'92 Subaru Legacy L AWD station wagon non-turbo automatic
138K miles

I got the front left wheel bearing replaced. It was making lots of
noise. Now with that noise gone, I hear another. When starting cold
after the car has sat overnight, I hear a cha-cha-cha noise that is
perceptible but nowhere near as loud as was the wheel bearing's cyclic
groaning. But like the wheel bearing, this noise is speed dependent:
faster I go, the faster the rate of the cha-cha-cha noise.

I was thinking it might be the brake pads hitting the rotor, like for a
warped rotor, but the sound does not change when the brakes are applied.
The cha-cha-cha noise goes away after a couple miles of driving. You
can't hear it if you open the windows (i.e., listen from the outside)
but only as a sound from within inside.

Took the mechanic for a short ride this morning and he is guessing that
it is a bearing in the transmission (couldn't remember if he called it a
thruster or outer bearing). At first, he didn't think it would cost
much to replace until he found out that it was inside the transmission
instead of outside and that it would require a Subaru part (i.e.,
couldn't use 3rd party brand). I'm dropping it off Sunday night for
them to check it out when cold on Monday morning. He figures it, as a
rough guess, the cost would be $1200 to replace the bearing, if that is
what is the problem.

So I'm wondering, does a bearing in the transmission make a cha-cha-cha
noise that starts out loudest (but not loud) when first driving the car
from resting overnight which then dissipates after a couple miles of
driving? For that cost, wouldn't it be better to instead put in a
rebuilt transmission? To replace the bearing, they're going to have to
drop out the transmission, anyway. Or maybe just keep driving it and
turn up the radio to mask the noise until something actually goes bad in
how the car drives (if the cost to fix it now is about what it will cost
to replace the whole thing later).

Does your car have hub caps? I remember the wife's 95 had pretty noisy
caps that would make a noise pretty similar to what you describe.

Vanguard wrote:

"AS" <donot (AT) spame (DOT) com> wrote


No hub caps (no place to put them) but there are wheel covers. Not sure
why noise from there would dissipate away after a couple miles of
driving, though. I had another car with chromed spoked wheel covers and
they make clicking noises as the wheel rotated but they made those
noises all the time.

Even if it were a transmission bearing, I'm wondering if a flush would
help better lubricate and reduce wear. Otherwise, I'm starting to think
of just keep on driving until something actually bad happens (other than
me hearing the cha-cha noise at the start of the day for a mile or two
when driving to work). With all the work to drop the transmission and
open it up, at that point I would it would be better to just have it
overhauled or stick in a rebuilt. If one part is wearing out, probably
something is wearing out, too, and have to be repaired later with all
the work again to remove, repair, and replace the transmission.

Vanguard wrote:
maybe some kinda sticking brake caliper issue. easy enough to check for.

Carl


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"Carl 1 Lucky Texan" wrote in message
news:XQt3i.29384$Um6.10347 (AT) newssvr12 (DOT) news.prodigy.net...


The cha-cha noise goes away when the car is put in neutral and comes
back after putting it in gear. That's why the drivetrain is suspect.
I, too, was hoping it was brakes, like a warped rotor or sticking
piston, but the brakes would not stopping making noise when the car was
put in neutral.

Not saying it couldn't be a bearing failure but in 15 years of Subaru
ownership I have never heard of a transmission bearing failure. Have
heard about a cracked flexplate.

"Vanguard" wrote in message
news:w_mdnT56UpvwqdDbnZ2dnUVZ_r-dnZ2d (AT) comcast (DOT) com...
Turned out to be the brakes after all. I would've thought hitting the
brakes would change the quality of the noise but it didn't. When
driving the car to the shop, I tested again with the car in gear and in
neutral but the noise was there under both conditions. The car was
colder this time so the friction noise didn't have a chance to warm up
any parts. Warped rotor so replacing those. Pads were only 19 months
old but figure might as well as change them, too.