October 30, 201114 yr I have a 02 legacy outback, 5spd. I have noticed that after reaching around 30mph if I you coast or the transmission is not under load, there is a clicking noise that sounds like it is coming from the right front wheel area. when applying power through the transmission it is either not as loud or does not exist. it sounds almost like a ticking lifter type sound but it is vehicle speed related not engine rpm related. Applying brakes does not seem to affect the noise. My first thought is wheel bearing. Anyone experienced this and fixed it? Not sure if this is related or not, when I checked the transmission gear oil level it was slightly below the add mark on the dipstick. I brought the level back to where it should be, noise persists. It is possible this has been going on for a while, this is the car my wife drove regularly up until we noticed the noise when I was driving with the radio off. She drives with the radio up most of the time so wouldn't have noticed, so I'm not sure how long it has been going on.
October 30, 201114 yr I have a 02 legacy outback, 5spd. I have noticed that after reaching around 30mph if I you coast or the transmission is not under load, there is a clicking noise that sounds like it is coming from the right front wheel area. when applying power through the transmission it is either not as loud or does not exist. it sounds almost like a ticking lifter type sound but it is vehicle speed related not engine rpm related. Applying brakes does not seem to affect the noise. My first thought is wheel bearing. Anyone experienced this and fixed it? Not sure if this is related or not, when I checked the transmission gear oil level it was slightly below the add mark on the dipstick. I brought the level back to where it should be, noise persists. It is possible this has been going on for a while, this is the car my wife drove regularly up until we noticed the noise when I was driving with the radio off. She drives with the radio up most of the time so wouldn't have noticed, so I'm not sure how long it has been going on. Have you examined all the boots on all your drive axles?
October 31, 201114 yr Author I inspected all of the axle boots, they all seem to be in pretty decent condition. The front passenger one seems a bit dry rotted looking but it is not cracked or split. It appears as if some of the grease may have seeped out at each end where the clamp goes around the boot on each side on the inner boot. The accordian shaped part of the boots have no grease stains at all and no splits. The only grease seepage seems to be at the ends of the boot where they clamp. Of course this is the side right above the catalytic converter so it's the first to get baked and dried out. Is it possible the grease all got out and the joint is bad and clicking? I am familiar with how when a joint splits and all of the grease gets slung out on the cars of aquaintances and they start out clicking in turns and it progressively gets worse. In my observation the clicking of a worn out joint is loud when applying power, the opposite of what mine is doing. On my car it is making this sound driving straight down the road while coasting (no foot on throttle, in neutral, or with clutch depressed). No low speed clicking heard making turns etc. I have always caught split boots on my subarus earliy so have not experienced unusual axle sounds before from a subaru, not that I assume it is the axle at this point. This car has the factory alloys, no plastic hubcaps to click or squeak. I am noticing a bit of grease seepage where the trans output shafts come out on each side of the trans, the splined shaft that the collar for the axle halves slip over and pin through, not the rear driveshaft output. The passenger side seems to be a bit worse Trans output shaft bearing? Wheel bearing? ????????????
October 31, 201114 yr lift the car and check for a loose wheel bearing maybe? its the rears that usually go, but who knows
November 1, 201114 yr What is the best way to check for bad wheel bearings? Jack up the side you want to check. Grab the tire at 12 and 6 o'clock. Check for in and out movement.
November 1, 201114 yr What is the best way to check for bad wheel bearings?if it's in the rear have someone ride in the trunk/rear comparment of the wagon. it'll be obvious from back there. if it's on the front i use a temp gun. bad wheel bearings will generate more heat and that side will be notably hotter. given how much heat is being dissipated you have to take like 20 readings to get a feel for what's going on, but compare sides and one will be 20-50 degrees warmer overall. others have had sucess with a stethoscope or other similar mechanism on the strut coils as you rotate the wheel - listen to for grinding/noise. i've seen quite a few subaru wheel bearings that had no play in them at all but were bad once removed and replaced. i only work on subaru's and i've seen it so often i don't even see any validity at all in the "move wheel" check...i mean it can verify a percentage...maybe about half...of the wheel bearing failures i've seen, but doesn't come close to ruling it out. is it more successful in older vehicles?
November 1, 201114 yr ....i've seen quite a few subaru wheel bearings that had no play in them at all but were bad once removed and replaced. i only work on subaru's and i've seen it so often i don't even see any validity at all in the "move wheel" check... My experience also, especially recently. Howling (rear) bearing, no play, no change in sound while turning, could not to diagnose until stripped down to hub alone. However, "clicking" is the classic symptom of CV joint damage. Outer end of front axle gets the most flexion.
November 2, 201114 yr Author No movement in wheel to indicate an obviously bad bearing. When I had it up in the air I noted that the inside of the right front tire tread is wearing severely. I don't know if this is related or not. Is there a way to test the cv joints without removing and replacing the axle? Prefferably a test that can be done without dis-assembly?
November 3, 201114 yr No movement in wheel to indicate an obviously bad bearing. When I had it up in the air I noted that the inside of the right front tire tread is wearing severely. I don't know if this is related or not. Is there a way to test the cv joints without removing and replacing the axle? Prefferably a test that can be done without dis-assembly? You can try to shake the axle with your hand to see if there is any difference in play compared to the other axle, but it may not be detectable. Sounds like you need an alignment anyhow, so the easiest way is to undo the (1) axle bolt and (2) 19mm strut mount bolts and tip the hub out to get the axle end free. You might feel some damage then. BTW the top strut bolt is eccentric and has markings on it to adjust camber. Mark your current setting. Also, since you have a bad tire, and subes are highly sensitive to uneven tire wear, you should get 4 new tires. Tires MUST be kept within .25 inch circumference to avoid unevenly loading the AWD. Maybe get an alignment first to be sure they can actually pull it back into line. It may be twisted, in which case there are bigger issues beyond what I can advise.
November 3, 201114 yr Also, since you have a bad tire, and subes are highly sensitive to uneven tire wear, you should get 4 new tires. Tires MUST be kept within .25 inch circumference to avoid unevenly loading the AWD. Maybe get an alignment first to be sure they can actually pull it back into line. It may be twisted, in which case there are bigger issues beyond what I can advise. Just so sooby's arent totallypicked on, it is any true AWD vehical that has to have matching tires.
November 7, 201114 yr Author Well, I replaced the right front axle, that wasn't it. The noise is still there.
November 8, 201114 yr Author Ok, I put it on jackstands and listened to the noise from underneath. It sounds like the noise is coming from the center differential.
November 28, 201114 yr Working on getting the Trans out. Wait a minute--do you need to remove the tranny to get to the center diff? Anybody know for sure?
November 28, 201114 yr Up to the person doing it. http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f89/center-diffs-how-replace-them-46979/
January 2, 201214 yr Author It has been slow going but I got the trans out and the center diff removed. I cracked the Main trans case open to check it out and make sure everything looked good there, and it looked fine. Next I opened up the center diff and found what I believe to be the problem. Pieces of a bearing cage, what looks like a retaining ring of some sort (well pieces of it anyway) and a few pieces of gear teeth. Upon inspection of the gears i found a couple of places where a small chunk of teeth were chipped off the main gears of the differential. To answer the question on whether or not the diff could have been removed with the trans still in, I wasn't going to try it since it is the first Subaru trans I have removed, plus I wanted to go ahead and inspect the inside of the case for debris and visible damage. Does anyone have a good center diff or whole 5spd with diff to fit a 2002 Outback in or near Virginia for sale? Edited January 2, 201214 yr by Ionlyhave3suubs add pictures
January 11, 201214 yr Author Well It looks like I need nearly $400 worth of parts, for 2 gears and 1 bearing. That's garage price. No luck finding a used transmission for a reasonable price, so far. Anyone out there have a decent used one up for sale?
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