1990 Legacy Wagon Gear Whine (how much is too much?)

[wbvolvo240]

New to the board, just picked up the fourth sub of my lifetime.

1990 Legacy Wagon, 5 spd, with 135000 miles on it. Drives good, engine sounds perfect, runs smooth. So far haven't been able to ID any bind in the driveline around tight, slow corners. No rust on the body. Clutch seems good.

The one thing I notice is an amount of gear whine in 1st and 2nd gear. Most noticeable when the car is accelerating in those gears. Is much less audible (turn off stereo, listen closely) when decelerating in those gears. When I push the clutch in you can barely manage to hear any whine at all, and only at certain speeds. If I push the clutch in and pop it out of gear it goes away entirely. Noise is gone at higher speeds and higher gears.

So my question is this, do these first gen Legacys have a louder than normal gear whine when they start getting up there in mileage? I understand old cars have gear whine. I've owned a 96 Outback Auto, 00 Outback stick, and an 04 Legacy stick in the past. Also owned a bunch of old volvos / vws with 5spd. This noise in the new sub is just over my tolerance of normal.

I plan on checking the front transaxle fluid ASAP and adding if necessary. Could this be cause by old (original perhaps) trans fluid? Should I be using Redline MT-90 or do you guys have a better fluid? Are these transaxles durable / reliable for the long haul? Any help is appreciated. Would love to know if this is a tell tale sign that she's gonna pop a trans.

Thank you

[Legacy777]

Welcome to the BBS.

These cars and even Subarus in general have a bit more gear noise than other cars. It's possible that your 90 may have a little more noise than it should, but to fix it, you'd have to split the trans and do a bunch of work.

Honestly, all I'd suggest doing is chaning the fluid. Use a standard non-synthetic gear oil. These transmissions don't necessary like synthetic oil, and can sometimes make things worse. Subaru sells their own trans fluid called Xtra-S. If you can buy it by the quart from your local dealer (just bring in a gallon jug for them to fill up) that would be the best fluid to use.

My 97 impreza outback has a bit of gear noise. It seemed to get worse after running a synthetic gear oil cocktail in it. It's been that way for several years now and I just keep driving it. This is the primary reason why I'd suggest just keep driving the car as is. Even if there are things that may not be perfect, there's a bit of tolerance there for wear & tear.

Hope that helps.

[94LegWagon]

I had really loud gear whine that became much much less after a fluid change. Just got the basic stuff from Kragen. Anything was better than the old stuff in there.

[wbvolvo240]

Ok, that is all good to hear and thank you. Here is another one. I've never in my life been able to hear the increase whirring noise when downshifting (at very low speed, I'm super careful, comes from driving a Eurovan 5spd) into first.

Today I was really listening and I noticed it. I'm hearing that this is the syncro spinning up before the downshift occurs. Is this also normal? I really think I need to replace the fluid in this thing...

Thanks again!

[Legacy777]

Yes what you're hearing is normal. You really shouldn't go into first with these transmissions untill the car is almost stopped.

[wbvolvo240]

Just checked the fliud in the transaxle, it's perfect. Stinks like hell, but that is normal. One last question.

Will GL-4 give any noticeable signs that it's broken down? This fliud is still gold / yellow, smells normal, etc. This was the same instance in my van before I changed what I expect was the original fliud.

I know I should just change it, so I will, but just for knowledge sake. Also wondering if the drain is located right in front of where the exhaust manifolds come together. That is the only plug I can see.

Thanks for the help everyone.

[Legacy777]

You must use GL5 rated fluid in these transmissions since they share the same fluid as the front differential.

There is only the one drain plug on the transmission. It's the rear-most drain plug. The other one is the engine oil drain plug.