So i've had my soob for over 2 years now and the other day I threw it in reverse (auto) and pulling out of a parking spot cranked the wheel to the right. Every 2 or 3 feet it felt like i ran over a rock. The first one I thought nothing of it, the second I thought what are the odds? After the 3rd I slowed down and crawled up on the 4th just to be sure it was doing what I thought.

 

I've owned a jeep and a toy 4x4 that both did this in 4 wheel drive. The toy need the hubs locked, but this felt exactly the same as they did on the dry pavement in reverse turning. The innter wheel would "bind" and then jump once the pressure exceded the force of the rubber on the pavement.

 

Is this a normal thing or should I be under it looking for trouble? I know the boots are ok, I pressure washed the engine a week or 2 back and looked pretty close at everything under the hood. Thanks in advance.

Do a search on this board for "torque bind" or "$800.00".

 

You are experiencing an all to common Subaru problem.

Hi,

 

As has been mentioned, you most likely have the torque bind problem caused by wear in the clutch pack or scoring of the housing.

 

However, make sure your four tires are matched with equal diameters as that can also be a problem.

 

I have heard that flushing the tranny oil (not change, power flush) followed by a series of figure eights in forward and reverse sometimes helps. Follow that up with another power flush.

 

Otherwise, unfortunately, $800-900.

 

Regards,

Adnan

Put a fuse in the FWD (Front Wheel Drive) fuse holder under the hood on the passenger side next to the firewall. It disables the AWD servo. If the problem disappears, it could be torque binding. If it's still there look for CV joints or other suspension problems.

Put a fuse in the FWD (Front Wheel Drive) fuse holder under the hood on the passenger side next to the firewall. It disables the AWD servo. If the problem disappears, it could be torque binding. If it's still there look for CV joints or other suspension problems.

Any drawback(s) to driving like this for extended periods of time?

say... summer time rwd, then the other 3 seasons awd???

 

 

Thanks for the replys... the car sat for about a month and it was right after that i started feeling what i figured was an out of round tire. The binding I only noticed recently. I need to get her in and have the tires rotated and balanced... since she has about 110k on her now I plan on doing a trans flush (probably once with normal fluid, then a second time with syn) and a cooling system flush too. Too little time.... :|