2000 Forester S, 5MT: shifter shake & junky trans oil.

[parapants]

Acquired the above vehicle from local craigslist with some oil loss externally from the driver side HG area, intended to spend a few weekends learning to throw in new gaskets and use for my winter driver.

 

When driving on the freeway there was some wheel shake that felt to me like an off balance wheel. No problem, I thought. Then I noticed the shifter was also shaking side to side pretty hard over ~55 mph, as in it will move my hand if I try to keep it still. On closer attention I noticed there is still some side to side pull at lower speeds, unlike the wheel shake which resolves.

 

All I can find from web search on the shifter shake is that it may just be more apparent than I'm used to because of the direct linkage to the gearbox vs. the cable linkage I'm used to in my FWD corolla, but the shaking seems a little too extreme to me to be normal.

 

I went ahead and pulled the engine and heads and worked on that while trying to research the above issue. Then the other day I drained the gearbox and much to my dismay found all these little black chunks in the oil. Yuck. Additionally there was about a teaspoon worth of "magnetic goop" I was able to wipe from the drain plug magnet. The black chunks were very weakly magnetic, but maybe just from the other particles in the oil. They were hard, but didn't seem like metal fragments as I was able to press my fingernail through them with firm pressure. Gasket material maybe? I'll get some pictures up soon as I can.

 

As for the shaking, anyone heard of this before?

-All the U joints in the propshaft seem tight with no give (by hand) except the front joint from which I can elicit a barely detectable "click" with just the right twist. I'd rather this be the problem than the trans, but don't want to buy a new one just to test this theory.

-CV shafts and boots are in good shape and low speed driving, turning, hard accelerating are all good with no clicks or thumps.

-Despite the shake when in gear, all up and down shifts were smooth through all the gears.

 

Sorry for the long post, wanted to get descriptions up here. Pics soon.

[parapants]

First pic is the black chunks in my oil catch pan, they range in size from grains of sand to maybe 3mm.

 

Second is one of the bigger chunks stuck to my pickup magnet, with a groove visible where I pressed my thumbnail through it.

[Fairtax4me]

Vibration could be a seized u-joint.

Pull the driveshaft out entirely and see if the joints move easily.

 

Not sure about the crud in the fluid. There aren't really any gaskets in the trans. The transfer and extension housings have paper gaskets between them. The main case seam is sealed with RTV.

Maybe some previous owner put some dirty fluid in it?

 

Goop on the drain plug magnet is normal.

[parapants]

Maybe on the dirty fliud. The previous owner was pretty fastidious about the engine oil, can't speak to his care of the trans tho. A friend who does a lot of motorcycle work just told me it looks like the synchro rings are dying, and now that I ponder it I can't remember if maybe I did have a hard time putting it into 4th once or twice and just didn't know what it meant, or if I'm just making up memories cause I have an idea to latch onto.

 

Prop shaft is all out and all the joins move seemingly smoothly, except the tiny click I can produce at the front one. Dunno if that's a problem, I don't feel any significant false movement, just a click, but driving loads will be far tiger than hand loads. Didn't make noise while driving tho. Center bearing is also nice and smooth.

 

Think I'm gonna go ahead and pull the trans out tomorrow and open it, what better way to learn eh? I'll post what I find out.

[Fairtax4me]

Work synchros won't be terribly obvious. That's something you'll feel while shifting, but won't be visible when looking at them without disassembling the shaft and removing the synchro rings.

 

If you're gonna pull it apart check the mainshaft bearing for play. Worn mainshaft bearing will allow the mainshaft to walk forward/back and can cause difficultly shifting into 4th. It will eventually cause it to start popping out of 4th and 5th.

[1 Lucky Texan]

 wonder if someone used the wrong trans fluid in the past?   how many miles on this car?

 

might be able to get a used trans with half the miles from a wreck to throw in it. Or, get some name brand non-synthetic GL-5 in the trans and just drive it.