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Dear All Subaruledges,

Finally I've got a one for myself I really enjoyed driving subarus which friends of mine have, so I couldn't resist myself from buying 1995 Subaru Legacy Wagon L, AWD ABS as a substitution to my old friend - nissan sentra which survived the deserts of new mexico and heat of texas. I know that you forum is for up-to-94 subarus but may be you give me hints.

So I've got the beauty: http://www.onerussian.com/php/album.php ... os/Cars/1/ for 2k$ USD with 141k miles on it. Engine drives strong but I have mentioned 2 prominent problems during the first evening of driving it (I just bought it because I couldn't resist my nature...)

1. I know that break pads are kinda worn, especially the rear ones. So I'm going to replace them, but I've tried couple of 'hard' break attempts (tires are 70% new, seems to be evenly worn and pumped). If I press slowly but with increasing power - seems to break pretty well. If I press them repidly and hard - it slippers.... So I will check ABS fuse tomorrow (which as I understood might be the problem), can somebody answer simple question: would any light come up if such a fuse is dead? How to know for sure if ABS works? just if it doesn't slip nomatter how hard I press?

2. This is more disturbing. There is a strong rear noise, which starts around 5 mph (not loud) and strength/frequency of it proportional to the speed I would say. I'm afraid that it comes from the rear end, and from the middle of the body, so it must be differential I will lift the car and I will check the oil level there or even have it changed. Also I will check if differential heats up (I remember when it really blow off on the high way on our trip from Texas...)

I'm from Phila but now in NJ. I think I should better take care about the car before driving it 100 miles to get home, where I have a good mechanic. Here I have some friends who can help me with lifts etc... Or may be I will stop at some service center so they lift it up and assess what 'they can fix', so I can drive away - can smbd recommend such a place around Newark?

Can you please give me any other hints on what to check to localize the sources of the problem? I'm kinda new in mechanics - just did whatever I needed to keep my nissan running (body work, change of head gasket, timing chane, crankshaft bearings etc) so I know that I don't know a lot - please help me!

Thank you all in advance for any help

What do you mean by "it slippers?"

If either of the ABS fuses is blown the ABS light on the dash will come on.

if the abs is working when you hit the pedal hard and it needs the abs youll feel the pedal pulsing under, like a vibration. the hum you have could also be a rear wheelbearing so that may be something to consider when your lookin at the diff. also if the sound seems to be coming from one side then its most likely the wheel bearing on that side.

I'm thinking a wheel bearing, too. It's a relatively common thing on the AWDs. More common than bad diffs, anyways.

Steve

Thank you guys for replies

bearings... how to check them? I think to check (when car is lifter) if any wheel has a bit of luft (loosen). Is that right?
today I will ask a friend to track from the rear sit where noise comes from.

ABS - I will better check and probably replace all pads first just to make sure that breaking system is ok and then I will continue experimenting on it.

Hello everybody again,

I hadn't a chance to lift the car yet but as you've mentioned, rear bearings might be a problem (which is even bigger problem on foresters 1999-2001). When I check them on freeplay, the next step would be to check visually on how well used in them greese is, but here is the question:

do they require to be packed with greese (as my nissan did)? or they are kind of new genuine subaru bearings
http://www.endwrench.com/current/Curren ... -50-02.pdf

which do not require additional greese besides the one which is there in new one at least...

What kind of greese do you suggest?
What torque is by the specification on the main nut? (I'm going to buy a repair manual for having a source of specs asap)

Thank you in advance

I think the bearings are sealed and need to be replaced.

Steve

evolutionmovement wrote:I think the bearings are sealed and need to be replaced.

Steve

I thought that seals are replacable. That is why bearing set comes with bearing and 3 seals. So you can get access to the internals of the bearing I believe...

I thought these cars had permanently sealed bearings. I could be wrong, but I don't hear of anyone rebuilding them on Subarus, they just replace them. Could be the cost of labor for rebuilding, too. The bearings themselves may need to be replaced too if they are scored.

Steve

vrg3 wrote:What do you mean by "it slippers?"

Sorry for the bad English. I meant that the wheels get blocked so they start to slide

Is there is 'anything' which 'tunes' ABS system?

Is it usually a magnetic sensor which tracks if the wheel doesn't get blocked or smth else?

Ah... The wheels lock up and skid, which is precisely what ABS is meant to prevent.

There are sensors on each wheel and a computer to interpret the signals. I think they are just tone wheels and magnetic pickups. There's a hydraulic control unit behind the passenger side headlight. There also may be a deceleration sensor.

I don't know that much about the system on your 95 except that it's not quite the same as 90-94s. It may be possible for a dealer to connect a scan tool to your ABS computer and diagnose the problem that way.

Does the ABS light in the dash come on when you turn the key to the "ON" position without starting? If not, it's possible the light bulb is burnt out.

vrg3 wrote: Does the ABS light in the dash come on when you turn the key to the "ON" position without starting? If not, it's possible the light bulb is burnt out.

I believe that I saw the ABS light on right before igniting the car, so I think it works, although I will double check again.

Thank you for replying

what a weekend....
Sat morning I've found my car with a flat tire and a lake of gas underneath it... he heh - changed the rear tires and found out that tank of my 'new' car if fucked up - although the guy who sold it to me wasn't aware of it as well (he just resold it and it was with few gallons in it - so it wasn't leaking...).... but that is different story - the seller promised to fix it... now back to horses.

Rear noise: I've checked the wheel bearings and they seems ok - wheels feel solid when I try to check bearings and they turn without any noise (although that was checked of cause when the car is lifted so much less load on the bearings)

so - next suspect is differential (full of kinda clean oil) and/or driveshaft (center bearing may be although noise seems to come more from the back).

What is normal temperature for the differential? After 30 mins of average 60mph differential got a bit hotter than worm - it was possible to keep hand on it but it was close to be hot I would say.

May be smbd can help with idea how to locate the noise... at least to figure out if it is differential or driveshaft...

Thank you in advance for all the ideas