dabshr Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 My brothers car locked up while they were on the highway. When he pulled over, he saw that the car's rear axle was in flames, which he put out and the car was towed to his mechanic. I got a call from him today saying that the reason the rear differential caught fire was that one of my rear tires was the WRONG SIZE. And it caused the sensors to send power to the rear differential when it wasn't needed. And it blew up. It's going to be about 800.00 to fix, using a used rear differential. he had had that tire replaced on April 21st at a Walmart (I know, I know---don't give him any grief, please) and they put the wrong size tire on his car. He doesn't drive much, and He hadn't done any highway driving until He took it out on Saturday. Somebody could have been seriously hurt or even killed and He's mad as hell. What do you think it was? Could tire size be that critical, I know with a locking rear diff, but that rear end does not have a locker, right? I have never messed with this system, I am used to dana 60's and stuff! Any Input will help, And if you got a rear end for a 96 outback! Dabshr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattgold Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 Could tire size be that critical, I know with a locking rear diff, but that rear end does not have a locker, right? I have never messed with this system, I am used to dana 60's and stuff!Dabshr Yes, tire size is critical. Do a search here and you will see many references to subaru recommending (nay, requiring!) tires on awds to be within 5%(IIRC) (diameter) of each other, or the diffs will fry. I was under the impression it was usually the centre diff with the VC (viscous coupling) that went first, so that may require replacing as well??? (pray not, that is a very expensive bit of kit to replace). This is the sort of thing that any tire shop should know, so send Walmart the bill (via a friendly lawyer if you know one, that usually helps ) No seriously, let them know what happened and that you suspect the fault was theirs, and then when you get the final bill ask for a written opinion from the mechanic (or even just ask your local subaru agent to put something on paper) if they suspect that was reason. Then ask Walmart to contribute (whatever you think is reasonable). Whew, sorry for the rant. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1 Lucky Texan Posted May 10, 2006 Share Posted May 10, 2006 I'd make certain the CENTER diff gets a thourough inspection as well. Carl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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