I recently found out that I could take a fuse on my Subru 1997 automatic sedan and put it under the hood near the wheel and stop all wheel drive. I now have it in front wheel drive. Can I keep it there and will it do any damage to my car?
No, but there’s no advantage to having it in FWD mode. The only reason why you would put this fuse in is if you have to put the spare tire on. Because the spare tire will have a slightly different diameter due to being more or less worn than the other tires. This difference in diameter will damage the very complex Subaru AWD system, so if you have to drive with the spare (or any other situation in which you have an oddball tire on there) you can insert the fuse which will allow you to run the spare without damaging the center differential. If your tires are all in good shape, there’s no reason to have your car in FWD mode.
Thank you…The only reason I did that was I was told I would save gas and it feels like I am saving gas but I haven’t checked the miles with the gas…Cindy
You may damage the AWD as the car is not designed to do this.
However the saving will be very little if any. The reason is your Subaru is still spinning all the shafts(friction loss) and up to the AWD mechanism and still carrying around the extra 200 lbs of components.
Well, I definitly don’t want to ruin the AWD because I want to be able to use it in the winter! Bummer! I am going to take the fuse out and that will put it back to AWD right? Thanks, Cindy