03 Forrester - Hard Start-Rough Idle-Turn Off/On It's OK

Hi,

Water in engine!

Reason: White smoke/misfire. Water does not compress so can cause symptoms like a flat battery. Water does not burn so causes a misfire. Small amounts can be burnt with fuel but causes white smoke.

Causes...Been wading/off road? OR condensation build up in petrol tank. Bum load of fuel

Maybe a tank drain is in order.

HTH GL

PS Doubt it will be the Head gaskets due to timescale since last occurrence.

My 2003 Forester did the same thing for a while. It turned out to be the oxygen sensor.

-DanD

bump! I have the same problem. I am guessing that when I was hit and had a new rear quarter panel replaced, the welding created some kind of short. just a guess.

Yes, same here - '04 Baja.

I noticed a similar problem with my 04 Baja. Hard to start (cranked okay), ran *REALLY* rough, and lots of smoke. Turn off and try again and all is well. This *only* happened when it was cold - the first start of the day.

I also had a slight TC with it - rear ended a pickup truck - *ZERO* damage to the Baja, but folded the bumper of the truck under the truck bed. This happened about 10 feet away from a cop. He came over asked if anyone was hurt, and told us to sort it out ourselves. Anyway, I don't know if the fault developed before or after this incident.

I took it to the dealer after I got tired of it. They tried to re-create it but to no avail. I lived with it for a while longer. Again I took it in. They evenutally got a note from Japan saying that it was due to pressing the gas pedal *before* starting the car. (A carry over from the old VW days I'm afraid). I thought that that was a bit odd. but from then on I did not hit the gas and I never had the problem. They said it was a software issue. Hmmm.

I've since gotten a Turbo Forrester, and have not noticed the problem at all.

Good luck.

Cheers!

None of the cars I've owned that were MY89 or newer required that gas pedal business: all of them just required a fully depressed clutch and a turn of the ignition key to start the engine. Old habits do die hard, don't they?

Yes, they do. Just showing my age I guess.