Hi all, first post, but I've been searching/reading for a while.
Does this sound like a failing VC? After about an hour of highway driving, I pulled into a parking lot where I had to make some sharp low speed turns, and there seemed to be some binding (similar to running a "part-time" 4x4 on dry pavement). There was a faint clunking sound (like a bad CV, but not as pronounced), and some side to side rocking. This only happened when making fairly tight turns. There was no drag/binding in a straight line or wide turns. Oh, and it didn't matter which direction - it happened at the same turn radius for both left and right.
That was last night and it was too late to have a good look at it, so today I checked the CV boots - all good - and tires/pressures - equal - and took the car for a drive but couldn't repoduce the problem. So I'm thinking the drivetrain needs to get hot, i.e. highway speed.
While having a look at it I noticed that one of the steering rack boots is torn, but the steering seems to work fine - no shuddering, pulling etc., and the fluid level is good. Otherwise, I can't see anything obviously wrong with the car (I'm a fairly good 'shady tree' mechanic, but not all that familiar with Subarus, and just too busy right now to start pulling the car apart).
The details on the car are 2002 Outback, 5 spd MT, 2.5 L, 145K miles.
So am I on the right track suspecting the VC?