bawalker

I just wanted to follow up this post/thread with the solution for what happened with my car. I know the last post was Dec 2011 and I did get the popping/grabbing situation fixed a few months afterwards last year in 2012. I did contact Marshal about the axles and had genuine rebuilt ones ordered and installed and that did not solve the problem. After talking with another mechanic shop (who happens to be a customer of mine) they referred me to a transmission specialist as they said it sounded like something with the front differential, and if it was, it was beyond their scope of service. Well I took it to this transmission specialist who also works solely on transmission and drive trains and is an expert in the area on them. At first I dropped it off and they took several days to get to it but simply could not replicate the problem. But they would check it again a day or two later. Again, they could not replicate the problem. Mainly because they weren't driving it more than 15 min at a time. Anyway I needed the car for work so I got it, but rescheduled another appointment with them. But this time before dropping it off, I asked if I could drive it for an hour and have their main mechanic jump in then. So we did that and after 5 minutes of driving he said that popping was the absolute worst he's ever heard. He confirmed with me that I had replacement axle's installed and if so, it had to be the front differential. Well a week later I get the call that the car is fixed. When I went in to pick it up they wanted to show me something. The mechanic said normally when taking off/apart one of these front differential's, there is a massive spring with about 400+lbs of pressure on it when removing some backplate. Thus they have to use a special tool to take the units apart for servicing. However when they took my apart they were amazed that the spring had essentially welded itself to the inside of the differential. He said he's never seen that before in his 20+ years of transmission/drive train work. Long story short, that repair was done in June of 2012 and since then the car has been perfect when turning. Not so much as a pop, a click, or the feeling of a 'grab' by the tires. The repair did cost me $1000 but since then I'm about ready to break 260,000 miles and the only other work I've had done was the clutch was replaced this month. The previous clutch got me 158,000 miles (which I assume is pretty darn good!). But for now, the Subaru is still moving along great! I just thought I'd let everyone know and send a big thanks to everyone for helping point me in the right direction for help! Bradley

Currently my car is in another shop being looked at. I haven't gotten the final diagnosis yet, though when I dropped it off, the garage sounded confident that it was the transfer clutch having gone bad. Thus leaving the car stuck in a permanent 4WD with the popping and grabbing coming from no AWD, but 4WD in action.

I replaced the fluid within a few days of having the Subaru OEM re-manufactured axles installed so I didn't let them go a long time being driven without the fluid change. My question would be, how would one determine if the rear differential was having the problem? I'm almost certain, 99.999% certain infact, that it's the front differential because the popping/grabbing affect only takes place when turning hard turns. Either going forward, or backwards. Most noticeably when pulling into or backing out of a parking lot space. It is not heard or noticed when driving straight. *IF* it is the front differential that is wrecked, what is involved in replacing it and on average, what is the cost for that? Being that my Subaru has 230,600 miles on it now, the engine is in excellent shape, interior and exterior have no damage, has new struts, axles and short of this popping problem, is it worth fixing? My girlfriend is trying to convince me to get rid of it and get a new one, but the idea of car payments is something I abhor.

To answer the previous person's 'dead horse beating' post, I indeed changed the front differential oil already using BG based products. Which unfortunately did not alter the problem by making it better or making it worse. Obviously it's something else going on that I'm at a loss at what may be causing it.

I just wanted to update everyone on the status of my axle replacement and front end "popping". Two weeks ago I had my rebuilt Subaru OEM axle's with CV joints replaced in my 2001 Outback after having ordered them from Marshall at MWE. Everything arrived safe and sound, the garage installed them and didn't charge me labor (I have sent other business to them and this was their way of saying thanks). For the first few days, there was no popping sound that I could notice, but I wasn't doing heavy driving with the car. A few days later though when doing 1+hour driving and making a turn into a parking lot and backing out of that parking lot, the popping sound was back once again in the front end. This is really getting frustrating because this is the 3rd set of axles since June so I can effectively say that the axle's aren't the problem. But I'm at a loss at what would be? Would the rack and pinion be causing this? When in the garage, they showed me that the boots that cover my steering column (exposing a gear that rolled across this flat piece of metal that had notches in it) area were broken open. Would that be the cause? I'm open to all options at this point.

Thanks GD, I didn't know that the axle's are the same as other makes/models.

This is something I've been wondering about for a little while. As I'm coming up on the mileage time to flush my transmission fluid, I've always used the uncle scotty's cocktail mix as found on here for optimal transmission oil which solved a problem of mine with "rough" shifting back after I got my car in 2005. Anyway I've been hearing about the "superiority" of BG oils designed with lifetime warranties and can only be installed at BG certified garages. What's the scoop behind BG products? Anyone here used them and are the results good, bad, no difference? I'm really curious to know.

Hello all, After speaking with Marshal at MWE enterprises, I'm going to be ordering both a left and right front axle's from him to have installed on my vehicle. He also recommended using this forum to ask if there is a local mechanic in my area that is willing to install these at NON dealership costs/rates. My location is in the eastern panhandle of WV with the nearest cities being Winchester, VA and Harrisonburg, VA as I'm in between them both. My zip code is 26851. I would welcome all suggestions as to any mechanic that has Subaru experience and is willing to put these on for me. Thanks!

I called Marshall at MWE and he quoted me excellent prices and is gladly willing to help me out to get my current axle's replaced FAR cheaper than the dealership! Thanks to the entire forum for pointing me his way!

Thanks everyone! Prior to checking here I had checked with SubaruGenuineParts.com and their prices for axles were close to the $250-ish range and I wanted to check to see if I would indeed have to pay that much (plus labor) or if some online hunting could get my cost down on that. I'll give him a call and let everyone know how it goes.

Just to make sure I'm looking at the right "MWE", is this the webpage of the MWE you all were talking about with remanufactured axles? http://www.ccrengines.com/mwe/

Thanks for the advice on MWE, was just reading up on them a few minutes ago and looks like a great alternative. Yesterday when in the shop I asked how long it'd take to do per axle, they told me 1.5hrs to do that. So I was assuming that the part was probably $150-$200 and labor was an additional $195-$245 which seemed overpriced to me. I was especially surprised at the fee to put it on the lift just to look. When I went out to sign the papers and get the car the guy said "ok I need to charge you for the labor for putting the car on the lift" and my first thought was, a $25 fee which even then was overpriced in my mind, but $97! That's just absurd. I have a computer business and I sure don't charge anyone anything to bring a computer in for me to look it over and tell them what is wrong.

I wanted to post a followup to my situation. I finally made an appointment to take my 01 Outback into a Subaru dealership today where they put it up on the lift and confirmed both the Front Right and Front Left axle's needed replacing and were the cause. So it looks like everyone on here who indicated aftermarket axle's was right. While I didn't have time to have them replace the axle's today I also wanted to check regarding the price they quoted me. Not counting the $97 fee to put it up on the lift and look at it (seems kinda steep just to look at it?) they quoted me $395 per axle (parts and labor) for a total repair of $790 for genuine OEM parts. Does this sound right price wise for the Subaru experts on here? I wanted to hold off on getting any work done until I checked to make sure their quotes were in line with what is normal and reasonable costs for CV axle repairs. Thanks!

I've had two sets of replacement axles, but that audible noise is still there and the slight 'feel' of some grabbing can be felt through the steering wheel. Especially when backing out of a parking space and making that 90* turn. The car is a 5 spd manual transmission, NOT automatic. Does the same fuse recommendation apply? All 4 tires are the same brand (Goodyear Tripletread), same size, wear, etc. They get rotated every 6-8000 miles and have been consistently since I had them installed 3 years ago.