Hi all, I'm new here. I have a nice 98 Legacy L wagon with ~ 150K on it. (Owned by my super-meticulous father the first 4 years). I work from home and it's our second car so it's only seen ~ 4K miles the past year. Somewhere in the past year it started feeling like the AWD was "locked-in" or something all the time. When turning sharp, backing out of the driveway you feel the tires chirping sorta (like in the old 4WD trucks I'd had when locked into 4-low).
I have an idea that maybe some switch or something is stuck that's supposed to delegate front/all wheel drive. Is that right? Should the car be FWD normally and AWD when necessary? Does anyone know if I'm guessing right and there's a sensor/switch that could stick and leave it in AWD all the time?
If not any other suggestions? The few times I have driven it more than 3 miles on the highway I swear there was some vibration or something I thought maybe in the tires/tranny. But I had tires, alignment, shafts, brakes, and struts all done and it still sorta has it occasionally. I'm guessing it was the AWD on the highway causing some noise/vibration. (very slight. A couple times I stopped at the mechanic and took him for a ride it wasn't noticable)
I'm thinking of putting a lift on it and maybe some fun paint job like camo and keep it as a fun car.
Thanks,
Greg:banana:
Wow, thanks for all the info. I had all 4 tires new Goodyears. I'll measure the circumference to be sure though. I just tried it and you are correct, the AT Temp Light flashes 16 times on startup. Is there an online reference to see what the 16 flashes code means? I'll try the 2WD fuse also and see what it does. Realistically I guess a guy could just run in 2WD here on the roads in FL. But I still want to troubleshoot the AWD so I have it if necessary. I'll measure the tires this weekend. Thanks, Greg