DevC Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Car is a 96 Legacy Outback, 2.5l, 4eat auto, 180,000 miles I have owned the car a couple months, since I bought it it has been making a howling noise under de-acceleration, mostly noticeable when the gear selector is in 3 (ei-harder decel) and a metalic clunk when I apply gas. It also makes a rattling clunk kinda noise in reverse when applying or releasing the gas. I went from stock outback struts to 03 impreza in the rear and in the front stock legacy with 1-1.5 coils cut. I say this because when I have a good load in the hatch, the howling gets louder, then goes back to the way it was before when empty. The cv's have no torn boots or visual damage/wear, but they do look like the oem style and could be the originals. Front and rear diffs have appropiate fluid levels as well as the tans and it shifts good, runs good . Car has also had torque bind as long as I owned it, it has worked a few random time tho. Noise is starting to bug me and its one of the last kinks to work out, any advice??????? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 hmmmm, does it "always" do this, or just sometimes? what does it do at really slow speeds? (parking lot) is it rear or front, central or side to side? lots of possibilities: i'm leaning towards a failing ujoint in the driveshaft, the torque bind would cause or infuriate that due to extra drivetrain stresses too. crawl under and yank it around really good and look for play/sounds. i've seen them fail before though where the joint is just seized and exhibits no issues until removed - but inspect closely visually too. need to fix that torque bind, it's not good and things can break. the internal hub can shear off. have you at least tried the FWD fuse just to alleviate it for now or some fluid changes, sometimes that fixes it. just leaving it go is a really bad idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevC Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 It consistantly does it in gear position 3 under decel, louder with more weight in the cargo area. I have tried to listen to it to pinpoint where its coming from, but I havent been able too. The fwd fuse has been in for a month now, I just leave it in there, a few times randomly it will work(light comes on/bind goes away) but then it will go out and bind again, I have a working C solenoid to go in, but I want to test the wiring before I put it in. My schedule makes it hard to take the car apart that far. I also have a 3.9 4eat sitting there I can steal parts from, but I want to avoid failure. I'm considering swapping 1 or more of my cv's with my other subaru just to see if it changes, but as far as checking them while installed, they seem ok:-\ Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 the 3.9 rear diff does not match your trans front diff, so don't put that in. get your wife or friend to drive the car and you climb in the back to see if you can isolate the noise to one side or the other. if it is a wheel bearing you should be able to hear which side it is coming from. if neither side is making the noise then it may be the drive shaft as mentioned. maybe as a first step to repair and diagnosis, remove the rear section of the drive shaft. (leave the front section in place or the fluid will pour out of the trans.) if the noise goes away you will know the problem. this will also relieve the binding until you can install the duty c. and pulling the drive shaft is may be easier than pulling a rear axle. it certainly will serve better in the long run. my 95 lego has been this way for 40k miles with no ills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 really need to narrow down if this is front or rear noise - that shouldn't be too hard to do. have someone sit in the rear compartment, that usually makes it obvious. hopefully someone mechanically inclined at least a little bit, not someone that will hate you for asking! or you sit back there while they drive, that's what i do. louder with more weight sounds really bizarre to me. you could disconnect the Duty C solenoid completely so it's permanently binding - and then remove the rear half of the driveshaft. this would prevent further damage or possible rear internal trans hub shearing off (which happens), and might eliminate the noise if it's rear ujoint related. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevC Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 I'll have to try these, I have done the d-shaft removal thing on my ss for a few hundred k's because of bind before the 5mt swap so im familiar with how to do it. No one has said Its likely internal trans bearings yet, so I'm happy about that. Thank you for the input guy's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevC Posted August 13, 2011 Author Share Posted August 13, 2011 Ok, I had kinda thought f it if it goes then I'll know what it is, so I've driven it a few thousand kms without it getting worse. But I want to make the 8hr drive to wcss so I'm back at diagnosing. I pulled the rear section of the d-shaft and the noise is gone, So I'm assuming its the center diff and possibly realated to the torque bind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted August 13, 2011 Share Posted August 13, 2011 it is probably the drive shaft. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevC Posted August 13, 2011 Author Share Posted August 13, 2011 it is probably the drive shaft. Yeah, It does feel notchy, I'm going to take it to get a second opinion on it cause I've never dealt no serviceable u-joints before. thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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