To the Subi guys on here

[Goofy]

So my little sister has a 1992 Subaru legacy Fwd 2.0 Auto and its making a noise from the transmission every time you give it gas and goes away when you let off we think its the Diff but not 100% sure I talked to my old transmission shop I used to use but they fell under new management and well its going to be $1500+ if they do it and that's more then what we paid for the car. So I am stuck in-between a rock and a hard place on this I can do some of the work it doesn't look to hard to do but I don't have 100% of the info I need to do the job so I was wondering if any one on here works on subies or know some one who dose or can give me some pointers on what needs to be done.

[Jim]

Hey Austin,

This was in the wanted/for sale/free forum and it seems you're looking for tech help on the issue... so I moved this to Tech Help Wanted.

If you're looking to sell it, I can move it back.

Jim

[Patrolman]

The best place to start would be to drain/change the front diff fluid. There should be a magnet on the drain plug. See if anything funny comes out. If not, then do a auto tranny fluid change. Same thing there, if anything funny comes out, there is an issue. The tranny takes ATF and the diff should use 90W. If neither one turns up any parts, then at least that is a good start.

In addition to the tranny, make sure that you check the CV axle shafts. They can make funny sounds that may sound like a transmission. If the boots are torn, it could easily be a problem. Even without torn boots, the CV shafts could still be an issue, but is harder to diagnose.

[Java]

did the shop way what was wrong with it? what are they proposing to do for $1500.00?

[jayson44]

what is the noise? grinding? whining? roaring? clunking? clicking?

(each one of those sounds correlates to a known subaru issue. :D)

J.

[Goofy]

Thanks Jim sorry I am just use to posting their lol, Patrolman I will give that a try this weekend, Paul they are claiming it is the front diff that's why its so expensive, Jayson44 it kind of sounds like a whining/roaring sound I haven't been in the car for a little wile so I am not 100% sure on the noise but it isn't clunking clicking or grinding it is only making a noise when you put your foot on the gas

[jayson44]

whining usually means it's the diff. roaring usually means a mechanic will tell you it's the diff, but it's really a wheel bearing. we had a mechanic tell me our subi had a bad rear end because of the roaring sound we had. I just had a different mechanic replace a wheel bearing in the rear and the car is quiet as the day it rolled off the line.

after I was told it was the rear end, I went home and changed the diff fluid. no shavings and the magnet was clean. changing the fluid in your front diff will tell the tale. if there's shavings, it's the diff. if not, I'd try jacking up the front and spinning the wheels to see if the noise is coming from a wheel bearing.

J.

[keith13]

whining usually means it's the diff. roaring usually means a mechanic will tell you it's the diff, but it's really a wheel bearing. we had a mechanic tell me our subi had a bad rear end because of the roaring sound we had. I just had a different mechanic replace a wheel bearing in the rear and the car is quiet as the day it rolled off the line.

after I was told it was the rear end, I went home and changed the diff fluid. no shavings and the magnet was clean. changing the fluid in your front diff will tell the tale. if there's shavings, it's the diff. if not, I'd try jacking up the front and spinning the wheels to see if the noise is coming from a wheel bearing.

J.

X2 my 2000 Subaru Forester sounded like the rear was howling, turned out to be a rear wheel bearing. I paid subarupair to fix it. Pretty sure I was around $300'ish???

[Goofy]

So the update on the Subi well its the front diff it the magnet was full of shaving's pretty much you couldn't tell that their was a magnet there and decent chunks in the bottom of the pan that I drained it in so its pretty much toast

[keith13]

So the update on the Subi well its the front diff it the magnet was full of shaving's pretty much you couldn't tell that their was a magnet there and decent chunks in the bottom of the pan that I drained it in so its pretty much toast

Does it look like something you could do yourself? if it does call subarupair in Boulder they might have a front diff??? Not sure if there are any other places to get used subi parts.

[Patrolman]

Did you pull the transmission pan or the diff plug? The automatic has 90w in the front diff and ATF in the transmission. Since you mention pan, it sounds like you pulled the transmission pan/plug. Since the front diff is incorporated into the transmission, it basically will get a replacement tranny either way. Being a 92, automatic, and FWD, in my opinion this is a candidate to part ways with.

[jayson44]

I'd have to agree with Jeff. not really worth the fixing price of a new trans. sorry. :(

J.

[Patrolman]

The good news is that it is likely going to be parts or go to the scrap yard, driving it won't make it worth any less. I would just drive it around until it croaks. Save $ for a new car in the meantime. Just don't go any further than it can be easily towed home. Maybe it lasts a few months.

[Goofy]

well I am going to try and find a used one or take it out and see how hard it will be to take apart that's why I like Subis there like jeeps they are pretty easy to work on when I was looking at it last night it looks like there's only 40 wires that plug into the engine from the fire wall but where it comes out of the fire wall all the hook ups are right there so with a little patients and labeling it doesn't look to bad

[Patrolman]

I swapped the transmission in my brother-in-laws 97 Subaru in March. Took me an entire week of evenings to do (2-4 hours per evening). I had a good tranny ready to go. His transmission pan was full of bearings and other parts when we took the pan off. It was a automatic AWD.

Some things to keep in mind:

A transmission jack REALLY helps a lot
The exhaust has to be dropped for the tranmission to come down. I took the entire exhaust out in 1 piece and set it alongside the garage for the week
While you have everything apart, you might as well replace the engine rear-main seal
To get the torque converter bolts out and back in correctly I had to lift the engine about an inch and remove the engine oil pan. Resealed it at the same time.
You have to remove both CV shafts. That means both wheels have to come off and both balljoints have to come loose.

It isn't as intimidating as it sounds, but just take your time and do it right!