Hello everyone...

I was wondering if anyone might be able to help with diagnosing a problem I am having with my 2001 forester...

About 2 months ago I started getting a funny humming noise (sound like those lights you put on your bike that come on when the wheel is moving or one of those wind up flashlights).

So a friend of mine drove it and thought it was a wheel bearing, he was going to replace the wheel bearing for me today but says that the noise is coming from the gear box. He is not familiar with Subarus at all so I was hoping everyones expertise here might help. Here are the details that I know (which is not much cause I don't know anything about cars really)

2001 forester L 250,000kms

the noise is constant when the your are on the pedal and stays about the same noise level increasing slightly with speed. As soon as you let of the gas the noise is gone, sometimes when taking a corner your can hear a clicking.

If you put the car in neutral and rev it there is no noise at all. Oh it is an automatic too...

 

My friend is thinking maybe the gear box needs to be replaced or maybe an output bearing....Any ideas?

Edited January 13, 200917 yr by 1995SubaruImpreza

hmmm, definitely dig into this a bit more. i replaced what i thought was a wheel bearing last summer in my legacy and it wasn't a wheel bearing. so all that time wasted.

 

hopefully this isn't a trans (gear box) issue, doesn't sound like it to me).

 

have you ever had an axle replaced?

 

clicking while turning and noises changes with speed while driving sound like possible axle issues to me. start with the fronts, those are much more problematic than rears.

 

if you end up getting a new axle, go with MWE or Subaru only. that's not preference on my parts, aftermarket axles are a gamble and of significantly inferior quality.

 

if you ever had an axle replaced, i gaurantee it wasn't with a Subaru axle and that's why it's failing again.

I have only had this car for 2 years, it had 192,000kms on it when I bought it and I am not sure of the repair history. Anyway to tell if it is the axle its self? I had the axle go in my impreza and it make that clicking cracking noise when going around a corner but not the other noise...

In a typical RWD vehicle, that would descibe a pinion bearing on the way out. Would it be possible to pull the rear d/s and see if it still makes noise, or would all the fluid pump out of the transfercase?

I would say pinion gear or transmission input gear. If its the pinion it will get louder with road speed, if its the input shaft bearing it will change pitch with engine RPM.

 

 

nipper