Subaru exhaust coming in through vents

They may have damaged the exhaust donut seal when working on your car. A Subaru dealer did to my Forester and it was really bad. Take it back!

Yup, take it back.

There are a few different potential errors inherent in these repairs. TAKE IT BACK!

Took the vehicle back to the Dealership... they initially said they could smell or not find anything wrong with the car. When I went to pick up the car after service hours, started the car and the fumes got deadly in the cab. I had the Sales Manager sit in the car and he came out coughing saying the exhaust was blowing in his face through the vents. He said he was a smoker and could tell something was very wrong. Had him write a note to the service manager on the pick up receipt and left the car at the dealership. Got a call the next day and the service manager said he could barely smell anything (the guy has to be nose-blind) and that they would replace the exhaust gaskets just to be "safe". When they went to replace the gaskets they found a crack in the catalithic (sp) converter. Dealer replaced all the gaskets and the C-converter as being under warrantee, no charge. Sadly it took four times to complain to get it done. Guess if a mechanic smells enough exhaust over time, they can't smell it after awhile!! Persistance paid off!

The only counter-argument to poor service I can imagine here is that since exhaust gases are rich upon start-up and the first few minutes warmup, you were being asphixiated by a noxious PRE-cat rich mix, and that when presented for inspection the motor (and cat) were warm enough so that exhaust was cleaner and less noticeable; a cracked cat is pretty rare on these beasts. Glad you got a happy ending, as the front cat pipe is about $900 WHOLESALE plus about an hour to install.

The dealer said they have been getting more and more cracked Cats... their original theory was the design of Sub engines, any oil or passenger side axel boot leak, large or small, dumps on the exhaust system... after three detailed flashlight inspections by six different techs they didn't see any leakage and kept sending us away. I'm in CA, one of the only states that tbe Cat is under a Sub warrantee still at 100,000 miles. Don't know if its a scam or what, but Subaru is questioning the CA registration of the vehicle and was refusing to reimburse the dealer... their problem, the dealer is who sold me the car brand new and has done all the service work. Somebody in PA is using my VINumber, crazy world! Just glad it's fixed... only lost a few brain cells breathing exhaust for a couple weeks.

I would not be surprised if hot cats encountering cold snow and rain water crack a lot more in the winter.