Stevo F

For what it's worth, it sounds like the noise the Impreza I just bought is making. I know it's coming from the rear, as when I out the fuse in to drive in frnt wheel drive, the noise pretty much went away. My mechanic is saying bearings in the differential are making the noise and that we can still drive it a while before we need another differential. You may want to try putting the fuse in the FWD fuse slot under the hood and see if it makes a difference.

Yeah I really couldn't tell anything. Doesn't look that easy to pull the driveshaft without pulling part of the exhaust out of the way, especially on this model. I wish there was an easier way to determine whether u- joints are bad or not. Also have a whine my mechanic says comes from the differential and some other intermittent weird grinding, rattling noise which seems to come from the very back of the car. This thing has a variety of noises and quirks with it.

I was under the car yesterday. I turned the driveshaft by hand- didn't notice anything out of the ordinary- seemed to turn smoothly.

We had the general airbag warning light come on in our 2014 Impreza when my son sat in the passenger's seat with wet clothes.

I ended up taking masking tape and going around each tire in question, then laying it out and measuring. The circumference of tire with the puncture is exactly 78" . Then I measured the one I want to put on and it came out to 77 7/16"- 9/16" less which seems significant. I then decided to see how close the other 3 tires on the car are. The right rear had 6.5/32" of tread, the ;least of all of the tires so i measured the circumference and it came out to 77 9/16", which is 7/16" less than the right front and only 1/8" larger than the one I want to put on. Given most of my cars vary 1/32" between tires anyway, this seems in line with that. I'm thinking of moving the left rear to the right front and putting the replacement tire on the left rear so the two "smallest" tires would both be on the rear. Actually, I'm also realizing that since the extra tire I want to put on is currently not mounted or inflated, that the circumference will increase when inflated- so the difference between the tires may be insignificant once it is inflated.

Thank you. I’ll try the measuring tape to the circumference of each. What would be an acceptable difference in circumference? If we decide to put it on, do you recommend moving it to the back? (it’s on the passenger’s front right now).

I’ve got a similar question with my 2005 Impreza Sport. On mine the whine disappears almost entirely with the FED fuse on, but it does have some vibration felt at 45-50 MPH. My mechanic says differential bearings and to keep driving it, but wondering if it’s a.u-joint

Thank you. Ideally I want to run the car as normal in AWD (especially since I’m not the primary driver and the car is normally 50 miles away). Getting to the original question- is using the same size, same wear tire going to cause issues in the long run? The tires have a lot of life left in them and hoping not to replace anytime soon. I’ve already put new tires on 3 of cars in the past 6 months so hoping to avoid a 4th. Not that I’d ever do this with any car, but the previous owner of the Impreza Outback Sport I just bought had 3 different types of tires, run presumably for a long time, but all within 1.5/32” of tread with each other. I got new tires immediately, but not the least sign of torque bind on the car

This brings up the question of whether disabling AWD using the fuse on a long term basis will do any other harm to the car. I’ve got another Subaru with some rear end noise that I would consider running in FWD much of the time as well.

My son reported to me that the nail in the tire on the '98 Legacy GT (automatic) is in the sidewall (not what a Subaru owner wants to hear). I also happen to have a tire that had been on our old Impreza Outback Sport (the same thing happened with the dreaded nail in the sidewall) same size 205-55- R16 and the same tread depth (average of 7/32" for both current and extra tire). Both are all season radials, but are different brands. How safe would it be to use this tire? I believe the tire shop can check the exact diameter of each tire for me. I certainly want to avoid a $1,000+ clutch pack repair, but would also like to avoid buying a $400 set of tires when these have another 30,000 miles left on them.

I don't mind a soft ride for the Legacy. Right now you can feel every bump in the road so I'm thinking it need s suspension refresh. I did put a new set of KYB's in the rear Impreza Outback Sport I used to have and it was a pretty firm ride (although the OBS has a firmer ride than the Legacy in general)

I was looking for preloaded struts for my ‘98 with the same results- just no name junk available. I did come across some from Gabriel the other day, so I might look into those

Yes, that is the hope, that replacing those axles will help the issue

Thank you. I was also chatting with my mechanic about a vibration that can be felt when accelerating. It can be felt throughout the whole car and when I had the car in FWD to check the rear end noise, the vibration was noticeably worse. There isn't any noticeable vibration running at highway speed. I know the front CV joints are likely shot (after buying the car, I noticed both front axles are original with split inner boots and have thrown quite a bit of grease) and new axles are next on the list. I'm thinking maybe worn CV joints and the vibration was worse because all of the torque was going to the front wheels when in FWD? I also noticed a bit of noise coming from the front of the car in addition to the intermittent whine from the back. Any other possible causes for the vibration under acceleration?

The basic symptoms are a whine at higher speeds but only in AWD. In FWD when not under load it is much quieter. Also, there is no difference in noise in turns, so not thinking rear wheel bearings. My mechanic was able to remove the stripped differential plugs and found the oil was pretty nasty and seemed thin.

My mechanic confirmed the whine I'm hearing at highway speeds is due to bad bearings in the rear differential. The car is an 2005 Impreza Outback Sport, automatic transmission with 253K miles. He recommended getting a used one if I can find it for a good price. I see several on Ebay shipped for $200ish. They are advertising that this car has a 4.11 gear ration, bur I tend to take Ebay car specifications with a grain of salt. Can anyone confirm that the correct gear ratio for this vehicle is 4.11?

Today I put s fuse in the FWD slot. The whine was virtually gone so that would confirm the source of the noise is in the rear driveline. Interestingly, there has been a slight vibration or shake in the car when accelerating at low speeds, but this was worse with the car in FWD. I’m thinking it may be the worn front axle CV joints that need to be replaced- maybe they were worse with 100% of the torque going to the front wheels.

I didn’t think of the tape on the bolt head idea this time, but that worked great putting in a hard to get to bolt when installing the Grimmspeed master cylinder brace in my Forester

All four tires are back on the car and it’s parked pending the stuck differential plug removal so no ongoing issue with driving with uneven tires. Differential question- in case I need to source another can anyone confirm the gear ratio for the 2005 automatic EJ253 naturally aspirated engine Impreza? I found some listings on EBay that list both AT and MT were 4.11, but I don’t trust that.

I'll to see what my mechanic finds. I think we're both hopeful it is just badly overdue for a fluid change, but I'm thinking we might find shavings or other nastiness in there when he gets the plug out. I'm curious what I would expect to pay for a used diff if I can find one and about how many hours would a mechanic charge for to replace it. I already feel I'm putting too much money in a high mileaged car already. $2,000 purchase price + $500 for tires and 4 wheel alignment, so far. It also needs two fornt axles + the timing belt done correctly (I know of someone who can do the FULL timing belt job and headgaskets for around $800). All those costs plus whatever the noise is could be well over 4 grand

Thank you everyone. I looked up Unisia and found the right one for my '98- about $45 from Amazon. More pricy than the typical Ebay units but far less than if I purchased form Subaru. When i removed the old one, I compared the two and they have the identical part #, so the Unisia Jens is true OEM. The trickiest part was getting it to line up with the hole and getting the bolt started. I could barely get two fingers on the bolt head, but eventually I got it. When I started it up,m it cleatred the CEL on its own and didn't come back on a couple mile drive, so hopefully good to go.

So checked the tires again and not the issue. My son drive it and thinks it’s more from the rear of the car so I suspect the differential may be the culprit. Problem is the previous owner stripped both the drain and fill plugs (so the oil hasn’t been replaced on a while). My mechanic will get the plugs out once the new ones I ordered arrive. wondering if it’s worth fixing if he needs to replace the differential? No listings at Car Part.com. Not sure if the car is worth putting the money into at this point.

I put the new tire back on so they all match. One of my bargaining points with the seller was that he has three different tires on it, but luckily zero torque bind. Going back tomorrow to NTB where the tires were put on to see what they day. I may test it again with a regular tire to make sure the noise goes away so I can be certain that’s the tire.

I was working on the brakes tonight and decided to put the spare on the drivers front wheel. I took it for a spin and the whine was pretty much gone, so it appears to be one of the new tires I bought, which seems odd, but that is when the noise started. Now back to NTB to see if they’ll replace it since tilts a brand new tire (and they need to reinspect it since it failed for the brakes amyway)

Update- I put decent used rotors and new brake pads on and the ride is a lot other and smooth braking. I find there is a little vibration after making a turn and accelerating. My biggest concern now is the whining sound it makes at highway speeds and under load after new tires were put on and it was aligned, as on the video at the link below: