the blower motor sounds more like a bearing grinding now. Its gonna go in for a checkup, I just need to wait until I get my other car back from another shop first, and take care of some other things to make time. The other car had water leaking on to the passenger side floor when the weather was rainy. On another note, my lights are purty now, but I have 2 more broken fog light lenses! F-it, Im not replacing them for the 5th time or whatever it is now. I swear its gotta be a design flaw because these last 2 broke with Subaru Fog Light Protectors on them! So obviously the problem isn't rocks, of course if it were rocks there should be other signs of rock damage which I have never had. Ugh!

 

[MAINIAC XV]

I would believe your fogs would be covered on the bumper to bumper warranty.

 

[Iboc_C64]

Not according to Charlies... They think rocks have the ability to selectively target fog lights over and over without causing marks on the bumper apparently.

Funny thing was, I have one set around her somewhere where there is insulation missing around the edge of the lense, it was manufactured that way, and that's where the cracks started.

 

[Iboc_C64]

I love my luck... not really

. In moving my car around the driveway for the plow yesterday, the snow caught my mud guard/ inner fender and tore it down to the front of the wheel well. Also ruined the little retainer/ gap filler piece for the 08 premium/ 09 bumper. Ugh. Anyway got an appointment at evergreen tommorow and they are gonna fix the fender well for me (not under warranty obviously) and put in my Kartboy STS for a decent price. They are also going to fix the blower and figure out where my smell is comming from under the Subaru Extended Warranty I had purchased with the car. I talked to them about my fog lights and rocker panels, and will do so again when its in the shop but I don't expect that they will be able to help me out on those. I can buy them on Amazon though, and I have a gift certificate there, so I can probably get them for about 1/3 the dealers price. But I need to find a way to keep them from breaking, I still don't think that the issue has anything to do with road debris.

 

[Iboc_C64]

Went to Evergreen yesterday. An all together different experience from any other dealership I have ever been to. They were fair, fast and had a VERY comfortable waiting room. I was pretty impressed!

Anyway, the blower motor was making the noise so they replaced that, and they could not find anything that was wrong that would make a burning smell but they said they hear that complaint somewhat often and rarely find anything wrong. They did find a lot of snow stuck under my car and took car of that, they also found that the shield around my driveshaft was bent and rubbing on the driveshaft, so they put it back where it should be. The funny thing is, since they worked on it, I tried to get that smell to come back a couple times and it seems to have dissapeared, so maybe it was the blower motor somehow or something. Hell, as long as its gone I don't really care!!! They told me if it comes back then I could probably take one of them for a ride and show them to help figure it out. I got my mud guard/inner fender replaced and had them put in the Kartboy shifter and bushings for me to. Whole visit cost me like $180, took just 2 hours and they even washed my car!!! I'm sold guys, some places would charge $40+ to hand wash a black car and you guys do it as a complementary service! It came out way better than the Farmington Splash & Dash is capable of in the winter. Also, was the most comfortable waiting experience I have ever had, I checked out the 2011 wide body and listened to its new throaty stock exhaust purr as it rolled off on a test drive. Nobody pressured me to buy a new car either, but they did ask me if I wanted to here it and were more than happy to answer my questions about it. I definitely wish I would have waited to buy a WRX for one of these 2011s, Im kinda jealous

. Im also sorry I didn't come here to check it out before I bought my car, I definately would have been more comfortable with my purchase at the very least. So, this ones for Evergreen!

I will be back again, you can count on that!