Subaru in the hills

About 2 miles down road being towed. We were coming down hill we'd just climbed and big racket that sounded like bearing or wheel loose on axle, saw bolt or something fly then tire. We were going about 30mph. Tire still attached to remainder of rotor with all lugs. Also forgot to mention that when I manually spin remaining tire (car in gear engine off) the other axle turns also.

Check your oil, it might be low, filling up usually fixes my noise. And what would a Subaru sound like if not for the lifters?

Hello all - The '91 Loyale is having a rough week. Flooded her up to the seats Monday but that's not the problem I have come for guidance about. Today driving down the road it felt like a gust of wind hit us. Then another pull that felt like flat tire. Got out - no flat. Put her back in gear, nothing. Can't be clutch cause I can go in and out of gears. When I hit push button 4WD it goes by the back wheels but huge racket from front. So I call for some help and get towed home by pick-up. Big big racket, banging, knocking, I start honking horn to stop, doesn't hear me, drivers side tire flies off (with brake rotor), keep it on the road for a bit, then put her in the ditch. Get home finally with her tonight, put front up on jack stands. Wondering if it was a loose axle nut so figure now if I put it in gear (wheels off the ground), they should turn. Nothing. There has been no sound from CV's at all lately. Very familiar with that noise. Changed out many.(Not all on this Suby). What is wrong with her please help!

Hey this does sound really familiar, check out all the helpful suggestions I got http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38628 . Please excuse my last post though, it was a bit premature, I am still battling the A/C. Mine did run for a day - on all the time - now back to beginning . Anyhow when you test the relay by switching those two by the pass. side strut DON'T take them out of the brackets just disconnect relay from wires and swich wires. Good Luck, looking forward to YOUR solution and a trip to the junk yard to find some new relays, I'm back to thinking that is my problem.

Yee-ha good news to report. After much frustration and threats to take the little red wagon in to a pro. my father-in-law saw how I could make it work by pushing on the top of the relay and said "lets hook them back onto the brackets" so being at the end of my rope I did and there she goes! Not kicking off after 5 sec. cool air blowing inside, ahhhhh. So anyway on the top of the relay there's a bump that fits into the bracket's pocket and if the relay is slid on backwards or if it's just hanging unattached it didn't work, so thank you all so much for your help!

Sounds like good ol' hill-billy engineering going on out west! The same thing happened to me but it was the top hose and the fix was a lot less creative, just tightened the hose onto remaining plastic as best it could and we (me and the four kids) drove the last 10 miles home w/o the cap on so it wouldn't have as much pressure. Still had to stop once to cool off and refill. Good times!

Could someone tell me where that pressure switch is located? I've been tracing one wire that comes from relay and has 14v when comp. is off but has almost none when running. Traced it to this mini board that reads as connected with almost no volts when comp is on and 14v when off and not connected. This goes to the gold box mounted behind glove box, is it a resistor? Does anyone have any numbers on what the resistance should be here at this box, hopefully this isn't the blower resistor and I've just wasted more of our time..... my head hurts.

Yes, welcome to West Virginia! These hills will do the test on your Sube. You might want to test your compression (the 91 Loyale only runs on 3 cyl. and does an OK job on the freeway at 63mph but puts up a huge fight in the mountains unless there is snow and away we go!) Anyhow I wouldn't worry to much as long as you weren't having to drop into 3rd, most of the Subes I've driven have this same lack of power, so take it easy and enjoy the scenery!

Is the relay coil inside the relay? Sorry if stupid question but you've been a great help so far and switching those relays did not change the situation. When I take relay out I've got 14v at relay plug but how do I test what's coming out? Am I in over my head or what.

Our '91 Loyale has no known rat nests but the 4wd lights were not coming on after we bought it at 148k, other problems were; it getting stuck in 4wd, not going into 4wd when button was pushed, lights sometimes coming on when car was in 4 (made me long for my 87 GL with dual range) Anyhow, after pulling shifter boot down, I discovered the wires to push button were not making great contact so check that first it would be the easiest fix, I spliced the couple that were causing headache and have been going great since (at least the 4wd has!) 223k and counting. O'yeah get rid of the lifter noise with some oil, she's probably a bit low. Good Luck.

Hello again on this one, I was hoping I'd be able to post the solution but I'm still dealing with the problem! I've got 14.1v at the fuse when switch is off and 13.8v when compressor is engaged then jumps back to 14.1v when compressor goes off but switch is still on. Also with the relay I can activate compressor by pushing down on top of relay, so now I'm thinking it may be relay after all. I tried to get a new one from big box auto parts store and the one they had for it didn't look like mine or work at all I may have a trip to a dealer or hopefully excuse to go to junk yard! I'd love to have a wiring diagram or manual with more electrical info. - any suggestions. The A/C pulley is real smooth with belts slacked. Thanks again, I know the answer is right around the bend!

I think it means you are running with cheap gas or additives. Now I know that is a bit of a stretch, is there any such thing as cheap gas???

That grease from the torn boot can make things look really bad and when you get a split one to replace it make sure it's the inner boot they give you. I don't know what other repair books you've got but my most valuable book has been How to Keep Your Subaru Alive, yes this is the Idiots guide written by the same guys who did the originals for Volkswagens. This book will give you a good idea of what all these jobs entail. The funny thing is it seemed to take longer to read how to do a job like install new CV axle then to do the job itself, that's how step by step the instructions are. And wow what an offer from Tom63050!

That price had better include timing belts! I'm not sure about the east coast but on our 87 GL it cost around 300 for the timing belt job in the Seattle area. We decided to tackle the next one ourselves (my husband and me) when one broke on our 91 Loyale. I'm not sure what you mean by a lot of oil cause as far as my experience goes with these great cars, I haven't had one yet I didn't check at every fill-up and add some. 600 bucks buys a lot of oil but if you aren't into doing the belts yourself and you are getting close to that repair I'd shop the job a bit more. Now it's been a couple years on the belt job but I don't remember gaskets for the belt covers maybe your mechanic is talking about the rubber seals but they shouldn't be holding any oil back. Maybe I'm jaded but oil is cheap and these cars run forever if you keep them cool and that is an awful lot of money if it's running fine otherwise. If you do decide to have it done make sure it includes new belts and tensioners.

Is there a way to test this relay w/o replacing it? Can I bi-pass it somehow temporarily to check if the compressor still kicks off? I have switched the two relays that are by the strut tower and there was no difference. Thanks for calling me off the vacuum system that saves a lot of hunting around!