legacycentral bbs

Sorry if this is a beat-to-death topic, but my 91 legacy has an auto AWD, and whenever I turn at slow speeds (like in a parking lot) it pops really bad and feels like the tires aren't spinning at different speeds to allow me to turn. After it pops, the car moves a little more freely, then it slows back down again, and POP again (kind of like a 4wd truck with lockers... it "jumps" a little). Just turning into or out of a parking spot it'll do it 5 or 6 times. Then when I put it in park and turn off the car, it acts as if it's releasing a bunch of built-up back pressure and moves a little, then comes to a rest and settles into park. I thought it might be torque bind, but I don't have any problems with the tranny slipping or anything like that when I'm accelerating... only when I'm turning. And at that, sometimes it does it and sometimes it doesn't. Any ideas?!?

Could it be your axle? Torn boot?

Pretty sure it's not the axles... both fronts are brand new and the rear driver's is new. I was thinking it's got to be something in the transfer case or transmission itself that's not telling the wheels to spin at the right speeds.

Could be auto tranny issues... There are extensive posts on here about those sorts of symptoms with the 4eat + slow turning, do a quick search.

However, brand new does not preclude axle misbehavior if they are of autozone et al. quality... e.g., see: http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=40105

How new are the axles? Did it start right after you put them in, or do you have other reason to believe they are not the issue?

To be honest, my friend that I bought the car from had done all the work with the cv axles. Pretty sure he bought them from Autozone though (and I personally can't stand that place). I don't know if it did it before he replaced them or not. He's overseas right now and a little hard to reach. He did mention that his tranny mechanic said it was something to do with a solenoid on the back of the transmission and replacing it would make it stop acting up. I just don't remember what solenoid he said it was.

Torque bind. Insert a fuse in the FWD fuse holder and see if your problem goes away.

If it does, please search for some potential fixes.

And if its not torque bind it could just be a ball joint... I noticed mine(97 leg wgn) was doing the same thing. While in reverse with the wheel turned to either side and backing up slowly it would make a loud SNAP sound and it would feel like the wheel was locked for that split second.
Turns out the boot was completely gone and the ball joint was riding metal on metal and had about 3mm of play all the way around.

I know this threads pretty dead, just figured id post this cause i bought a new cv axle thinking that's what it was too.

Furnace89 wrote:And if its not torque bind it could just be a ball joint... I noticed mine(97 leg wgn) was doing the same thing. While in reverse with the wheel turned to either side and backing up slowly it would make a loud SNAP sound and it would feel like the wheel was locked for that split second.
Turns out the boot was completely gone and the ball joint was riding metal on metal and had about 3mm of play all the way around.

I know this threads pretty dead, just figured id post this cause i bought a new cv axle thinking that's what it was too.

Hey man, I still appreciate it. I'll check it out before I give up completely on the tranny.