2013 Outback 3.6R. Last year I replaced my brake and tail lights with LED bulbs. It wound up setting off a bunch of codes. A local mechanic replaced the brake switch and it happened again. Initially I didn’t think about the LED and realized that was the source of my issue. I went back to standard brake light bulbs, cleared the codes and it’s been fine ever since. One remaining issue, the cruise control does not work. It will go on but the speed will not set. Fuse appears to be ok. Any ideas?

Hi Guys, really great to sign up. I was gonna ask a question or two relating to my 2016 Outback? I’ve had the car for a couple of years now and have always noticed a kind of surge/ misfire like symptom at about 2100 rpm???? There’s 70k miles on it and I had all fluids changed at 60k. Any thoughts

I have a new to me ‘21 Outback that I bought it in December of ‘25. I live in Northern Saskatchewan and I find in temperatures of -15F or lower the battery does not have enough jam to start the engine. Using a booster pack and it turns over fine and starts. I taken it for a 3 hour drive and it laboured to start after I got to my destination (very cold). I had the battery replaced by a shop that only dealt with batteries but the problem remained. I later discovered the negative post would not tighten properly. I installed a post sleeve insuring the post and interior/ exterior of the sleeve were super clean. The negative post is now very tight. I have installed a battery warmer and along with that an over night charge will give me good starts for about five days. I have an OBD2 GearWrench Scanner and it shows 14.7 volts with a charge of approximately 10amps tapering down to 2amps after starting. I’ve noticed a quick 10 minute stop for shopping will cause a laboured start but later the same day a 1/2 hour stop and it starts easier. So after this long winded whining, here are the questions. I know there is an after market negative assembly, so eliminating the negative post sleeve with this assembly solve the problem? Or did the previous owner use autostop constantly and I have a tired starter? Unfortunately the weather is warming and I don’t think this problem will reoccur till next winter but I would like to get it resolved before hand. Thanks

Hello from Manitoba, Canada I have a 2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R with 230,970 km. A year ago I started experiencing bad torque bind when turning at slow speeds. I changed the fluid in both diffs, I dropped the pan of the CVT and changed the fluid as well as the filter. The fluid I used was Idemitsu CVTF Type SB2 . I also changed both rear wheel hub assemblies because the bearing was shot on one side. None of that made a difference so I dropped the CVT pan again, and changed the torque converter lock-up solenoid on the valve body with a replacement from Dorman. That also didn’t fix it, although since then I have talked to a mechanic who said that they have no luck with those aftermarket solenoids. There is no torque bind when I put it in FWD mode. I am not getting any transmission or AWD related codes. From reading on Subaru forums online, people with similar issues seem to fix it by putting in a new valve body. From what I understand the problem is not caused by a stuck AWD transfer clutch because it does release when in FWD mode. How do I pinpoint wether it is the valve body, the TCM, or other things I am not aware of? When I take it to a mechanic up here in Manitoba they either tell me the torque bind is not that bad, “normal for a Subaru”, or they want to sell me a new transmission, or they just don’t want to work on it. Please help.

I’ve been working on Subarus for 25+ years, including 10 years at Subaru dealership. I’ve seen just about every common issue these cars have. I’m here to help you diagnose problems and point you in the right direction so you’re not just throwing parts at it. If you’ve got an issue, post it in the group with as much detail as you can, I’ll do my best to help. 👍🏻