1998 Impreza L noise

OK, friend's wife has a 1998 Impreza L that's about to get traded, and I'm considering buying. I can get a good deal on it. Specs:

Base 1998 Impreza wagon Automatic trans AWD 106,000 miles

The main issue is that it has a dragging/rubbing noise from the rear area. It varies directly with speed, but has no resonant frequencies like a wheelbearing would.

Transmission shifts fine and seems tight and crisp. It seems to be coming from the rear diff area, but does NOT sound like a grinding noise.

Any thoughts?

Duke wrote: ...dragging/rubbing noise from the rear area. It varies directly with speed...

Could it be a sticking caliper or parking brake? That would be rear and it would be variable with speed.

It doesn't feel like it. The car seemed peppy enough and tracked straight. They've been driving it that way for a while and I would think that brakes would have shown up as an issue bigger than just noise. It might be the transfer shaft or one of the rear halfshafts, but I just don't know anything about these cars.

What's the lifespan on these things in general? It's straight and has no body rust, but everything underneath and under the hood looks vaguely corroded.

Hm. Typically, my vote would be wheelbearing... the rears love to die on most of Subie's AWD cars, I'd check it out anyway. I like the sticking brake idea as well. In addition, I'd check the fluid level in the rear diff.

Average lifespan on these cars is 200K+ miles when neglected, 300K+ when well maintained. My father has a MY2002 Impreza TS with 270k miles, hasn't done anything to it but regular maintenence and a Y pipe, still has the factory clutch and headgaskets. Growing up, all the Subies in my family(Loyale-based cars) regularly did 350k miles before the body gave out.

For wheel bearing check. From the side of the car grab the rear tire and shake the tire in and out. If the bearing is bad you will feel play or slop, maybe you will even hear clicking.

Is the parking brake working as in will it hold itself on a hill (while in neutral?)

jrw1621 wrote: For wheel bearing check. From the side of the car grab the rear tire and shake the tire in and out. If the bearing is bad you will feel play or slop, maybe you will even hear clicking. Is the parking brake working as in will it hold itself on a hill (while in neutral?)

The parking brake on most rear-disc Subies is a drum inside the rotor and could be dragging a little (or the parking brake shoe could be compeletely gone.)

As far as checking for a bad wheel bearing, I haven't been able to use the 'shake it method' successfully. Even though they make horrible noise while driving, I can't budge them by hand. YMMV there. I wouldn't write off a bad wheel bearing even if you can't feel any slop by hand. Subie are notorious for it.

According to the owner, who admittedly doesn't know a lot about the mechanics, they had some transmission service done a year ago. After that he thinks the noise got "better, but still there".

It's his wife's car and I don't think he drives it much or does much of the getting maintenance done to it. He said she missed a few oil changes early on but he's had her getting it taken care of regularly for the last 5 years or more.

I haven't had a chance to jack the car up yet - I just saw it for the first time today and drove it around the block. They may trade it on a new Mazda3, but he hasn't gotten a trade-in offer for it yet (book trade-in is about $2600). He'd cut me a deal on it, particularly if they give him a lowball trade.

What's the timing belt interval?

At 100k should it be looking at new struts and springs, too?

Would you pay $2000 for this car? Thanks for the info, guys.

Duke wrote: What's the timing belt interval? At 100k should it be looking at new struts and springs, too? Would you pay $2000 for this car? Thanks for the info, guys.

If the timing belt service interval for the EJ22(GREAT engine, btw) is the same as the SOHC EJ25 of the era, it should be 95k miles. I'd look into whether it was done on this car. Struts should be getting pretty soft by now, but used replacements(read: WRX and the like) are cheap and plentiful.

Would I pay $2k? If the body were clean, I think I'd shell out $2k even if the wheel speed related noise turned out to be a bad trans.

Happy hunting.

Duke wrote: Would you pay $2000 for this car? Thanks for the info, guys.

Hell yes.

My daily driver and winter beater is a '98 Impreza manual coupe. It has about 110K on it (give or take 3K- the speedo/odo sensor died at 98K, when I bought it). I think the timing belt interval on the 2.2L is actually every 60K miles. Mine got changed at 58K miles, and, with a 60mi round-trip commute every day, I'm coming up quickly on my next timing belt change. My car's suspension feels O.K., if a little tired. I put Cusco strut tower bars on it and have 16" Azenis summer tires, so those help the handling a little. Watch out for undercarraige rust- I don't think a single suspension component on my car is rust-free. Even so, I could easily get between $2500-3300 for my car. I bought it for $2500 at auction. Of course, I live in New England, so YMMV when it comes to resale value.

Hell yes it's worth the asking price. I sold our stick sedan with over 200k and broken a/c for about that. And had two buyers racing to see who got there first.

Can't help you with the noise diagnostic. Rear wheel bearings are allegedly a frequent replacement. Ours never took any, but I think one was going south when I sold it as it was a bit rumbly back there. The diffs last forever, so doubt it's that.

Mileage interval for TB on a 2.2 is 90,000 or thereabouts. Replace the water pump, cam seals, front crank seal, etc all at once. It's money well spent.

OK, thanks for all the input, guys.

How hard is the maintenance package you just outlined above? Never worked on Subies before, but it would be fine of it sat in the garage for a couple weeks while we dinked with it. It looks not too hard to take stuff off under the hood.

Though, as I said, it appears to be a bit surface-corroded everywhere.

I've also got a line on a 2.5RS sedan with about 80k on the clock, for a bit more than twice the price. The $2000 L is a wagon.

I keep hearing stories about 2.5 headgaskets - are the 2.2s not as susceptible?

I'll let others chime in on how hard the water pump and gaskets would be as that stuff is beyond my experience. I can tell you that I don't even need to raise my '95 Legacy off the ground to change the oil.

Subie's all look a bit corroded under the hood. Nothing to worry about.

The 2.2 does not have the head gasket issues that the 2.5's did.

I've got the same car with a manual.

Buy it. You'll love it, though you'll wish it had a manual.

Price is right.

I'd bet a ten spot on the wheel bearing.

Change the timing belt, change the wheel bearing. Price is still right.

I've got a set of Spec C strut/ springs, if you'd like them.

The 2.2L engine is probably the most reliable engine Subaru ever made. It's slow, but relatively torquey and has no trouble climing steep hills in bad weather. Mine has an AirAid (think K&N) filter, which helps it breathe a little better. It's an awesome winter beater and dirt-road hooning car , and I can eke out 27-30mpg on the highway. There are some people in New England who would gladly go to Delaware to get a Scooby at that price, even an older one.

@SVreX: Darn you, dangling those Spec C struts & springs in front of me! If only you mentioned those before I got my RX-7!

I can see wishing for a manual, but I have to admit, it felt OK for around-town work. I was surprised it felt as peppy as it did with an automatic. Plus, it's for my daughter who is just 16. I'll be teaching her to drive a stick, but haven't gotten to it yet, and I'm not sure she'll enjoy it.

I'll see what they offer him in trade-in. He said he'd give me a good deal based on that. Thanks again for all the advice, and I'll definitely look into those struts, SVreX.

Duke wrote: How hard is the maintenance package you just outlined above? Never worked on Subies before, but it would be fine of it sat in the garage for a couple weeks while we dinked with it. It looks not too hard to take stuff off under the hood. ... I keep hearing stories about 2.5 headgaskets - are the 2.2s not as susceptible?

The great majority of Subarus are painfully easy to work on, though the 2.2 cars don't tend to need much.

DOHC 2.5s('98 Impreza RS/Forester/'98-'00(?)Legacy GT/Outback) have a long history of headgasket issues, though cars fixed properly tend to last a bit longer than they did on factory gaskets. SOHC 2.5s were a crapshoot; I've seen them blow on babied cars with as little as 35k miles, yet some cars go to 200k and beyond. Expect the headgaskets on a 2.2 car to go at least 150k miles... they tend to last. Not the quickest engine, but torquey and bulletproof.

IMHO The only weak point of that car is the transmission, and as far as automatics go its not that bad. Just be sure that the whine is coming from the rear end and not the front end you should be OK.

Back when I was a poor student, with no money and even less time I had the transmission fail in mine. I made the mistake of having a shop try to rebuild it... It was never right after than and I think the gorilla of a mechanic got in and screwed with the AWD system when he was trying to track down the transmission leaks he could never plug...

To get to the point. the car has the whine of doom coming from the front end, and to fix it I will need to either get a parts car and strip out what I need or find a way to get a new transmission/center diff into the car cheaply. Since from my understanding few mechanics are willing to delv into the guts of the transmission/drivline to fix this kind of problem.

It sounds like you have already ruled out the transmission/ center diff as a possible cause of the whine, but it might not hurt to double check.

While your changing the timing belt, do the water pump as well, subies love to overheat/warp heads around the 100k mark.

Currently having this issue on my 99 RS, the dust shield on my rear brakes was rubbing. I know all too well about the SOHC 2.5L crapshoot. Mine was a severe oilburner within a month of purcahse 2 years ago, blew it up over that summer, and spent months trying to track down a low mileage 2.5 sohc that didn't eat oil. And I actually lucked out. Got one that eats 1/2qt every 5k on synthetic which is amazing for that motor.

Now if I could only find a wrecked WRX drivetrain.....

Just missed a 96 AWD 5-speed coupe with a slipping clutch for $600 obo.

(not for me, my brother is looking for another sacrificial anode up in Connecticut.)

Man, a lot of you guys have to pay a premium for Subies! Our LeMons wagon ('95 Impreza L Wagon with a 1.8 and 5 speed) was $300! Of course, the body had a couple of dents, the car didn't run (ignition wire chaffed through, cheap fix!), and it has 300k miles on it, but it was only $300! We sold some stuff that we stripped out/off of it and even with the pre-bent cage kit, used RS struts, WRX sway bar, and 2.2 out of the junkyard we're still right around $500 total investment. Actually, we've spent more on tires than we have on the rest of the car. There are tons of Subarus in the WA/ID/OR/MT region so they tend to sell pretty cheap out here.

You won't be disappointed with the Impreza wagon, they take are a hoot to drive and are very reliable. In the rare case that you have to work on it, they're literally one of the easiest newish cars out there to work on. The EJ18/EJ22 are rock solid engines, although beware of broken timing belts on late EJ22s (I think they became interference around '96?). Our stripped out Impreza, even being a wagon with all-season tires and the 1.8, was also very competitive at rallycross events as well. This Impreza is the first car I've ever brought home that my girlfriend didn't want me to sell...

With all that said, it's awfully hard to diagnose sounds like that over the computer, it could be anything from a hub to a brake shield to a diff to a CV joint. Can you bring the computer for a ride in the car so we can hear it better?

Bryce

I didn't say I paid that much for mine- I said the price was fair.

Forget bringing the computer in the car. I think he should be required to adequately imitate the sound in the thread. Extra points if he makes us laugh. Kind of like the car talk guys always making people make the sounds of their car problems! :D

Well, it's definitely coming from the rear axle - not a chance it's midships. It goes a little like this:

[start] whiiiiiiiiiichh whiiiiiiiichh whiiiiiichh whiiiichh whiichh whiichhwhiichhwhiichhwhiichhwhiichhwhiichhwhiichhwhiichh [cruise] whiichh whiiiichh whiiiiiichh whiiiiiiiichh whiiiiiiiiiichh whiiiiiiiiiiiiiichh [stop]

It varies directly with speed and doesn't seem to have any resonant frequencies like a wheelbearing often would. In my short drive I didn't hear it change under lateral load, either, though the owner says it does, which is wheel-bearing like.

I'm liking the idea of a brake shield rubbing. It's got that sheetmetal tang to it. That could also vary a little with high lateral loads.

Thanks again for all the tips, guys. The car has been well used, but has no body rust and has never been wrecked. It needs a buffing, a thorough cleaning inside-outside-underneath, and replacement headlight glass on the left side (stone hit).

Lol!