Subaru WRX Forum banner

loud knocking noise, jerking drivers side while turning at low speed

19K views 31 replies 7 participants last post by  Bugeyez 
#1 ·
hey guys when i turn tight at low speeds a loud awful knock comes from the drivers side of my car. I can literally feel the car jerking when this happens.. i just had my front passenger side cv joint replaced today.. i thought that was the problem since it was leaking. any ideas on what it could be?!
 
#5 ·
It's an 03 Wrx with 103,680 miles on it. The replaced the passengger side front. It sounds like it's coming from drivers rear or mid. It made the noise before the work was done at the dealership. It's more of click I guess. It's hard to explain
 
#10 ·
so the whole car is kind of shuttering?...If so my best bet from the info youve given is that you have the early stages of torque bind....my recommendation is as soon as you can..change the trans gear oil...if you catch this early a fluid change might help..otherwise your going to have to shell out big money for a new viscous coupler (center diff)....i just replaced one the other day in an 03 BAJA w/ 115k miles...
 
#13 · (Edited)
yes that does make sense...same complaint i got from the baja owner....once the clutches in the VC(viscous coupler) get warmed up they cant shear the fluid anymore and they start to bind....this is a more common problem on the old 4eat's...however i also encountered this problem in my 96 Legacy 5 spd....as said i would def. change the trans gear oil ASAP... some of these VC's are around $600 + labor if you dont do it yourself... As for the gear oil change...yes there are essentialy 3 diffs in the car...however the front diff is encorporated in the trans on the 5spds...there should be a large drain plug (either a 21mm or a T70 torx bit) directly behind the engine cradle pull the drain plug and let drain...replace drain plug and fill with gear oil...75w90 will work....usually they take about 3.2 Qts...Where are you located by the way?
 
#17 ·
aight so i took it to subaru again today to see if they could figure out. after looking at the car and driving it for 30 minutes (wasting all my gas) they told me they could not find anything wrong with it. when i mentioned what you told me about the fluid they said it was a good idea to go ahead and do it to be safe. so thats what im doing for now. thanks again man, i'll let you all know if this fixes my problem
 
#21 ·
hi i have the the same problem i have a 2003 impreza sti and i just got the front diff changed in the gearbox and the knocking and jerking when turning is still there i was starting to think i is the drive shafts but when i had them off doing the front diff they seemed fine do you think it could be this torque bind
 
#23 ·
This has worked for many people, however its about 50/50 sometimes it works sometimes not...It all depends how long it has been binding...Do you have an automatic or a manual? Your getting a severe shuttering throughout the vehicle when its at operating temperature and your turning?
 
#28 ·
Hi guys, New to the forum.

I have an Australian Delivered 02 Bugeye and have just spent the last 5hrs changing my box, clutch, flywheel and front driveshafts.

I did a trans oil change the other week and had some big bits fall out so decided it was time for another box.

I now have a massive clucking noise when turning, I went and did some circles both left and right at low speed and it feels like its binding really bad (I can feel it through the steering and front end and it sounds terrible)

Im guessing from what has been suggested here that it could very well be that the viscous centre coupling is stuffed in the box that I got. All gears seem really strong just clunks really bad when turning. (and I mean really bad)

My mate who owns a workshop and runs a Subaru WRC Car helped me change out the box etc, so its definately been installed correctly, unfortunately it did not make any noises on the initial test drive, only happened after about 15mins of driving and then got progressively worse.

I still have my old box and the centre diff was ok (slight knocking noise but this one sounds 10000000000000x times worse) so we may have to drop the oil and put that centre on the new box. Otherwise I have 6mth warranty on the Jap import box, so the breakers might have to foot the bill.


I would like some other peoples opinion on this before I see him on monday to diagnose.

Cheers

Adam
 
#29 ·
Adam- The binding Viscous unit in the tailhousing seems like the culprit again here, Of course I'm going off of the only information I have which is what your typing haha, Good news is you dont have to drop the trans to replace it, it can be done in the vehicle, How many miles are on the used trans? Usually the center diff takes a dump due to poor vehicle upkeep such as unequal tire pressures, lack of tire rotation etc...or just from mileage/age, I had mine start to bind in my Legacy at just over 180,000 miles...
 
#32 ·
All sorted :D

Well the good news is, I replaced the Viscous Coupling today and all is good, No more torque bind and horrible noises.

Took me good part of a few hours to do, but I took my time and was also helping with an engine swap so that took me away from my car a few times.

So if your getting any binding or loud cracking and knocking when loading up the transfer case with circles and figure 8's then I would pretty well say that its the Viscous Coupling 100%

Cheers for the input Evoeatr
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top