Forester clunk noise

When I jolt the transmission on my 2004 Subaru forester (hit the clutch at a bad moment or let off the gas at high rpm) I can hear a clunk sort of noise coming from the back of the car (on dry pavement). The vehicle has always had a little bit of slop in the transmission similar to the 99 forester that this replaced however it never made this noise until recently. I am curious if this is something that could break leaving me stranded or breaking something else making the repair worse. Should I look into fixing this right away or can I wait until something definitively breaks? I suspect that it has something to do with the all wheel drive but I am not sure.



This comes right after taking it through some offroading in extremely slick and muddy conditions on a trip to Utah.



Thanks for the help.

When problems happen in the drivetrain area the sooner you have things looked at the better off you are, including a possible lesser bill for repairs.

Is it possible to diagnose and repair something like this on my own (I have the usual set of car tools sockets, impact wrench, jack stands etc) or should I just break down and bring it to a mechanic? I am mainly concerned with how heavy things will be and weather or not this is possible without a lift. I just ordered a service manual for it (it was 5$ so I figured why not).

If you read the owner’s manual (heaven forbid) you will discover that the Forester is not designed for “offroading,” despite what the TV commercials show.

Take the car to your local Subaru expert and let him or her have a look.

And stop pretending it’s a Jeep.

I use my car as I see fit and believe it is capable of. There is no reason to have the extra ground clearance if it isn’t something you are going to use. Using a vehicle in harsh conditions causes damage there is no mystery there, I accepted those risks when I decided to drive it back there the same I would if I owned a Jeep. I enjoy working on the vehicle and often find that it saves me money which is why I am looking into doing the repairs myself. I do not have the owners manual at the moment but saying it is not for off road use sounds like a traditional cover your butt clause to prevent lawsuits.

Ps. Please be a little nicer in your responses you kinda come off as a jerk.

You can take a look at things under the car if you want and perhaps you may discover something that isn’t right. There may also be something wrong inside a casing and it may take an expert to diagnose the trouble. If you decide to check things yourself and jack the car up be extremely careful. I don’t like doing that kind of thing anymore and when I did I would use wooden blocks under the car as a back up in case something happened to the stands. Nowadays I have no problem paying someone to handle those kind of problems that have a lift to put the car on.