Firedawg75 Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Just found this site today- Excellent I must say! '99 SUS (2.5L/4EAT) 71,700 mi I've got the famous clunking noise when negotiating a tight turn(left AND right). I've spent most of this evening searching and reading other posts on this subject, and now I'm wondering why we still have this problem in '99 models? Maybe it's just a normal wear and tear induced failure? I'm not so sure. Last week I spent the majority of one day diagnosing and changing fluids, etc. I found nothing wrong with any CV joints, boots, seals, mounts, U-joints, exhaust hangers, suspension components, etc. I also changed the the front & rear diff fluids with 85w/90, ATF with Subaru ATF, and fresh engine oil and filter. The ONLY leak on this entire vehicle is on both sides of the front diff- leaking from the diff itself, not the CV boots. The leak is very minor. So I took it to my dealer and had a technician ride along as we did figure 8's in the parking lot. He said it "might be something center diff related". OK....so I set a service appt. I show up this morning for the appt, they check it out and say "it's your transfer clutch solenoid". I have them figure up all the cost breakdown, yada yada, and then call the "War Dept." for authorization. Turns out they couldn't do it because they are missing one of the two gaskets that go on both sides of the metal plate. I've got all the parts in my hand except the second gasket(on order). Compared to everyone else on this board, my dealer quoted me an outstanding price- approx $430 including tax. They said it's a 2.3 hr job($85 shop rate), parts were a $167. So if I do it myself I save at least $170. My Dealer is wongleflute Hannah Subaru in Vancouver, WA. Parts I have: 2 exhaust manifold gaskets 1 transfer clutch solenoid w/ metal plate and one gasket- second on order 1 extension housing gasket- resembles a tranny pan gasket So....... I'm getting ready to tackle the job of replacing the transfer clutch solenoid myself. Sounds pretty straight forward to me. Correct me if I'm wrong in explaining what I think is involved. 1) drop the exhaust 2) drop the driveline 3) drain ATF 4) unbolt the extension housing from rear of tranny(appears to be 13 bolts or so) being cautious of anything that may want to fall out of place 5) remove old solenoid, metal plate and gaskets 6) install new solenoid in the EXTENSION HOUSING in this order: gasket/plate/gasket/solenoid 7) reinstall extension housing w/ new gasket 8) the rest is self explanetary Does this sound 'bout right? Thanks guys! Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Procedure sounds right. Before you go doing this though, lemme ask you a question? Have you put a fuse in the FWD fuse holder and performed the same figure 8 maneuvers? This really won't tell you what part of the rear power transfer system is bad, but it will definitely tell you it's related to it. The duty c solenoid (aka transfer clutch solenoid) can go bad, but there's also a possibility the clutches themself may be worn. Only problem is you don't really know until you take them apart, and I don't think you will be really taking them out when taking the rear extension housing off. here's some scans from the fsm that may help give you a better picture. http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/FSM_Scans/AWD_transfer_system1.jpg http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/FSM_Scans/AWD_transfer_system2.jpg http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8080/subaru_manual_scans/FSM_Scans/AWD_transfer_system3.jpg Sounds like your dealer is pretty good, so I'd probably say go ahead with swapping the solenoid out and see if that fixes your problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firedawg75 Posted January 9, 2004 Author Share Posted January 9, 2004 Have you put a fuse in the FWD fuse holder and performed the same figure 8 maneuvers? No...not yet. Was planning to do that tomorrow. Min 15 amp in the holder, and if the torque bind still occurs then the solenoid is not the problem.......correct? also a possibility the clutches themself may be worn. Only problem is you don't really know until you take them apart, and I don't think you will be really taking them out when taking the rear extension housing off. I was planning to take a look at those during surgery- if it's not a pain in the arse. I doubt they're worn out, but I'd still like to see for myself. The Lead Subaru Tech with 24 yrs of Subaru experience says they should be just fine, BUT like you said; you don't really know until you take it apart. here's some scans from the fsm that may help give you a better picture. Thanks! Those will come in handy. I saw you posted them in a previous, but related thread. However, I can't get them to print correctly. The words keep getting cut off on the right hand margin. I need it to print "landscape", but the pdf won't do it. Sounds like your dealer is pretty good, so I'd probably say go ahead with swapping the solenoid out and see if that fixes your problem. After I try the fuse in the holder test, I'll report back to this thread. So far, my dealer has been really helpful. Thanks! Eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 No...not yet. Was planning to do that tomorrow. Min 15 amp in the holder, and if the torque bind still occurs then the solenoid is not the problem.......correct? Correct. If you still have torque bind with the fuse in....you got some other weird issues... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
watson199 Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 where did u buy ur solenoid from because i cant find a place on the internet and someone told my friend that its 400 bucks just in parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericem Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 If you put the fuse in and you still have torque bind it definitely tells you the solenoid is indeed DEAD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted April 7, 2010 Share Posted April 7, 2010 Correct. If you still have torque bind with the fuse in....you got some other weird issues... No that's isn't true. If the Torque bind went away with the fuse, then obviously the Transfer solenoid is working. In that case, you may have a problem in the TCU. If the Fuse makes no difference, then you can assume that the Duty C is not capable of opening to drain off pressure and unlock the AWD. And Also, the transfer clutches are Completely accesible while you have the tailsection off. I would recommend removing the retainer clip, and pulling the plates to inspect them. Heck they are pretty cheap to replace. Take a die grinder to teh notches ont eh transfer hub before reinstallation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chim- Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 No that's isn't true. If the Torque bind went away with the fuse, then obviously the Transfer solenoid is working. In that case, you may have a problem in the TCU. If the Fuse makes no difference, then you can assume that the Duty C is not capable of opening to drain off pressure and unlock the AWD. And Also, the transfer clutches are Completely accesible while you have the tailsection off. I would recommend removing the retainer clip, and pulling the plates to inspect them. Heck they are pretty cheap to replace. Take a die grinder to teh notches ont eh transfer hub before reinstallation. Sorry to bring this back from the dead... but Im getting ready to replace this solenoid... What part are you talking about grinding? Also.. where is the clutch pack accessible from when the tail section is off? Sorry.. Im a total noob when it comes to subarus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
porcupine73 Posted August 7, 2010 Share Posted August 7, 2010 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baddan Posted October 6, 2019 Share Posted October 6, 2019 So just remove the drive shaft temporarily till I replace the clutch pack and solenoid is this gonna ok to drive I drove it home the binding is gone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 @GeneralDisorder@Legacy777 Does this sound more like a lazy Duty-C solenoid, worn clutches, or something else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted October 11, 2019 Share Posted October 11, 2019 Without doing some more troubleshooting I'm not sure I could pin point it to one of those things. Have you tried what you described with the gear selector in the 1 or 2 position? Supposedly there are different shift maps when the gear selector is in those positions vs. drive. If you wanted to do some testing and try applying 12v to the duty c solenoid so you have 50/50 torque split all the time that may be able to help point to a duty c solenoid or not. It has it's own issues testing that way though and would require doing some wiring. I wish I had some more concrete information for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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