1 Lucky Texan

I've read where folks have solved shift hesitation with Trans-X additive and/or synthetic fluid (Mobil 1 ?) anyway, hopeit works out.

doesn't Jeep have a straight 6? man, I remember a coupla vehicles I drove, the 51 Chevy had HUGE amounts of room on either side of the straight 6 motor. But those vacuum wipers - ugh, horrible. The 64 Rambler I had was extremely reliable and fairly easy to work on. Older cars were not quite as binary in their failures, they would gradually let you know when things needed attention (but they needed attention almost all the time). Seems like many times nowadays, a car just stops. At least there's a computer on board that might tell you why!

I'm gonna just throw out a coupla points. These are just thought experiments but might have a small amount of validity. Subarus have 2-3 odd design features which, in addition the their overall longevity, contribute to the likelihood of someone experiencing HG failure. They have decent utility and quality, that, eventually, someone may own the car that doesn't understand the need for 'burping'/special attention to coolant refilling. Also, the cars do not behave well with aftermarket thermostats. These increase the likelihood of overheating at some point in their life. Their utility also means they may get driven in road/environmental conditions that are more harsh than other vehicles. And, obviously, they have 2 headgaskets. In a 'raw' sense, that doubles the likelihood of experiencing a failure. This does not excuse the poor performance of the HGs in the mid-late 90s, nor the external leakers in the period just after that. But, some of the above may contribute to a notion that, eventually, any/all Soobs are gonna need HGs. It may even statistically be true - but just because the Fiats, Suzukis and Kias of this world are long in the junkyard for other reasons BEFORE they have a chance to blow their gaskets, is not the fault of Subaru. And before you think I'm just an apologist, I'm very upset at the failure of the secondary air valves in my WRX. Fortunately, I found a workaround out of the Subaru 'tuner' community. I COULD just replace the valves, but I have found no indication they have been redesigned/improved and I fear they will just fail again in 4 years. Anything that can happen to any other car can happen to a Soob. In a general sense, I think they're well made. better than several cars I've owned and as good as the best cars I've owned. But not flawless.

Well, you might check/swap-out the Engine Temp Sensor (not the temp gauge sender). Sometimes it can hold the system in choke mode and won't throw a code. But, uh, you have enough other problems that, it's just a wild guess.

doesn't matter to the center diff as long as the rolling circumference is very close (1/4" or so) If the weight of the wheels is much different, you may 'feel' some subtle difference in acceleration or handling - but I doubt it, still OK on the AWD system. Have you tried that 'green slime' stuff or a can of FIX-A-FLAT?

yeah, it's buried in the middle of the diff too. Just as practical to swap it out - or get a different style, diff I guess.

You'd think they would make that fluid replaceable. I could understand it being a 'throw-away' deal if the plates or something wore out or deformed, etc. But just for the lack of some fluid? weird.

yep, no shiny metal sticker on the diff.

I was surprised my wife's outback behaved like it did, I'd expect a lot of slippage to be required to lock up a viscous pack. Seems backwards that is could work up on a jack, then fail if 'real' slippage occurs. Does the fluid degrade or what?

duh - guess I got off topic! my wife's 03 OBW will definitely move rear wheels in the same direction if you spin one side. re there ways to tell from VIN numbers or markings on the diff if they are LSD?

someone may know for certain - but they may have switched from the style with the spring pin holding the axle on sometime around 2005(maybe started with the STI on 04 ?). I dunno about 'older generations'. The axles on the bottom of this pic seem to be 'new' style if you look at the far end - with the splines built on. The top ones are like my wife's 03 Outback. A spring pin holds them onto stub axles that stay inside the diff. I guess they've been built that way for decades. No fluid loss when changing axles. Dunno why they changed.

I was at an airshow once and an announcer for an acrobatic team that used old biplanes said "they do the same routine as the Blue Angels perform in their jets, but at the speed of smell" lol!

I dunno, that pic I posted was just an example, maybe when they went with the 'new' style axles (that dont' have the pin that goes in the stub) they changed to internal circlips? engineering choice I guess?

wow! glad it was that easy. I guess the slight movement you saw was the pads shifting a little in the caliper? crazy I'd put a complete rear brake tear down,inspect,clean, lube job on my to-do list if I were you. Don't want those slide pins or the e-brake corroding.

Yeah, sry, my wife drives an 03 H6 Outback wagon. I recently did some work on it and one repair was an axle replacement due to split inner boot. My car is an 06 WRX wagon. If the smell comes and goes, it might mean that sometimes the seal on the front diff is leaking and sometimes not. If possible, lift he front of the car, secure on jacks, and turn the wheel all the way left, then check the left inner axle joint. the (probably green) 'cup' part should stay in the same position and not shift in-out more than , maybe, a 2-3 mm. maybe someone else here can confirm that. Then, check the right side after turning the wheel all the way to the right. I should also mention that, it's possible grease could be pushed out either end of a rubber boot. Particularly on a rebuilt axle. If it was over-greased or the bands are not tight, etc. That also might happen during or after extreme turning of the wheels when the boots are stretched/compressed a lot. They wouldn't have to be split to deposit some grease onto the exhaust. The 'split boot problem' just happens frequently because the inner boots are exposed to so much heat from the exhaust pipe.

look about halfway down here;http://www.iwsti.com/forums/how-install/116053-how-change-rear-axle.html

the wife's 03 H6 OBW has had an intermittent noise. I never heard it, but from reading about common problems, I changed the bearings in the serp belt idler ans tenioner pulleys. The old bearings felt rough, but the pulleys were running true. Anyway, she said the noise was still coming back. Worse on cold mornings. More reading led me to suspect the power steering. It did seem a little noisy to me on one test so, I found info online about the system possibly sucking in air at the top connection on the pump that comes from the reservoir. Today I pulled that off, slapped some dielectric grease on the o-ring and around the circumference of the hose-end and reinstalled. Then i lift the front wheels and exercised the wheels lock-to-lock many times. Then, I started the car (carefully, in park with the e-brake well-set) and exercised the wheels l-to-l again. The system did seem to change, very subtle but maybe it's better than before. I then went and showered, letting it sit for a while, went back, did the l-to-l business again. hope she doesn't hear the sound again. dunno what to do now!

does programming a new remote make the other not work? That is, we have 2 for our Outback but one of them is going bad, can I replace just one?

you might go ahead and get 2 new seals, pop out the other side and swap sides on reassembly - just to distribute the wear. cool find!

^^^^ I'm guessing this is what happened. And, if the diff was still warm from driving, getting the vent under water is even worse cause, the water will start cooling the diff creating a little suction - so even more water gets inside. But, did the driveshaft rotate at all? Need to try in neutral with both rear whhels off the ground as said.

I think your car is built like my wife's which has splined stubs sticking out from the front diff. The big axle cups are splined internally and slip over the stubs and are held in place by a spring pin. However, the stubs are held into the diff by a 'circlip' (w'ever) a circle of springwire in a groove. (IIRC) Some of your initial symptoms seem to fit a scenario in which a 'hard' turn (to the lock) could have pulled on the stub enough to pop it loose - enough to compromise the diff seal - cause leakage of the fluid (which might blow back onto the exhaust) and maybe cause the smell (diff oil smells bad anyway - so it may smell different than engine oil if it got on hot exhaust) thuinking and other odd driveline sensations you report. Doesn't mean any of that is correct, but it's something different to look for. (could be the previous owner got an axle that was too short - or, the stub was pulled out of it's groove just slightly when the old axle was pulled out, but your hard turn when reversing pulled it more, comprimised the seal, it bound-up and is now so far out of place is intermittently engaging internally)

OK - I'm gonna suggest a differential stub has popped out partially and the seal is leaking too. Check the front diff oil level. Get under the car and examine the inner and outer boots and look for diff oil.

can't help thinking about

I bet somebody could use that trailer hitch.

I didn't detect much difference in apparent weight/sturdiness - except the EMPI axle I got seemed to have tougher rubber boots than the OEM I took off.