Hi All
Recently joined to start a thread but have been reading legacygt for a while.
I have an recent issue that has come up on my 2012 BR Liberty (wagon, CVT, 2.5, 199k kms (123k miles) over Christmas. My nearest 'subaru whisperer' is over an hour away and it's our only car for the minute, so attempting to solve the issue myself until I cannot, and have to drag it way across town.
Issue started with a vibration when accelerating reasonably hard, in straight line, from a standing start. Vibration seems to go away at higher speeds (say 60kmh / 40mph and above) and there is no effect to fuel economy. Vibration seemed to come from a number of places, but seemed central to car, no knocks just a 'throbbing' under reasonable acceleration load. Also seems to go away after a while, ie worse when the car is cold?
Parts replaced so far:
1. Initially, I suspected front LH wheel bearing (has happened before and was replaced). Replaced front LH wheel bearing again after 12months of the 2nd one.
2. Replaced rear LH wheel bearing (wife hit a curb and popped 2 tyres a few years ago, thought perhaps the rear had gone like the front did as above, just a little later)
3. At this point, over the New Year break, I took it to a local mechanic who drove it and immediately said the rear diff had gone. Couldn't fix it for 3 weeks, I was on break so just did it myself. So rear diff has been replaced.
4. Still no better, I swapped the rear engine mount (that hangs onto the back of the centre diff) rubber as the original one looked compressed and whilst not broken I thought it might have softened and allowed more vibration. Still no good.
5. Finally, have swapped out the centre drive shaft with a good condition used one, the original one definitely was stiffer and clicked so felt this was a good change.
Whilst a little better, THE VIBRATION REMAINS!
My thoughts move now to rear CVs (the vibration seems to come from the centre/rear but so hard to tell....) - they look fine, and had no play when I swapped the diff so didnt give them a second thought. They don't click, and I have read they rarely break?
ANY THOUGHTS WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED......