OswaldtheBold

That is not a good noise! Hard to tell from your video, but do you think the noise is coming from the transmission? How many miles on it? Take it to a Subaru dealer. The CVT trans has a 10 year-100,000 mile warranty. My 2013 was having a torque bind problem. Took it to the dealer last week, and they replaced the transfer clutch piston and plates under warranty, and said if I had any more problems they would just replace the entire transmission. Hard to say if the warning lights are related to the noise. I have never had any warning lights come on after startup.

The Subaru dealer's opinion: "confirmed customer concern, transfer clutch is not releasing properly, causing a tight binding and rumble noise on sharp turn. Removed transfer clutch and plates looked discolored like they were getting hot." They replaced the transfer clutch plates and piston, retainer spring, seals, snap rings, shims, oil seal, and changed the CVT fluid. "Test drove, noise and feel felt better but still a little present, transfer clutch needs to finish breaking in." It was all covered under the CVT warranty. They said drive it for a few weeks, and if the problem comes back, they will replace the entire CVT with a new one, under warranty.

Thanks. How much damage am I doing by continuing to drive it while trying to get it fixed?

Bummer. I wonder if I can convince them to cover it under the extended warranty for the transmission.

OK just got back from the parking lot. Slow speed tight turns (steering wheel full lock, but not held against the stop) There is a regular periodic chirp from the outside front wheel, and a slight jerk of the steering wheel (not me!) corresponding to each chirp. The chirp period seems to vary accordingly with speed changes, but I really did not have a very broad range of speed to play with. It happens in both right and left turns, and the noise definitely comes only from the outside wheel (I had both front windows open and could tell the difference in which side it came from). The fact that it happened turning both ways, and the noise was from the outside wheel, would seem to rule out wheel bearings as a cause (unless both were bad, which is hard to imagine). Very difficult to tell if the car was slowing down in the turns (requiring more gas). If I let off the gas, the car slowed down, but I did not have to increase throttle to maintain speed. I did try driving straight ahead to get up a bit of momentum, shifted to neutral and turned. No apparent difference. The chirp was still there as the car rolled through the turn, and slowed down (but not drastically so). Odd thing about the noise: If I had not been driving a tight turn in a parking lot, I could as easily have described it as a metal-on-metal chirp as a tire chirp. It did not sound the same as the tire chirp I had heard other times. But, the parking lot had recently been resurfaced, so that could have been the interaction if the tires with different pavement surfaces. Also, did not notice the rumble noise as much, but that could be because I did not accelerate out of the turns much (tight parking lot), and I was focused on maintaining speed (and the chirp). So. I did not give it too much throttle. Still think it is torque bind?

I bought it used. I am the second owner. It was always serviced at the Subaru dealer since new, and I have all the service records. No indication of any repairs or wrecks.

As far as I know, they are original. I bought the car used two years ago. It was a trade-in for a new one and had only been serviced at the dealer, so I have all the service records. No indication of any previous problem with CV joints or axles. My experience with wheel bearings is they usually only make noise on the outside of turns, and I have never had a car that had both front wheel bearings go out at the same time. This new noise appears to be turning in both directions, so bearings seem an unlikely cause.

Thanks. I did not think there was a viscous coupling in the front, controlling side to side torque, but there were two responses suggesting viscous coupling, so I was just brainstorming possible causes. I did not mean to ignore your questions. Yes, tires are all the same size, same age, same wear. I have not had a chance to try your suggested diagnosis checks yet. The rumbling noise first became noticeable this week, but earlier I thought I had heard some tire chirp making a turn into a parking lot at about 20 mph and accelerating out of the turn, and wondered what was causing it. There was another suggestion of inner CV joint. Boots appear to be intact. Do you think this may be the cause?

Is there a viscous coupling in the front differential, controlling torque split between right and left axles? Or, is it controlling torque split between front and rear? I have a CVT. Do you think this might be related, and covered under their extended transmission warranty?

Not a manual, it is a CVT. Does the CVT use the same viscous coupler?

2013 Outback, 57,000 miles. Rumbling noise/feel from front end in tight low speed turns (parking lots). Does it turning both right or left. Only does it when applying throttle. Doesn't do it when sitting still and turning wheel (apparently not the power steering pump or rack). No indication of anything rubbing anywhere. CV boots look good. Any thoughts?

I have a 2013 Outback, 2.5 with CVT. My sailboat trailer weighs about 1000 lbs fully loaded, no trailer brakes. Owner Manual says this is within max limits. Is this really doable? I live in western Colorado, elevation about 4500 feet. Mountain passes can be a bit more. I never tow my boat over 55 mph. I don't want to kill my Outback, but it sure is more comfortable than my 30 year old Landcruiser (my main tow rig).

Possible, but I did notice that when I hold the center vent open, there is still a noticeably stronger airflow through the vent by the driver's door than the center vent. The other thing that makes me curious is the air inlet selection button. When I switch from outside air to recirculate, the indicator light comes on, but the sound of the airflow doesn't change. In my old 1997 Legacy, it was much louder on recirculate that outside air.

I just bought a 2013 Outback, with the Automatic Climate Control. Whenever I turn the fan speed up past 1 (in face-level ventilation mode) or past 2 (in bi-level mode), the two center dash vents close. The little Open-Close thumbwheels snap over to the closed position, and seem to be held there by spring tension or air pressure. I can hold them open by hand, but they snap back to closed if I remove my hand. Also, I do not seem to get much airflow to the driver's side feet, regardless of the mode setting. Is this normal? I did not notice this when I bought the car two months ago, but it was in the 60's then, and I did not need either the heater or the AC, so I really did not test them out.

At least in my case, I don't think the problem is moisture in the brake booster. I had the booster replaced with a new one, and the problem was essentially unchanged. I consider it unlikely both the old and the replacement boosters were exposed to conditions sufficiently similar to cause the same problems, while my other '97 Legacy parked next to it has never had this problem. I am leaning towards the check valve theory, but haven't had the chance to try it yet. Anybody know the cost of a replacement valve and hose from Subaru?

Yes, and FIAT is the acronym for "Fix it again Tony".

I just checked with the service department at my local Subaru dealer. They told me the master cylinder recall was for 1998, and it did not apply to '97. They did not show any brake system recall for the '97. Since I've already replaced the booster, I'm now thinking master cylinder. But, any chance it could involve the ABS system, even if the ABS light doesn't come on?

Which way should it flow?

'97 Legacy. First thing in the morning, when it's very cold (like 0 degrees), when I first start the car, the brake pedal won't go down (just the pedal free travel, but no more). Very hard to push the pedal at all and almost no pedal travel. Rolling backwards in my driveway at about 10 mph, I can barely stop. After several tries, things return to normal, and no further problems. It only happens first time you start up when it is very cold. If I let the car warm up for 5-10 minutes before moving, no problem. If it is above 0 degrees, no problem. I thought it felt like no vacuum brake boost. We replaced the brake booster with a new one, but no improvement. I have not been using the parking brake at night, so that is probably not the problem. The ABS light comes on when you first turn the key on, so I know the light works, then it goes out when you start it and does not return, so I would guess the diagnostics don't think it's an ABS problem. My other '97 Legacy never has this problem, starting both of them at the same time on the same mornings. Any suggestions?

Don't know about the factory set-up. That's how I've always wired my aftermarket lights. You can take the power for the switch from the marker or taillight wires, so they will go off when you turn all the lights off. On my old Landcruiser, I wired them off the ignition side of the fuse panel, so they'll still work when the main lights fuse blows. That way I can still get some light forward in an emergency (don't ask how I learned that one either).

The real deal with fog lights is not the color, it is the flat cutoff on the top of the beam pattern. The idea is the fog lights project out forward below the fog layer, and do not cast light up into the fog (or snow) where it reflects back to blind you (like regular headlights do). To be most effective when the conditions are the worst, you turn off your headlight main beams (leave marker and tail lights on) and use your fogs forward. Unfortunately, most state laws require you to have two white headlights forward. You can usually get away with using two white fogs instead of headlamps, but using only yellow fogs will get you a ticket (ask me how I know). Also, my experience is the yellow does little to improve visibility in fog or snow, but it will make the yellow center lines much harder to see.

Sent you e-mail and PM.

...if there was a Legacy with the fog lights in a junkyard here, I'd have already pulled it out by now...but there are none. I was lucky to find even one Outback to get a switch out of.

Thanks for the info. (Thumbnails are kind of hard to read) I checked with my locl Subaru dealer and both the projector and the standard fog light kits are no longer available. Anybody have a kit they'd like to sell me?

Haven't found them yet. I have a Legacy L, not an Outback. I do know the rear wiring harnesses are not the same (Outback has a T connector for trailer wiring, my Legacy does not). I suspect it is the same up front and in the dash. Can anybody confirm this?