Car mechanic type people, help! What do you think?

according to the internet it's more than $1500. But it might be covered under the longer powertrain warranty?

Everything from an imbalanced tire to suspension problems. Although considering it's a Outback, one wonders about power train problems being a AWD kinda thing.

Sounds pricey.

If it was some cheap place, their dynamic balancing machine (if they had one) may have been faulty (they need recalibrating regularly). Truth is, even a major tire dealer can make a mistake. I'd get all the tires rebalanced before I spent much money doing anything else.

It was a tire place but they did it for free. Yikes.

kind of like electrical stuff. "Is it plugged in?"

If not, then a steering link could be damaged. That would also make you feel it holding the steering wheel as it rolls.

It also could be bad suspension on that side, or failing wheel bearings.

Good luck!

comment on something I am familiar with on my 1999 Forester, that is sort of similar. It has to do with the viscous couplers that Subaru uses on their AWD. I believe there are 4- one for each wheel and there are attached to the transmission. They are sort of like a differential. On mine the front one(s) went out at around 100K miles. It thumps when you turn the wheels at a low speed, like when pulling into a parking space. First I thought I had a flat. It makes no noise at normal speeds but only at low speeds on turns. The car shakes. Doesn't appear on acceleration though and doesn't "work its way back".

I would suggest you contact a mechanic in your area familiar with Subaru's that can give you advice. Good luck.

I wondered about CV joint on the front left. Thanks.

You should check them out and see if the noise is similar. Here's one to get you started.



The viscous coupler is part of the center differential. Basically, it's what feeds drivetrain energy to your rear wheels when it is needed.

Lug nuts on wheels on the left side can loosen due to the direction of rotation of the wheel (don't ask how I know!). I would check that the lug nuts are tight.

It make have developed a "knot" (bulge) on part of the tread, probably at the point where the flat was fixed. Jack the car up, and rotate the wheel by hand, while running the other hand over the tread. You should be able to feel it and see it.

I had a car that would literally shake itself sideways when pulling away from a stop. Once up to speed the shake disappeared. Turned out I had a bulge under the tread.

Unless you raise it up on a lift.

Is now recyclable scrap! You are safest to have it towed, it's already damaging itself .
If you are garage shopping, an independent shop who specializes in Subarus is a pretty good start. They will have done this job already, and should be able to give you a fair price estimate.

And they are looking at it tomorrow.

It was $535. Honestly, I thought it was going to be worse than that. It's driving fine now, although they noted the brakes are 50% worn, but not an issue at this time. Guess that'll be next. I'm determined to hold on to this car for another 18 months and then keep it for one of my boys.

You got off cheap with $535.

The place I went to has a wonderful reputation honest work at less cost.

I have ruined a fair amount of u joints and dropped driveshafts out on the road before and didn't have to replace them, just the u joint. do Subarus have some problem with driveline malfunction?

The mechanic told me it was about to "fall out" and I thought he was kidding. Do they really just fall out on the road?

best to hope the rear drops first so you don't do a pogo stick hop down the road

worst time for me was in a 15 passenger van on a mountain pass in Mexico with 13 Germans coming back from a trip. great story now, horrible frightening night then!

Doesn't seem to be hurting anything yet.