Rumbling noise

When making a hard left, I can hear a rumbling noise coming from the drivers's side rear of the car. I also hear it sporadically going down the road straight?

 

When making the turn it almost sounds like someone upstairs is moving furniture across the floor- kind of a weird sound.

My guess would be a wheel bearing going out, they typically make noise when loaded but I have seen them make noise when they are unloaded like in your case. Have you checked it for any movement?

Either that or a bad axle boot.

 

EDIT: Oh, you said REAR of the car. Yeah, then probably the bearing.

Wheel bearing. Our second gens are bearing prone due to the use of plastic bearing cages inside the bearings. Such a stupid design. IMO. Make sure it's the rear and not the front because usually if a rear bearing is bad they don't change pitch when the load shifts. Unless the bearing is really worn and pretty lose. On my 96 L I had a right rear bearing that was bad and if I laid down the back seats I could hear the bearing noise way more. Try this maybe it will help you figure things out.

Strange, I never had bearing issues until I replaced the axles a few thousand miles ago. Maybe I got lucky...

^ Did you toqure the axle nuts? This is a big cause of most wheel bearing failures. It's when the hot shot gets trigger happy with a 1000+ ft lbs impact gun over tightening the axle nut causing the wheel bearing to be too tight, thus prematurely failing. Not calling you a hot shot BTW. Just a general reference. It's the same deal with wheel lug nuts. Years ago at a Toyota Dealership I was tech'n at this newer guy was installing some wheels and just laid on the lug nuts with his brand new Matco impact gun. He snapped the lug stud with the quickness. Even those toqure sticks are a bad idea. They're not accurate and a lot of techs use them and I don't understand why. I always just snug the lug nuts with the impact then finish tightening with a toqure wrench. It's better for rotors so they don't warp.

I'd say it's usually between 80k-150k when wheel bearings seem to go. More so if the streets are crappy or one hits a curb. Lol.

No I did properly torque them. The one on the right was damaged because the axle was seized to the bearing, and it took me hammering it (which you aren't supposed to do) with a giant sledgehammer for two hours to... NOT... get it to come out... and then a trip to a shop with an air hammer, where they hammered it for 2 minutes before it slowly came out... at which point I figured I should probably replace the bearing.

 

The one that is making noise now is because when I replaced the OTHER axle, it slid out easily, but I wasn't paying attention and stupidly lowered the car off the jack before torquing the axle nut onto the new axle... which I'm told can damage the bearing. So lo and behold 20k miles later it's starting to make noise, so perhaps that's it, or perhaps it's just the fact that it has 280k miles on it, and is just worn out, lol.

I figured wheel bearing. It will make noise either when under load (right turn), or it randomly while make noise for a few seconds going down the road. The sound is coming from the back from what I can tell (may try with the seats down- Thank you SpoolN30).

 

So what is involved with replacing the axle bearing? (sounds like a job I might farm out to my mechanic friend).

There are two ways to replace the wheel bearings. First would be to remove the knuckle from the car and take it to a shop to have the bearing pressed out and in. Most shops charge around $20-$30 just for pressing the bearing. The downsides to do the bearing this way is dealing with the abs sensor or disconnect the long wiring harness and you'll need an alignment afterwards. This is the easier option when it comes to the front but the rear its in most cases better to use the on-the-car wheel bearing tool. The reasoning for this is because the lateral arm bolts on the rear tend to seize into their sleeves and or the knuckle and can be a huge pain in the butt to just remove the bolts. These are the really long bolts that pass through both lateral arms and the knuckle and I've had some be a big PIA while others weren't as bad. Now the on-the-car tool is basically a large bolt with different size cups and using an impact gun the bearing is removed by this bolt and cup set up. You'll also need a slide hammer with adaptor for the hub to get the hub out of the bearing. I suggest a heavier slide hammer so you don't have to work as hard getting the hub out. Hope this helps. GL.

Wow, sounds like a PITA either way you do it. Would you be able to rent the on-the-car tool as well as the slide hammer with adapter from an auto parts store or somewhere? (not sure is these tools are more of a universal nature or Subaru proprietary).

 

Probably have my mechanic friend do it. the bearing itself doesn't appear to run that much, just not sure hoe many hours a job like that would take (he works at $70/ hour).

Yes both tools are universal not Subaru specific but you will need a hub adaptor for a 5x100 bolt pattern. Don't know if you have Harbor Freight stores by you but if I were you I would just buy the wheel bearing tool and rent the slide hammer. I bought my kit from HF a few years back and its a great quality tool. I use it a lot but I do fix vehicles for a living. Just keep the threaded bolt greased up and there won't be any problems. If you don't want to buy it this pic and link will give you an idea of what the tool looks like. Btw don't worry that it says for FWD or front, it will work on almost any wheel bearing that has an axle going through it. Like the rear bearing on ours. Here's a pic and the link.

 

http://www.harborfreight.com/fwd-front-wheel-bearing-adapters-66829.html

I looked up what book time is for replacing one rear wheel bearing w/abs and its calling for 2.6 hours. To be honest if a friend of yours is going to fix your ride at a $70/hr rate I think you need to find some new friends. I usually charge my friends $45-$50max an hour. Just saying.

I looked up what book time is for replacing one rear wheel bearing w/abs and its calling for 2.6 hours. To be honest if a friend of yours is going to fix your ride at a $70/hr rate I think you need to find some new friends. I usually charge my friends $45-$50max an hour. Just saying.

 

Yeah, it would be nice to find a buddy or someone experienced with Subaru's to do it cheaper, but it's not really an option. I have a good friend who will do about anything with his own rides but hate to ask him to keep helping me with mine. I figure $70 for someone experienced whom I know, is better than paying someone I don't know (and who really doesn't give a flip) $95- $100 an hour.

It isn't that hard to do if it is the same as a 2005.

It isn't that hard to do if it is the same as a 2005.

 

Unfortunately not so... I first found a Youtube video of someone doing it on a 2005- looks like you just remove the entire hub assembly and replace it on the 4th gen, but the 2nd gen looks like a pressed in bearing that needs to be removed.

Thanks you all for the input- How bad should it get before it really needs to be replaced. Right now it is just noisy on one particular right turn ( just 5 or 6 minutes from home), and for a few seconds once in a while going on the road. Is it OK to run it for a while until it gets more frequent or is it already an issue now?

Ride it out until it become loose then for sure replace it or you might damage the hub. I am not talking really loose, just when there's a little play replace it. I let my RF go for a year before I replaced it and the hub was good. Even after a year the bearing didn't get louder or become loose. Not saying yours will be the same just keep and eye on it. GL.

It isn't that hard to do if it is the same as a 2005.

 

The +05 Legacys are a hub and bearing assembly where our second gens are a press in bearing. I wish they weren't a press in design, well at least if they didn't use plastic inside the bearings that would be better.

I also have a rear wheel bearing that's become noisy after 40 mph. I may leave it until it becomes loose but researching the options. Warranty time has changed when subaru developed there on the car bearing tool similar to the Harbour freight I believe with the tool it pays 0.8 of an hour.

 

2.6 hours without the tool . . .

 

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I just checked both rear wheels- no real play in either on of them- I'll guess I'll live with the occasional rumble and keep check them for play periodically.

I let my wife drive it today (not normally what she drives) and she called and commented about hearing a noise and feeling some vibration through the floor at 50 MPH... I'm guessing the bearing is getting more consistently noisy. She also has a knack of discovering new problems in cars...

 

With all these snow/ ice/ rain events every few days, good news is I have four AWD vehicles sitting at the house now until I sell my truck (person at work who is interested is checking it out Monday) but plates on the truck expire at the end of the month.

 

Looks like the Legacy might need to go to my mechanic sooner than later and after that will likely have the Impreza's timing belt done.

You will rarely ever find play in a wheel bearing unless you lift it from the control arm.

 

I would lift the rear by the diff and use a scissor jack to lift the small control arm a bit so the whole wheel assembly is not supported by the wheel bearing therefore "hiding" the actual play.

 

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If it's making noise I would replace it ASAP. It could cause a serious accident. I didn't read the whole thread but if you aren't positive it's a wheel bearing or coming from the rear, there's a TSB regarding noise while turning caused by the pressure difference in the power steering system. It's in with the FSMs.

Update- I still hear (and feel) the rumbling noise on certain right turns and sometimes just a little going straight (if on rougher pavement). Over the weekend, I noticed a different noise (more of a buzzing noise) for a second or two when making the right turns (still makes the rumble on some right turns). Sounds like it's coming from the same place. I have my mechanic looking at the A/C leak next week, so I'll likely just tell him to go ahead and replace the driver's side rear wheel bearing, whether he can duplicate the noise or not.