Quote:
Originally posted by Trevor
Joe,
I will await your comments and observations with interest.
Trevor.
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Trevor, you are reiterating what many people here have been saying for ages, John Hoffman in particular. He maintains the life of the transmission is in the changing of the oil[particularly if it has overheated] as soon as required.
As for owner profile, I would be category one, I am fastidious about oil changes and service intervals. However, I readily admit my rebuild so soon is not typical, I will tell you why.
My tranny was faulty when I imported the car, it was stuck in third gear all the time. The only place where it could be overhauled by Subaru affiliated technicians is Glasgow, 300miles and a ferry ride and a foreign country away. Oh, and £2500 away also. When eventually it stopped, I had sourced a second-hand tranny from England. This was a '96 one and my car is '91. Because of some casing changes to the carcase, my Dublin fitter and I decided to transplant the innards of the '96 into my '91. This worked well, first time I had driven the car with all forward gears. However, the '96 box was already part worn. After 3-4 months, the brake band went, I am left with only 1st and 3rd.
I am very interested in the theory of filter clogging Vs driver profile and usage. My own commute is 50kms each way per day, city traffic. Can be done in 25 mins each way if no traffic. At the time I have to travel, 8 AM and 5PM, it takes one and a half hours each way. This means the car is sitting in queues for over an hour morning and evening. That is why I changed from the Toyota Camry to the automatic, my left leg was developing a limp from declutching all the time.
While agreeing the transmission deserves respect and care, I have long disagreed with what I would call conservative mechanical opinion on this board. This opines if you don't harass the tranny, give it lots of expensive oil, and drive and service like a saint, then there is no problem, and you won't have to keep rebuilding. The implication is that Subaru built a wonderful and robust car, and the problem is with the drivers and their lack of care or empathy for the mechanicals.
I beg to differ. There are plenty of cars around with more weight, more torque, more power, and still driven by automatic boxes. I mean the likes of the Merc S class, the Audi A8, Tiptronic Porsches, 7 Series BMWs. We don't hear of the trannies in these cars doing a regular meltdown, because their manufacturers typically over-engineer the products, or at least ensure they are fit to perform the task for which they were designed and sold.
We also have a manual Honda Civic Vtec. At times, on a spin, I have driven it to the rev limiter, [vtec only comes in 5500+], to the limit of it's traction and cornering ability, yet within the limit of mechanical abuse. Has the clutch fried or the gearbox disintegrated? No way Jose. Drive your SVX that way, three to six months tranny. I rest my rant.
Joe
BTW, by coincidence all the marques I quoted above are German. Our Rising Sons still have a thing or two to learn about mechanical integrity I think.