Here we go again!

#1 11-24-2002, 11:06 PM

So I am driving along and see a friend of mines car on the side of the road... I slow down almost to a stop to see if she is having car trouble. At the same time she gets back into her car and starts to drive off. I looked in the rear view and see a car comming around the curve quickly, knowing she is fine, I hit the gas quickly and I here noises comming from the transmission. I stopped at the next stop sign. I have never floored the car before, but I decided to floor it to see if it would make that noise again. Yep there it is a very loud thud, thud, clunk. About four or five horrible clunking sounds.... But the car drives fine if you are gentle with it???? So the next day I stopped at the gas station and I see gravel on the side so I put all four wheels in the gravel and kicked the gas about medium and there it was again. The same sounds... There was alot of shaking too. It seems like it is having trouble transfering power to the rear wheels. Transfer clutch?
I think that it is still under warranty so I am bringing it in to the shop tomorrow AM but I was hoping for some imput?

Thanks, -G

#2 11-24-2002, 11:36 PM

I had about the exact same thing happen when my front differential first blew up. I was cruising at about 70 in the interstate when I felt the car seem to jerk forward and to the right. I thought it was either my front right tire blowing out, or my cv joint giving out. (it was clicking for about a month prior). Anyways, I tried weaving back and forth to see if the tire was blown and it wasn't so I just kept driving along. About 5 miles later I get off the interstate and stop on an uphill at a light. When it turns green I go and hear the same noises your are describing and when I get to the intersection and turn right it starts shaking just like you mentioned. I immediately pull over to see if I can see if I could tell what happened. This whole time I'm convinced it's the cv joint. I can't see anything wrong with it so I have it towed to the shop. They agree that it's the CV joint and are ready to start replacing it when they see it's not the problem. It's in the transmission. My front differential gear totally blew up, shattered into several pieces and all the pieces were floating around the tranny. The clunking is when a gear doesn't mesh right, and the cause of the shaking was when the different wheels were spinning at different speeds, but somehow not using the differential the right way. Anyways, I needed to have my whole tranny rebuilt because of this. It had about 40k on it and I couldn't tell anything was wrong by driving it, but the teflon bushings were burnt and chewed up, lots of the bearings were worn, and the belts were totally charred and frayed. I was going to have to have this work done soon anyways so I'm not too upset about it.

Anyways, sorry to waste your time having to read all of that, but I wanted to share my experience with you.

#3 11-24-2002, 11:43 PM

Does anyone know if the warranty for a Subaru installed tranny?
Is it 12 month/12,000 miles or 12 months?

-G

subymtnguy · #4 11-25-2002, 06:31 AM

Suby Warranty: 2yrs. or 24k miles....

CigarJohnny · #5 11-25-2002, 08:28 AM

Welcome to the club, G! I just dropped my 92 SVX off at the dealers this morning to have my transfer clutch and duty solenoid replaced. Same symptoms...punch it enough to get the front tires to break loose and the whole drivetrain shudders and shakes when the rear drive engages. Let off the gas enough for it to disengage and it is smooth as always. I really saw it when the roads were wet. The local Subie dealer I took it to sent their lead tech with a drive with me in the rain to see what was happening. As soon as he felt/heard it he seemed extremely confident that it was the transfer clutch and/or duty solenoid. He said my tranny shifted strongly and felt great so to not worry about that being any problem.

I bought my 92 at a used car dealer and I am glad I bought the extra warranty. It's a $1000 I don't have to cough up right now. They have to take it to the Subie dealer near them to have it officially diagnosed (to their liking) but I am confident they will agree with my local Subie dealer. I will know in a day or two.

Wish me luck and I will do the same for you!

#6 11-25-2002, 08:13 PM

That is it Mr. Cigar,

I am not sure the tech at the local suby knows for sure what to do in this situation but I am going to be covered under warranty. As of this afternoon they decided to put a new (rebuild) tranny in and hopefully take care of the problem that way. Either way I am glad to see they found the problem easily enough and that is exactly what it is, once it breaks loose it can't seem to figure what to do next... I take it there is an easier way to solve this then to replace the entire thing or am I going to be better off with the new to me?

Thanks,
-G

P.S. Good luck Cigarjohnny

CigarJohnny · #7 11-26-2002, 06:29 AM

Actually the part with the transfer clutch looks like a big nipple that bolts onto the rear of the tranny. It can be removed without dropping the tranny and from what the tech showed me it looks really easy to do. I think I'd love for them to drop in an entire "new" rebuilt tranny to go with it. That way I'd know that it is all new and could feel confident starting from there. So I would consider myself lucky if I were you

It makes me feel a lot more confident that I will enjoy my car this winter since they fixed yours basically the same way ("new tranny...new tranny...new tranny..."). Good luck with your SVX. May you have many enjoyable miles to go