97 Impreza outback -- flat tire -- no fuse.

I'd have to say it's no big deal. 1.5 miles is what, 3 minutes of the car "thinking" there's a slight amount of slip. It's comparable to riding a clutch slightly for 1/4 mile, since the clutch packs are in a viscous fluid. I wouldn't worry about it.

BTW, you do have the 4EAT automatic transmission, right? Otherwise there's no fuse anyway...

Well; she said it felt weird -- like it "pulled the car" to the left when she got on the gas.... that made me think it had "broken out" of AWD.

Yes; there is a fuse, near the passenger side front strut tower.

Thanks

so at worse, it's just the clutches that are shot -- not any physical damage?

At worst, it's the clutch packs. It probably took some life out of them, but no big deal for the distances you're talking about.

Getting on the gas with an "uneven" tire will make the car pull - I recently experienced the misfortune of bending a rim on my STi, and with the spare, the car would pull right under acceleration.

On the automatics, the center diff will perceive the rear to be going slower than the front - as though the front were slipping. The clutch packs will engage to move power to the rear and "force" the front and rear to spin at the same rate.. I'm not sure about the 4EAT specifically, but I'll bet the clutch pack solenoids only engage when you're accelerating or under power, which further reduces the potential for damage unless she was blasting around town from stop lights on the way home :)

Cool! Thanks for the info...

-josh

Here's a follow up Q -- if we run it in "FWD" mode -- will gas millage be improved?

It seems to me that if it shuts off the "AWD" mode; that it'd do better -- but it might be that I'm not seeing the "big picture"

thanks

-josh