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1995 Impreza L wagon drivetrain noise


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A few weeks ago, I noticed a slight humming sound coming from what appears to be the right rear of my Impreza, but only on deceleration. When I give the car gas, the hum would go away. In more recent days, the hum has gotten louder and now I sometimes hear a clanking sound when I let off the gas. The car still drives fine, however.

 

This past Friday, I noticed the steering wheel wobbles back and forth from 0-20mph, then stops wobbling above 20mph.

 

For "giggles", I put a fuse in the FWD holder under the hood to try and start tracking down this noise and issue. With the fuse in, the noise is gone. Completely disappeared. The wobbly steering wheel is still there from 0-20mph, however.

 

I've asked some Subaru guys I know and I've gotten answers from a bad wheel bearing up to a rear differential. I crawled under the car last night to look at things and, while everything appears to be fine, when I grabbed the rear CV shafts, there was some play, especially at the inner joint boot. The shafts moved in and out of the differential maybe 1/4 inch.

 

I know it's hard to diagnose issues like this without actually experiencing them, but can someone perhaps guide me in a direction of what may be wrong or what's happening? Thanks!!

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what year, and how many miles on the car?

 

humming does kind of sound like a wheel bearing - you can jack the car up and try wiggling the wheels to see if there is any play - there should be none.

 

there should be a little bit of "give" in the axle shafts - not sure about the acceptable allowance tho. Someone with more experience will have to chime in on that one.

 

did you check the main driveshaft U-joints at all? especially going into the rear diff. I have seen posts by others that have had problems there.

 

The steering wheel wobble is more than likely a separate issue, unrelated to the noises you are hearing in the rear. My 95 had a similar issue before I replaced the struts & tophats - the tophat bearings were shot. Could also be ball joints, or tie rod ends...could even be the tires causing the wobble - how old/worn are they? and are they at correct pressure?

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have some one drive your car while you sit in the back and listen for the noide.

which side is the loudest?

it is probably the wheel bearing on that side.

 

i have a slight wobble in my steering wheel,

but i think mine is brakes.

i replaced a warped rotor several years ago and it went away.

but now it is back.

so the caliper slide pins must part of the problem.

and it is so minor,

i live with it, no biggie.

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Car is a 1995, 123,000 miles.

 

I had the front right hub replaced about 9 months ago, new brakes around that time, as well. The tires are due to be replaced. I was going to put my winter wheel/tires on and see if that took care of the wobble, proving the tires on the car now are the culprit. The wobble does feel like an out of balance tire, now that I think of it.

 

I did not look at the driveshaft joints while I was under there, but will this afternoon.

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Also take a look at the mounting brackets for the rear diff support. My legacy does exactly what you are talking about from the rear. At some point in its life someone used them to jack the car up and one of mine is bent and rubbing the support outrigger. I noticed how badly mine was bent when I was getting tires put on the car last summer, until then I suspected a differential bearing. But I've since replaced the rear diff when I did my manual swap.

 

edit: The steering wheel wobble sounds like what I had with my old axles as well. They were parts store replacements, until the manual swap as well because I got some used oem axles with the transmission. It was so bad I thought I had a bent or out of balance wheel, oem axles and it went away.

Edited by 86BRATMAN
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Trying to also understand why the noise went away when I put a fuse in the FWD fuseholder.

i missed this part. so probably not wheel bearings.

 

yes the rear drive train parts do still turn,

but not under load.

that makes a huge difference.

 

i have a front axle that clicks.

but only under load when turning.

when driving straight, even under load, no clicking.

when turning with no load, no clicking.

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In my car, which is now manual, the noise goes away when I push in the clutch. Thus taking the load off the drivetrain.

 

I'm working my way through the bushings in the car, when I get to that point I'm going to get a set of the whiteline outrigger isolator bushings as well as replace the bent up bracket.

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I lifted the wheels off the ground on my lunch break. I can't hear anything at all as in spin the rear wheels by hand. The universal joints on the rear driveshaft look good and are nice and solid. I pulled the fuse I put in for the FWD and went for a quick ride. The noise is significantly quieter, but still noticeable on deceleration.

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Probably just some gear whine from the rear diff ring and pinion gears. How old is the gear oil in the rear diff?

Mine whines from time to time at certain speeds whend decelerating. I've heard the same sort of noise in several other Subarus so I kind of dismissed it as benign. 240k miles on it, I guess its earned the right to make some noise now and then.

 

At some point in its life someone used them to jack the car up and one of mine is bent and rubbing the support outrigger.

I jack up my car by the rear diff all the time. Is the cross member bent on yours? I think someone would have to crush a rock or curb to do that.

 

Agree that the low speed wobble when accelerating is probably the axles. A worn inner joint can cause that. Most likely to be caused by the front axles.

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I would guess that any buzzing or banging soounds is the ezhaust pipe. Mine does this. I would also guess any wobble in the wheel may be unevenly torqued or loosening lug nuts. If you had a wheel off recently this is likely.

 

Inspect the rubber mounts for the exhaust pipe. 2 on the muffler itself, and one near the diff brackets. wiggle the pipe and see if it makes contact anywhere

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Oh those! I bent the crap out of those thinkin they might be a good spot for jack stands...

You just pop them off and hammer them back flat.

I tried bending it back with a crow bar, but had little luck because the bushing is pretty bad. At least now I know I don't have to find a straight one which is damn near impossible the way most salvage yards prop the cars up on wheels right in that area.

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Some changes to the noise now. With the fuse in the FWD holder, I can hear the humming. Not as loud as when the car is in AWD mode, but I can definitely hear the hum now.

 

The wobble in the steering wheel has gotten a little worse. If I let go of the steering wheel at low speeds, the car will jerk slightly to the right each time the steering wheel wobbles. Once it stops raining here, I'm going to pull the wheels and try and figure things out.

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Pretty sure I just found the wobble issue. Right front tire has a bulge in the tread area in a section of the crosswidth. Almost looks like something inside the tire let go and the air has pushed past it and into the actual rubber. Tread is completely gone where this bulge is. Can't see buying (4) new tires right now, as I'll be putting the snows on in a few weeks anyway. Guess snows are going on a little early this year and I'll worry about new summer tires come April.

 

Everything else mechanical looks nice and solid up front.

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