Greetings,
Three weeks ago, I purchased a 1998 Forester S with 116K km's on it. I test drove it several times, had a trusted mechanic look at it, and he also test drove it. Feeling good about the purchase, I went ahead and bought it.
A few days after I purchased it, it began making a vibration noise (it's an automatic) that *only* occurs at 40-45 km/h. It doesn't matter if I'm braking, accelerating, or coasting in neutral. The noise does not occur when the car is wet (driving in the rain, for example), so it sounds like something, some place, is rubbing and at that speed there is a a harmonic vibration some place. It's extremely loud when it does occur, but so far, no one has been able to find where it is. We've tightened all the various heat shields, we've had the exhaust system completely off the car, we have examined the bearings in the hubs and the axles, I've put new tires on, aligned the suspension, balanced the wheels, etc, but nothing has solved this problem. Obviously, my test drives occurred on days when it was raining. It rains a fair bit around here.
It seems to originate from the rear passenger area, but it's very difficult to pinpoint because you can't reproduce it on a hoist, obviously, and once the car is vibrating, the entire cabin resonates.
Other than this issue, the Forester is great. No rough idling, the transmission is smooth, and at highway speeds and at speeds lower than
40 km/h, life is very good. But, city driving usually happens at speeds less than 50 km/h around here, so you constantly hear this noise. It can be reproduced extremely easily while driving.Has anyone ever encountered anything like this? I'd appreciate all ideas. Both my mechanic and the local subaru dealer have been unable to find the source of the problem.
Regards,
Jason