legacycentral bbs

what does the on/off switch and the dial below it do, the two below the "Real time 4wd" stamp on the dash. I'm missing the knob on the lower dial. and what does it do when turned left/right if I turn it right power seems to go to the rear and left seems to put it to the front wheels, I may Just be crazy.

so anyways, some general info would be great.

Well it seems an hour is to long for you to wait. A picture would make it a little easier. It seems like you have an off/on switch for your diff and a control for where the power is applied.

SILINC3R wrote:Well it seems an hour is to long for you to wait. A picture would make it a little easier. It seems like you have an off/on switch for your diff and a control for where the power is applied.

thanks for the response, yea I think I'm Just a little impatient.

Sounds kind of like a DCCD controller. Unless your car is an STI, someone likely added it in. What year/model is your car, and what transmission?

Take a fracking picture! lol

James614 wrote:Sounds kind of like a DCCD controller. Unless your car is an STI, someone likely added it in. What year/model is your car, and what transmission?

it's a 1990 legacy 4EAT with a swapped in ej22t it's AWD, I'm still digging through modifications on this car, I have no back history. I'll take a picture:

could my transmission be from an sti? (although I dont believe sti's came with 4eat) the car's in NY now but hadn't left Washington state until a few months ago. I also remember when i had the dash apart there was a small black box with some wires going to the switches I believe

mike-tracy wrote:Take a fracking picture! lol

I did.

Those are manual controls for the multi-plate transfer clutch someone added in. You don't have an STI trans The switch probably switches between automatic and manual operation, and the knob likely sets the duty cycle for clutch pack between open and full lock. This is my best guess as there a number of ways to wire in your own controls for it, though.

If you can sort out how its wired in, I'm sure people would love to hear about how it was done.

HI,

Over on the Subaruforester.org site someone did have a JDM STI 4EAT from....a Forester STi.


Regarding the turnable knob:
I did this mod w/just a toggle on/off switch on my '90 Legacy so I had a 'locked' center diff. I had it wired in to the transmission harness under the pitch mount in the engine bay....(would've been easier to just wire it in to the TCU under the dash - live and learn!). I did this as a temporary fix until I fixed my tranny's rear clutch plates - I had a delayed AWD engagement and torque bind.

It was listed on UltimateSubaru.org/forum site years ago.

Mine had to be turned on and off when the car was running. If I just left it on the POWER light would throw a code for the Duty C solenoid. Also, it would cause the car to buck, bind and hop around like a truck in 4wd on pavement. DO NOT drive on the dry pavement if yours does this! Bad for the trans/diffs.

Another option is that it's wired in to emulate the FWD only option (there's a fuse holder by the passenger strut tower under the hood) which makes the car front wheel drive only. There's a light on the dash that shows FWD when this is enabled.

Regarding the on/off switch:
Does your car had fog/aux exterior lighting? That on/off switch might be for that or some other 12V device??

GL,
TD

wtdash wrote:HI,

Over on the Subaruforester.org site someone did have a JDM STI 4EAT from....a Forester STi.


Regarding the turnable knob:
I did this mod w/just a toggle on/off switch on my '90 Legacy so I had a 'locked' center diff. I had it wired in to the transmission harness under the pitch mount in the engine bay....(would've been easier to just wire it in to the TCU under the dash - live and learn!). I did this as a temporary fix until I fixed my tranny's rear clutch plates - I had a delayed AWD engagement and torque bind.

It was listed on UltimateSubaru.org/forum site years ago.

Mine had to be turned on and off when the car was running. If I just left it on the POWER light would throw a code for the Duty C solenoid. Also, it would cause the car to buck, bind and hop around like a truck in 4wd on pavement. DO NOT drive on the dry pavement if yours does this! Bad for the trans/diffs.

Another option is that it's wired in to emulate the FWD only option (there's a fuse holder by the passenger strut tower under the hood) which makes the car front wheel drive only. There's a light on the dash that shows FWD when this is enabled.

Regarding the on/off switch:
Does your car had fog/aux exterior lighting? That on/off switch might be for that or some other 12V device??

GL,
TD

well here's an example, while sliding in a snowy parking lot,

with the switch off it's much easier to throw the back out and slide around, with it on the wheels seem to try 2x as hard to prevent sliding making it much harder to drift around in snow. also during normal driving it tries to grip much more with it on. like one front wheel drives over a patch of snow and the right wheel feels like it's compensating for a lack of traction on the left.

another note, my "Power" light comes on at WOT, and I can smell alternator belt rubbing, it's as tight as it's supposed to be but it seems that when I get into higher RPMS suddenly it slips, anyone have this before? im considering re tightening as long as a pully's not locking up somewhere (I suspect Power steering)

the turning knob seems to have something to do with the power distribution... front/back maybe

Does the knob only have an effect with the switch in one position?

Does the car bind in corners on pavement with the switch in one position?

The knob definitely sounds like a potentiometer tied to the duty C solenoid which controls the mount of lockup between the front and rear wheels.

James614 wrote:Does the knob only have an effect with the switch in one position?

Does the car bind in corners on pavement with the switch in one position?

The knob definitely sounds like a potentiometer tied to the duty C solenoid which controls the mount of lockup between the front and rear wheels.

knob seems to change power distribution even with the switch off (it may do nothing, could very well be in my head). there's no "Binding" as far as I can tell you can drive with the switch on or off, with it on it feels like the cars grabbing the road with all wheels, it's a little more comfortable with it off on normal road conditions better in snow with it on, seems to be better in slippery/less traction surfaces.

I would kill to have known what has been done to this car. it's a freaking mystery machine.

Hard to say exactly what the switch doing from your description. If you could trace the wires to the wires under the dash or engine bay, as well as give us the model number of your trans (its on the bellhousing on the left side, on a white strip. Says something like TZ102ZABCD), it would be easier to say.

James614 wrote:Hard to say exactly what the switch doing from your description. If you could trace the wires to the wires under the dash or engine bay, as well as give us the model number of your trans (its on the bellhousing on the left side, on a white strip. Says something like TZ102ZABCD), it would be easier to say.

I'll keep it in mind! tthanks