Have been reading some issues in these forums about shimmy problems, but mine is a stumper too, as it shimmys at all speeds but does it wildly hard between 55 and 65 mph, the shimming will let up when I let up on the gas pedal

Its a 2001 Forester, auto trans, with it more noticable when making right turns,

My mechanic could not find anything loose or wobbly, when I had him inspect the front end. He now believes that the cause may be in the transmission.

The suv has all new tires, new front rotors/pads,

I really need some good insight here as I dont really want to take( and get taken by) a transmission repair shop

Probably a bad half axle. The trick is to figure out exactly which one. Have any of the axles ever been replaced? Possibly with an after market rebuilt axle?

If it's a shimmy at those speeds, I would check the balance on the tires. Even though they are new doesn't mean someone competent balanced them Tire balance and air pressure mean a whole lot.

If it were me, I would go to a shop that has a good reputation for doing front end alignments. Have the front end aligned, and have the entire front suspension checked for anything worn which could cause any "play", like bad ball joints and tie rods.

 

+1 also on bad half shaft as a possibility. I had that happen on my OBW. It shook like crazy for a few miles on the interstate one day, but then the shaking went away, and never returned. Then the half shaft started making some noise, so I swapped it out. Now no noise, and no shaking.

I second the axle and the ball joint, same problem here then i replaced the ball joint and the axle at the same time and it all went away. Both of them were pretty bad in my case. If u got he tires from a place like leschwab they should check them for free i would think, wouldnt hurt.

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As a quick test, swap the tires front to rear and see if that changes anything first.

1998 OBW 300K second set of head gaskets. replaced a bad front wheel bearing set and my same problem went away.

1998 OBW 300K second set of head gaskets. replaced a bad front wheel bearing set and my same problem went away.

 

ok, couple of questions.

 

when did the HGs give up, both times, mileage?

 

and did you use Subaru gaskets both times?

 

thanks,

1st set of head gasket. 125K . I bought a CCR denver Replacement motor (changed by Skagit subaru Mt. Vernon, WA). Piston knock started at 35K on their motor and their head gasket went out 70K later.

They told me when I bought their motor that it wouldn't have the PISTON RATTLE NOISE, 35k later it sounded like a diesel on start up. The told me their motors didn't have head gasket problems. DON'T BUY NOTHING FROM THESE LIERS !!!! They didn't want to talk to me about that. Stay away from CCR.

 

2nd set of head gaskets were replaced by Kurt's AAA the shop (subaru) in Anchorage. with the new 0111 head gaskets from Subaru. The shop (Kurt)told me that all the Subaru taxi cabs in Anchorage (lots of subaru taxi's in Alaska) use this newly designed Subaru head gaskets and they haven't seen any problems with them. he said that the CCR subaru motor builder didn't

grind the value stems when they ground the values and they had to use the slimest shims available to reset the value clearance. Anyway, my 98 OBW now has over 300K miles on it and is running great.

 

1st head gasket failure 125K

2nd set CCR rebuilt motor 105K later. changed both sides.

Edited January 15, 201115 yr by North to Alaska