V
Vanguard
'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).
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).