Hi all, I have a 1999 2.0 awd Impreza sport wagon, my mechanical knowledge is pretty much zero, I have had various mechanics look at it and during that process have had new front discs and pads, and front drive shafts, but the car is the same.

This is the best way I can explain my problem:

I drive the car first thing in the morning and it drives absolutely fine until approx.10 -15 miles, I can then hear a clunking sound and slight vibration from steering wheel and gearstick, which gets louder and progressivly worse the longer I drive, regardless of what speed I am driving it is the same constant clunk, however if I turn left or right at very, very low speeds (parking in a car par for instance) the clunking gets much quicker (again only when the car has warmed up), it gets to the stage where it sounds like something is going to break therefore cannot be driven, i have now been told by a mechanic I need a gearbox, but do not want to get one unless I know thats what the problem is, as funds are extremely low.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I have looked on alot of forums and found symtoms that are sort of similar but cannot find anything the same.

have you driven this vehicle before without issues or did you buy it this way and it's always done this or almost always done this?

 

drain the front differential oil and look for metal/bits.  it's easier than an oil change and only takes like 7 minutes, so it's easy and cheap. 

if the noise is that bad and caused by the front differential - there will be metal bits and metallic swirling of the oil.

 

1. it's either mismatched final driver ratios in the front and rear differentials

 

or

 

2.  the front differential is failing.

 

Answering my first question will help distinguish which one it is.

Oh - and do all your tire match?  They need to be the same SIZE and TREAD DEPTH.

Check those and let us know.

Hi thanks alot for getting back to me, I have had the car for about 6 years and never had a problem with it, and it only started about 2-3 months ago

and yes all the tyres are the same and all have the same amount of tread and are getting to their limits

torque bind in manual transmissions seems to be temperature dependent so - it seems the viscous unit in the center diff may be bad.

 

the unit can be repaired, but often folks will get an entire gearbox from a wreck - often with lower miles - and swap it in.

 

any replacement gearbox MUST have the same final drive ratio as your present trans. (or, rear diff must match the new trans.)

Shouldn't he put a fuse in the FWD holder and see if the issue persists?

oh, isn't it a manual?

 

if auto, definitely try the FWD fuse position.

 

 

 

 

 

(not accustomed to the term gearbox for auto trans I guess - but, OP is in Spain so.....I should have asked)

Edited October 13, 201510 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

They didn't put the FWD fuse option on manuals? 

They didn't put the FWD fuse option on manuals?

the typical 5 spds are strictly mechanical. THe STI has some odd DCCD, or, some models did - still, don't think there was a FWD option on that one either.

 

The 4EAT has an electrically controlled set of hydraulic clutches so, the fuse tells the TCU to keep the wet clutch pack disabled - no power to the rear wheels.

Hi all, after saying i could not find anything re: my problem found this, today on these forums http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/topic/85162-ok-if-the-viscous-coupler-is-a-sealed-unit-why-does-it-take-15-minutes/

"my 5 spd manual 96 legacy started torque binding a few thousand miles
ago......it did exactly what you are descirbing.....mine only did it
after the car was warmed up and i guess the VC just stopped shearing the
fluid and BAM torque bind.....i ended up replacing my trans with a good
used unit because of other problems...but after i got my car back on
the road i pulled the VC out of the old trans and it is much easier than
you would think to get it out......i put a thread out there a while
ago about my TB problem and i think WAwalker did i nice spread going
step by step how to replace it.....you can even do it with the trans in
the car........oh, mine is a one piece unit.....just pull it out and
plop a new or used good one back in....... but yes as sea#3 said check
your air psi. first.."

So my question is can I just replace the viscous coupling rather than whole gearbox/transmission (I;m English), and have to explain to Spanish mechanic what needs to be done