2000 SUBARU FORESTER brake

Starting and operating7-15
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CONTINUED –
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 a utomatic 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 .
During cold weather below – 4F ( – 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.
Flooded engine
If the eng ine d oes not start, it may b e flood ed (ex c essive fuel in the
eng 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 elera-
tor 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 operating7-17
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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 operating7-19
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CONTINUED –
Automatic 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.

7-20
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 this c hap ter.

7-22NOTE
The transmission may downshift to 2nd or 1st gear, depending on the way the accelerator pedal is pressed to accelerate the vehicleagain. n
While going down a hill
When d esc end ing a steep hill, d ep ressing the b rake p ed al will c ause
the transmission to d ownshift to 3rd g ear, thus ap p lying eng ine b rake-
ing . Reac c eleration for a short time will c ause the transmission to up -
shift normally. NOTE In some cases, depressing the brake pedal on a downhill grade
does not result in an automatic downshift to 3rd gear. This canhappen when the automatic transmission fluid temperature is
very low, for example, during driving shortly after the vehicle has
been parked for an extended period of time. When the ATF tem-perature has risen to a certain level, automatic downshift normal-ly takes place. In the meantime, downshift manually for enginebraking as required.Also, downshifting when braking downhill will not occur at
speeds above approximately 50 mph (80 km/h). 3 (Third)
This p osition is for using eng ine b raking when g oin g d own a hill or for
c limb ing a g rad e.
The transmission automatic ally shifts into a suitab le g ear from 1st to
3rd 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 2nd or 1st g ear. Wh en you release the
p ed al, the transmission will return to the orig inal g ear p osition.

Starting and operating7-23
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CONTINUED –

2 (Second)
To shift from the “3 ” to “2 ” p osition, p ush the release b utton.
This p osition is for using eng ine b raking when g oin g d own a hill or for
c limb ing a steep g rad e.
In this p osition, the transmission hold s in the 2nd g ear.
Use this p osition when starting off from a stand sti ll on slip p ery road
surfac es suc h as mud or snow. It will ensure g reate r trac tion.
1 (First)
This p osition is for d riving up or d own very steep g rad es, or d riving
throug h mud or sand , or on slip p ery surfac es. In th is p osition, the
transmission hold s in the 1st g ear. Maximum 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 les show the maximum sp eed s that a re p ossib le with
eac h d ifferent g ear. The tac hometer ’s (if so eq uip p ed ) need le will
enter the red area if these sp eed s are exc eed ed .
When shifting d own a g ear, it is imp ortant to c onfi rm that the c urrent
vehic le sp eed is not in exc ess of the Maximum Allow ab le Sp eed of
the g ear whic h is ab out to b e selec ted .
Exc eed ing the Maximum Allowab le Sp eed s will result in over-revving
of the eng ine. In ad d ition a p owerful eng ine b rake will eng ag e and
c ontrol of the vehic le may b e lost.

Starting and operating7-31
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CONTINUED –
CAUTION
Never drive while the parking brake is set because this will cause
unnecessary wear on the brake linings. Before starting to drive,always make sure that the parking brake has been fully released.
To set the p arking b rake, p ress the b rake p ed al fir mly and hold it d own
while fully p ulling up the p arking b rake lever.
HS0137
Release button
To release the p arking b rake, p ull the lever up sli g htly, p ress the release
b utton, then lower the lever while keep ing the b utt on p ressed .
When the p arking b rake is set while the eng ine is r unning , the p arking
b rake warning lig ht c omes on. After starting the ve hic le, b e sure that the
warning lig ht has g one out b efore the vehic le is d r iven. Refer to the
“ Warning and ind ic ator lig hts ” sec tion (Chap ter 3).
When p arking your vehic le, always set the p arking b rake firmly and p ut
the shift lever in the “1 ” (1st) for an up g rad e or “R ” (Reverse) for a d own-
g rad e for manual transmission vehic les, or in the “P ” (Park) p osition for
automatic transmission vehic les.
Always set the p arking b rake firmly when p arking yo ur vehic le. Never
rely on the transmission alone to hold the vehic le.
For b etter p arking b rake p ower, d ep ress the b rake p ed al firmly while set-
ting the p arking b rake (Drum b rake only).

7-32
HS0140
HS0139
When p arking on a hill, always turn the steering wh eel. When the vehic le
is head ed up the hill, the front wheels should b e t urned away from the
c urb . When fac ing d ownhill, the front wheels should b e turned into the
c urb . Braking Braking tips
WARNING
Never rest your foot on the brake pedal while driving. This can
cause dangerous overheating of the brakes and needless wearon the brake pads and linings.
When the brakes get wet
When d riving in rain, in p ud d le or after washing th e vehic le, the
b rakes may g et wet. As a result, b rake stop p ing d is tanc e will b e long -
er. To d ry the b rakes, d rive the vehic le at a safe sp eed while lig htly
d ep ressing the b rake p ed al to heat up the b rakes. Use of engine braking
Rememb er to make use of eng ine b raking in ad d ition to foot b raking .
When d esc end ing a g rad e, if only the foot b rake is used , the b rakes
may start working imp rop erly b ec ause of b rake fluid overheating ,
c aused b y overheated b rake p ad s. To help p revent th is, shift into a