'95 OBW manual tranny...dying?

[ShakotanBoogie]

I have a '95 OBW, it's the second gen Legacy body style but it has a quad port EJ22. Dunno if that was factory or not, but it doesn't really matter.

 

I've been having tranny issues. Everything works fine...kind of. It always drove fine except for 4th gear not working (which I think is a bushing issue, because I just can't get it into gear, and the linkage is a bit loose). But I got in the car this morning, and it's catastrophe. First second and third gear seem to whine like mad intermittently, and there's a nasty grinding noise. Oddly enough fifth doesn't seem to do it, but maybe that's because I nad nowhere to get into the higher RPM's in it.

 

Is my tranny eating itself? Can it be saved?

[idosubaru]

dual port EJ22 was standard in 95, so yours is normal factory stuff.

 

might be too late in the game, but make sure the clutch is properly adjusted, the shifter linkages aren't shot and change/check your trans gear oil. drain and refill. lack of oil in it is bad. tiny metal flakes in it is bad. chunks of metal in it is also bad.

 

are you sure it's the transmission and not the clutch? sounds about right to me that it's the trans, but just making sure.

[ShakotanBoogie]

I put a new clutch disc in it last October - left flywheel, throwout bearing, etc due to money constraints. PO dumped the clutch at full throttle and shattered the old disc. *cough***********************cough*

 

Anyways I've checked the gear oil, other than being a filthy color, it seems full enough. I'll try to change it out with some 75W90 dino stuff once this ********************* snow stops and I can get my RX7 out of the garage.

 

For what it's worth, I only get the crazy noises on throttle; the car seems to drive fine, it's just loud.

[wondercow2]

Throwout bearings are NOT pricey... it's unbelievably cheap to leave it out, especially considering it comes with most kits along with a flywheel pilot bearing.

 

As for your gear oil, dark is not good! It doesn't matter if the case is full if the oil itself is packed with metal bits. Change that oil and hope the noise goes away. There's not much else you can do at this point except drive it into the ground and get a new tranny when this one fails.

[ShakotanBoogie]

Yep, just changed the oil. Sounds the same. Looks like it'll be time for a new beater soon! :-\

 

260k miles, and it was doing so well. If it's the throwout bearing, it won't be too much to fix - here's hoping that's what it is. But for now, I can only afford to drive it 'til it blows up.

[ShakotanBoogie]

 

MMM!

[86BRATMAN]

Hmmm, that looks like the oil that came out of my 95 brighton wagon's original motor...

 

I would say its time for a tranny, you could probably get a used one for less that you'd pay for a nice dependable beater, and have it in within a day(weekend depending on mechanical ability/experiance)

 

And please, give the PO a swift kick in the junk for doing a redline drop.