July 30, 200520 yr I am very familiar with wheel bearing noise. Turn the wheel right and if the left wheel bearing is bad, it will make noise. Well, this car makes noise turning right or left...and starting to make bearing noise going straight ahead. Tires new. Left front wheel bearing new. I am pretty certain it is the front differential, but would really like some ideas on how to double check my theory. Thanks.
July 31, 200520 yr clank clank clank is usually the ring gear being chipped in the diffs. or some chatter and what not in the middle would be your diff. jack up the car off the tires and put it in gear and go underneath and listen to the diff.. also, a lot of times, you can feel the diff, if it is going to crap in there. I would check your fluid first thing. see what it looks like/feels like. i've had lots of smashing pumpkins with trucks .
July 31, 200520 yr also, while it's jacked up, see if you can wobble the tire up and down like this: | \ | /
July 31, 200520 yr No experience with Legacies yet, but in a late 80's GL tired diff bearings can let the ring-and-pinion create a whine that sounds like gear whine (duh!), just a little forward of where you would normally hear tranny gear whine. Legacies might have better sound insulation than my GL/GL-10s, so you may not be able to localize the noise as well. My experience with wheel bearings is that it didn't matter much if you were turning, they always made noise... just a little more under turning load. Could also be CV and/or loose axle-nut (splines rubbing in hub) issues.
August 1, 200520 yr Author It is definately a bearing noise. Sounds just like a wheel bearing going out, but not the right symptoms to be in the wheels. Will test drive again, I think I am beginning to hear some chattering, but not sure. need to recheck. Would not exactly call it a whine. I'm not sure what the difference is between a bearing noise and a whine...but not quite the same.
December 16, 200520 yr I just went through this with a 1988 GL 4wd wagon -- differential was noisy and rear wheel bearings sounded bad too. This with a local mechanic (third one I"ve gone to, first one who knows what he's doing). He was right. One of the bearings was so stuck, they sent it out to a shop with a hydraulic jack to get it loose. Looking at the old bearings on the shop bench, that one was just rusty orange all over -- it'd been rusting out for a long while, probably had new grease put onto it in that condition several times by the previous owner. He got rid of the Subaru because he thought it was too noisy ... No idea how long it's been bad, bought it used and have been slowly finding out that it involves eventually replacing all the parts.
December 17, 200520 yr It is definately a bearing noise. Sounds just like a wheel bearing going out, but not the right symptoms to be in the wheels. Will test drive again, I think I am beginning to hear some chattering, but not sure. need to recheck. Would not exactly call it a whine. I'm not sure what the difference is between a bearing noise and a whine...but not quite the same. Is the noise similar to this?: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showpost.php?p=388153&postcount=5
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