Other engine problem on the 2003 Subaru Forester
When other engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2003 Subaru Forester report other engine problem at a median of 80,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 1,100 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 136,920 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
20% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,080 miles | 57,083 miles | 78,000 miles | 124,000 miles | 138,000 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$4,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 25 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2022, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 1998 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2019 carries the most reports, with 74; the 2003 has 17. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Clutch jitter; started immediately: clutch was replaced under warranty at 11,900 miles. Spoke with cousin in canada who bought the same car the same day. Already has replaced clutch once and is having trouble again with jitter. Vehicle stalls frequently upon cold start. Computer was removed from vehicle and sent back to factory to be recalibrated at 11,900. *la
Dt*: the contact stated there was a pining noise in the engine, when the vehicle was first started in cold weather. The noise stopped after two minutes. The dealership determined this was normal operating conditions, although there was a service bulletin instructing to replace the pistons.
Took forester into subaru dealer for 3k oil change; was told that almost all of my anti-freeze was gone and that the head gaskets were leaking, needing replacement at $1500. Miles on vehicle: 78k, purchased 6/02 new, all maintenance performed at dealer per schedule. At this time, I'm looking into websites to identify if this is a problem that's systemic with this vehicle, and looking into alternative sources to fix vehicle to reduce cost. *jb
Also reported on the 2003 Subaru Forester
Other fuel system problem
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Fuel leak or fuel odor
Other body or interior problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 17 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does other engine problem happen on the 2003 Subaru Forester?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 80,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 125,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2003 Subaru Forester?
17 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.7 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed