SUBARU FORESTER 2001 SF / 1.G Owners Manual

Starting and operating7-7
–
CONTINUED –
test simulates ac tual d riving c ond itions on a d ynam
ometer and p ermits
more ac c urate measurement of tailp ip e emitted p ollu tion than the b asic
emission test.
The U.S. Environmental Protec tion Ag enc y (EPA) and states using two-
wheel d ynamometers in their emission testing p rog ra ms have
EXEMPTED Sub aru AWD vehic les from the p ortion of the testin g p ro-
g ram that involves a two-wheel d ynamometer.
There are some states that use four-wheel d ynamomet ers in their testing
p rog rams. When p rop erly used , that eq uip ment will n ot d amag e an AWD
Sub aru vehic le.
Und er no c irc umstanc es should the rear wheels b e ja c ked off the
g round , nor should the d riveshaft b e d isc onnec ted f or state emission
testing .
Preparing to drive
You should p erform the following c hec ks and ad justm ents every d ay b e-
fore you start d riving .
1. Chec k that all wind ows, mirrors, and lig hts are c lean and unob -
struc ted .
2. Chec k the ap p earanc e and c ond ition of the tires. Also c hec k tires for
p rop er inflation.
3. Look und er the vehic le for any sig n of leaks.
4. Chec k that the hood , trunk and rear g ate are full y c losed .
5. Chec k the ad justment of the seat.
6. Chec k the ad justment of the insid e and outsid e mi rrors.
7. Fasten your seatb elt. Chec k that your p asseng ers have fastened their
seatb elts.
8. Chec k the op eration of the warning and ind ic ator lig hts when the ig ni-
tion switc h is turned to the “ON ” p osition.
9. Chec k the g aug es, ind ic ator and warning lig hts af ter starting the en-
g ine. NOTE Engine oil, engine coolant, brake fluid, washer fluid and other fluid

7-8
levels should be checked daily, weekly or at fuel stops.
Starting the engine
CAUTION
Do not operate the starter motor continuously for more than ten
seconds. If the engine fails to start after operating the starter forfive to ten seconds, wait for ten seconds or more before tryingagain.
Starting the engine for a manual transmission vehicle
1. Ap p ly the p arking b rake.
2. Turn off unnec essary lig hts and ac c essories.
3. Press the c lutc h p ed al to the floor and shift the shift lever into neutral.
Hold the c lutc h p ed al to the floor while starting t he eng ine. The starter
motor will only op erate when the c lutc h p ed al is p r essed fully to the floor.
4. Turn the ig nition switc h to the “ON ” p osition and c hec k the op eration
of the warning and ind ic ator lig hts. Refer to the “Warning and ind ic ator
lig ht ” sec tion (c hap ter 3).
5. Turn the ig nition switc h to the “START ” p osition without d ep ressing
the ac c elerator p ed al. Release the key immed iately after the eng ine has
started .
If the eng ine d oes not start within ten sec ond s, wa it a while and then turn
the ig nition switc h to the “START ” p osition ag ain while d ep ressing the ac -
c elerator p ed al half way d own.
6. Confirm that all warning and ind ic ator lig hts hav e g one off after the
eng ine has started . The fuel injec tion system autom atic ally lowers the
id le sp eed as the eng ine warms up .

Starting and operating7-9
–
CONTINUED –

Starting the engine for an automatic transmission ve- hicle
CAUTION
If you restart the engine while the vehicle is moving, shift the se- lector lever into the “N” position. Do not attempt to place the se-
lector lever of a moving vehicle into the “P” position.
1. Ap p ly the p arking b rake.
2. Turn off unnec essary lig hts and ac c essories.
3. Shift the selec tor lever to the “P ” or “N ” p osition (p referab ly “P ” p osi-
tion). The starter will only op erate when the selec t lever is at the “P ” or
“ N ” p osition.
4. Turn the ig nition switc h to the “ON ” p osition and c hec k the op eration
of the warning and ind ic ator lig hts. Refer to the “Warning and ind ic ator
lig hts ” sec tion (c hap ter 3).
5. Turn the ig nition switc h to the “START ” p osition without d ep ressing
the ac c elerator p ed al. Release the key immed iately after the eng ine has
started .
If the eng ine d oes not start within ten sec ond s, wa it a while and then turn
the ig nition switc h to the “START ” p osition ag ain while d ep ressing the ac -
c elerator p ed al half way d own.
6. Confirm that all warning and ind ic ator lig hts hav e g one out after the
eng ine has started . The fuel injec tion system autom atic ally lowers the
id le sp eed as the eng ine warms up .
While the eng ine is warming up , make sure that the selec tor lever is at
the “P ” or “N ” p osition and that the p arking b rake is ap p lied .
Starting the engine during cold weather below –4°F
(–20 °C)
If the eng ine is d iffic ult to start using the norma l method (without d e-
p ressing the ac c elerator p ed al), turn the ig nition switc h to the “START ”
p osition while slig htly d ep ressing the ac c elerator p ed al.

7-10
Starting a flooded engine
If the eng ine d oes not start, it may b e flood ed (ex c essive fuel in the en-
g ine).
In c ase of a flood ed eng ine, turn the starter motor for five sec ond s with
the ac c elerator p ed al fully d ep ressed . Rep eat this two or three times until
the eng ine starts. Release the ig nition switc h and ac c elerator p ed al as
soon as the eng ine starts.
Stopping the engine
WARNING
Do not stop the engine when the vehicle is moving. This will
cause loss of power to the power steering and the brake booster,making steering and braking more difficult. It could also result in
accidental activation of the “LOCK” position on the ignition
switch, causing the steering wheel to lock.
The ig nition switc h should b e turned off only when the eng ine is id ling .

Starting and operating7-11
–
CONTINUED –
Manual transmission
WARNING
Do not drive the vehicle with the clutch disengaged (i.e., when the clutch pedal is depressed) or with the shift lever in the neutralposition. Engine braking has no effect in either of these condi-tions and the risk of an accident is consequently increased.
CAUTION
Shift into reverse ONLY when the vehicle has completelystopped. It may cause damage to the transmission to try shiftinginto reverse when the vehicle is moving.
The manual transmission is a fully sync hromeshed 5- forward and 1-re-
verse sp eed transmission.
HS0128
The shift p attern is shown on the shift lever knob . When shifting from 5th
g ear to reverse g ear, first return the shift lever to the neutral p osition then
shift into reverse g ear.
To c hang e g ears, fully d ep ress the c lutc h p ed al, mo ve the shift lever,
and g rad ually let up on the c lutc h p ed al.
If it is d iffic ult to shift into g ear, p ut the tran smission in neutral, release the
c lutc h p ed al momentarily, and then try ag ain.

7-12
Shifting speed
n Recommended shifting speeds
The b est c omp romise b etween fuel ec onomy and vehic l e p erfor-
manc e d uring normal d riving is ensured b y shifting up at the sp eed s
listed in the following tab le.
Shift up
mp h (km/h)
1st to 2nd15 (24)
2nd to 3rd25 (40)
3rd to 4th40 (65)
4th to 5th45 (73)
nMaximum allowable speeds
WARNING
When shifting down a gear, ensure that the vehicle is not travel- ling at a speed exceeding the Maximum Allowable Speed for thegear which is about to be selected. Failure to observe this pre-caution can lead to engine over-revving and this in turn canresult in engine damage.In addition, sudden application of engine brakes when the vehicleis travelling on a slippery surface can lead to wheel locking; as a
consequence, control of the vehicle may be lost and the risk ofan accident increased.
The following tab le shows the maximum sp eed s that a re p ossib le with
eac h d ifferent g ear. The tac hometer ’s need le will enter the red area if
these sp eed s are exc eed ed .
With the exc ep tion of c ases where sud d en ac c elerati on is req uired ,
the vehic le should not b e d riven with the tac homete r’s need le insid e
the red area. Failure to ob serve this p rec aution c a n lead to exc essive
eng ine wear and p oor fuel ec onomy.

Starting and operating7-13
–
CONTINUED –
mph (km/h)
Vehicle type
GearLS
1st31 (50)31 (50)
2nd52 (84)52 (83)
3rd76 (122)75 (121)
Driving tips
Do not d rive with your foot resting on the c lutc h p ed al and d o not use
the c lutc h to hold your vehic le at a stand still on an up g rad e. Either of
those ac tions may c ause c lutc h d amag e.
Do not d rive with your hand resting on the shift le ver. This may c ause
wear on the transmission c omp onents.
When it is nec essary to red uc e vehic le sp eed d ue to slow traffic , turn-
ing c orners, or d riving up steep hills, d ownshift t o a lower g ear b efore
the eng ine starts to lab or.
On steep d owng rad es, d ownshift the transmission to 4th, 3rd or 2nd
g ear as nec essary; this help s to maintain a safe sp eed and to extend
b rake p ad life.
In this way, the eng ine p rovid es a b raking effec t. Rememb er, if you
“ rid e ” (over use) the b rakes while d esc end ing a hill, the y may over-
heat and not work p rop erly.

7-14Automatic transmission
WARNING
Do not shift from the “P” or “N” position into the “D”, “3”, “2”,
“1” or “R” position while depressing the accelerator pedal. This
may cause the vehicle to jump forward or backward.
CAUTION
Shift into the “P” or “R” position only after the vehicle is com-
pletely stopped. Shifting while the vehicle is moving may cause
damage to the transmission. Do not race the engine for more than five seconds in any posi-
tion except the “N” or “P” position when the brake is set or the
tires are on blocks. This may cause the automatic transmissionfluid to overheat. Avoid shifting from one of the forward driving positions into
the “R” position or vice versa until the vehicle has completely
stopped. Such shifting may cause damage to the transmission.
The automatic transmission is elec tronic ally c ontro lled with 4-forward
sp eed s and 1-reverse sp eed .
NOTE
Immediately after a disconnected battery is reconnected or ATF (au- tomatic transmission fluid) is replaced, you may feel that the auto-matic transmission operation is somewhat unusual.This results from erasure or invalidation of data which the on-boardcomputer has collected and stored in memory to allow the transmis-sion to shift at the most appropriate times for the current conditionof your vehicle. Optimized shifting will be restored as the vehiclecontinues to be driven for a while.

Starting and operating7-15
–
CONTINUED –

Selector lever
OM-H0149
Release button With the brake pedal depressed, shift while pressing the button in Shift while pressing the button in Shift without pressing the button
HS0129
The selec tor lever has seven p ositions.
The release b utton must b e p ushed to selec t the “P ”, “R ”, or “2 ” p osi-
tions.
P (Park)
This p osition is for p arking the vehic le and starti ng the eng ine.
In this p osition, the transmission is mec hanic ally loc ked to p revent the
vehic le from rolling freely.
When you p ark the vehic le, first set the p arking b r ake fully, then shift
into the “P ” p osition. Do not hold the vehic le with only the tr ansmis-
sion.
A shift interloc k func tion is emp loyed in the autom atic transmission
system to ensure safe starting of the vehic le.
To shift the selec tor lever from the “P ” to the any other p osition, you
have to d ep ress the b rake p ed al fully then p ush the release b utton on
the selec tor lever when the ig nition switc h is in t he “ON ” p osition. This
p revents the vehic le from lurc hing when it is start ed .
If the shift lever d oes not move from the “P ” p osition with the b rake
p ed al d ep ressed and the release b utton p ushed in, r efer to the “Shift
loc k release ” sec tion in c hap ter 3.

7-16
R (Reverse)
This p osition is for b ac king the vehic le.
To shift from the “N ” to “R ” p osition, first stop the vehic le c omp letely
then move the lever to the “R ” p osition while p ushing the release b ut-
ton. N (Neutral)
WARNING
Do not drive the vehicle with the selector lever in the “N” (neutral)
position. Engine braking has no effect in this condition and the risk of an accident is consequently increased.
This p osition is for restarting a stalled eng ine.
In this p osition the wheels and transmission are no t loc ked . In this
p osition, the transmission is neutral; the vehic le will roll freely, even on
the slig htest inc line unless the p arking b rake or f oot b rake is on.
Avoid c oasting with the transmission neutral.
During c oasting , the eng ine b raking d oes not ac t. D (Drive)
This p osition is for normal d riving .
The transmission automatic ally shifts into a suitab le g ear from 1st to
4th ac c ord ing to the vehic le sp eed and the ac c elera tion you req uire.
When more ac c eleration is req uired in this p osition , p ress the ac c eler-
ator p ed al fully to the floor and hold that p ositio n. The transmission
will automatic ally d ownshift to 3rd , 2nd or 1st g ea r. When you release
the p ed al, the transmission will return to the orig inal g ear p osition.
n While climbing a grade
When d riving up a hill, und esired up shift to 4th g e ar is p revented from
taking p lac e when the ac c elerator is released . This minimizes the
c hanc e of sub seq uent d ownshifting to a lower g ear w hen ac c elerat-
ing ag ain. This p revents rep eated up shifting and d o wnshifting result-
ing in a smoother op eration of the vehic le.