clicking noise from front drive train

rayford · #1 10-20-2002, 07:16 PM

Hi... well today I just got on the interstate and I began to hear a rapid sort of a clicking sound..I found that if I let off the gas it would quit,and if I accelerated a lot it would also stop making the noise ,it just did at at a speed where there was just a pull on the drive train.. then later as I was on a state road where the speed limit was less, i startet to hear it much louder and then it would even do it at very slow speeds and it of course increased the clicking more rapidly as I speeded up. I finely did make it home and then it was still making the noise fairly louldy,, I tried it in reverse and I didn't seem to get the noise. I had a neighbor look at it who is a mechanic but not on Subarus,, he jacked up both sides of the car and had me spin the wheels by hand as he listened from underneath,, he said he believes it to be coming from the differential.. I had the transmission rebuilt 11,000 miles ago and it seems to be working just fine,,, I am wondering if the nut on the back of the pinion shaft worked loose and let the pinion move farward , but I am kind of a loss as to why it makes that loud clicking noise unless it might have chipped a tooth on the ring or pinion gear??? does anyone have any light they can shed on my problem? Thanks Vernon

#2 10-20-2002, 09:09 PM

Def. sounds like a front diff on its way out. I remember Jeff Hall (everyshadeofblue) having this problem with his 92.

Mike

EveryShadeofBlue · #3 10-20-2002, 09:15 PM

That sounds like what happened to me exactly. Just driving along peacefully and then all of the sudden this horrible noise. They wanted $2,100 to rebuild the diff. or $2,800 to get a whole new tranny (rebuilt Subaru of course). I went with the latter since it also fixed my AWD binding problem. Good luck!!!

#4 10-21-2002, 01:46 PM

damn, that sounds like what happened to me on saturday, I really hope thats not the problem.

How can you properly diagnos this?

rayford · #5 10-21-2002, 02:51 PM

I_Alcyone_I , That is what I was trying to find out as well, so far all I have done is had a mechanic partially check it out but all he did was be under the car as I spun the wheel by hand and he said he heard a grinding or rubbing noise in the differintial, but I really would like to have more information than just that, and I have already put enough into this "money Pit" so what ever this is I am going to have to try to fix myself,, I have looked at diagrams , well such as they are , and only see a few things that I thought might give this clunking sound, it sounds a lot like a shaft that is just flopping up and down as the axle is rotated. I am not too keen on the idea of having to pull the transmission as I am getting too old for that kind of stuff, and then I am not sure how the transmission seperates from the differential. These are some of the things I was hoping someone on here could help with,, the information I mean.. At first it gave the impression that it was a CV joint. but that isn't the normal way a CV joint acts when they are going out, but as I have found over the last 8 months,,the SVX is a long ways from being normal.. I really like driving the car, but if it is just going to be one thing after the other I am not too impressed.. I have already had to have the transmission ribuilt , a new radiator, coolant temp. sensor. new tires. and I am sure there are more things than that... the car now has 111,000 miles on it... Anyway, if anyone has anything that might be helpful.. please let me know,, Thanks,, Vernon.

#6 10-21-2002, 03:32 PM

yeah, im getting incredibly sick of it too, if it is the tranny i'm gonna have to get the bank to repo it when my mom gets off the copay coverage, which will screw my credit, but theres not much use in having credit if you don't have the money to pay any bills. My car sounded like it was coming from the drivers side of the car more than anything. If you check out my post in the Northwest forum I posted about it and my ordeal. I really hope that you don't have to replace the tranny.