jim22 Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 I'm chasing a noise that I get on an accelerating or climbing left turn. It's a heavy "clunk, clunk, clunk" that gets faster with car speed. It goes away when the wheel is straightened out, and does not happen on a right turn. The left half-axle is an aftermarket part. The right one is a subaru part, possibly a rebuild. I guess I should add that there may be transmission issues. Recently, the shift lever on this manual transmission car stopped returning to center, just flopped over to the 1st gear side. This led to an internal transmission repair. After the repair, the transmission shifted very poorly. I changed the fluid and found it very dark and contaminated with metal particles. After several changes, it's still kind of dark and still has suspended metal visible, but the transmission is shifting ok. So the question is, if this is a half-axle problem, which one? I'm getting ready to swap out the after-market part on the left side. I'm also getting a shuddering, almost like warped brake rotors, on slowing down for a stop. I'm going to change out the front rotors and pads, but I'm not sure it really is the brakes. This car is a '97 legacy L wagon with 155K miles on it. If we can sort the minor issues, we may put a used transmission in it. suggestions? Thanks! -- Jim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3Pin Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 JIm, It sounds like you might have a couple of demons to chase. You can start with swapping out the left axle, but can you tell us all a little more about the transmission repair. Without that. I can't really say much more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim22 Posted April 18, 2012 Author Share Posted April 18, 2012 I don't know exactly what was done to the transmission, but I presume something related to the shift rods or forks was broken. The local used subaru specialist pulled the transmission and sent it to a local new subaru dealer for repair. I also presume the transmission was split to make the repair. When we got it back, we had trouble shifting into gear from a dead stop and also between gears. I changed the gear oil and found the oil very dark and loaded with metal particles. After a couple changes, there is still a lot of metal, but the transmission is shifting fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted April 18, 2012 Share Posted April 18, 2012 (edited) Since there has been transmission work and axle work (dunno which was done more recently but might not matter for this suggestion) one thing to confirm is that the stub axles are fully seated. Plus, make certain the axle nut(s) are not loose. As well as the lugnuts. many people complain of problems with the typical rebuit axles from retail auto parts stores so - would not be surprising that one is failing and a clicking noise when turning is a classic symptom of that. Almost any of the above problems might cause some wheel shimmy on deceleration. If you downshift and engine brake, is there any shimmy or vibration? How about reversing and braking? If the car still stops reliably, I'd work on this clunking first. Then the brakes if they're still exhibiting a problem. Edited April 18, 2012 by 1 Lucky Texan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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