How many times does a tranny have to be rebuilt?

[TurboIQ]

I'm just asking because I'm f***ing fed up. Since I've purchased the car 4 years ago, I had the thing rebuilt 3 times, and now I can feel 3rd gear slowly giving up on me... again. Each and every time the transmission was rebuilt, I had every wearing part replaced under the recommandation of the mechanic who performed the job, even if 1st, 2nd, and 4th worked perfectly. Last time the transmission was out, he lowered the 2nd gear's "threshold", meaning the car now shifts in 2nd earlier than it used to. He told me that it was a well known approach to prevent wear on badly designed transmission. To be honnest, I still fail to understand how that could possibly help 3rd gear.

For the past few months I have driven the car with a knocking rod/rod bearing audible in the 2k rpm range. Since I was quoted over 3k to have the engine rebuild, I went this time for a cheap fix and purchased a used engine. Now that it's here, I thought I might as well have the mechanic take a look at the transmission.

My question is this: would it be possible to replace just the parts related to the 3rd gear? Does anyone have any idea why this 3rd gear keep failing?

[SVXMAN2001]

turbo you are experiencing the heartache that many of us svxer's face, do yourself a favor and pony up some bucks and get either a 5spd conversion or a level 10 transmission, or swap a 4.11 or 4.44. No matter how good your stock rebuild is, the transmission will eventually fail, you may be saving yourself some money in the short run but you'll be continually buying more transmissions. I am on my third as well, and if i hadn't gotten the stock tranny i currently have for such a good deal i would have gone with one of the above options...the 4.11 and 4.44 are much more economical....hope this helps.

[NeedForSpeed]

What year is your car, and did you install an oil cooler?

Originally Posted by TurboIQ

I'm just asking because I'm f***ing fed up. Since I've purchased the car 4 years ago, I had the thing rebuilt 3 times, and now I can feel 3rd gear slowly giving up on me... again. Each and every time the transmission was rebuilt, I had every wearing part replaced under the recommandation of the mechanic who performed the job, even if 1st, 2nd, and 4th worked perfectly. Last time the transmission was out, he lowered the 2nd gear's "threshold", meaning the car now shifts in 2nd earlier than it used to. He told me that it was a well known approach to prevent wear on badly designed transmission. To be honnest, I still fail to understand how that could possibly help 3rd gear.

For the past few months I have driven the car with a knocking rod/rod bearing audible in the 2k rpm range. Since I was quoted over 3k to have the engine rebuild, I went this time for a cheap fix and purchased a used engine. Now that it's here, I thought I might as well have the mechanic take a look at the transmission.

My question is this: would it be possible to replace just the parts related to the 3rd gear? Does anyone have any idea why this 3rd gear keep failing?

[TurboIQ]

Yeah I have thought many times of swaping a manual transmission in the SVX, but then I read here that while some were happy about having made the move, some others felt that the SVX is a more luxury oriented car and that the 5 speed didn't seem quite at home in it... and I tend to adhere to the latter ideology.

What's a 4.11 or 4.44 swap? They sound like final drive ratios, but does that mean I just need to get a different rear diff to solve my problems? How does a different ratio help a tranny last longer?

And the car is a 1995 L AWD, and did originally have and oil cooler, but since it looked like it was leaking the first time my tranny gave away, the mechanic thought that was the reason why the 1st rebuild didn't last and so he just bypassed it.

[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by TurboIQ

Yeah I have thought many times of swaping a manual transmission in the SVX, but then I read here that while some were happy about having made the move, some others felt that the SVX is a more luxury oriented car and that the 5 speed didn't seem quite at home in it... and I tend to adhere to the latter ideology.

What's a 4.11 or 4.44 swap? They sound like final drive ratios, but does that mean I just need to get a different rear diff to solve my problems? How does a different ratio help a tranny last longer?

And the car is a 1995 L AWD, and did originally have and oil cooler, but since it looked like it was leaking the first time my tranny gave away, the mechanic thought that was the reason why the 1st rebuild didn't last and so he just bypassed it.

Wow!

I agree with your ideology 100%

I think the 4.11 swop is a good option for the SVX, although I have not changed mine. The lower ratios help with shifting the weight, better acceleration, less slurred shifts, while the top gear is still a high overdrive, very relaxing.

Your mechanic knows very little about the SVX autobox. It fails for two reasons; heat and more heat. The first reason is the OEM cooling system for the ATF is marginal, barely able to keep the heat from "spiking" and killing the cooling capability of the transmission oil. This is worse for people doing a lot of city driving or pulling up hills or operating in hot climes.

[Hey, so if you are in a hilly hot city, you are buggered, or toast as you guys put it ]

The second "heat" reason is the way the gears change. It is set up for long smooth imperceptible shifts, in line with the luxury car image. These long shifts wear the clutches more, because they are spinning together without gripping for longer, more friction. This in turn creates heat in the transmission and cooks the oil.


The answer is the keep down the heat spikes and change the ATF more often. If you do this on a properly refurbished box, it will probably wear out the car.

To do it you just need a $60 additional ATF cooler, and keep the ATF oil fresh.

Joe

[elninoalex]

Originally Posted by TurboIQ

Yeah I have thought many times of swaping a manual transmission in the SVX, but then I read here that while some were happy about having made the move, some others felt that the SVX is a more luxury oriented car and that the 5 speed didn't seem quite at home in it... and I tend to adhere to the latter ideology.

What's a 4.11 or 4.44 swap? They sound like final drive ratios, but does that mean I just need to get a different rear diff to solve my problems? How does a different ratio help a tranny last longer?

And the car is a 1995 L AWD, and did originally have and oil cooler, but since it looked like it was leaking the first time my tranny gave away, the mechanic thought that was the reason why the 1st rebuild didn't last and so he just bypassed it.

For a final drive swap, you just need the entire transmission and rear diff from a car of the desired ratio. Then you take the ring gear from the new rear diff and bolt it on the carrier from the SVX rear and put it back in the new rear and swap trannies and you're good to go. I got a 4.44 trans and rear from a 97 Outback for $450. I'm pretty darn happy now, but I could've gotten a 4.11 for about half that.

Stephen

[svxstarship]

Hey TurboIQ,

I have had both my 92 & 96 transmissions rebuilt a shop on Upper Lachine Rd just a couple of blocks east of Cavendish. Can't remember the name at the moment but they are both still holding up. On the 96 I had a level10 stage 2 kit and upgraded valve body installed, expensive but definitely firmer shifting. Of course had coolers installed on both. And mobil 1 synthetic trans fluid. If you need the name of the shop I'll look for it.

[TurboIQ]

Originally Posted by svxstarship

Hey TurboIQ,

I have had both my 92 & 96 transmissions rebuilt a shop on Upper Lachine Rd just a couple of blocks east of Cavendish. Can't remember the name at the moment but they are both still holding up. On the 96 I had a level10 stage 2 kit and upgraded valve body installed, expensive but definitely firmer shifting. Of course had coolers installed on both. And mobil 1 synthetic trans fluid. If you need the name of the shop I'll look for it.

Interesting... how much did the rebuild cost you?

BTW, no one has answered me yet on weither or not it is possible to replace only 3rd gear clutches...

One other question: I think my starter is also dying. I've looked up on Ebay trying to find a decent price and it looked to me like Impreza starters also might fit SVX applications. Do they?

Oh and one last thing. Lachute Performance (formerly Subaru Lachute) are performing the swap. How much time (labor) should I expect from such an experienced shop to do this relatively basic engine swap?

[svxistentialist]

Originally Posted by TurboIQ

Interesting... how much did the rebuild cost you?

BTW, no one has answered me yet on weither or not it is possible to replace only 3rd gear clutches...

One other question: I think my starter is also dying. I've looked up on Ebay trying to find a decent price and it looked to me like Impreza starters also might fit SVX applications. Do they?

Don't know about the starter, but it is possibly correct.

Regards replacing 3rd gear clutches only, if you were able to rebuild the trans yourself, this might be an option.

The labour involved in taking out the trans, splitting it, doing the clutches etc, this is probably 85% of the cost of the rebuild. With this in mind, the rebuilders tend not to leave half worn clutches in there. They replace all friction materials at the same time.

The same logic applies if your engine has to be stripped down. It is very common for the engine builder to replace your oil pump and water pump at this time, on the basis that it would be silly to have to spend all that time and money taking it all apart again, if it might fail anytime soon.

So the answer is Yes, you could only replace the 3 clutches only if you had a mind to. It just would not make a lot of common sense.

Joe

[NeedForSpeed]

Agreed,

By the time you get the trans out, and apart, and condider labor to reinstall, it is pointless not to check the clearance in each clutch pack. Friction materials are cheap. But yes, one could swap or replace any pack separately, assuming one could buy the individual pack.

Originally Posted by svxistentialist

Don't know about the starter, but it is possibly correct.

Regards replacing 3rd gear clutches only, if you were able to rebuild the trans yourself, this might be an option.

The labour involved in taking out the trans, splitting it, doing the clutches etc, this is probably 85% of the cost of the rebuild. With this in mind, the rebuilders tend not to leave half worn clutches in there. They replace all friction materials at the same time.

The same logic applies if your engine has to be stripped down. It is very common for the engine builder to replace your oil pump and water pump at this time, on the basis that it would be silly to have to spend all that time and money taking it all apart again, if it might fail anytime soon.

So the answer is Yes, you could only replace the 3 clutches only if you had a mind to. It just would not make a lot of common sense.

Joe

[svxstarship]

Basic rebuild on my 92 cost about 2200.00. Lachute Subaru are supposed to be a distributor for DBA brake disks, I wonder if they ever got any in stock for the svx.