bawalker

I just wanted to follow up this post/thread with the solution for what happened with my car. I know the last post was Dec 2011 and I did get the popping/grabbing situation fixed a few months afterwards last year in 2012. I did contact Marshal about the axles and had genuine rebuilt ones ordered and installed and that did not solve the problem. After talking with another mechanic shop (who happens to be a customer of mine) they referred me to a transmission specialist as they said it sounded like something with the front differential, and if it was, it was beyond their scope of service. Well I took it to this transmission specialist who also works solely on transmission and drive trains and is an expert in the area on them. At first I dropped it off and they took several days to get to it but simply could not replicate the problem. But they would check it again a day or two later. Again, they could not replicate the problem. Mainly because they weren't driving it more than 15 min at a time. Anyway I needed the car for work so I got it, but rescheduled another appointment with them. But this time before dropping it off, I asked if I could drive it for an hour and have their main mechanic jump in then. So we did that and after 5 minutes of driving he said that popping was the absolute worst he's ever heard. He confirmed with me that I had replacement axle's installed and if so, it had to be the front differential. Well a week later I get the call that the car is fixed. When I went in to pick it up they wanted to show me something. The mechanic said normally when taking off/apart one of these front differential's, there is a massive spring with about 400+lbs of pressure on it when removing some backplate. Thus they have to use a special tool to take the units apart for servicing. However when they took my apart they were amazed that the spring had essentially welded itself to the inside of the differential. He said he's never seen that before in his 20+ years of transmission/drive train work. Long story short, that repair was done in June of 2012 and since then the car has been perfect when turning. Not so much as a pop, a click, or the feeling of a 'grab' by the tires. The repair did cost me $1000 but since then I'm about ready to break 260,000 miles and the only other work I've had done was the clutch was replaced this month. The previous clutch got me 158,000 miles (which I assume is pretty darn good!). But for now, the Subaru is still moving along great! I just thought I'd let everyone know and send a big thanks to everyone for helping point me in the right direction for help! Bradley

Currently my car is in another shop being looked at. I haven't gotten the final diagnosis yet, though when I dropped it off, the garage sounded confident that it was the transfer clutch having gone bad. Thus leaving the car stuck in a permanent 4WD with the popping and grabbing coming from no AWD, but 4WD in action.

I replaced the fluid within a few days of having the Subaru OEM re-manufactured axles installed so I didn't let them go a long time being driven without the fluid change. My question would be, how would one determine if the rear differential was having the problem? I'm almost certain, 99.999% certain infact, that it's the front differential because the popping/grabbing affect only takes place when turning hard turns. Either going forward, or backwards. Most noticeably when pulling into or backing out of a parking lot space. It is not heard or noticed when driving straight. *IF* it is the front differential that is wrecked, what is involved in replacing it and on average, what is the cost for that? Being that my Subaru has 230,600 miles on it now, the engine is in excellent shape, interior and exterior have no damage, has new struts, axles and short of this popping problem, is it worth fixing? My girlfriend is trying to convince me to get rid of it and get a new one, but the idea of car payments is something I abhor.

To answer the previous person's 'dead horse beating' post, I indeed changed the front differential oil already using BG based products. Which unfortunately did not alter the problem by making it better or making it worse. Obviously it's something else going on that I'm at a loss at what may be causing it.

I just wanted to update everyone on the status of my axle replacement and front end "popping". Two weeks ago I had my rebuilt Subaru OEM axle's with CV joints replaced in my 2001 Outback after having ordered them from Marshall at MWE. Everything arrived safe and sound, the garage installed them and didn't charge me labor (I have sent other business to them and this was their way of saying thanks). For the first few days, there was no popping sound that I could notice, but I wasn't doing heavy driving with the car. A few days later though when doing 1+hour driving and making a turn into a parking lot and backing out of that parking lot, the popping sound was back once again in the front end. This is really getting frustrating because this is the 3rd set of axles since June so I can effectively say that the axle's aren't the problem. But I'm at a loss at what would be? Would the rack and pinion be causing this? When in the garage, they showed me that the boots that cover my steering column (exposing a gear that rolled across this flat piece of metal that had notches in it) area were broken open. Would that be the cause? I'm open to all options at this point.

Thanks GD, I didn't know that the axle's are the same as other makes/models.

This is something I've been wondering about for a little while. As I'm coming up on the mileage time to flush my transmission fluid, I've always used the uncle scotty's cocktail mix as found on here for optimal transmission oil which solved a problem of mine with "rough" shifting back after I got my car in 2005. Anyway I've been hearing about the "superiority" of BG oils designed with lifetime warranties and can only be installed at BG certified garages. What's the scoop behind BG products? Anyone here used them and are the results good, bad, no difference? I'm really curious to know.

Hello all, After speaking with Marshal at MWE enterprises, I'm going to be ordering both a left and right front axle's from him to have installed on my vehicle. He also recommended using this forum to ask if there is a local mechanic in my area that is willing to install these at NON dealership costs/rates. My location is in the eastern panhandle of WV with the nearest cities being Winchester, VA and Harrisonburg, VA as I'm in between them both. My zip code is 26851. I would welcome all suggestions as to any mechanic that has Subaru experience and is willing to put these on for me. Thanks!

I called Marshall at MWE and he quoted me excellent prices and is gladly willing to help me out to get my current axle's replaced FAR cheaper than the dealership! Thanks to the entire forum for pointing me his way!

Thanks everyone! Prior to checking here I had checked with SubaruGenuineParts.com and their prices for axles were close to the $250-ish range and I wanted to check to see if I would indeed have to pay that much (plus labor) or if some online hunting could get my cost down on that. I'll give him a call and let everyone know how it goes.

Just to make sure I'm looking at the right "MWE", is this the webpage of the MWE you all were talking about with remanufactured axles? http://www.ccrengines.com/mwe/

Thanks for the advice on MWE, was just reading up on them a few minutes ago and looks like a great alternative. Yesterday when in the shop I asked how long it'd take to do per axle, they told me 1.5hrs to do that. So I was assuming that the part was probably $150-$200 and labor was an additional $195-$245 which seemed overpriced to me. I was especially surprised at the fee to put it on the lift just to look. When I went out to sign the papers and get the car the guy said "ok I need to charge you for the labor for putting the car on the lift" and my first thought was, a $25 fee which even then was overpriced in my mind, but $97! That's just absurd. I have a computer business and I sure don't charge anyone anything to bring a computer in for me to look it over and tell them what is wrong.

I wanted to post a followup to my situation. I finally made an appointment to take my 01 Outback into a Subaru dealership today where they put it up on the lift and confirmed both the Front Right and Front Left axle's needed replacing and were the cause. So it looks like everyone on here who indicated aftermarket axle's was right. While I didn't have time to have them replace the axle's today I also wanted to check regarding the price they quoted me. Not counting the $97 fee to put it up on the lift and look at it (seems kinda steep just to look at it?) they quoted me $395 per axle (parts and labor) for a total repair of $790 for genuine OEM parts. Does this sound right price wise for the Subaru experts on here? I wanted to hold off on getting any work done until I checked to make sure their quotes were in line with what is normal and reasonable costs for CV axle repairs. Thanks!

I've had two sets of replacement axles, but that audible noise is still there and the slight 'feel' of some grabbing can be felt through the steering wheel. Especially when backing out of a parking space and making that 90* turn. The car is a 5 spd manual transmission, NOT automatic. Does the same fuse recommendation apply? All 4 tires are the same brand (Goodyear Tripletread), same size, wear, etc. They get rotated every 6-8000 miles and have been consistently since I had them installed 3 years ago.

Yes it's happening in the front end. Did yours have the popping/clicking sound as well?

Hello all, I have a problem here with my Subaru Outback 2001 Limited Wagon (5 spd manual) that has been going on since April of this year. Back in April I would notice a slight "popping" clicking noise when I would pull into a parking lot at a shopping center. I noticed it then because I was going barely a few mph and making a 90* turn into the parking space. The popping and clicking sounds only occurred slightly at first which seemed to be an annoyance but over several weeks through May the sound got worse when pulling into parking spaces and just making turns. There was no sound when driving straight, just turning when going forward or in reverse out of the parking spaces. At one point it got so bad that I could feel the wheels 'grabbing' at the pavement when turning and hearing the popping that had gotten really loud. Well I took it into the Monro garage and they said it was the CV joints/axle's needing to be replaced. I had never had the axle's replaced so for right around $600 I got the axles replaced. The turning sound and popping immediately was gone after taking the car out of the garage and heading home. Barely two days later I started noticing the popping/clicking sound returning a little bit. Within a day after that, the noise had returned almost to the point of pre-fixing. I took it into the shop and they had me drive it for another week asking me to check and make sure the noises were occurring when turning left and right when going forward and backwards (which I already told them it was previously). I also informed them that the noises ONLY happened after driving the car for about 15 min. When backing it out of the garage in the morning, it doesn't make those noises. I took the car back in and they did a warranty replacement on the CV Joint/axle's and again, when driving the car off the garage property and for several days afterwards, the popping and clicking was gone when turning into a parking lot. But slowly it returned and AGAIN it's back to the pre-fix sounds. Does anyone have any idea what is going on here? I have spent $600 on this issue alone and doubt I've got two bad replacement axles in a row, or was the service somehow flawed in it being performed? Just an FYI, I had new struts/shocks put on about 2-3 weeks prior to the CV joint problem, and had the head gaskets replaced back in Feb-March before the noises appeared. The car has 222,600 miles on it and the body and interior are in EXCELLENT condition, but I'm leery of adding more money to it than I need. I'm just caught in the spot of, not having a car payment if I don't need one for another vehicle and keeping this one as long as I can drive it. Any suggestions or thoughts? I would greatly appreciate it!

Do I need just the timing belt only, or the entire kit including the idler bearings and idler sprocket?

I just figured up around $288 for the parts, not counting on the fluids that would be replaced, which probably comes to just a hair over $300.

Timing belts I believe are 105k miles OR 5 years, whichever comes first.

I forgot to mention, when it comes to timing belts, are OEM belts better, worse, etc than ones at AutoZone and stores like that?

Thanks!! I assume most all of those items can be purchased at AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts and just let the mechanic replace what I have bought and to inspect everything else closely? As for the transmission fluid, does it need to be entirely flushed, or will a drain and refill handle it? I've heard of others draining the tranny only to refill it with 1-2 quarts before it's filled up. Only to find out that there was oil still trapped in behind the gears preventing it from draining out. So does it need a full flush?

Thanks for that information. Is it possible for me and another person to drop out that front sunroof assembly and replace the scissors/assembly if need be? What all is involved in that? I'll search for that URL on removing the headliner... if you have a URL for it definately feel free to post that as well!

Hello all, I have a 2001 Outback Wagon Limited Edition that has been kept up in pretty great condition. It just turned 90,300 miles today and gas mileage is holding in great around 29mpg at the moment. I need to get several things done on the vehicle that have slowly came about and would like a professional opinion on them and how best to proceed. For my 90k service, I won't be taking it to the dealership. The reason being is that there was a major internal dispute between service managers and the service director. The former Subaru Service Manager (who is a customer of my computer business) is a great guy that I trust my and my mom's Subaru (`95 Legacy L with 299,990 miles) too. He quit the dealership after he felt that the new service director was trying to have the managers push parts/service of questional quality to the customers to cut costs. Now he works for a GM Dealership, but still specializes with Subaru's. He has offered to perform my 90k service for me for around $400 where as the dealership wants nearly $800. I was planning on buying all OEM parts in advance, including a new timing belt since I am at the 105k/5yr recommended period. What are your thoughts when it comes to having the 90k service performed? Since I will be paying upto 50% less for the service, if I need to do other belts and hoses, I might as well do that at the same time. What items should be I be concerned with having replaced, even if they aren't critical because it'd just be simplier to do that with the engine half pulled. What filters, pumps, belts, hoses, etc should be looked at? I plan on having a full transmission fluid flush taken care of at this time. Recommended tranny fluids?? Also, I have two other issues that have developed and I've yet to figure out how to best proceed repairing them. First is my drivers side mirror. Something happened not long after I purchased it so that the electronic motor only moves it left and right. When I try to move it up and down, it does nothing. I can hear the motor try to move it, but nothing happens. Someone on the newsgroup suggested I remove the mirror lense to check the motor behind it. I wasn't sure if I had to remove the whole mirror assembly, or if there is a way to remove the lense and check inside of it. Thoughts? Comments? The second issue is with shifting into 3rd gear. Just recently I noticed that when shifting from 2nd to 3rd, and only when shifting from 2nd to 3rd, I can sometimes feel the gears hit or touch right before they engage. This happens just once per upshift. There is NO noise associated with this, there are no symptoms of the vehicle having driving difficulty. However I can feel the gears hit/touch with my hand on the shifter. I noticed that if I press the clutch and wait an additional .25-.50 seconds before engaging the gear, it doesn't seem the gears touch. Someone suggested I might have a bad synchro gear. Thoughts? Suggestions?? Thanks!! Bradley

Hello all, I have an issue I have been researching over in the last 4-5 weeks. Currently I have a sunroof over the front seats that will not raise up when I press the button to raise the sunroof. However when pressing/holding that button, I can hear the sunroof motor work in the back roof of the vehicle. While the motor does not raise this sunroof, it unlocks it so I can raise it by pressing upward with my hand. But if I"m driving over a bump in the road, the jarring of the car causes the sunroof to fall shut. The interesting thing is that the rear seat sunroof will slide open without any problems. This problem developed only a few weeks ago and I'm not exactly sure what part would be causing this. Because I can raise it up with my hand and it falls when the car drives over a bump, it seemingly tells me that something has lost the tension to take the power from the motor to raise it and sustain the window open. Does anyone know what the exact name of this part might be? I'm checking this out on https://www.subarugenuineparts.com. Bradley

Would this be listed in the chilton/Hayes manuals?