so i was driving around and on my way home i see that it had snowed. i live on the top of a mountain, i begin driving up normally, encoutner a hill, take it with no problem. when it evened out i slowed down a bit, becuase visibility and traction looked at a mininmum. there was a lot of fog making things hard to see. all of the sudden a strange sound came from under the car, like a thumping sound matching the speed of the car in rhythm. also the car was moving around with it. i sped up and the sound did too, but then it went away. i drove about 5 more miles with no issues. wtf? i had my acd on tarmac, i didnt think it necessary to put it on snow for such a small amount of snow on the road. when this happened there was no flashing lights, nothing out of the ordinary. anyone have any ideas on what happened?

 

Go back .... you left dinner on the road...LOL

Joking...no idea...have you looked under the car to see if something had temporarily got caught around the axle or wheel?

All good now?

 

i havent looked cuz its all mushy and **** out there. im thoroughly freaked out though, i drive a lot during the weekends, more than 600 miles and i need this car to remain functional. i already have a dc5 that doesnt run, i dont need more problems.


at first i thought it was fluid related, but then it would not have returned to driving like normal. after the incident, when i sped up and it stopped, there was absolutely no difference from before and now. its as if it didnt happen. all i could think of was a long time ago my friend played with the center diff setting on a sti and when we tried to drive it it did something simular till we put it back to normal. im wondering if maybe the car lost traction and somehow the transfercase malfunctioned or whatnot

 

Picked up/accumulated chunks of snow in your wheels?

 

it would have to have been very thick ice, i seriously doubt snow would have had that crazy effect. the car shook with the sound until it stopped

 

i looked under the car, but i cant really see anything. i dont see any fluid leaking

 

bump

 

probably a chunk of snow or ice wedged somewhere like around the driveshaft, axle, wheel, etc. i has something like that on my wrx once, the exhaust even got really loud. it was snow packed above the driveshaft and pushing on the exhaust hard enough it opened a flange joint up. i pulled it on ramps and poked around with a broom handle and it was good as new again.

 

where did the sound come from your car up front? or near the back?

 

the front

 

Sounds like Ice/Snow in the wheels to me. My evo did that this last winter when I was in Michigan visiting family.

 

well i was under it today and checked the tranny/tc/rd and no leaks. the t/c was really difficult to check its fluid level. i stuck a screwdriver into the hole (gently, because this isnt saturday night drunken sex) and it came out with some oil on it so i figure its good. the rear diff is leaking but i already knew about that and its still full. weird ****. on the other hand i found out why my uego wasnt working. one of the lifting trollies on the flat rack had bent the sensor. so new sensor time

 

Maybe it was your ABS? But usually the ABS light will come on when that happens

 

nope