thatdirtykid Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 I am a new owner of an 85 GL. I posted in the intro forum, but am here for a little tech support. I have experience working on aircooled VW's, harleys and some early Mazda rotarys, but this is my first soob, and first 4wd. I have tried searching in the past about torque bind in older soobs, but have not found much. Most everything I find is legacy and later, pertains to auto transmissions or not the most relevant. My car is suffering from torque bind pretty bad. It is the manual high low 4wd with fwd. It drives fine in fwd obviously, and handles 4wd alright. In low speed maneuvering i get the trademark shudder, feeling like the brakes are on. I have changed all the fluids when I bought the car (only 100 miles ago). The front passenger inner CV boot is torn, I have a new boot on the way. The axle does seem like its almost on its way out with very occasional grinding, may just be low grease. All tires match and are holding air, no excessive wear on any of them. The rear axle seals are leaking. Do these manual GL's have the same solenoid (duty c) that the newer cars have that may be the problem? I was thinking since its a manual shift into FWD instead of a fuse there wouldn't be an electric solenoid. I am not sure its relevant, but on a trip last night the car under harder acceleration felt like the clutch may be slipping slightly. It was kind of a light pulsating sensation like I was pumping the throttle ever so slightly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatdirtykid Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 Also, aside from a little additional stress to the front axles, do driving the fwd optional soobs in FWD damage anything else? I bought the car wanting a 4wd, and plan to address the problems, but is driving in the meantime going to be costly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turbone Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 There should be no torque bind while in fwd. One of the ways to get it is if you are driving on the dry street in 4wd (dont do this). The other is mis-matched tires. Theres also no duty c solenoid on a MT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatdirtykid Posted June 9, 2011 Author Share Posted June 9, 2011 There is no bind in fwd. So just keep it in fwd unless we are driving in the snow or off road? I can do that, much easier solution than replacing clutch components and what not. Thanks for the quick reply. (it seems that every new forum I join I open with a dumb question :-\ ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subruise Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 as turbone says: 4wd is not awd, you have no center diff so if you are on dry pavement or have mismatched tires you run the risk of trashing your trans. i dont use 4wd unless i get stuck, then i get unstuck. get stuck in 4wd=stuck. welcome btw, RV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ricearu Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 alot of people ask the same question because there is NO center diff. just a hard mechanical connection. when I got my GL i went through the same thing. i had a tire that was odd size. a full set of new tires and I was good to go. also if it is binding in dry in a STRAIGHT line, fix the problem because it will make it unpredictable and dangerous in the snow/ice if you need to use 4wd only early soob I have ever owned to have "ghost walk" on ice was my GL with mismatched tire in 4wd in snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 This is an old school soob. key word is 'part-time 4wd' do: engage the 4wd with wheels straight only. drive in snow, gravel roads, off road. wet roads at highway speeds. you can use 4wd at any speed, and shift on the fly. let off the gas to shift to 4wd hi, clutch to shift into low. 5th gear low is just shorter than 3rd gear high, so dont engage it at high speeds you do not have to stop to engage 4wd don't: drive on dry pavement engage 4wd withthe wheels turned engage 4wd when the wheels are spinning out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 seems covered but to be clear it sounds like your car is running and operating perfectly, with no trans issues or torque bind. you have a FWD with 4WD when needed. i think that's covered well enough in the other replies. now go enjoy a cold one, probably won't have too many questions where the reply is "your car is working perfectly!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatdirtykid Posted June 10, 2011 Author Share Posted June 10, 2011 probably won't have too many questions where the reply is "your car is working perfectly!" No kidding. There is still plenty of stuff to be addressed, but that was the only issue I was unfamiliar with. This place looks like it will be a good place. Best part is, the car cost me 600$, It took 200$ to get a exhaust installed from the catalytic converter back. 75$ to flush and change all fluids, and I am still left with 500$ that I got from selling the old RX-7. So once I can prove the car is reliable to the wife, a small lift and some bigger tires are in store (and some summer fun). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Start doing timing belts.Rite of passage with these cars. Easy to do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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