wagnerku

It was a phone estimate so maybe the the labor estimate would have dropped to 4-5 hrs. if I took the car in. I wasn't willing to take a chance. I knew my independent mechanic was busy and I couldn't wait for him to get to it. I had about 10 hours involved; taking my time to make sure it didn't break something else while doing the repair, I have been known to do that on more than one occasion. Besides the satisfaction of doing it myself, I now have some extra car money for the next items. At 65k I have covered all the recommended maintenance for the 60k checkup except for brake fluid and coolant change. The sticky point was pulling off the rear cover, I tapped and pulled to get it moving off the dowels, once I had a gap, I worked my way around with a thin paint scraper to avoid gouging the sealing surfaces.

No more torque bind. The car is running fine with a new VC. I installed it last weekend. Many thanks for the tips I picked up here that allowed me to do it myself. I was priced out if any other options. The service manager at the nearest Subaru dealer gave me an estimate of 1 hr. for diagnostic, 10 hrs. labor, labor at $90/hr and $550.00 for the part which was not in stock. It would have arrived today at the earliest. Fortunately, I had a choice of 3 other dealers within 45 min. and they had the part on the shelf.

The VC is locked up. I ran the above test. I jacked up the FR tire following a 10 mile freeway drive and could not budge it. 3 hours later it started to move and after setting overnight it is loosened back up.

I am going to take Grossgary's suggestion and swap the axels and do the check below from an earlier thread on the board. This makes sense to me, do you see any flaws in this test? "If the viscous coupling unit went out you would have either no drive (unit is not coupling) or vary notisable binding (unit is locked up). A quick way to tell if the unit is locked up is to jack up one tire and try to turn it . If it turns with some resistance your OK if not The unit is locked up. Good luck" http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=14992

I replaced the front right half axle today and the symptoms are still there. I can add now that the further I drive it, the worse it gets. This is not a noise, it is a periodic impulse. After 5 miles it feels like a flat spot going around with the tire, another 5 miles and the flat spot gets bigger. NOTE - did go with a new aftermarket shaft, Dorset. through MIBearing LLC. Just looking at it next to the OEM shaft, I am not confident it was machined and assembled to the same standard as the Subaru. Internally, it may be fine and may give decent service life, but I will try OEM or MWE next time. Based on what I am learning about heat cycles and VC failure, i.e. that it can occur from cumulative heat cycles as well as the catastrophic event, I'm leaning towards a new VC. My tranny is still young and the ones I have found so far don't give me a warm fuzzy. I did change out the transmission and rear diff. oil. The rear diff oil was very clean with the tranny oil a bit darker with a few slivers of metal on the magnet. I have to set up parts and check with a friend to use his shop. I have two weeks before I need to use the car, that probably translate into 2 weekends to work with. Thanks for sharing your 2 cents with me.

Thanks for the axle suggestion. I will pursue that before going any further. I have read the positive endorsements for the MWE axles. They are on my list. I am also looking at a Dorset Axle. MIBearings LLC, next day for me no core. http://www.subaruaxles.com/Subaru_Axles.html Any one know how these are? They are new and "fully balanced". When I asked about vibration problems the sales rep. candidly said Dorset addressed a few complaints and made a fix a year back. No complaints since then. If I go with the Dorset axle, I will provide feedback on it's performance. Guilty as charged on the verbosity. I can go overboard on detail trying to avoid leaving out something that may prove to be important. Thanks for patiently reading through it all.

1st Time Poster, a student of this site a bit longer... 03 Baja w 5MT NA, 65k miles I bought it at 58k Aug. 08 My main question regards mileage and failure modes for Subaru viscous couplers, if I get a used one, does it matter if one has 100k more miles, provided it is still functional. They seem to suddenly go critical rather than gradually wear out. More details below. On a recent 50 mi weekend freeway trip my fun and trouble free Baja first displayed (that I noticed) symptoms of Torque Bind. Subsequent research online, mostly here, leads me to believe the VC in the center diff. is locking when warmed up. Usually, I would turn this over to the reliable independent mechanic we use for our 98 Forester. However times have changed, being unemployed and soon to start school, I have much more time than money and plan to repair it myself. It started with a recent trip to the lake... After 40 min at a steady 75 mph I left the freeway. As I made a soft left into an angled parking space at a restaurant, I felt a repetitive thump-shudder from the fwd passenger wheel area. Same thing fwd-rev and left right. Frequency increasing with wheel rotation, whether clutch engaged or free. No noticeably hard steering that I read about. No problems going straight line. Flashing back to a formative VW Rabbit episode from the 80's, I checked and no worn/torn CV boots or grease where it didn't belong. Receipts form the previous owner did have the dealer clean and repack when a torn boot was found at 39k miles. When I left the restaurant all seemed well. I cut my trip to Lake Michigan short and returned home. I have been able to keep it parked except for a couple 4-5 mi trips. Lot's of trouble shooting help from this board, my independent mechanic, and the local Subaru dealer's parts and service departments...I have checked wheel bearings, CV axles, struts, measured tire circumference, and wear. (Note: 4 new tires at 50k, circumference variation taped at < 1/8" this week, rotated as recommended, pressures good and checked weekly) Alignment is decent, some pull to the left sometimes, seems to come and go with road surface. Although I don't pull doughnuts in parking lots and the tires have been taken care of, the evidence strongly suggests I need to replace the VC and/or or swap the trans. It would be more convenient and easier for me to change out the VC. Instructions here: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-381351.html and here: http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f89/center-diffs-how-replace-them-46979/ I can also get to procedures to replace the trans if needed. Please give me your thoughts on these options or anything I may have overlooked in trouble shooting. I am short on Subby owner experience: we got our 1st Subby 2 years back after admiring them for years. I am not a mechanic but come from a hands on engineering background and am comfortable with the work once I assemble find any needed tools I lack and have service procedures. VC Options Rebuild STE - Traction Control Technology Can rebuild my VC if the housing is still ok. They were very helpful over the phone. Anyone dealt with them? Used trannies, all from 03 Foresters. The VC is the same but I don't know if the 5MT in the Forester will bolt up to my Baja, engines being equal. Local dealer and auto recyclers I have spoken with to date don't know for sure. If someone knows or can verify this or point me to a good cross reference, I would appreciate it. Thanks to eadrach, (http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=97885) I know the gearing is the same, 03 Forester to Baja The tranny codes look good but is the mounted body code, digit 7 the critical one? I am out of my depth on this part. US Legacy Outback & Baja MY03-04 TY754VCDCA US Forester MY03 TY755VC3AA One within 15 miles with 169k $385 low price high miles, but does that matter with a VC? One 35 miles away with 49k $650 higher price, lower miles, again do the miles matter with the VC.