Rear Differential

I have a '94 Legacy which is suffering from a humming noise from what sounds like the rear tires. I was told by a mechanic today it was the rear differential, but a friend of mine is not convinced. He thinks it's a bearing.

Does anyone know what a rear dif sounds like when it's starting to crap out? The noise gets louder the faster the car goes.

Cheers! Scott

*take out the oogabooga to reply directly*
Reply to
Scott
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Did you rotate and/or replace the tires to eliminate that as a possible source? 'Bout the only other suggestion I can make is to run the car while up on jack stands and listen carefully. Use a mechanics stethoscope. Do be careful if you do this, lest you become a candidate for the Darwin Awards ;-) You might also remove both rear half shafts and see how that affects the noise, but that wouldn't be conclusive in an AWD car, as the rear diff is _still_ spinning. I'd bet on tires first, and rear wheel bearing second, if for no other reason than it's cheaper to do wheel bearings than to service or replace the diff.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Reply to
S

Experience would lead me to believe it is a wheel bearing .. had to replace many wheel bearings, never had to do anything with the diffy. Any fluid leaking from the diff? Have someone drive while you sit in the very back of the car, listen to the noise while sitting in the center and see if the noise comes from the center or is mostly right or left. Take a long screwdriver and put the tip on a part of the metal car body close to where the struts/shocks fasten to the body and put your ear on the handle, see which side is louder. If it is decidedly on the left or right side, then definitely a wheel bearing assuming it's not some half-shaft noise, which has a different kind of sound. It's not likely that you have a wheel bearing on both sides go out at the same time.

Reply to
nItpIk

Sounds like the infamous wheel bearings! A subaru parts guy told me to make sure the new bearings are well packed with grease as they tend to come a tad on the DRY side!

- Dan

Reply to
Subaru Group

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