kennyz Posted March 28, 2006 Share Posted March 28, 2006 I'm not sure what's going on but it's not good. car is 5sp man f/t awd, has 95k hwy miles on it. When turning hard left, right in foward or reverse in clacks, hard, and the car shutters, almost a pause, when it happens. tires are ok and pressure is good. Jacked up front to check for bad cv, all boots fine and it's quiet when wheels are rotated, jacked up back at same time, it hear a slight gear noise in rear end but that's all. Also looked at rear drive shaft (u-joints) first one off tranny has just a touch of play but that's it. HELP!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyz Posted March 28, 2006 Author Share Posted March 28, 2006 Just one other thing...as stated this is a m/t and is full time awd. It just hit me....at first I only had the front end in the air, rear tires were on the ground, but I could turn the front wheels. Is this normal, I don't have a manual and I don't know how power is delivered to the rear driveshaft, ( ie, planetary gear set w/ one way bearings), or did something really let go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyz Posted March 29, 2006 Author Share Posted March 29, 2006 More info on problem.... Had wife drive car in a slow tight circle in our driveway. Car jerks and makes a clacky oomphing sound. Lifted the hood and had her continue in circle. Sound appears to be coming from tranny. What do you think about this being a VC issue, even though it's a 5SP, F/T Manual Tranny? One interesting thing to note. A week or so ago, after driving approx. 50 miles, I noticed the rear passenger tire was extremely low.... had only about 10 lbs of air.... turned out I picked up a nail. Had my snows taken off and my all seasons put on. Can a tire issue cause VC problems??? Can this still be a UV or CV joint problem??? Any suggestions for diagnosing before I dump a ton of money at dealer?? Thanks in advanance!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gyuunuuya Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Please read my new post titled torque bind to see if that helps you at all. Also I will include this link as well . http://legacycentral.org/library/torquebind.htm hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitz Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 Slow down ...you're tripping over your thoughts. When did the problem begin? **** ******! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly_jacek Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 A week or so ago, after driving approx. 50 miles, I noticed the rear passenger tire was extremely low.... had only about 10 lbs of air.... Looks like it killed your VC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratty2Austin Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 yep.. fried it I bet..Ive heard storys exactly like this from some subaru mechanics.. running with mis-matched tires, or in your case a low tire.. (aka, one tire has a different circumference) would do something along the lines of "welding" the vc up.. in a way... better than breaking it, and causing a no-wheel-drive situation though! sounds like its time to upgrade the tranny now! (dual range? ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 29, 2006 Share Posted March 29, 2006 you killed your VC and the clicking sounds like your center diff is very very unhappy. The way the VC works (simplified) there are alternating plates inside the VC with holes in them (front-rear-front-rear). They are in a visous fluid that gets thicker as it gets hotter. The plates spinning at differnt speeds cause the holes to shear the fluid, which in turn causes heat, then a you have a mechanical connection. Since this never really occurs at the extreem for more then a few minutes, all is happy. By running on a flat it was at the extreem for more then a few minutes, and it over heated. Now its fused together. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyz Posted March 30, 2006 Author Share Posted March 30, 2006 you killed your VC and the clicking sounds like your center diff is very very unhappy. The way the VC works (simplified) there are alternating plates inside the VC with holes in them (front-rear-front-rear). They are in a visous fluid that gets thicker as it gets hotter. The plates spinning at differnt speeds cause the holes to shear the fluid, which in turn causes heat, then a you have a mechanical connection. Since this never really occurs at the extreem for more then a few minutes, all is happy. By running on a flat it was at the extreem for more then a few minutes, and it over heated. Now its fused together. nipper Well now I'm really confused....my dealer said there is no vc in the 5mt tranny...that is strickly a mechanicl diff between front and rear in the car!!!????!!!!????!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferret Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Here's a nice writeup right out of the Subaru Shop Manual for the 5sp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 Well now I'm really confused....my dealer said there is no vc in the 5mt tranny...that is strickly a mechanicl diff between front and rear in the car!!!????!!!!????!!!! well now you know who IS NOT going to fix your car. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyz Posted April 1, 2006 Author Share Posted April 1, 2006 Well.........I thank all of you for finally putting this to rest for me. I guess I'll have to buck up and just git r done! At least now I finally know what exactly what's going on. Just another note. I just changed both front cv shafts and ball joints. I started right away the other day when I got home...the car was still hot, and when I jacked up the drivers side i couldn't budge that wheel, but the passeger side I could turn free. ( jacked each side seperate, car out of gear). Today, the driver's side was free too(must be the vc cooled down), took it for a test after finishing axels, still went bang, bang,bang, got back and jacked up drivers front and it was locked again,(car out of gear also), so the vc locked up again. I'm surpised SOA hasn't gotten their butts hauled into court over this. How may people have killed a tranny just like me by just having a low tire and didn't know it.....piss poor design in my book...And yes I may think twice about another suby unless things change, too bad because on the whole there great rides.....but this flat out bites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 Well How may people have killed a tranny just like me by just having a low tire and didn't know it.....piss poor design in my book...And yes I may think twice about another suby unless things change, too bad because on the whole there great rides.....but this flat out bites!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i hate to be harsh but ......You know this pisses me off.. to quote you " A week or so ago, after driving approx. 50 miles, I noticed the rear passenger tire was extremely low.... had only about 10 lbs of air.... " . you drove the car for 50 miles on a flat tire, so its subarus fault the tranny went bad. Of course its going to burn out, hell you can burn out a differnential that way, just be thankful you didnt get killed by driving on a flat tire for 50 miles. Sorry no way to blame the car for this, this is all your own fault. You should have been able to tell by the odd handling the car had a flat tire, or by the tire noise. You had a flat and did not feel any differnce in the car, i find that hard to beleive. Be thankful you didnt get killed, improve your driving skills so you know what its like to drive on a flat tire, and fix the car. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyz Posted April 1, 2006 Author Share Posted April 1, 2006 No offense taken Nipper, I guess I should calrify. First off I was on open straight flat highway, second That "leg" of my journey was about 50 mile..actually about 42 to be exact. I drive for a living and know my car very well, my average day is usually well over 100 miles. I don't have an issue with the car. I guess I'm more ticked that In all my years of owning subaru cars( and I've been through plenty of them) and all my trips to the dealer and other mechanics that nobody has ever said a thing about something like this happening. Furthermore...there is NOTHING in the owners manual that states" low tire pressure "will destroy the inside of your transmission. The manual dose state to use the same size and brand of tire, comon knowledge on an all wheel drive car or truck. I always put on tires in new set's of four only. I'm just frustrated at this whole situation...I think you would be too. Ken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nipper Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 No offense taken Nipper, I guess I should calrify. First off I was on open straight flat highway, second That "leg" of my journey was about 50 mile..actually about 42 to be exact. I drive for a living and know my car very well, my average day is usually well over 100 miles. I don't have an issue with the car. I guess I'm more ticked that In all my years of owning subaru cars( and I've been through plenty of them) and all my trips to the dealer and other mechanics that nobody has ever said a thing about something like this happening. Furthermore...there is NOTHING in the owners manual that states" low tire pressure "will destroy the inside of your transmission. The manual dose state to use the same size and brand of tire, comon knowledge on an all wheel drive car or truck. I always put on tires in new set's of four only. I'm just frustrated at this whole situation...I think you would be too. Ken. Low tire pressure is the same as having unequally worn or differnt sized tires on the car. i know its common knowledge that it is dangerous to the car and life to drive with an underinflated/low tire. Since you drive for a living (like my father did) it was beaten into us that low tire pressure is dangerous to both life and vehical. In my 97OBW it states in the owners manual under tires and wheels it does have a warining about mismatched tires that"may result in severe mechanical damage to the dirvetrain ....." along with the other warnings about driving with an underinflated tire. I've been warned every time i bought tires from tire shops that car (ive owned many subarus) need matching tires. Trust me ive done dumb things too, but this is one thing ive never done, as i know the cost of this mistake. nipper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
friendly_jacek Posted April 1, 2006 Share Posted April 1, 2006 Furthermore...there is NOTHING in the owners manual that states" low tire pressure "will destroy the inside of your transmission. [...] I'm just frustrated at this whole situation...I think you would be too. Ken. Well, the owners of Ford's SUVs with Firestone tires didn't have anything in the owner's manual about low tire pressure killing them. S*** happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MDW25gt Posted April 2, 2006 Share Posted April 2, 2006 I think its a stretch to drive on a tire with 10psi and not realise it?? For 50 miles? If 10 psi was the case, seems someone was out of touch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.