hohieu

Rear wheel bearings can make noise for tens of thousands of miles and still not show any play or roughness. Mine did for 40K miles. By the time there's play, you're facing potentially catastrophic failure. One way to check them is to put one hand on the suspension coil while turning the wheel with your other hand. Any roughness will be transmitted to the coil.

I took the flywheel and here's the deal. I have the metal oil separator cover, which I'll reaseal. But my rear main seal is seeping/weeping. I wiped some grime of the bottom of the seal to get a better look, and it doesn't seem too bad. The lip was still soft and pliant. I already have the seal so one last time here: should it stay or should it go now?

Ok, I want to to put this thread to bed. I have the pressure plate and clutch disc out of the car, and it looks like the noise was caused by the springs on the clutch disc coming into contact with the flywheel. Incidentally, the original OEM Exedy disc has four larger springs while the replacement ASCO disc I purchased has six smaller ones. If I make it to 340K miles, then the smaller springs should still have some clearance. In any case, I'm glad I decided to dig into the job before winter because the pilot bearing was shot -- all dried up and rusty inside, and the ball bearing cage had broken in one spot. The throwout bearing didn't have too much play, but was free spinning as though all the grease was gone. The OEM pressure plate is still in great shape. My clutch did not feel anywhere close to slipping, even when testing it with the hand brake engaged. And just in case anyone is curious, the clutch disc wore down faster on the pressure plate side in my case.

I'll be back at it again today and will let you know how things go.

As always, great info. guys. Thanks.

I'm in the midst of a clutch job on my 99 Forester with 170K miles. Thankfully, removal of the exhaust manifold was relatively uneventful. The only issue is that the studs unscrewed from the heads in three of the locations. Aside from surface corrosion on the exposed ends, they look to be in decent shape. Is there any reason to use new studs and nuts? Also, should I use Loctite 271, which can only be removed once cured by heating up to 500F (260C)?

The oil is definitely coming through the pinion seal back there. It's getting past the seal and some collected between the flanges and dripped out when I separated the flanges to remove the drive shaft. Besides, the car is otherwise clean -- doesn't leak a drop of anything else. I had a Subaru differential protector back there and wasn't sure of the source and thought maybe it was coming out of the breather because from what I've heard, the front pinion seal back there so rarely fails . Yep, there are 4 holes for the M8 flange bolts. I'm afraid I might snap one of these little bolts if I use it for leverage against the pinion nut. The special tool has four protruding studs that slide into these holes with a cutout in the middle to accommodate a socket for the pinion nut. BTW, I've periodically checked the rear differential oil and it's never been low so it's a very slow, albeit nasty, leak -- gear oil is some funky stuff. I figured that while I had things apart, I'd replace that seal if it's not too much trouble. I've replaced these pinion seals on my other car, but the yokes are rectangular so it's easy to put a pipe wrench on there while I break the nuts loose.

I'm in the middle of a clutch job, and the tranny is out. But I discovered that I have a leaky front pinion seal at the rear differential. The Factory Service Manual says I need the Subaru special tool to hold flange while breaking the nut loose. Could I use a pipe wrench on the flange and/or have someone stomp on the brakes while I yank on it? I do have an electric impact wrench but doubt the it has enough juice for this one.

The benefits of synthetics not withstanding, I see no reason why an engineer would require 0w20 as opposed a 5w20 oil for the naturally aspirated engines. They both have to be in the same range at operating temperature. In a normally running engine, oil change intervals <5K miles are a waste of money and resources. On the other hand, if you have a slow coolant leak into the engine or you're ignoring a continuous misfire, for example, then shorter intervals would be beneficial. I've been running 10 to 15K intervals with synthetic over the past 100K miles. I change the oil once a year, and all is fine with my car, which now has around 170K miles on the odometer. Oil consumption has remained the same since the day I bought it (1 qt./6K miles) so I'm adding about 2 qts. of makeup oil between changes.

A little off topic here: When I did the timing belt at around 105K, the newer OEM crank and cam seals I swapped in were also Viton. If they're not leaking at the next timing belt interval, would you leave them in there?

Thank you Davebugs, that would be incredible. But at least having a driveway in the burbs means I don't have to keep an eye out for buses and delivery trucks as I usually do most of my work on the street in front of my house. I have the NTN T-O bearing and clips (and a new pilot bearing, too). I'll be using Honda Pro-Moly 60 on the tranny input splines -- very popular among motorcyclists for lubing shaft drive splines.

Thanks for the emphatic responses, in bold red letters no less. I'll check the seal and will leave it alone if it's dry. I'm pulling the tranny because I'll be doing this in a friend's driveway and don't have access to an engine hoist, only a tranny jack. Now if my headgaskets were leaking, the decision would be a no brainer.

I'll be replacing the clutch on my '99 Forester with 170K on the odometer this week. I have an aluminum separator cover on hand in case the original is plastic. In any event, I plan on resealing it and doing some other odds and ends while I have the tranny out. I know there's some debate about whether to replace the rear main seal so I'd like to hear your thoughts. I already have an OEM viton seal but am wondering whether I should leave the old one in there if it's not leaking. Thanks for you thoughts.

Thanks for the input guys. I think Fairtax is on the money. Assuming that it's the rivets grinding up against either the flywheel or the pressure plate, is there one side that tends to wear through before the other? I'm just wondering if I have a little time before the flywheel gets trashed. grossgary, the clutch makes noise only when I'm slipping the clutch in 1st gear to get the car moving and stops quickly after the tranny speed catches up with the engine speed. With the clutch disengaged or fully engaged, there's no noise at any speed. I think we can rule out the tranny, though the synthetic gear oil has been in there since I've owned the car, so almost 100K miles. As an aside, I also do long oil change intervals (10k-15k miles between changes).

99 Forester, 167K miles with the original hydraulically operated clutch. My wife and I use this car as a daily driver so for the past 100K miles, it has seen many miles of stop and go city driving in Philly. It's making a faint "whirring" sound when starting out from a dead stop, and I can feel some slight vibration through the shifter -- definitely not typical symptoms for a throwout bearing on its way out. It's a fairly faint noise. Aside from the clutch judder, which has been there since we bought the car with 72K miles, it drives normally. The clutch is not slipping. Pedal travel and feel are normal. But it's just this slight noise when I'm slipping the clutch in first gear to get it going. So what do you think? Bad rivet(s), frayed friction material? Broken finger(s) on the pressure plate?

I concur with grossgary and GD, provided it's a one-piece boot. NTN bearing company of Japan makes very robust halfshafts.

It's a 6303 double sealed ball bearing with the following dimensions: 17mm ID x 47mm OD x 14mm W If there's no play, I might just pop the seals off and regrease the bearing. The pilot bearing doesn't take much of a load and should be fine.

Ok, so the tone ring is not on the half shaft. It's going to be the equivalent of a wheel bearing job so you'll need to replace at least the inner and outer hub seals while you're at it, maybe the bearing too while you're at it. It's definitely easier if you have access to a Hub Tamer set. Here's a thread with a relevant link: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=30296&highlight=front+wheel+bearing

Did you break the the hub flange? The hub is pressed into the knuckle, and the studs are pressed into the hub flange. I feel like if you weld it, the outer hub seal would be toast. Unless the axle assembly on the '99 OBW is different from that on my '99 Forester, the tone ring is actually on the outer half shaft joint. On the rear, the tone ring is bolted to the inside surface of the hub flange. In any case, it's a good idea to lather some anti-seize on the mating surfaces between the rotor and the hub flange to avoid such disasters.

I had the same symptoms last summer in my '99 Forester with then 140K miles. I replaced the slave cylinder, but my problem didn't resolve until I also replaced the master cylinder. Anyone know why you can't buy rebuild kits for those master cylinders?

Oops, sorry. I should have checked to see if the link was still good before posting. This one should work: http://www.endwrench.com/current/Current6/03/WhBearRep.pdf You can also go to their main page and search around for good info. on myriad topics.

Definitely possible to replace both inner and outer boots without removing the axle nut, though would have to agree with GD. It's not worth the hassle, and I wouldn't do it again without access to a lift. The Factory Service Manual actually recommends this method. They also recommend removing the stabilizer link and transverse link bolts in order to pull the inner joint off the stub shaft. In this case, I find these instructions to work the best because you're able to avoid removing the ball joint and the strut adjustment bolts. I really couldn't agree with you more. NTN makes excellent components, and that's why new ones cost as much as they do.

Is it still under warranty? That would be great. The right inner boot tends to go first because it's baked by catalytic converter directly under it. Mine went at around 6 years/92K miles. I was out of town so my wife had it replaced by a trusted mechanic with decent rebuilt unit -- still good after 6 years/65K miles. My front left inner CV boot split open at around 7 years/107K miles, and I replaced the boots on this unit, which still performs just fine after 5 years/50K miles. If you discovered the failed boot early enough (if there's still grease in the joint), then you can rebuild it. But I don't know how much you'll save if you have the dealer perform the service. OEM halfshafts are made by NTN Bearing Company, and new ones cost something like $300-$400 . It's better to go with a high quality rebuild than with some of the cheap aftermarket components on the market. Others on this site rave about MWE rebuilt halfshafts. Yet another option is to replace the boots on the one in your car. Then buy a couple of used OEM units, maybe on ebay or from a yard, and reboot them as needed.

+1 on that score. You're home free after that sucker is free. Here's a helpful link: http://endwrench.com/images/pdfs/BearingTheLoad.pdf Also, try searching "hubtamer."

Sounds plausible: electrical coils such as that in your fuel pump will often short out only at operating temperature. The same is true for ignition coils.