Manual Trans

[NomadTW]

i'm truely amazed at the people swapping out the auto for the manual trans from a wrx, the wrx transmission is known as THE glass tranny. ppl blow apart gears in those things all the time, 2nd gear mostly, because of the power of the wrx, i can't imagine it doing very well in the svx, have anyone blown gears apart yet?
and the auto trans out of the impreza has been proven to be solid and reliable w/ 400+ hp, the fastest wrx out there is a stock automatic, and they don't have problems, why is the svx trans so much worse thatn the impreza automatic... and amazingly worse than the manual as well....

[Mr. Pockets]

It's been said before a million times, but I'll say it again.

The SVX's tranny is not weak. It's a fine tranny, and it's basically the same thing that's in both the Legacy, Impreza and Forester. The problem, and the reason they fail, is insufficient cooling. Cool it well and it should last a real long time.

[NomadTW]

i knwo that... basically, but why does the svx overheat and the wrx auto does not?

[CigarJohnny]

Originally posted by NomadTW
i knwo that... basically, but why does the svx overheat and the wrx auto does not?

My guess would be that it is designed with a better cooling system from the factory.

It is because of the higher gearing I believe.

Mike

[Phast SVX]

its not known as the glass trans, its just that its not a turbo400 Alot of guys have used mid 90's 5spds and have run into no problmes at all. Im using MY03 parts, which have stronger then other years(no toothpicks for parts )
phil

The WRX transmission is not unusualy fragile. The problem is the large number of WRX owners who have never driven a high(er) HP AWD car before, and were doing hard launches.

IIRC the Eclipse GS-X had a similar reputation for transmisison failure. It was also a relatively cheap AWD turbocharged car.

[huck369]

ANY manual AWD car doing 3000rpm-& up clutch drops WILL grenade a tranny eventually.
The auto allows more slippage to burn up some of that energy, and yes the higher gearing of the SVX is the main problem with their tranny, as it causes more heat.

I’m running a high mileage Legacy 5-speed in mine, which is a little notchy going into 3rd, but it has been that way since I installed it. I drive it like a car, not a race car, and believe my tranny will outlast the car.

My 2 cents,

[Phast SVX]

I drive my car hard sometimes, but dont luanch it. Ive only done it a few times. Its more fun to see what the car can do with an everyday lunach anyways, a nice slip in from the stop will still destroy an autobox SVX.
phil

[CDG]

What I have noticed is that the SVX trany likes to spend a lot of time slipping, causing lots of extra heat, causing premature decay of the trany fluid, causing excessive internal wear.
If one could force power mode on the trany all the time, this would be the easiest way to make the trany last almost forever. But you would sacrifice the designed comfort control the TCM manages for the SVX.(I've been reading up on the 4EAT trany, and trying to decipher the control logic of the TCM. my current concern is the logic that engages the AWD to a 50-50 split.)

Or the Level10 valve body does just that, aswell as adding larger journals for better oil flow, and therefore cooling.

Add a trany cooler, and keep the trany fluid fresh=a trany that will never fail(ok, almost never)