roadsubiedog

gary. I will try taking off the rear drive line either tonight or tomorrow and check back in with the results.

gary sorry for my ignorance but what is vlsd? btw it is not locked. I can drive it and as long as I don't push it , it goes pretty good and occasionally bucks. it does this while turning or going straight. I parked it after going only 10 miles like this. ( driving it to and back from shop at only 30 mph. I took it in parking lot and did some real slow turns both ways and it definitely binds. ( feels like I braked ) the mechanic thought it was the passenger front axle and replaced that. the owner took it for a test drive and said it was the front diff. however, I am willing and able to try anything to discount the bad tranny. nobody ever mentioned a vlsd unit or that this kind of bind is common. I guess its like going to the barber and asking him if you need a haircut. of course they are gonna say yes. its the same with tranny shops.

Fairtax4me. didn't have a clue about that. no one even suggested it and I spoke to at least a dozen people/mechanics.

thanks. I understand your math. I run this car 20k a year on the highway. it gets 32-33 mpg consistently. prior to this issue, I would of been confident enough to drive it cross country. the major headgasket repair cost 2500 and I have gone 90k without a problem and probably have many more miles to go on this motor so that is only what?..... 3 cents a mile? so I do understand your math. I'm gonna explore more options. I might attempt the removal or motor and tranny together as a unit if I can find some videos on it. I don't understand manuals very well. if I watch a video, I can usually do it. I pulled a motor out of a 73 Toyota years ago but that was a simpler job without all the computers and wiring harnesses.

thanks. will do.

tires are two years old. tranny, I believe is original and I have gone 175k since bought with no previous issues or service.

so discouraged that im thinking bout giving up. have had my 99 for 9 years. it has bout 275k miles. beautiful silver car, new tires and it runs like a top. ( head gaskets, water pump, clutch, timing belt done 90k ago ) new timing belt recently done. 5 speed going out 3 months ago . my shop has been looking for a good replacement but cant find one. this mechanic is real good and honest. he's afraid to put one in and have it go out in 3-6-12 months. then we would be at square one. ( at around 1300 bucks total ) he suggested a real good transmission rebuild shop. the mechanic there said it sounds like it may be a retain clip on the final drive that is broken making things move and binding up. I can drive it a little but it binds up every quarter mile or so and just bucks. I only drove it about 10 miles and now it's parked. this rebuilder told me that if it is a "simple" fix it will be a 1000 dollars. otherwise it will be 1700-1800 or more. he cant say until he tears it apart. I can't give this guy a blank check on a car that is only worth about 2500 if everything is ok. I don't want to go the junkyard route now. tranny shops have been giving me quotes of around 2400 for a rebuilt swap. if I had any mechanical ability I'd do it myself or get a good running 99 and keep this one for parts. its a real shame but I think im gonna give up. without the tranny issue it is an excellent vehicle that has given me 9 years of service. just wanted to let off some steam.

would a 5 speed from a 2003 work as a replacement?

UPDATE picked up 99 outback today and took it on a 20 mile drive trying everything I could think of. on either a right or left hard turn it would buck/clunk several times. if I turned real slow it would do it maybe once. it seems to bind a little or feels like brake on until it bucks clunks and then fine. going straight it might buck once or twice until I got up to 55 on freeway and as long as I was going straight and flat there was no noise. maybe it would buck/clunk when I accelerated. downshifting seems like when it would be bad. the bucking would be more violent. took it down some long down grades at 45-55 and put it in neutral. no noise at all and down hard turns and moving steering wheel back and forth........nothing. even took some hard right/left turns at 25-30 mph in neutral and nothing. nice and quiet. as soon as put back in gear the bucking was hard. as long as I took it real easy it wasn't so bad. a little bucking. but when it was under load going up hill or punching the gas it bucked hard 2-3 times and then nothing. the whirling/slight roaring sound is still noticeable at low speeds and it goes away when in neutral coasting or when clutch pedal is pushed in. someone here said that sounded like throw out bearing on clutch ( last clutch 90k ago) I tried to take it to 2 other shops to get more first hand opinions but they were both closed. must be a mechanics holiday today. well, sounds like tranny , huh? original guy told me 600 for used tranny, another 6 for labor and he said he would do the clutch just for parts since it looked like the axle didn't need replacing.

I would walk away also. mechanic saying code "no big deal" sends up a huge red flag. a car that cant pass smog without expensive repairs is not worth it. a clutch on top of that.........ouch.

ok, thanks for all the help and suggestions. I have made notes and am going to the shop tomorrow to take it for a ride and another shop if it is drivable for a second opinion.

I have been saying all along that the noisewas going away when I pushed clutch pedal in or was coasting. it clunked on left hand turns and they replaced the right axle. is that right? I was wondering if it would help to put on 4 jack stands and run it in gear and have someone move steering wheel while I watch?

never pops out of gear.

fairtax from what you described its sounds like the main bearing sound and spider gears causing clunking on either right or left turn. gloyale maybe I should take it for another ride? I think it was clunking on right and left turns. I only drove it a half mile. it wasn't clunking straight but the shop owner took ride and said it was. i'll have to see for myself.

thanks for the info. I changed the fluid last month when I started to hear the noise. there was sludge on the plug but I did not feel metal. the oil was very black and it had a lot of silver looking specks in it. the tranny has 275k miles on it. when you say center diff , youre speaking about the whole tranny, right? I think that is what the shop is looking for. he said the pinion gear sounds like it is worn out. the clunking happened very quickly. in about 5 miles.

thanks for asking bout the timing belt. it was redone about 10k ago. I was wrong about the reman for 575. that was from Quality Used Trannies. just used.

that's great to know...thanks. the shop called today. it seems that my 5 speed is the one harder to find than the other. they found 2 but they only had 6 months warranty. the owner of the shop called my wife today to apologize for all the trouble. they changed out an axle which was not the issue. I'm telling them to leave it in since the old one was an original and had 275k miles on it. they gave me the old one back. I have no idea what the prices are for junkyard trannies. haven't had a chance to call around. a reman is about 575 for one year parts and labor and free shipping. right now I am letting the repair shop do the looking with no guarantee that I will let them do the work. they seem to deserve their good reputation.

if I decide to just swap trannies, do they know the miles on the used one? or would I be better off getting a reman? plus should I have them do the clutch while its out? the clutch was done 90,000 miles ago ( all hwy ) when we did the headgaskets, etc.

just got back from the shop and it's what I was dreading. the owner took it for a ride and he is reasonably sure that it is the pinion gear in the front differential. he quoted me 800-1500 to replace the diff from a wrecking yard. isn't it a tranny that needs to be replaced? he told me that wrecking yards guarantee the part for 60 days. do they also tell you how many miles is on that part? I sure don't want to put a 300k mile diff in. wouldn't a reman tranny make more sense? my car has 275k on it but the headgaskets and everything else was done 90 k ago. I spoke to another mechanic and he told me that it would be 1500-1800 if I put a new clutch in. these 90k miles are all highway. I told the first guy NOT to do any work on it yet. he said he was gonna call his 2 main suppliers and then quote me a price. BTW I'm not sure if I mentioned this previously but this shop wins the "Best Auto Repair" shop in my area almost every year and friends and family swear by these guys. he offered to put the old axle back and refund my money total but with 275k on it im not sure if that is a good idea. I did ask and did take the old axle home . (oem) this is gonna be a real tough call for me. I don't have enough expertise to do the work myself. I live in the Reno area and there are a lot of Outbacks around (96-01) that have had headgaskets, timing belt, water pump, clutch.... the whole 9 yards done for 2500-3500 dollars. im real tempted buying a worked on 99 for 2500 and parking the other one.

I watched them do this yesterday. he still has the car and the owners son who gave me a ride home said that he would do that again himself today to see what the problem is. they said they would call before they did any more work. I live only 4 miles away so when they call I'm going to go down there before I OK any more work.

Thank you everyone for replies. yes, the noise is under load. the first symptoms, noise , occasional squealing, were pretty consistant for about a month. yesterday I heard the first clunk while turning. it was slight and just one. this happened only 3-4 times. then it was clunk clunk clunk in turns. it would stop when I went straight. after he changed the axle I drove it straight for about an eighth of a mile and the original noise and/or squeal was gone. as soon as I tried to turn, it was clunking exactly the same. I'm kinda upset because they didn't test it out right before calling me and telling me it was fixed. I hate taking my car to a repair shop. I usually do everything myself ( minor stuff) good advice on getting old OEM axle. it does have 275k on it and the boot broke about 3 months ago when it wasn't making any noise at all. I repacked it and covered up the boot tightly. I am worried that this is going to turn out to be changing out parts until they fix the problem.

took my 99 outback to the shop today because it was "clunking" went I went to turn either right or left. the mechanic took it for a ride and said it was my right front axle. 150 bucks later they called the same afternoon and said it was done. I drove less than a half mile and it was still the same. clunking on any turn. left or right. so took it back and the owner told me that they would have to take a look at it in the morning. they gave me a ride home. this shop is the best in my town. they win the "Best Auto Repair" shop award in my town almost every year. they have nothing but 5 star reviews on Yelp. I posted the problem here in a couple other threads. it squeals or makes a noise on the right front side, but there is no noise if it is gliding in neutral and the noise stops when I push in clutch. it's been this way for at least a month, maybe more. I drive with the radio loud all the time.. anyway this morning, it clunked once. and then a little while later it clunked, clunked , clunked when I was turning. that's when I took it to this shop. you'd think this was a problem this shop could diagnose correctly since our town has a million Subarus. what do you think it is and what kind of questions should I ask when they call me in the morning? I really can't handle an expensive surprise. its been a bad time for us since the holidays.

ECS comes on and shows a 1-1-4 code. but sometimes the light goes off and stays off for days and then comes on again. it usually comes on after about 10-15 minutes. I can't find the link to the codes explanation.

5 speed. no noise in neutral. noise stops when clutch pedal pushed in between shifts. also if I put in neutral while going down the road , it rides very quiet. I wish I could post a video. that's a great idea.

the front one is perfect. in fact recent fluid change. I checked the rear one this past summer. it was perfect too. the noise seems to be near front or maybe under the seats. wow. that noise in the video sounds sick. nowhere near my sound though.