tommyfullington Posted February 20, 2008 Posted February 20, 2008 ok a while back my car (A 1998 subaru awd wagon) started making a rocket down the road type of noise. I had just bought new tires so I attributed it to that. 5,000 miles later I have a bad rear differential. The shop (who is byers mazda subaru of dublin, closest place I could tow it too) want's 1500$ to fix this. The cars paid off although I owe my dad 3500$ for paying it off.(I'm not too mechanically and or car savvy so I apologize about my lingo.) So my question is mechanically if the rear differential is bad, can I not just stick a fuse in the FWD slot and drive it as an front wheel drive. If the spider gears and ball joints are still ok, basically refill the differential with grease (or whatever) plug it off, and just disengage it right? Well if that sounds crazy let me know, but if you can and it saves me 1500$ that I don't have I will love all of you for the rest of my life lol. Thanks for the responses in advance. So far I've replaced 2 cv joints, water pump & timing belt, all new rotors and pads, new tires, bought an oddly shaped coolant resevoir, drained transmission fluid and changed sensor, ... so I mean all this work and I have to fix it / trade it at the hands of the dealer. :/ Thanks for all the help! BTW I love my car and don't want to trade it
Aczwild Posted February 20, 2008 Posted February 20, 2008 Where are you located, and is it a GT model wagon? I have a '96 GT in my garage and I believe the diff is the same (I will check P#'s this weekend when I have a chance to dig a bit). if its compatible, I'll inspect my diff and I'll send it to you if it checks out. And if I do go about uninstalling it, I'll write up instructions for you (and the forum) on how to remove yours and swap JDM'd All to hell Thanks Jimmy @ Hkc-Speed.com! RIP Coxx & Thanks
Bdubs Posted February 20, 2008 Posted February 20, 2008 You can get away with driving it in FWD. There are a few guys I know of that drove around like that for a couple of years, didn't know why their AWD wasn't working, and they find out there's a fuse in there! It can be done, and I don't know an official length of time you should do it, but it'll work to get you from point a to b. It's a lot of work to replace a differential. Basically have to drop all the rear suspension, and I don't care how technically inclined you are, especially with a car with some rust, you are going to have some trouble.
mbshop Posted February 20, 2008 Posted February 20, 2008 i would guess that a junk yard would have a good unit for much less. george
tommyfullington Posted February 20, 2008 Author Posted February 20, 2008 Thank you guys so much for your responses! I'm so happy I can drive the car in front wheel drive. As far as replacing the differential myself, I won't be able too. I don't have the brains, the ability or the location for that. As far as my location it's Columbus Ohio, and I see you're in vermont so I doubt we could do the exchange for the differential. I have a mechanic though that's 35$ per hour and has worked on my car forever, I just wasn't able to get it to him this time. So tomorrow I'm going to call the dealer and ask that they install the fuse, I've already payed a 50$ towards maint. inspection so that should just cost me 50$ plus tax. I love this car... so far though I've had such bad experiences with it though you don't even know. So I'm going to explore how long you can drive in FWD if it just gets me to my mechanic that is fine as well because I know I can get this done for SO much cheaper. Thanks for all your help, you guys are always there for me when I have a problem! If anyone knows the exact time you can drive it in FWD let me know
tommyfullington Posted February 20, 2008 Author Posted February 20, 2008 Where are you located, and is it a GT model wagon? I have a '96 GT in my garage and I believe the diff is the same (I will check P#'s this weekend when I have a chance to dig a bit). if its compatible, I'll inspect my diff and I'll send it to you if it checks out. And if I do go about uninstalling it, I'll write up instructions for you (and the forum) on how to remove yours and swap Yeah if the part #'s check out I'll pay shipping and compensate you for the part. As far as installing it myself though I doubt I can but I would really appreciate it thanks for you time
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