Maybe not the wheel bearings?

So my fiancee has had a pearl '92 LS-L for about 4 months now, with the usual assortment of 14 year old SVX problems. One of those was a very mechanical sounding buzz under acceleration sometimes and in turns, almost definitely if accelerating in or out of turns. Sound was definitely coming from the rear, and I could distinguish that it was mostly from the right, a couple times from the left. It's not a constant buzz, just lasting anywhere from 1 to maybe sometimes 10 seconds, which made it all the more aggravating to hear.

Just yesterday I had both rear bearings replaced, including changing the grease from the packing stuff. It was done by an ex-Subaru mechanic who verified everything he was doing with a master tech at the dealership down the road. He said the old bearings had definitely been redone once already, and looked pretty bad from wear and the previous install. Having paid $425.00 (thank god for employee labor rates) for everything, we headed home only to hear the buzz once more.

Understandably, I'm a bit pissed. I'm gonna talk to the shop foreman today and have a tech test drive the car to see if they can pin the noise on something else. I'm pretty sure the tech pressed the bearings with a shop press, but he's one of our most qualified mechanics, so I'm assuming he didn't bork anything, but I won't rule that out completely. Outside of their opinion, I'd just like to throw the question out to the people here of what else it could be.

To reiterate, it's a *temporary* buzzing that happens mostly under acceleration in or right after turns. It has gotten louder since we bought the car, which led me to pin it on the bearings in the first place. Any ideas are appreciated.

[msvx95]

try putting in the fwd fuse so it will disengage the AWD and you'll be running front wheel drive only.....maybe it's a binding issue of some sort in the rear. It should go away when fuse is in.

[dcarrb]

"Buzzing under acceleration" says vibration to me. Exhaust heat shield, something like that. Bearing or driveline troubles usually announce their arrival with a roar, clunk, shudder or thud. Just guessin'.

In my experience, when the rear wheel bearings need to be replaced, you'll have no doubt.

dcb

Well, either way the rears are done, that'll teach me to self-diagnose on a whim again. Mechanic said the ones in there looked pretty bad (poor install), and the road noise definitely went down a bit, so the money at least wasn't wasted.

[msvx95]

My rear binding is noticeable when I turn slow in parking lots..left or right...even turning from traffic lights onto streets. Sounds and feels like I have a subwoofer pushing bass from the rear.

Yes I will get it looked at this summer eventually....I'm too lazy right now

mine binds in parking lots and stuff too. terminal, check the wear on your tires. it could be that they are all feathered and thats the sound your hearing-happened to me!

Found the exact conditions for the buzz, which leads me to go with the theory above of simply having a loose shield or other buzzing bit of metal. The sound occurs between 1,800-1,900 RPM on the dot, and only when moving, can't do it in neutral/park. I'll have them tighten down whatever it is Monday, and then hopefully have a quiet ride again.

[intelisevil]

Originally Posted by Terminal

Found the exact conditions for the buzz, which leads me to go with the theory above of simply having a loose shield or other buzzing bit of metal. The sound occurs between 1,800-1,900 RPM on the dot, and only when moving, can't do it in neutral/park. I'll have them tighten down whatever it is Monday, and then hopefully have a quiet ride again.

My guess is that it only happens when moving in gear, if you were to shift into neutral (while moving) and rev to 1,800-1,900 RPM, it probably wouldn't happen.

It's amazing how a little bit of torqueing of the drive line can help to bring out the 'harmonics'.

Just remember, your bearings needed to be replaced anyway . . .

Dan

If only my fiancee (the owner of the car) believed that the bearings were needed. I owe her a new starter now to make up for it

[intelisevil]

Originally Posted by Terminal

I owe her a new starter now to make up for it

For the SVX? Describe the symptoms.

Before you buy a new starter for it, do some searching on this forum. There are few threads talking about problems that start out sounding like starter problems and then end up being bad wiring, bad ignition switch, etc.

At least you have a fiancee with a really cool car!

Good Luck,
Dan

Symptons:

About one in maybe five starts, dash lights as normal, can hear fuel pump click on, etc., but no cranking whatsoever. Requires turning the key back to on and then start again a couple times before the starter actually engages. When the starter does work, it's flawless. Asked the shop foreman in passing and he described it as a "dead spot".

[intelisevil]

Try reading through this thread for some ideas:

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=28788

Also, use that neat little 'Search' button up there near the top of the page. You'll find all sorts of goodies!

Normally there would be all sorts of people responding to help you out, but there's this little gathering going on in Reading right now that has lot's of the best SVX brains away from their computers.

I'm glad you've found this forum, members here have gone through every problem you could possibly have with an SVX and survived to tell others about it. We all want to drive our SVXi forever.

I have to hit the sack right now, I'm falling asleep at the keyboard. Graveyard shift isn't much fun but it's much better than unemployment!

Dan

[dannmarr]

Check out the 'how to' at SVX-iw.com under Engine/starter relay bypass installation (Radio Shack relay # 275-226 is recommended to avoid the starter drawback issue)

[msvx95]

Originally Posted by Terminal

Symptons:

About one in maybe five starts, dash lights as normal, can hear fuel pump click on, etc., but no cranking whatsoever. Requires turning the key back to on and then start again a couple times before the starter actually engages. When the starter does work, it's flawless. Asked the shop foreman in passing and he described it as a "dead spot".

I experience this too lately....not as frequent as you though.

[Suby Fan]

i had experenced this and it turned out that some one cut a wire to the starter relay wire under the dash... VERY VERY strange but maybe this is done at the factory for testing of some kind... i would have some one to some wire tracing before replacing the starter also do a hard test on the starter when its not turning over (bridge the gap between the 2 termainals) and see if it will turn over