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So as many of you know I have been having probs with my 5MT in the Lego. Mysterious sounds, me frantically trying to figure it out with no avail, well tomorrow is the day that we shall see just what is happening down under(no pun intended). I'm bringing the wagon to GD, we are tearing down the car and doing a trans swap, found a used one from a IMP with an EJ18 and 3.90 rear end, probably have more power in 5th due to the tranny being geared for the EJ18, but no biggie since I travel on Mt.Hood almost weekly, the extra pull will be nice:) . I'm just stumped at why it has failed at only 142k?? I know they have bad input shaft bearings but I thought those tend to last more than 142k miles. I've had the car since it had 113k, the day I got it I took it and replaced the front and rear diff fluid and all scheduled maintenance. Only replaced the clutch once. and I did the fluid again about 4 months ago. I don't beat it up per say, just a lot of mountain driving and forest roads. I'm going to try and post pics of the inside and of what we find. Its growling in 1st,2nd,3rd,4th on decel but not much in 5th, getting tougher to get into 2nd gear, some slight grinding in 3rd and 4th, clunking in between all gears. I'll keep everyone posted on our findings... it should be interesting, and fun:banana: Learning from GD is like Yoda to Luke:lol: master

 

 

Recent work, within the last 4 months.

 

 

Timing belt Kit

Water Pump

Oil pump re seal

New KYB GR2s, I did them myself and it was a pita.

2 oil changes, castrol Syntec blend 5w30

new cam seals (dealer purchased)

radiator hoses.

Thermostat

Coil pack

spark plugs

plug wires

PCV valve

new fog lamp bulbs

New interstate MT-35

Wix fuel filter

Wix air filter

New crank seal (dealer purchased)

New set of Toyo Observes studless snow tires, yeah they rock:grin: pretty aggressive tread pattern.

Edited by Suba9792
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There hasn't been a whole lot of rhym or reason to the transmission/input shaft bearings I've seen fail. Usually it's somewhere north of 200k but that's not a hard rule. I have one of a 96 OBW here in the garage that's completely shot at 213k. I just did a gear oil change on a '90 with 265k and it was perfectly clean - no metal and a nice golden color. He is pretty sure it was done at 90k for that service at the dealer. He has owned the car since new and it is absolutely the original tranny. That's at *least* 175k on the fluid I drained and there is no indication of any type of failure.

 

I've seen 2nd gear completely destroyed at 118k on a plain L series Legacy. :confused:

 

I talked to another member of the forum that rebuilt a 5 speed with around 200k on it and the input shaft bearing was shot - had been making noise since around 165k.

 

All I know is that I've replaced a LOT of them for this problem (at least 8 or 10 now). By comparison the Automatic's are nearly bullet-proof. I have replaced only one of those. Also the older 5 speed D/R transmissions with the added input shaft bearing (split input shaft) at the front of the transmission seem to last basically forever if cared for even a little bit.

 

Subaru 5MT AWD tranny's = :dead:

 

At least by comparison to the usual Subaru standard. Too many failures before 200k for me to like this component.....

 

GD

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I am truly tired after today:lol: I'm hoping we can get that axle out of the hub assembly, but at least you have a donor car:banana: I'm curious to see if it is the center diff since there is no input shaft play, if that imp tranny is hosed I will be so pissed:grin:

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I will work on getting the axle out of that hub - I am going to hit it with some more Yield in a bit..... we shall see. I may leave a few tons of pressure on it all night in the press. See if it gives any by the AM.

 

You have definately taken the award for the "most severely rusted EJ axle/hub splines seen at GD's shop".

 

That thing is rediculously stuck. If I didn't know better I would say you had a visit from the rust-belt gnomes. I'm afriad that enough pressure to get it apart is going to damage the bearings. They were never designed to have to press the axle from the hub. At this point it may fail in the future anyway. Fortunately I can press in new bearings when/if that happens. I would like to save your OEM axle if we can though. I'm pretty skeptical of the remaining life on that bearing given what we have already put it through. I suppose we can just get the torch out and say "to hell" with the bearing..... at least your axle could be saved that way.

 

GD

Edited by GeneralDisorder
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I almost forgot! when we pulled the bad trans, guess what we didnt find that we should have..... a missing alignment pin:mad: the bastards that did the clutch last time didnt put it back in, and they busted up some of my electrical connectors.

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Yeah that sucked, but it didnt make me as pissed as the shady clutch job crap, warning to all!!!!!! dont forget the alignment pins, and if a shop does it confirm they are in!. Oh well, at least it will be done right this time, I like the theory you have about the input bearing and the pin bit, makes perfect sense.

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Alignment is important. Enough so that Subaru felt alignment dowels were needed between the transmission and engine. Some monkey at a clutch place (that uses bottom-of-the-barrel Korean clutch components) should NOT be the one to second guess the Subaru engineers. I think you have a real complaint that should be brought to the attention of the management there. You should get them to pay you back and pay for the new tranny. Sic your wife on them......

 

GD

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ITS DONE!!!!! finally.... that shop I went to a almost two years ago caused me some pain:horse:. Much destruction and carelessness, I'm still pissed about their shady work. But no worries GD helped me out, I did my first clutch:headbang: now onto the next.

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