Engine noise on deceleration?

The whine is probably normal but the ticking may be valve noise. If I were you I would seriously reconsider buying a new Subaru due to the oil consumption issue.

You're conflating the engine sound and the CVT sound, making a diagnosis from afar impossible. The motor is most probably ok, but I'd get a good Subie ear to listen to that CVT. Very LOW- pitched halting road sound is from the all-season tires, but high- pitched can be the CVT. Ticking at idle is just Subie's horizontally- opposed motor's large surface area to volume ratio allowing it to sound like a one-man band.

Same thing as mine if i do complete stop i heard some ticking sound just wondering if this is normal for cvt's?

Do you mean sounds when stopped and idling, oir just BEFORE coming to a stop? The former is probably just clicking injectors or timing chain (if FB motor); the latter sounds like a failing CVT.

Hi I own a 2011 Subaru Forester, I kept hearing a ticking sound every time I pressed on the gas and it would stop once I stopped by a light. I took it to two different mechanics and both claim I need an engine. Just by putting their ear in my hood. I was clueless to know about all the issues with Subaru engine problems and oil consumption. I added more oil and I drove it today for a couple of hours today no sound. But I was very careful. I am trying to get get subaru to check it but they want to charge me all this money that I do not have and I am still paying for the car. What a freaking headache. I am hoping it was just low on oil.

Have them explain exactly what they mean. How many miles on the engine? I would also get a third opinion from a Subaru mechanic.

108,000 miles I know the thing is I can't afford their prices, they are saying a few hundred dollars if they need to go into the ENGINE. I am trying for Subaru to wave the fees... It's so frustrating and I am still paying for the car:(

If you hear NO loud ticking when you have proper oil level then just drive normally and relax. Check oil level monthly. Use 10w30 instead of 0 or 5w to lessen consumption. Only if your motor is actually RAPPING (louder, deeper sound than simple top end ticking) have you done damage from oil starvation. Again, relax....

I have a 2017 Forrester 2.0 XT and get the same whirling noise at low speeds. The local shop says it knocking from not use a quality premium fuel, but its not a ping, its whirling/warbling and I use 93 from Costco. Its driving me nuts.

"Whirling"...especially as slowing down, is a characteristic of the CVT. If annoyingly loud it's probably a bad internal bearing. Get a few ears on this to help determine "normal" from egregious and requiring replacement (not rebuildable!).

This is my 4th Subaru and have never heard that noise before. It is my first CVT turbo so I wasn’t sure if it is a turbo thing?

Turbo decel whine is not correlated with car speed, whereas CVT bearing noise is. Which do you have?

I only get the noise when driving between 5-10MPH, like when driving slowly around a parking lot looking for a space, or rolling slowly up to a stop sign.

Have someone drive it that can tell the difference between turbo whine and a CVT bearing but I doubt you should be hearing the turbo at 10 mph and light throttle.

Sounds like CVT whine, but all of them have at least a very light level of it. We'd have to drive it to decide if egregious. An honest Subie wrench will tell you.

I have a 2012 Suburu Legacy and I hear a whirling sound when I decelerate. The sound kicks in about 1 second I decelerate and has been increasing over the last month plus. I took it to Saburu service but they indicated it's not really much. Need to identify what could be causing it.

It's your CVT inner bearings. If it gets considerably louder you'll have to either live with it or chase a used CVT, as they're not repairable.

Hi , did you find what is the problem ? It happens to my car after driving. But as i change spark plugs, it disappear for a good 40-50,000 km. Then sound back again at low speed acceleration (sometimes).

Incomprehensible. Only if you used cheap copper plugs would a comprmise in performance occur in a couple years driving. Plats are fragile after about 60-80k, as well, so use iridiums from now on. But I suspect the knocking is related to something else. Dig deeper....

I am having this issue on a 2010 Outback. What happens is while slowing down to a stop at about 15mph the tachometer dips and goes back up, when this happens, I hear a squeak or chirp. My guess is it's happening when the torque converter disengages. I took the car to my local subaru mechanic, who checked all the transmission pulleys on his scan tool and said it's not slipping, and he recommended I take it to a dealer. I will be bringing it to a dealer sometime in the near future, however speaking with the service manager over the phone, he said he doesn't think it's the torque converter because it would be stalling and not moving forward.

FYI, there are no "transmission pulleys" that can be checked on a scanner! Folly.... Sounds like a TC control solenoid is intermittent, holding the TC in play too long. Remedy is to replace the CVT's inner valve body assy ($700 part and a couple hours labor).

Would a shop be able to diagnose the failing solenoid or would I be gambling $700+ for a new valve body? I haven’t had any codes pop up yet, but maybe they can scan the transmission codes?

Here's a video of what is happening: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQOEJwsF74E. At about 5 seconds into the video, you can see that as I brake and hit about 15mph the tachometer dips and bounces back up. When the car is warmed up, I hear a sound along with the tach dip that sounds like a low toned whistle for half a second or so, almost like something is depressurizing. I'm taking it to subaru to have them diagnose the tach dip.

Video's helpful, but soundtrack would be even better. The tach "dip" as the torque converter releases is quite normal, to the extent that it DOES release. If you end up stalling instead then you may get a code for errant CVT solenoid operation, requiring replacement of the valve body (as described above). There will be audible but innocuous CVT "whining" during normal operation. Much louder growling indicates wear-out of the CVT's main drive, which requires replacing the CVT. You can think of the "tach dip" as the same as would occur if you were driving a manual transmission and declutching just a tiny bit late when coming to a stop...the connected driveline will want to, and of course WILL stall, if not de-clutched. That's what the solenoids control. I think you may be ok....

The sound is too quiet to be captured on video. How will they determine if it’s the valve body compared to the torque converter if there are no codes?

I suspect that ALL Subie service mgrs you ask will tell you that this phenomenon is within norms for the CVT. It might be best to not worry unless actual stalling occurs or you get a code for bad solenoid in the valve body.

They installed a new TC and it didn't fix the issue. Now they want $1400 to do a new valve body, but it isn't showing any codes. They did say the lock up duty solenoid is out of range, but not bad enough to trigger a DTC. I'm headed on a road trip soon and can not afford the valve body for a couple of months. How safe is it to drive?

Probably quite safe to drive. The bad solenoid usually manifests itself when failing to release the TC when approaching idle. So maybe the worst case is that you'll have to restart a lot when stopping...like a modern ignition shut-down auto-restart except that YOU have to do it. Less work with the pushbutton modern Limited, but still requires you put CVT in Park each time. Sorry. Have a safe trip. Note that you can get a valve body for about $700 and get it installed in a couple of hours. $1400 is too much.

5 months later and still no CEL. I’m mainly concerned that due to the solenoid being out of range, the new torque converter will sustain damage due to the fluid pressure being off. What are your thoughts about this? My local mechanic thinks I should keep driving it till something actually breaks and doesn’t know if the new TC will sustain damage. The dealership says to replace the valve body but isn’t 100 percent sure that it will fix the tachometer dipping when coming to a stop. Not sure who to believe at this point.

Does it stall, or just release late?

It never stalls, I believe it just releases late. Also, it never does it within the first 15 minutes of driving, the car has to be warmed up for it to happen.

Phew. I'll bet some Subie wrenches claim it's normal behavior, as it seems the solenoids activate...eventually. Is the dive below, let's say 600rpm?

I think the lowest it gets is probably a little over 600 rpm. On average it dives 300 rpm from the starting point.

Hmmm...I don't think Subaru will do anything un der warranty until actual stalling occurs. Cost is $700 for valve body and two hours to R&R. That it happens only after full warmup is something I experienced on a 2013-2014 a couple of years ago. Fortunately it started stalling on a second test drive just before heading to the auction lane. Dodged this somewhat significant bullet.

It has 186k miles so definitely out of warranty. Can't find a mechanic that will put a valve body in unless it's showing a code for it. Closest dealer now wants $1700 for one, but doesn't know if it will fix the problem or not. Should I just let it continue to get worse until a code pops up?

Yes...or until it starts stalling upon warm stops.