Is my Legacy wagon a goner? Please advise!

[white97wagonguy]

Forgive me if this is already answered, maybe multiple times, on the forum. I've searched and learned some things, but haven't found quite the answer I need. BTW this forum is an amazing resource. Sorry I that I didn't know about it earlier.

 

I have a 1997 Legacy L wagon, 4-speed automatic, that has served me well for many years. The car has spent most of its life in Salt Lake City, UT (where I enjoyed driving it in the snow), but has retired to Hawaii since 2011. It seems to have done well in the warm climate

 

Without going into too much detail, it has some undercarriage damage issues since about 10 years ago, including an oil leak that comes and goes. For at least a few years now, it has exhibited what I think I now understand is called "torque binding" (right?), which means the drivetrain shudders/chatters during low-speed turns. I've been told by more than one mechanic that this is "the center differential binding", and that it would be way too expensive to fix and that I could live with it indefinitely. So that's what I was doing.

 

I have also known that if I put it in FWD with the fuse, that I could stop this chatter, but that I would eventually "ruin the solenoid". I wasn't sure what that all meant, but it sounded like I shouldn't do that, so I've followed the advice.

 

The other day, I got a feeling like running over a small animal, and suddenly the there was a new shudder/chatter in the back end of the car, a much scarier one. I noticed that it tended to happen while accelerating from a stop, going straight. After taking it to my mechanic, he advised we take the car home and don't try to drive it, because we might get stuck on the road. He doesn't do transmissions and said it would be way more expensive to fix than the car is worth, which I was able to guess. I guess this means there's a danger the whole drivetrain could just fall out onto the road or something. So... I don't know exactly what state it's in, but clearly it's not good.

 

After a while I remembered about the FWD conversion, and thought I would test it out to see how it felt. Well, it drives like a dream. Feels so good that I felt confident to drive it out shopping, and we went to a couple stores, for a round trip of about 15 miles. No problems (I've got AAA ). I kept it under 40 mph.

 

Here's the thing: I have been planning to go back to the US mainland from Hawaii for a while, and though it won't happen this year, it's likely to happen by next fall. I have always hoped the car would last until we leave the island. What a pain to have to replace it for a short time while we're still here. I'm no moneybags. So... that's 12-18 more months.

 

My main questions for you guys:

 

How long can I realistically keep driving under FWD before the solenoid fails? (I see people on the forum referring to Duty C solenoid - is that what we're talking about?)

 

Is there any danger involved if the solenoid finally bites the dust while I'm driving?

 

After it fails will the car simply not move at all?

 

Related to the first question, how much would it cost to get the solenoid replaced?

 

I guess if the solenoid only lasts for a couple hundred miles and costs $800 or something to replace, this plan makes no sense at all. Just wanna get a feel for the realities of it. It probably just makes the most sense to let the car go and get a new used one to last out our time here, something I can resell to get most of my money back. But we have quite an emotional attachment to our Legacy, so it's hard to just toss it aside

 

Thanks for reading and for any thoughts.

[johnegg]

if the FWD fuse corrects the binding,

your duty-c is still working.

if you have binding, and the FWD corrects it,

you have a different problem,

old worn, dirty, gummed up transfer clutch disks maybe.

have you tried replacing the trans fluid?

search for: drain and* fill trans fluid .

 

the only dealer price quote i have ever seen for the duty-c repair also included the ''transfer clutch disc'',

and the cost was close to $900 many years ago.

the solenoid is ~$100 from an online dealer and it can be done without removing the trans.

a decent shop should be able to handle it.

 

for the second problem, the ''new'' shudder,

i would check the u-joint connections in the drive shaft.

and maybe the carrier bearing support mounts, and bolts.

''binding puts extra strain on the drive train,

u-joints may be your weak link suffering from the abuse.

 

you can run the FWD fuse in with no worries.

it may die at some point, but it may last until you sell the car.

 

another solution,

remove the rear section of the drive shaft.

this will make it FWD all the time,

no AWD.

you have to leave the front section of the drive shaft in place

or you will leak ATF out the rear of the trans, not good.

i drove my 95 like this for 40k miles.

i did miss the AWD,

but not enough to crawl under the car and do the repairs,

or spend the money.

 

i would do 3 drain and fills with driving in between.

then drive in slow tight circles to see if anything ''loosens up''.

gummed up clutch disks is pretty common.

 

good luck.

[white97wagonguy]

johnegg, thanks so much for the very helpful reply. I'd like to clarify a few things if you don't mind....

 

have you tried replacing the trans fluid?

search for: drain and* fill trans fluid .

Nope, had no idea. I'll look into it.

 

you can run the FWD fuse in with no worries.

it may die at some point, but it may last until you sell the car.

So.... what effect does it have when it dies? If I'm driving when it happens, am I in danger? Does it give any warning signs that it's about to go?

 

another solution,

remove the rear section of the drive shaft.

this will make it FWD all the time,

no AWD.

you have to leave the front section of the drive shaft in place

or you will leak ATF out the rear of the trans, not good.

This sounds like a fascinating option. Do you mean that it will be permanent FWD without having the fuse in, and without causing the duty-c to die? Or will the fuse still need to be left in?

 

I wonder if my local dealer will try to do this for me. I'm thinking of taking them a printout of this thread. Would you expect them to charge a lot to do this? Is it a hard job?

 

i drove my 95 like this for 40k miles.

i did miss the AWD,

but not enough to crawl under the car and do the repairs,

or spend the money.

In Oahu, where there's no snow (of course), and rarely heavy rain, I think full-time FWD will work just fine

 

good luck.

Thanks again!

[johnegg]

if and when the duty-c dies the car will start ''binding'' which it is already doing.

there will be no other sudden damage, it will not be dangerous.

usually do do not even notice it binding except when making slow tight turns,

like into a parking space.

 

i don't think you need to go to the dealer to have the drive shaft removed,

but i guess you could.

they probably will want to ''fix'' it rather than ''gut'' it.

 

removing the drive shaft, REAR section only, is like removing the chain from a bicycle.

there will be no connection between the transmission and the rear wheels.

the front wheels will still be connected.

the car will drive and handle like a FWD car.

the car will be a front wheel drive car.

no need to install the fuse,

it makes no matter.

 

but change the trans fluid before you do ANYTHING else.

my guess is that will fix it.

i'll bet the trans fluid has never been changed, ever.

[white97wagonguy]

Thanks again for the extremely helpful and clear advice!