My 1998 Subaru Outback with automatic and 86,000 miles "grumbles" during very tight left and right turns, that is, with the wheel turned to its limits. This usually happens when I'm parking the car. If I avoid the extreme turns, things smooth out and "feels" normal.

 

Any idea what this might be? If so, what kind of bucks am I looking at to get it repaired? Is avoiding tight turns and not getting it fixed a bad idea?

Torque bind. Place a fuse in the FWD holder under the hood on the passenger side of the car. Make a tight turn see if it goes away. If it does, thenyour next step is to check your tires.

 

Tires must all have the same wear on them

Tires must be all inflated the same

Tires mus not havemore then a 1/4 vairation between any 4 tires in circumfrance.

 

If this all checks out, then a tranny flush about 99.00 will clear the problem up 90% of the time. After the flush drive in cricles for a bit and the problem will be gone. Of course dont forget tot ake the fuse out before getting the tranny flushed.

 

 

nipper

Thanks, Nipper!

 

Yes, putting the fuse into FWD made the problem go away. So, I have "torque bind".

 

To confirm I took the fuse out and had a friend drive slowly in circles while I watched the rear wheels. I could actually see the shutter in them. I also put a little speed on the car and threw it into neutral while doing the circles. No grumbling when I did.

 

The tires are identical size/brand and have relatively little wear. I'll have to check the inflation. I'll make an appointment to get the transmission fluid flushed.

 

Am I right in assuming that the center differential is in the transmission and that's why I should get the its fluid flushed?

 

Thanks again for your help. It feels good to know what the problem is.

Actually its a clutch pack with a solenoid that controls clutch application. 90% chance that your tranny is gummed up and it will clear it up. Did it on my OBW at 180K and cleared it right up.

Just stick with the recomended tranny service interval and you wont have it again

 

 

nipper

Your automatic does not have a center diff. Just change the trans fluid, and see if that helps things.

I took the car to Jiffy Lube and got a "automatic transmission fluid exchange" for $99, took the FWD fuse out, and the problem is GONE! Tight turns are smmmooooth. Thank you very much. This forum is great.

now do that at regular intervals and you will never have a problem with your tranny

 

 

 

nippper

The 98 and 99 are less prone to this problem than the 97 and 96 were. My 97 OB failed around 400k km, about twice what they usually fail at. I'm not sure of the failure rate or mileage for the 98+. It's not very frequent though, that is for sure.

 

Still, the fluid change may have only bought you some time. The clutch packs do give out on these vehicles, but usually at quite high mileage.

 

Commuter

at 97 1/2 they changed the design.

 

My 97 obw has 182K miles on it and just gets regular fluid changes and is still fine. Its all in tha maintanence

 

nipper