2009 subaru tribeca rear diff temp light
Asked by GuruTWW6D Jan 20, 2019 at 09:10 AM about the 2009 Subaru Tribeca 5-Passenger Special Edition
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
The Rear Diff Temp light flashes on and off while driving. It does not stay on
and usually happens when accelerating. This happened once before and dealer
changed fluid. It is back again after a couple years. Is this a standard repair or
should I be concerned?
5 Answers
I would change rear fluid again. Assuming 60 or 80K on rear fluid? Synthetic also.
Hornet_2497 answered 5 years ago
That's good first step. Next, I would suspect that the sensor is giving a false, high reading, and needs replaced. But first, take an infrared thermal device...what do they call them....and take a temp reading as soon as you can when it reads "hot". I'm guessing anything over 250 F is too hot.
Rear diffs can get up to 240 Fahrenheit. Gauges installed on many max out at that temperature
There is common issues with those sensors going bad due to the sensor gasket slightly leaking and oil getting on the wires with dirt and debris. This causes the resistance to change and send erroneous readings to the ecm. Unplug the sensor check the sensor resistance if it’s in spec clean the connector and wires. If it’s out of spec replace the sensor. It’s an easy repair.
Clean the sensor plug and contacts it's a common problem with Subaru I found out my fix lasted 19 month's have to do it again
