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Is my front diff shot? What now?

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#1 ·
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!!
 
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#2 ·
sounds like the damage is already done so driving more will only continure to break what is broken.

im not too familiar with the CVT tranmissions. its different tech than the older automatics. but i do know that heat is the #1 enemy of any kind of automatic transmission. and OEM sensora are usually pretty bad. by the time they light up, its too late and damage has been done.

whats your mileage? any chance you are still under warranty?
 
#3 ·
Thanks for the prompt reply! I have about 75K on it... so 15k miles beyond the manufacturer powertrain warranty. The really crappy part is I had an additional warranty through the dealership which expired 9 days before this happened.

Any input on whether a guy can just replace the front differential? Or does it typically require the transmission as well? I'm pretty handy and my brother is a mechanic. He just hasn't worked on Subarus much.
 
#5 ·
Go back ASAP and show them your findings and offer to tow the car in if they would be so kind as to exempt the 9(now 10 days) past your warranty!! Many dealers (especially if you bought it from them) will be polite for costly repairs if something major happens shortly after the warranty runs out. Call them before you drive it any further and be polite like the old lady who left raw chicken in the car but forgot she bought it and couldn't find it a week later (true story at my dealership when I was a tech).

It does sound like the diff is done for, but if you're finding metal shavings in the fluid you shouldn't keep running the car! ATF is flowing whenever the engine is running and will carry the bits throughout the tranny even if you aren't driving. Also CVTs cannot function w/out clean fluid as the pulleys change position via fluid/tinyyy ports in the valve body, and those seals will shred if metal runs by them (it is a high pressure system after all).

Try to be as honest as possible and be prepared for the dreaded "no sorry".
 
#6 ·
Thank you both for the response and suggestions. I called the dealership which is unfortunately over 1000 miles from me. They said they would cover labor, but not parts. They want like $8,000 for the part which is insane! Looks like I'll be hitting the salvage yard.
 
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