I HAVE A 90 LEGACY WAGON WITH AN AUTO, ALL-WHEEL DRIVE AND ABOUT 88,000 MILES, FOR SOME REASON THE REAR-WHEEL DRIVE ISN'T WORKING AT ALL AND THE TRANS HAS A BAD DELAY PROBLEM ESPECIALLY IN BETWEEN 2ND AND 3RD. CAN SOMEONE HELP ME PLEASE. ALSO, THE CAR HAD SLIGHTYLY DIFFERENT TIRE SIZES ALL THE WAY AROUND WHEN I BOUGHT IT. MY 91 WITH 213,000 MILES HAS NONE OF THESE PROBLEMS, THANKS
YOUR CAPS LOCK APPEARS TO BE STUCK ON, PRESS THE "CAPS LOCK" BUTTON ON THE LEFT SIDE OF YOUR KEYBOARD TO TURN IT OFF. (sorry, I couldn't help myself)
^ he is saying dont type in caps, its annoying... my guess is your center diff is messed up, esspecially if there is differant tire sizes all over, thats a big no no.
having different tires on all four corners = very bad. even a slight difference in diameter (wierd wear) can mess up the differentials. if it came w/ different size tires and it has alot of miles w/ those on there it could be a toasty diff. it could be any of em too. rear/center or front depending on what size tires were where. if you are replacing the front or center diff you might be better be better off looking for a new tranny. the automatics, drive 90% of the power to the front wheels and 10% to the rear wheels. (i know this isnt fully accurate w/ tq split numbers, but it gets the idea across) this split changes as the wheels slip. so on dry ground it is feasible that the rear wheels wont spin much. as for the bad shift between 2 and 3. get a tranny flush, if there has been alot of heat generated by the center diff your ATF could be bad and could be messing up the valvebody or something.
the car was so nice and with so little mileson it when i bought it i neverthought to check the tire sizes, the diff seams fine, i'm thinking more in the trans. also i heard there is a fuseorrelay that can go bad that will eliminate the rear wheel drive,thanks
check in the engine bay passenger side behind the strut tower. there is a little fuse holder there that has a label FWD on it. look in there for a fuse if there is a fuse in there the car is in FWD. having a fuse in here will trigger the FWD light on the dash. if the voltage to the center diff is completely cut then it will lock the the center diff together giving you a true 50/50 split. another option is that the clutch pack in teh center diff has been worn out. this would cause the rear wheels to recieve less power, since the clutch would be slipping in the center.
Diff./trans :hsugh: THE CAR SHOULD HAVE 185/70/14, IT CAME WITH THAT SIZE ON BOTH LEFT WHEELS, THE RT RR,HAD A 175/60/14 AND THE FRON RT HAD A 175/85/14, THERE IS NO FUSE IN THE FWD BOX, THE DIFF. IS GOOD, WORKS PROP. WHEN SUSPENDEDAND GRAB ONTO THE REAR DRIVE SHAFT, SOMTHING IN THE TRANS ISN'TMAKING ANY CONTACT WITH THE REAR SHAFT, ALSO, IFTHE FRONT WHEELS BRAKE LOOSE, THE RT FRONTHOPS, SEEMS TO HAVE MOST POWER DIRECTED TO IT, TRANS FLUUID LOOKS GOOD.. I APPRECIATE THE HELPFUL ANSWERS, THANKS, ANDY
yea, still probably your center diff(in the trans), NOT YOUR REAR DIFF. and those tires are crazy differant....
Seriously, I want to say "ROFL" and my post gets the auto de-capitalizing....this guy can make entire posts in all caps!? Seriously dude, it's real simple...
Ok. i think like stats said its the center diff. the way these operate w/ the stock differentials is that when you are on a loose surface (gravel/ice/nothing/ect...) opposite corners will spin. so if you right front is getting all of that power the left rear should be getting half of that. this is a large indicator that your center diff is bad. now i am not a master of the autos. but it could be that the clutch pack has died and replacing it would fix the issue. other wise it could be something more serious/hard to diagnose. i know there are electrical systems involved in controlling the center diff, and i pretty sure there are some mechanical bits involved. electrically it could be a broken wire, bad plug, messed up TCU or any number of things. mechanically i have no clue these 4eats are crazy. about the tires. if i were you i would put the 2 same size ones on the front wheels. this will prevent further damage to the front diff while you are driving it now. that 175/85/14 is HUGE it is bigger then the other wheels, and the 175/60/14 is tiny. you can compare teh size here on this tire size calculator: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html i am not exactly sure where the clutch pack is located in the tranny. if it is in the tail housing which i think it is, i might be able to help you out.
A common problem with the 4EAT is the Duty C solenoid goes out. It controls the lockup of the clutch pack. With it not operating, the clutch pack does not engage at all and it stays 90/10 all the time. Unless the clutch pack is beat, but that usually doesn't happen with a bone stock car so often. That fuse for "FWD" just grounds out that signal that goes to the solenoid, thus rendering it inoperative. Its not a bad fix.
what's the duty c solenoid? and where's it located? and for all the smartasses i have to type my notes for work in caps SO I DONT CARE TO CHANGE IT
well, if you don't care to change it, don't expect many positive responses. Typing in all caps is a really good way to get zero help out of online forums, and just generally irritate the crap out of the people who are trying to help you. take the extra couple of seconds, and exponentially increase your chances of getting some help. that said, welcome to the forum. the duty-C is what controls how much pressure is put on the transfer clutches that send power to the rear end of the car. sometimes they fail, and sometimes the clutches themselves fail. if you're car was run very long with different sized tires, I would suspect the clutches (in the tranny....not easily serviceable). with 3 different sized tires on there, all 3 diffs were getting a decent workout. sounds like the front and center took the hardest beating. and if you're having shifting problems, I wouldn't even mess with it. just go get yourself a new trans (if you're interested, I've got a FWD AT from a '92 legacy that you could have.). legacies are a dime a dozen at UPull these days. I was out there (rosemount location) last week, and there had to be 6 or 8 first gen legacies.
call us smartasses all u want, just dont ask for help! there is still a little thing called forum etiquette, its not a hard thing, even if you have to use caps for work, a little effort could go a long way.
Yup. Takes a split second and ensures that you don't look like a jackass posting in all caps. And calling the knowledgable people on the board 'smartasses' is probably the best way to get yourself singled out on the boards.
thanks for all the help guys, hopefully i'll figure out somthing before i go and swap thetrans outa my 91', and no one ever informed me about the unwriten rule of useing lowercase type, so sorry
not to sound like an idiot but whats thebigdeal with caps?? if anyones willing to help me i have two other questions, my 91withabout 214,000 miles has this thing where i'll be driving alongand all thesudden itseamslikeitsrunningon 2 cyllinders, itcomes andgo's as it pleases, my90' seamsto have this problem a few seconds after i start it when its warm, butthen its fine? fuel problem i'm assuming, put a new fuel filterin both ofthem butnothingschanged, i appologize but my space bar has given up on me and works when it feels like it, thanksguys, this is much better than the $120 an hourguys atthe dealership, even though its worth it, i'll nevergive up on the greatest cars everbuilt, ever since i've started owning them about 10 years ago theres no other, andy
your rough running could easily be an ignition problem. how are the spark plugs and wires? I've got a goofy connection at my crank angle sensor (had to lengthen the wires for the swap....), and occasionally it'll sputter a bit, and it's because 2 of the cylinders aren't getting spark. hopefully this summer I'll fix that though! I don't know why all caps is a total pain to read.....but it definitely is. I must admit, I didn't even read the contents of this thread for a couple days after it was posted, just because of the caps.
The Duty C solenoid is located in the tailhousing of the transmission. The can be removed with the tranny still in the car, but its a bit of a pain. Said tailhousing also holds the clutch pack that transmits torque to the rear wheels. Its doable, depending on how ballsy you are.
thanks, im going to put it up on the hoist this weekend and see if i can figure it out, im still stump about the rough running issue, it's just odd that it starts good when its cold but not when its hot, and the rough idle on my91 has to be an electrical problem im assuming,
No problem. Apologies about being a "smartass," since you really just didn't know. I suppose I'm somewhat of a grammar/caps/etc freak, even on the internets.
