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AWD in Reverse?

Question for the group.

I have a 02 WRX. I was visiting my friend's house in the country this weekend and drove down their 300-foot paved driveway that's on a steep hillside. It was raining and leaves covered most of the driveway. When I was trying to back up the driveway, I started to smell the obvious odor of burring rubber. Now, this was a steep driveway and traction conditions were not ideal (rain, leaves, steep sloping driveway).

My question is, does the AWD feature of the WRX work in reverse? I assume that the rubber smell was the tires however I'm not totally sure (hope it was not the clutch!).

Reply to
Mark
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No reason it shouldn't as it only senses rotational speed difference not direction. It may have been your clutch. Were you slipping it excessivley to maintain a slow speed and control?

Rob Munach, PE Excel Engineering PO Box 1264 Carrboro, NC 27510

Reply to
Rob Munach

On my 4EAT it's definitely functional in reverse. I'd assume it's true for the manual as well.

-Danny

Reply to
Danny Russell

Not really, I was going slow cause it was dark... Would a slipping clutch smell like rubber burning?

Reply to
Mark

Much more likely to have been the clutch. Very easy to slip it excessively in those circumstances. You need to keep your foot off it when reversing. It won't last long otherwise.

David Betts snipped-for-privacy@motorsport.org.uk

Reply to
David Betts

Why does Subaru insist on such a steep gear ratio for reverse any how? I really wish they would have taken the opposite approach and used a granny gear - I don't need go 30 mph in reverse. A granny first gear would also be nice to have in certain situations since they don't offer a low range (at least not in the US).

Reply to
Mike

Definitely. And it doesn't take a lot of slippage to get it to smell either. I get the same smells from time to time in my 2000 OBW.

The Subaru service department explained it to me as if you're going too slowly, you're not outrunning the smell, so you get to smell it. If you were going pretty fast, regular gearshifting would likely also cause the same smells but you are outrunning the smell before it gets to you.

Yousuf Khan

Reply to
Yousuf Khan

Sorry, but they are talking nonsense. If you get the smell it is because of excessive clutch slip, which certainly shouldn't be occurring during routine gearchanging. In fact, the only time you should slip the clutch atall is when moving away in first or reverse.

Sufficient clutch slip to cause a smell may be deliberate in the case of a fast launch, or unintentional if it happens while manoevring. Either way, if you keep on doing it you will wear out your clutch prematurely.

David Betts snipped-for-privacy@motorsport.org.uk

Reply to
David Betts

So, you are basically exceeding the smell barrier? Is that referred to as stench 1?

Reply to
Alan

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