Any Suburguru types here? A 2002 Subaru Outback Limited AWD sedan was traded in at work with 225,000 miles. It is astonishingly nice for the year and miles. There is a vibration at idle like a motor or trans mount. The same vibe comes back while the car is hot and under load in freeway traffic. Then goes away as the revs climb. So does it need mounts or something more? I can buy it for a little more than a new set of Michelins would be on the Tahoe...
Check your motor, trans and maybe exhaust mounts, I don't think there's anything else it could be. Flat fours are pretty lopey motors anyway. If it's not all rusty underneath, go for it.
It should idle really smoothly, Subaru motors are pretty well balanced.
I had a bent motor mount when I bought my '06 WRX which produced a savage vibration at idle and at multiples of 2000 rpm. It took me months to figure out. AC + idle was pure hell.
My only consolation is that it probably made the car super difficult for the previous owner to sell and pushed the price down, thanks to either him or some other idiot that can't do a launch.
I've never owned a 2.5 that didn't do that. Subaru's engine and trans mounts are barely sufficient even for daily driving right out of the factory, and downright crap with some miles on them.
You want either STi Group N mounts($250-ish, not the least bit harsh) or just fill the voids in the stock mounts with WindoWeld(cheap).
Hah! I just spent thirty minutes trying to understand why the parking lights were staying on after cleaning the interior. Now get inside Japanese joke... Then put the car up on ramps and it is absolutely amazingly ridiculously clean. Bone dry. Like a one year old southern car clean. The boots are dry and not torn. Both filters have Japanese lettering and look recent. Fluids are recent and clean. Tires are near new. Interior is near spotless. Amazing.
Ahh, sounds like DD#1's Impreza, a little. Is there a particular mount that's likely to go first?
It stands to reason that the two lower mounts take the most abuse, followed by the trans mount, then the upper dog bone. Hard to tell via butt dyno, really, everything just sort of... flops.
ValuePack wrote: I've never owned a 2.5 that *didn't* do that. Subaru's engine and trans mounts are barely sufficient even for daily driving right out of the factory, and downright crap with some miles on them. You want either STi Group N mounts($250-ish, not the least bit harsh) or just fill the voids in the stock mounts with WindoWeld(cheap).
Our '99 Outback and '99 Forester both do that.
There is what appears to be a "bolt" that centers the rubber stuff on the trans mount. Sometimes when that mount is worn the "bolt" thingy starts to touch the metal around the mount and it makes a very loud vibration noise inside the cabin.
They are easy to replace.
**One additional thing to check is the crank dampener. If the rubber around the inside of it is worn then it could wobble and cause this vibration.
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