1993 Subaru Legacy binding at sharp turns

[nipper]

11 minutes ago, carfreak85 said:

I don't have a problem with torque bind, rather, it often feels like my AWD doesn't work.  I'm suspecting the basket has some significant grooves worn in it, duty-C could be dead, clutch pack worn out?  But no problems with binding.

The rubbing noise makes me think it. Usually these trannies are very robust but once the slipping stars its doom

[msmithmmx]

Your basket is in bad shape. I did this job 6 years ago.  I still have the 98 OBW w/ the 2.2 works like a top.   Here is the link to all of the parts I used plus a pic of a brand new basket to measure yours against.   This is an easy job.
Technical name for the basket is  “GEAR COMPLETE-REDUCTION DRIVE”

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by msmithmmx

[MilesTolle]

Just to know for sure,  is it correc that the Duty C solenoid is not working if when you put a fuse in to use fwd the light does not come on the dash for it?   if so is there a way to test all is working fine before i go though all the trouble of bolting in the transfer case just to find out nothing is working right,  this will make three times now that i have taken it back a part..... I bought a new Duty C solenoid, but i accidentlyi pulled the wire lose from the connector that comes out of the transmission,  but i put it back in there and even solidered it in place and then turned key on to see if power came though to the connector and it did..

But either the wire came part when i put it back together again or the solenoid i bought is not working right?

before i did all this the fwd   would come on the dash when i put in a fuse for it... but now i test drove it and  no fwd light on dash and makes a terrilbe noise doing donuts in parking lot

if i were to fix the wiring if thats the problem can i put the transfer case close enough to transmission then connect the wire then turn on key to run to see if fwd light comes on are will that make the gears in it come out ?\

Please advise i sure could use some assistance to know for sure... Thanks

Edited November 7, 2020 by MilesTolle

[nipper]

48 minutes ago, MilesTolle said:

Just to know for sure,  is it correc that the Duty C solenoid is not working if when you put a fuse in to use fwd the light does not come on the dash for it?   if so is there a way to test all is working fine before i go though all the trouble of bolting in the transfer case just to find out nothing is working right,  this will make three times now that i have taken it back a part..... I bought a new Duty C solenoid, but i accidentlyi pulled the wire lose from the connector that comes out of the transmission,  but i put it back in there and even solidered it in place and then turned key on to see if power came though to the connector and it did..

But either the wire came part when i put it back together again or the solenoid i bought is not working right?

before i did all this the fwd   would come on the dash when i put in a fuse for it... but now i test drove it and  no fwd light on dash and makes a terrilbe noise doing donuts in parking lot

if i were to fix the wiring if thats the problem can i put the transfer case close enough to transmission then connect the wire then turn on key to run to see if fwd light comes on are will that make the gears in it come out ?\

Please advise i sure could use some assistance to know for sure... Thanks

The fuse is only a "switch" it completes a circuit and tells the TCU to open the Duty C solenoid. It doesnt really power anything directly.

[MilesTolle]

after putting in a new Duty C solenoid the light on the dash does not come on when i put a fuse in for fwd like it did before.  and when i test drive it ,  it was worse then ever doing sharp turns made a whinning noise in the rear end.   before i change it when i did sharp turns it felt like binding,  so i took the transfer case off and changed the duty C solenoid,  I could not change the clutch pack they discontinued the one's that fit my 1993 Subaru Legacy Automatic 2.2  awd....  but they looked ok anyways nothing cracked or burnt....   So now i have to figure out why it is worse then ever after changing the solenoid and that wire that connected to it breaking upon pulling it apart.   

[idosubaru]

8 hours ago, MilesTolle said:

after putting in a new Duty C solenoid the light on the dash does not come on when i put a fuse in for fwd like it did before.  and when i test drive it ,  it was worse then ever doing sharp turns made a whinning noise in the rear end.   before i change it when i did sharp turns it felt like binding,  so i took the transfer case off and changed the duty C solenoid,  I could not change the clutch pack they discontinued the one's that fit my 1993 Subaru Legacy Automatic 2.2  awd....  but they looked ok anyways nothing cracked or burnt....   So now i have to figure out why it is worse then ever after changing the solenoid and that wire that connected to it breaking upon pulling it apart.   

i guess you need to test the duty C circuit. 

they are “locked” all the time in 4WD when the duty C has no power to it.  So I assume you have a wiring or TCU issue.  

i would test the Duty C circuit and give the duty C 12 volts directly and see if it goes FWD.  giving it 12 volts basically energizes the solenoid and pushes it to FWD mode. Ive done it before by splicing into the wires at the transmission harness on the drivers side of the engine bay.  TCU is above the gas pedal if you want to do it there. 
 

[idosubaru]

Get an FSM and follow the Duty C test procedure.

If it tests bad then the circuit is bad. 
If it tests good and operates with 12 volts applied then the TCU becomes suspect. Old TCUs fail but I’ve never heard of the duty functionality being the failure mode of the TCU. 

[MilesTolle]

so i can slice into the wire for the solenoid without taking the transfer case off to get power to the solenoid?  It has to be I would think the wire came loose when i reconnected it or the solenoid is bad and i bought the solenoid from subaru dealership....  Does the solenoid just make the fwd work with fuse?  I thought it has someting to do with binding in sharp turns to?

[MilesTolle]

11 hours ago, idosubaru said:

i guess you need to test the duty C circuit. 

they are “locked” all the time in 4WD when the duty C has no power to it.  So I assume you have a wiring or TCU issue.  

i would test the Duty C circuit and give the duty C 12 volts directly and see if it goes FWD.  giving it 12 volts basically energizes the solenoid and pushes it to FWD mode. Ive done it before by splicing into the wires at the transmission harness on the drivers side of the engine bay.  TCU is above the gas pedal if you want to do it there. 
 

would you have a photo of where the wires is located at on the drivers side engine bay? and what they look like  and also if the wire that connects to the solenoid came loose from the solenoid would that keep the fwd light from coming on and also make binding worse in deep cuts?

Edited November 7, 2020 by MilesTolle

[nipper]

Keep in mind its a "duty solenoid" which means it constantly cycles on and off during normal use. People can and do hard wire it with mixed results. Also there is more to the AWD control circuit then just the solenoid. Id the internal housing is worn it can allow pressure to go where its not supposed to and activate the AWD

[idosubaru]

I’m not good enough with electrical to guide you through it.   In a sense it’s actually really easy - it could be tested in 15 minutes by someone really good at testing circuits. There’s not much work, no parts removal, to test it. 

Yes there are easily accessible wires to test or power the Duty C solenoid.  But they are huge bundles. You’ll have to be rthe FSM and look up which wires. It’ll say “RY” (Red wire with yellow stripe)...for example. I don’t remember because there’s 50 wires.  But people have posted it before - though a 93 may be different from a 96...etc. 

On the passengers side of engine bay by the front diffential dipstick/fill tube - is a large connector with quite a few wires like 10-20.  Look at it and it goes back to the transmission. 

OR - look at the trans on the drivers side under the car around the pan and where the ATF tubes go into the trans. There’s a huge wiring bundle that come out of the transmission.  Follow that all the way up to the top of the trans until you see a connector on it.  Very easy  anyone could do that  look for wires coming out of trans and follow them. There’s only one huge set of wires like that  coming out of the trans  

Get the FSM troubleshooting diagram, probably a page or two, for the Duty C solenoid and test the wires.  

FSMs are free online with some searching. 
 

Edited November 8, 2020 by idosubaru

[MilesTolle]

On 11/7/2020 at 6:14 AM, idosubaru said:

 

 

I sure have had bad luck so far with this car.   All i had planned on doing was taking the transfer case off and changing the clutch pack in it and solenoid....  when no one sold  the clutch pack i just put in the new solenoid hoping that would help on sharp cuts with the rear end...

The wire as i said came apart from the connector coming out of the transmission side,  but I thought I had done a good job of solidering it back together,   but now I wonder if the wire is getting contact with the solenoid or not...and there is no way to no for sure unless i take it all apart again....

surely the new solenoid i bought from a subaru dealer online is not bad.

I wish now i had left it alone,  it grabbed when i cut into a parking place, but now it screams and grabs, and the fuse does not help at all now to switch it into fwd and no fwd light showing up on the dash when using a fuse.....   I will check out things you all told me on here as soon as i can. thanks

 

On 11/7/2020 at 6:14 AM, idosubaru said:

 

+U would no

[Rampage]

When you put the FWD fuse in the FWD light should illuminate. One contact of the fuse holder goes to ground, the other contact goes to the TCU and the FWD light. The light gets power from Fuse # 15.

As @idosubaru said, a wiring harness comes out the left side of the transmission and goes forward and up to where the tranny bolts to the engine. On top of the tranny you will see a Gray 12 pin connector B40 for the Inhibitor (gear selector) switch and a Gray 16 pin connector B41.
With the key OFF, Check ohms to ground on pin 11 of B41 the 16 pin connector. It is a White/black stripe wire on the harness side of the connector. It should be 9-17 ohms.

Just so you get the right pin, pin 4 Black/Lavender stripe and pin 8 Black/Yellow stripe should read 0 ohms and pin 1 Green/Yellow stripe should read 20-32 ohms.

If pin 11 shows open or a high resistance, that wire is not connected to the Duty C solenoid or it is open. The other wire of the solenoid coil is connected to ground inside the tranny.

92 TransA.pdf

95 Transmission Connector.pdf

[idosubaru]

21 hours ago, MilesTolle said:

there is no way to no for sure unless i take it all apart again....

Yes there is.  The wires at the TCU and the harness I mentioned by the front diffential dipstick and fill tube.  One of those wires goes *right to* the solenoid.  Check for continuity, resistance, and/or give it 12 volts all the time to test.

if you give the duty C wire 12 volts via the wire that will force it to FWD.  if that works you know your soldering and wiring are good.  And you can leave it in FWD or just solder a switch on that wire so you can turn ON the 4WD in the snow/off-road.  
 

ive done it to a bunch of my Subaru’s so I can intentionally “lock” them in the snow. One wire.  One basic switch. Very easy. 
 

if it doesn’t work - then yes your wiring is bad.  
 

if it does work with 12 volts then my guess is the TCU is fried.