duty c questions

[cjjunkie]

ok, through all the information i have read on here, checking the trouble codes, turning tests and what not, it's obvious to me that the duty c solenoid is bad. my car has almost 300k miles on it. the solenoid will be replaced and along with Nippers recommendation I will do the clutch packs as well.

 

I cant replace these for a few weeks, and I see no problems with my ability and the task at hand. i did however have some 1st time subaru owner questions on the best temporary solution.

 

I picked this vehicle up because it fits my needs with ability and gas mileage and what not, and fortunatley for me I will be starting a new job after months of unemployment. I'll have to drive this for about 3 weeks till I can spring for the money to get the parts. about 50 miles a day round trip, no hills, only a few turns and 99% of it is just good smooth flat roads. I have read a few solutions for temporary remedies. My goal here is to not further damage any of the other systems, and I am already going to replace the clutchpack and the solenoid, I just dont want to have to replace a dead transmission because of this.

 

the first is to insert the firewall FWD fuse and make it fwd only. are there any adverse side effects to this provided i keep within the flat smooth road realm?

 

the second is to drop the rear driveshaft (which i would have to do anyway when the parts show up) and drive like that. I havent spent much time under there but this leads me to believe its a fixed yoke rather than a slip yoke that could spin out of there.

 

I plan on doing this in the next day or two, as I start Wednesday. Like I mentioned I have read a lot of posts on this and related topics but couldnt come up with the best and safest way to temporarily circumvent the solenoid as a short term solution. there were posts and discussions both ways.

 

driving my VW (about 20 mpg at 4.17 per gallon today) would understandably be ideal but coming off the layoff and being broke for the last year would turn my three weeks till i can afford the parts into about 6-8 weeks. the gas i save will help to pay for the parts...

 

sorry for this being my first post other than the intro, and on a topic with a lot of coverage, but i'm in a bind...time, torque and cash.

[idosubaru]

awesome, glad you got a job.

 

the FWD fuse is a great option, but that fuse won't work if the Duty C is failed. so:

 

1. if the FWD fuse does work on your car (torque bind goes away), your Duty C solenoid is good and doesn't need replaced.

 

2. if your Duty C is failed the FWD fuse won't work

 

but yes, that's perfectly fine to run it like this as long as you please, it's not going to hurt anything.

 

the best option in my opinion for a car with permanent torque bind is to just remove the rear half of the driveshaft. the front half seals the transmission as it slides into the rear extension housing. but the driveshaft is a two piece design, the rear half unbolts with 4 12mm bolts on each side. 8 bolts and off it comes. usually you can squeeze them out by just yanking it off the flanges and past the exhaust.

[MilesFox]

^^^ this is true. Do all of this in this order. The driveshaft is easy to remove. Undo the bolts from the nut side, as the heads of the bolts are held captive by the shape of the yokes.

[cjjunkie]

thanks for the help guys, got the rear half of the driveshaft pulled. My wife is blocking me in the drive so i'll do the circle test again wednesday when it hits the road

 

one other question for now... I noticed in a few of the posts I came across in my research, I saw a few jabs back and forth referencing leaving a switch on as to why the c failed. they were traded a bit jokingly so my initial thought was it's some sort of inside subie joke I won't get for a few years. that or I must be missing something, I don't have any awd switches that I can see on the dash or anywhere else..... if it helps it's a 97 legacy wagon. i'd hate to fix my problem and then have something fry itself twice due to my ignorance.

[idosubaru]

nice job getting it pulled already.

 

thanks for the help guys, got the rear half of the driveshaft pulled. My wife is blocking me in the drive so i'll do the circle test again wednesday when it hits the road

the entire rear drivetrain is no longer connected to anything so torque bind is impossible...let's hope it moves! if you didn't have torque bind to begin with then you might not be able to move!

 

I saw a few jabs back and forth referencing leaving a switch on as to why the c failed. they were traded a bit jokingly so my initial thought was it's some sort of inside subie joke

that's a modification where we install a switch to be able to "lock" the 4WD, on demand - for offroad or snow traction. it's a custom installed switch we install by tapping into the existing circuitry of the TCU, nothing you'll find in a car. it's really easy since it only requires access to one wire - for the Duty C solenoid. some folks suggest it's a bad idea, but it's not. Edited May 8, 2011 by grossgary

[cjjunkie]

i'll search later for that info, if there is a post on it that is.

As a bit of bio i would use this about 85-90% on the road, but often when i go hiking camping or kayaking (built my own) i could see a need for such a switch but i might like to see how the awd performs under such circumstances. if i did that a bright led would definatley be in order. and i'd make it flash when you turned the ign off.....

 

last thing to fix before it hits the road for a few weeks is the lazy eye.....side effect of hittign the deer...(previous owner)

[idosubaru]

the danger in the duty c switch is not leaving it on when you turn the car off, it's leaving it on while driving on dry pavement, normal driving. take it off road, drive in some snow...then leave it on when you get back to regular driving and should turn it off. it induces torque bind and can damage stuff.

 

there's some threads about it. you simply find the one wire for the duty C solenoid. if you "cut" that wire that will "lock" the rear transfer clutches. reconnect that wire and you're back to normal. so it's as simple as splicing a switch into that one wire - or however you want to do it.