I have a 2012 Impreza 2.0i and I think my front diff might be about shot. I know its not a WRX.. but I've had tough luck getting answers on other forums.
I was driving aggressive for 1-2 hours and the "AT Temp" light came on. Shortly after the light came on I pulled over and turned the car off to cool. The next day while driving down the interstate my engine all of a sudden jerked hard and vibrated vigorously. The RPMs dropped to ~2000 and would not go higher.
The vehicle now has a grinding/clunking under the car when hitting the accelerator which sounds like it is coming from the transmission and/or front differential. It sounds like what I would imagine bad/broken wheel bearings sound like. I initially thought I blew my transmission... but the vehicle still drives and shifts through the gears. Furthermore, I drained the CVT fluid and color looked good and no metal debris. I then drained the front differential fluid and the magnet has superfine metal debris on it. I put new fluid in and drove 25 miles or so before draining the fluid again. The sound diminished some, but is still very much there. The fluid this time was littered with super fine metal particles on the magnet. There was also one small piece of metal that was about 2mm x 8mm and razor blade thin.
Does this mean that the front differential is shot? Or could it be an easier repair? If the differential is shot, I can not seem to find just a front diff... it seems that all the salvage yards around me want to sell the differential as a package with the transmission. Is it required to replace the transmission to replace the front differential? If I'm going to have to replace both the front differential and transmission anyways... is there any additional harm that could come if I just keep driving it with the messed up diff?
Thanks!!
I was driving aggressive for 1-2 hours and the "AT Temp" light came on. Shortly after the light came on I pulled over and turned the car off to cool. The next day while driving down the interstate my engine all of a sudden jerked hard and vibrated vigorously. The RPMs dropped to ~2000 and would not go higher.
The vehicle now has a grinding/clunking under the car when hitting the accelerator which sounds like it is coming from the transmission and/or front differential. It sounds like what I would imagine bad/broken wheel bearings sound like. I initially thought I blew my transmission... but the vehicle still drives and shifts through the gears. Furthermore, I drained the CVT fluid and color looked good and no metal debris. I then drained the front differential fluid and the magnet has superfine metal debris on it. I put new fluid in and drove 25 miles or so before draining the fluid again. The sound diminished some, but is still very much there. The fluid this time was littered with super fine metal particles on the magnet. There was also one small piece of metal that was about 2mm x 8mm and razor blade thin.
Does this mean that the front differential is shot? Or could it be an easier repair? If the differential is shot, I can not seem to find just a front diff... it seems that all the salvage yards around me want to sell the differential as a package with the transmission. Is it required to replace the transmission to replace the front differential? If I'm going to have to replace both the front differential and transmission anyways... is there any additional harm that could come if I just keep driving it with the messed up diff?
Thanks!!