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hi everyone me and my girlfriend have reccently brought a new car.
its a 2004 subaru forester xs auto. no mods are planned except roofracks and all terrains.
the car is fantatsic love driving auto is a bit wierd after driving manual for so long
the only issue i have with the car is the AWD system. i was testing it out on soft gravel and no matter what i did i couldnt get the rear wheels to spin at all! front wheels spin like nuts but cant even to get a little slippage on the rear. there are no signs on the dash saying the awd isnt working.
car does have full subaru service history and cont see any visible reasons why the rear isnt getting power.
so is it just that auto dont send much power to the rear? or something wrong with the transfer case?

The auto is a 90/10 torque split between front and rear unlike the manual being 50/50.
Possibly the rear isn't engaging at all......

so the auto cant reach a full 50/50 split in loss of traction like a manual?
because manual is not a constant 50/50 split is does vary if there is plently of traction the front.

From my understanding, the auto is FWD until the auto detects slipping and then sends extra fluid to the AWD clutch pack and then drives the rear tail shaft. If this doesn't happen, then you may need to have the AWD clutch pack checked out but very much doubt it in a car that is so young and fully maintained.

RSR 555 wrote:From my understanding, the auto is FWD until the auto detects slipping and then sends extra fluid to the AWD clutch pack and then drives the rear tail shaft. If this doesn't happen, then you may need to have the AWD clutch pack checked out but very much doubt it in a car that is so young and fully maintained.

so maybe i didnt have the front wheels slipping for long enough for the rear end to recieve power?

Put your foot down and give it hell...., Hopefully then the rear will turn:p lol
congrats on the new car:)

guyph_01 wrote:Put your foot down and give it hell...., Hopefully then the rear will turn:p lol
congrats on the new car:)

foot was down
i will have to chuck up some pics when i get them off my phone

its impossible to get the wheels to spin in the wet and dry for both my liberty auto AWD and outback auto AWD.

Its semi-bullshit that its a 90/10 split to the front wheels. It goes to a 90/10 split when your cruising at speed with no need for the AWD system. Its constantly adjusting to suit the conditions youre driving in and the agressivness of your driving. As far as im aware it can go down to a 60/40 split when needed.

on the beach in my outback on the weekend i felt zero wheel spin, even when the going got tough (i was quite impressed as its the first time ive pushed it pretty hard through very boggy sand)

even if i stall up the auto in the gravel and drop the brakes it doesnt spin the wheels. Your front wheels definately shouldnt be spinning at all without the back wheels spinning at the same time.

remember you also have open diffs so youll find only one wheel on the front and back will spin.

alex

Alex wrote:its impossible to get the wheels to spin in the wet and dry for both my liberty auto AWD and outback auto AWD.

Its semi-bullshit that its a 90/10 split to the front wheels. It goes to a 90/10 split when your cruising at speed with no need for the AWD system. Its constantly adjusting to suit the conditions youre driving in and the agressivness of your driving. As far as im aware it can go down to a 60/40 split when needed.

this is what i thought.
when i put my foot down the front wheels were spinning and a fair bit. but had nothing in the rear. i even got out to check if there was any sign of slippage from the rear just the in the front. so is this normal? or is it likely i have something wrong with the transfer case? this does seem unlikely as there is no warning awd lights on the dash.

Alex wrote:Its semi-bullshit that its a 90/10 split to the front wheels. It goes to a 90/10 split when your cruising at speed with no need for the AWD system. Its constantly adjusting to suit the conditions youre driving in and the agressivness of your driving. As far as im aware it can go down to a 60/40 split when needed.

I agree with this... pretty sure you lock in the 60/40 distribution when engaging "1" rather than "drive".

Also agree it's unlikely you'll spin any wheels with good traction (e.g. bitumen). I have spun wheels on sets of lights when the road is wet and tyres were bad and also on gravel, but never on dry bitumen.

Pedro.

pezimm wrote:I agree with this... pretty sure you lock in the 60/40 distribution when engaging "1" rather than "drive".

Also agree it's unlikely you'll spin any wheels with good traction (e.g. bitumen). I have spun wheels on sets of lights when the road is wet and tyres were bad and also on gravel, but never on dry bitumen.

Pedro.

its wet here in ballarat and i can easily spin the fron wheel on bitumen! and this a non turbo.
i tried putting it in "1" today on the gravel and still just front spin no power from rear.
the car is still under warranty would it be worth getting it looked at?

are there any easy things i can check like fuses or stuff like that?

thunder039 wrote:are there any easy things i can check like fuses or stuff like that?

Humm, from what you're describing, it appears there would be something wrong... In "1", I can definitely feel the difference from when in "D". It feels like it binds a lot more to the road.

To be honest, I haven't really noticed rear wheel spin on bitumen, but definitely on sand and gravel (you can feel/hear the rocks coming out of the rear tyres).

There is a fuse that enables FWD only, but from memory, it's a fuse you put in, rather then take out, so unless there's something there, you should be fine.

Pedro.

pezimm wrote: There is a fuse that enables FWD only, but from memory, it's a fuse you put in, rather then take out, so unless there's something there, you should be fine.

Pedro.

yeh, just check the fuse box in the engine bay for this. A light will illuminate on the dash if this fuse is in though.

maybe a fluid change is in order for you transmission. Are both your rear CV shafts and joints in-tact? Ive heard if you drive around with a broken CV shaft in an AWD car you are likely to stuff the centre diff?? (confirm)

alex

good news!
put the car on the hoist this arvo to fix the exhaust and it turns out the drivers side rear drive shaft had disconnected from the diff! so popped it in all good now which is a huge relief! thanks guys for the help turned to be something unexpected!