Mystery lunge 2000 Outback

[maestro]

The other day i had an incident with my 2000 subaru outback that concerns me and have no idea what to make of it.


The outback has the 4 cylinder engine and manual 5 speed. A Couple of
weeks ago i was making the 8 mile trip to work and while in city traffic
i noted the temperature gauge went hot. Like nearly to the top. I got
it to a road clear of traffic and stop lights, turned the heat on high
and when possible let the car drift to get it to cool down some. This
did bring the temp down. I only had a couple of mile to get to work so i
hopped on the interstate. While on the interstate the temperature
slowly crept up. When i got off the interstate i used the same drift
techniques to cool the engine to make the last mile or so to work. I
made it with no indication of over heating. I went into work. 12 hours
later i'm off and bring a jug of water to my car. I checked the coolant
reserve and its at the proper level. I opened the radiator cap and there
is coolant there as well. I'm starting to wonder about head gaskets at
this point. I cranked the car and let it idle with the radiator cap off.
My intention was to let it warm up and see if the thermostat opened
then look for air bubbles in the radiator or steam at the exhaust. The
top radiator hose did slowly get hot so i assumed the thermostat was
working. No steam at the tailpipe. I revved the engine a few times by
hand under the hood to watch for bubbles in the radiator. Upon revving i
got a couple of bubbles at first but not enough to convince me of head
gasket failure. I thought maybe it was just a little air that had been
trapped in the system. The fans never turned on while idling but i
turned the ac on and the both worked. The whole time during this testing
the car never got over its normal temperature range.



Here is where my story gets interesting and the real reason i'm posting...



While standing in front of the car revving the engine all of a sudden
the car lunges forward a few inches and bumps my leg then dies suddenly.
It was as if someone dumped the clutch while in gear. Now i am absolutely sure the
transmission was in neutral. Not slightly in neutral position but
absolutely in neutral position. Before getting out of my car from
cranking it in the first place i had put in neutral with engine running,
released the clutch and shook the shifter to ensure it was in the
neutral position as i always do before getting out of a car with engine
running. My parking brake was up and tight which is probably what saved
me from getting injured.



Needless to say this scared the you know what out of me. After i
composed myself walked from in front of the car to the driver door. Then
i smelled a burning rubber or clutch type smell. I got in the car and
checked for neutral. The shifter was able to move freely side to side
but felt as if it were positioned back towards the rear of the car a
bit. With clutch in i started the car. I released the clutch slowly and
the car behaved as if in high gear like 5th. I took the parking brake
off and revved the engine and released the clutch slowly like trying to
take off but the car moved forward and the engine tried to die again
like starting in 5th gear. Mind you I'm still in neutral position. I
then pushed the clutch back in and move the shifter through all the
gears. All the positions were tight and hard to get in and out of. While
in first gear position i attempted to pull forward. The car did move
forward but it was not able to move smoothly. It was as if moving over
lumps or like when you have a really loose universal joint on a
driveshaft about to come out. Same results in reverse. I kept playing
withe shifter an clutch and after only about 30 seconds everything
started behaving normal. The shifter felt as if t had moved forward to
the correct position in the car and moved freely again. The smell went
away and i could shift and move the car as normal. I replaced the
radiator cap and drove to a nearby autoparts store without incident. I
let the car idle in neutral and revved the engine occasionally for a few
minutes while there. No heating issues occurred and the transmission
behaved correct. Since i was at the end of my work week i decided to go
ahead and risk the 100 mile trip to my real home. I have a place i stay
that is close to work i stay at while in the middle of my work week thus
the short drive into work at the start of my shift.



During my 100 mile trip i experienced no heating issues and the
drivetrain behaved properly. I'm thinking the the heating issue was
probably an air pocket in the coolant that caused a temporary air lock
or a thermostat trying to stick closed but haven't looked further into
it yet. I have no idea what the drivetrain issue was and that is what
I'm mainly asking about. Anyone else ever had an experience like this
or any clue as to what is going on?



A little history on the car. Its a 2000 subaru outback, 5 speed manual, 4
cylinder engine and has all wheel drive. I can't remember the mileage
off the top of my head but shortly after getting the car the clutch was
slipping so i replaced the clutch and bearings with a sachs brand clutch
kit. While the engine was out i replace the timing belts and pulleys
and water pump with a Gates kit. I also replace the front main seal and i
think a couple other oil seals that had been leaking. I did this work
about 2 years ago and have probably only put about 10000 miles on it
since. This is usually a car i just use around town when I'm home and
rarely drive it to work so it doesn't see a lot of mileage.

[1 Lucky Texan]

so odd. Any work done before this occured? trans or diff swaps? Any coolant work - new thermostat? (they need to be OEM style with the larger wax capsule)

 

um...does the car have 4 tires that are the same brand/model/size and near each othe rin wear? Will the car smoothly drive in tight circles on dry pavement?

 

just a wild gusee that maybe the car was stopped with some torque bind and the brakes slipped when you were doing your overheat investigation.

 

but it's just a wild guess - maybe others will know if that's even possible.

 

I guess I'd check for a binding brake caliper too?

 

Maybe the fans are intermittent - was the "city traffic" stop&go or very slow?

Edited November 15, 2016 by 1 Lucky Texan

[montana tom]

Wow this is a tricky one.  I'm wondering if your transmission has a bad shift fork or bearings, maybe a broken shaft inside.  No way should it have behaved like that in neutral.   Your heating problem could have a lot to do with your transmission binding up.  I assume you  have checked the dipstick on the trans and its full ?Might be a good idea to pull the drain plug and check for metal.  I could be completely off base about your heating issue ... but until you  fix the transmission no need to worry about it heating up.

Edited November 15, 2016 by montana tom