Hi everyone,

I just bought my second subaru, a 2011 impreza premium 5 speed with 92k

I've driven it a grand total of 120 miles and bad torque bind has appeared making low speed tight turns.

I thought the problem must be the viscous coupler, but the dealer service facility is diagnosing a failed rear differential.

He claims that there is a limited slip unit.

Everything I can find online says my car has an open rear diff.

Its covered under warranty, so if they're replacing the wrong component, I'm just going to bring it back...

Could this fix temporarily hide a failing VC? I don't see how, but somebody here may know better.

 

Any help would be most appreciated.

that would be a rare failure but, as you say, you could just take it back for the trans repair.

 

I do wonder though - is there a chance the previous owner or the dealer put an incorrect final drive part on the car? Tires must also all match size/brand/model. (seems unlikely a Subaru dealer would overlook the obvious though, but, you just said 'dealer'......)

 

note also - u-joints and perhaps the carrier bearing can also exhibit problems similar to TB.

Edited January 3, 20179 yr by 1 Lucky Texan

Yes, I bought it from Subaru of Stamford.

 

It has 4 brand-new tires and the first thing I did was check the pressure.

Who knows what the previous owner may have had on for tires.

 

Are you saying the rear diff would be a rare failure?

That was my conclusion from reading up on several forums.

I found a report of someone going through the same routine with their mechanic mis-diagnosing a VC failure as rear diff.

 

Don't get Bullied!

Finally convinced the service manager to go talk to the tech.

Guess what? Its the center differential not the rear!

I feel vindicated!

Hopefully I'll be enjoying my car again by tomorrow evening!

Let this be a lesson in not being pushed around by know-it-all service managers who dismiss your mechanical knowledge!

Glad it worked out. Service managers sometimes aren't mechanically inclined at all. They're intended to communicate and/or sell. And then there's the simple 3rd party communication middle man inefficiency as well.