Hi to all from a new member, can anyone shed some light on my 05 sti rear diff problem before I start taking it apart. It started with a slight tick type sound when pulling away but has now developed into a definate knock. It can be made to do this if you put your foot on the brake and load up the transmission in first, it will then knock, if you then put it in reverse and load it up again it will knock again, at first I thought it might be a drive shaft but after having it on the ramp I checked the oil, it didnt look good very dirty! This makes me think something is starting to go wrong inside, from what I can see through the fill and drain holes the pinion, crown and planet gears look ok. Has anyone had this problem and help shed some light, thanks John

 

It happens on mine and as far as I'm aware it happens on most. It's just a result of the shock on the drivetrain as you say when you load up the transmission. Mine is really noticeable in a multi story car park. Some people use diff locking bolts but this just forces the the drivetrain to take the shock elsewhere. Subarus are full of bumps, knocks and squeeks

 

Common problem from what I can gather, I had this problem and stripped the diff down, nothing wrong with it. It turned out that the play causing the knock was supposed to be there, but the hand brake drums had been binding causing it to make the knocking sound. Hope this helps...

 

hello m8 ive also discovered a thud on the n/s/r of my 02 jdm sti and to be honest i was convinced it was the rear diff but after speaking to tsl and others on other scooby chats etc its transparent that the rear shock absorbers are causing this fault as a nut internally in shocker comes loose as ive been told ??? hope this may shed a little more light on the job as its certainly was my problem