Technical question

If you have all four wheels off the ground and put the car in drive, how many of the wheels should spin with the car at an idle? I am not sure how the AWD in the SVX functions. I have mine up doing the brakes etc.. and when I let it run only the passenger side front actually turns. I have all four tires off. If I manually hold the one rotor then then other front starts spinning. I have to rev the engine significantly to get one of the rears to spin. The ABS light is also on on the dash. This may be all fine but I wanted to check before I let it back down. Thanks for any info. I have never worked on an AWD car before.

[Earthworm]

all the wheels should spin. that also delends on how freely your brake calipers move as well as how true your rotors are. It's normal for the ABS light to come on in your circumstance because one of your wheels is not spinning so the system is not getting a reading from that wheel(s).

When mine was off the ground the fronts would turn as well as the back, however, the back would engage/disengage rather abruptly instead of smoothly and consistantly as I thought they were going to.

[lee]

Admittedly, I've never had a Subaru up in the air with the motor running, but I've seen lots of 2WD cars (w/o limited slip). It's not unusual for only one wheel to spin on an open differential. Holding one wheel then having the other begin to spin is OK behavior (I'm assuming you're doing this at idle?).

So do you think there is something wrong with my transmission, differential or are my rotors/brakes/berrings messed up or to tight? What is the best way to check it out?

[Earthworm]

I think I'm better at diagnosing problems rather than fixing them D:

You should hopefull be able to tell what's slowing down the wheel just by turning each one manually.

I think some people have "lubricated the bushings"? on their brake calipers or else completely rebuilt them. Someone else verify this for me please.

[gl1674]

Tom,

Having just one front wheel spinning is perfectly normal - it is an open differential.

Having rear wheels turning only under the throttle might be OK, as SVX is normally distributing 90% of torque to front, but I'm pretty sure mine had rear wheels spinning when I tried it off the ground, at least at cold idle - 1500rpm.

Having just one rear wheel turning means you do not have a limited slip rear differential (any more?) LS-L models came with a limited slip diff, I'm not sure about L. Either you do not have it by design or it stopped being a LSD.

SVX's rear diffs are considered to be bulletproof, but generally LSDs do not have very high reliability record. This should not be a major concern unless you have to do lots of snow driving - the diff is not going to explode, it just lost some high-tech grease from the limited-slip assembly.

If you do do lots of snow driving, you may consider finding a functional LSD diff from a boneyard, or (I hate to admit it) some other AWD car with smaller engine, stick shift, narrower tires and higher road clearance...

There is a test port on the back of tranny that allows one to check the transfer clutch pressure. By checking a pressure you can get a good indication to whether the solenoid that controls clutch functioning properly. The solenoids do wear out, as do the clutches.
Either of the two could be replaced with the transmission in the car. These are by far two the most common things that fail in the AWD systems.

[NomadTW]

3

open front diff

the front wheels will go, one will undoubtedly spin free-er than the other and all the front power will go to that wheel, and when the awd senses that the front wheels are slipping it will send power to the rears where the lsd is, and they both will spin
and you will have 3 wheels spinning

if both rear wheels do not spin it is not a good sign

I always thought it was a bad idea to "rev" the engine in gear with the drive wheels off the ground. The is no load, so to speak.

Randy (Not as brave as some) ii

[svx_commuter]

Originally posted by svxeno
I always thought it was a bad idea to "rev" the engine in gear with the drive wheels off the ground. The is no load, so to speak.

Randy (Not as brave as some) ii

Well good idea or not it's in the SM and I have done this on my 92LS-L. A little brake pressure helps and remember to stop the wheels before shfting gears.

[driverdave]

FYI-There is a rebuilt SVX rear diff on ebay right now....(9 days left as of this post).

I find all my ebay SVX stuff with a general search of "svx"....currently there are 69 items matching.

by the way, Tom, hope I see you on the road someday....I live in Golden and often take drives through everygreen in my 94 pearly.

Dave

Dave, I have seen an SVX on the road around Conifer (HWY 73) several times. Is that you? That is the only one(s) I have seen up there. I drive a black one when I have it running. Usually down 285 and into downtown Denver to work. I saw that differential on ebay. I also have a running search. I think my diff is ok and am pretty sure it is now the transfer clutches. I think I am going to try and find a lift to use before I replace those.

[driverdave]

not sure if the one you saw was me, but could have been. I think there are at least 5, counting my 2, in the Golden area. Both of mine are recent aquisitions. I went from always dreaming of owning one, to owning two within a month.

I know that feeling I bought my two within a week of one another and got a special shipping rate to have both shipped out here from NJ. I am rebuilding both and plan to sell one once I have them both in proper order. I think I can sell the one for what both cost me.

[driverdave]

Yeah, I'm probably going to end up selling the 92 at some point. It was one of those "has a lot more problems than it looks" kind of deals.

Originally posted by svx_commuter


Well good idea or not it's in the SM and I have done this on my 92LS-L. A little brake pressure helps and remember to stop the wheels before shfting gears.

No Kiddin'? I'd never guessed. I like the brake idea.

Randy (Free wheelin') ii