silent running

Last week or two I've been having a loud double clonk/knock every time I come off the throttle suddenly. THe sound of it suggests to me that it's the transmission being released and bouncing against something. Doesn't do it when in neutral, only in gear. The most obvious thing would be the dogbone (the anti pitching stopper between the gearbox and the bulkhead) but I've tried my original and another second hand one and the rubbers seem fine. The bolts seem to tighten up to the specified torque and keep the dogbone tight and in place where it should be.

I don't want to buy a brand new dogbone for £50 from Subaru only to find that it still clonks when I let off the throttle. Could this be a problem with the engine mounts? Or any other gearbox/diff mounts that I don't know about further back along the car? How can I test it out?

wez wrx

transmission mount? Happened on mine! when i took it off you could move it around by hand!! fitted a group n solid one from graham goode! £50

silent running

What, you had the same clonking? Whereabouts IS this mount? It's too wet out to go and have a look! Was it noticeably noisier in the cabin with the solid mount that you fitted, and what sort of a job is it to fit? Cheers!

wez wrx

its between the cradle and box! easy to fit, just place a jack under the box, undo the cradle and remove it from the box. its not so much solid, its made of very hard rubber, much much better than the o/e. the rubber on mine had perished and was cracked all over letting the box to move around! no noticable noise increase with group n! I would get under the car first and move the box about, you should be able to hear where its coming from! Or put the handbrake on and get sumone to to ease out the clutch in gear while you ly alongside listening, as it takes up drive you should hear it loud and clear!

silent running

So it should be noticeable from underneath and I should be able to move the box around if it's got a knackered mount.. OK as soon as the weather clears up I'm on it.

wez wrx

silent running

Nice one Wez. I've just gone under the car and my main mount looks a little the worse for wear but not needing replacement just yet. Found the problem though...one of the nuts that holds the front rubbers onto the gearbox cradle had just fallen off, and the other one was hanging loose. Luckily I had a spare nut the right size, torqued them both back up to 70 lb/ft and all fixed! Yay! Thanks for tip off about looking under the gearbox, never thought of that, I was sure it was the dogbone!