Hi

 

I'm looking for a recommendation for a mechanic in the southern California, greater Los Angeles area.

I have a 94 Subaru Loyale  that is in pretty good shape (a little issue with the check engine light), except for the 4wd.  When placed into 4wd (manual transmission), the rear wheels lock up.

 

Yelp recommended Raffi Motors, but they didn't think they could help.  The dealership won't even touch it, says 'they don't the books' for it. '

 

I searched the forum but didn't find any relevant threads, if there is one already, please point me to it, otherwise, any suggestions?

 

Thanks

Please describe the problem ie; lock up when in a straight line while turning ect. The more descriptive the better. The guru's will chime in.

Ok, I'm going to have to go find a parking lot to test out the various combinations in.   Anything else I should test while I'm at it?

 

thanks.

Do Not, run 4WD on hard pavement!!

 

Loose stuff only! Dirt, mud, sand, snow.

Unfortunately, I'm back in the city now, but there is a small gravel parking lot not too far away.

Hard packed gravel "might" cause some binding between Front/Rear tires.

 

You have the "Push-Button" 4WD trans, there is no "center-diff" in them, straight gear-to-gear drive = "no slip" between output of front/rear drivelines, hence the binding/lockup.

 

Edit;

Okay, made 3 posts sofar on today's visit, and had to edit 2 of them cause keyboard is being an idiot.

Edited March 18, 201511 yr by TomRhere

That's disturbing and awful that the "dealer" won't touch it. .....That is bullsh#t!!.  Which dealer said they won't touch it?  They should be called out for that bs.  I'd bet you call a different Subaru dealer and they will fix your car.  Good luck with your problem anyways.  Cheers

That's disturbing and awful that the "dealer" won't touch it. .....That is bullsh#t!!.  Which dealer said they won't touch it?  They should be called out for that bs.  I'd bet you call a different Subaru dealer and they will fix your car.  Good luck with your problem anyways.  Cheers

Santa Monica Subaru.  Maybe I should call around to some of the dealerships in less affluent zip codes.  They said that since Subaru doesn't make OEM parts for it, they won't service it anymore.  I said that was discouraging, and I would take it in to consideration as we were looking at new cars and would bear that in mind.

 

I've had one suggestion that this car has a viscous LSD, and may just need an additive to loosen it up, does that sound plausible?

No. Check it out;

First and foremost do all your tires match? All same size? If they don't match you shouldn't use the 4wd anyway. 4wd needs matching tires.

 

Now, don't worry about the dry pavement thing just for testing purposes. Driving a couple feet in A STRAIGHT LINE on pavement isn't going to harm anything.

 

Get a nice open space and stop the car, put it in 4wd. Drive straight forward. Are your rear wheels locked up? If yes, that's a problem. If no, good. In either case, after you've satisfied your curiosity, put the car in reverse and slowly back up straight towards where you came from. While reversing, disengage the 4wd.

 

If that all went well, you should pretty much be fine. Go find some mud and drive through with your 4wd on.

 

Concerning the LSD, chances are slight that you have one. There is an easy way to check; peak under your the back of your car and look at the rear differential. It should have a metal tag attached to it. It'll say what the final drive ratio of the differential is, and if it's LSD it'll also say so.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Don't use the 4wd on pavement (except the short distance I said above just for testing purposes). Only use it in situations where your wheels will slip. On snow, ice, loose gravel, loose dirt, and mud.

Basically, don't use it unless you've gotten stuck and the front wheels are just spinning.

Edited March 19, 201511 yr by l75eya

Thanks everyone.

 

I actually don't seem to be able to replicate the problem (which I didn't actually observe).  

 

When it 'occurred', my boyfriend dropped me off and I went on a hike, while he went exploring an Indian shelter. When he got back, he only told that me that the 4x didn't work and the rear wheels locked up.  I didn't test it at the time, because we had another day of work that didn't need 4x and then we had a 3 hour drive back home and I didn't want to screw anything up before we got back home.  I just emailed him for a more complete description and this is what he said  " I was driving in 4x4 for ca. 30 min on the easy dirt road, and didn't notice anything. I noticed the rear wheel locking up first when I accelerated to get the car up an incline to the (cement) platform to park.  Only when turning the car around on the platform I felt the resistance from the rear wheels. I got it out of 4x4 (after some jiggling) which also released the rear wheels. Then while stopped on the platform back into 4x4, and the rear wheels locked again. Got out of 4x4 again, and that was it.  

 

picture of the car on the platform and the marks the tire left  http://www.smugmug.com/photos/i-8M2gq9w/0/L/i-8M2gq9w-L.jpg

 

 

My  testing: 

I marked the tires, and put it into 4 wheel drive (not a fan of the button), and drove forwards, checked the tire marks, and each tire had rotated equally.  Drove backwards in 4x and checked the marks again, again each tire had rotated equally.   I tested the on-the-fly shifting and it didn't cause any obvious problems (although I never like to do this, even when 'allowed').

 

This car is a trooper, it's been garaged/parked for most of 15 years  with a few oil and belt changes, then two years ago I pulled it out and drove it up to the trailhead for White Mountain peak at 11,000 feet, I thought it would die on me but it didn't.  Got it out of mothballs again now, and  it's got a little bit too much exhaust, and I had to replace all the tire stems, but it seems to be working well.

 

 

I'm thinking that it just didn't like turning on the cement platform.  (the location was a   sandy dirt road into a railroad siding where you can park to hike and access the Indian shelter).

Edited March 19, 201511 yr by Cali

That's exactly right. There too much traction on the cement paddock to use 4wd. Try to avoid ever doing things like that as it causes a tremendous amount of stress on the entire drive train. About as much stress as you could ever subject it to.

 

Also the shifting on the fly is fine to do. Just make sure you're on a suitable surface.

Also, 4wd shouldn't be used on that light gravel/sand either. Only use it when the front wheel drive isn't enough.

Just to add the 4wd binds up on tight turns even if you are on gravel or low friction surface. It is the nature of 4wd.

 

Your car is working just fine. Go have a beer!

If you need someone to work on your Loyale in the future, skip the dealerships. Most don't want to be bothered with cars this old and often they don't have the experience any way and they are overpriced. You could easily be told that in order to fix your car it will cost many multiples of its value.

 

Look for small independent shops that specialize in Subaru repair is your best bet. Oh and the stealer-ship is wrong. Subaru does have parts for these car still. Not everything, but many.  Just go to subaruparts.com and browse by year. Santa Monica Subaru are just a bunch of richie rich snobs. Bad mouth them at every opportunity as they deserve it by the sound of your story.