*copy from another post*


So I had my tranny rebuilt by the dealer (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?p=16361189#) beginning of november because 5th was starting to go out... Grindind it's way in. Anyway, Last night i'm driving and did a hard shift(bout 7000rpm) from 1st to 2nd. Right after I went into second it completely slipped out. I stopped the car. 1st doesn't go at all. It wont even pretend it wants to go in. it's like from neutral theres a wall holding it out of 1st. 2nd 'feels' like it'll go in about half way. Let the clutch out and I can here gears slip/grind and pushes it back to neutral. Downshifting I can get 2nd to hold, give it any gas and it pops right out. Every other gear is fine. Clutch is good.
WTF happened?! :huh:


Ya... Whatcha guys think? Should I take it back to the dealer that did the job? I had LHM Subaru rebuild it.
God I hate this... I have to drive a piece of ***** blazer right now:mad:

Warrenty from the rebuild?

Try to take it back but don't mention the hard driving and 7k shift. Did they just rebuild 5th or the whole gearset?

Well, problem here is that Subaru can often tell when tranny breakage is abuse related, sounds to me like you've stripped out your second gear. Take it back, don't mention what you were doing when you shifted only that it wouldn't go all the way into gear and it made a sound, also that it won't go into first. No sense in pleading guilty before the trial.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1160268

Lock?

Just replaced 5th and 6th on rebuild. I'm takin it back as soon as I get off work today... We'll see what they say. Hopefully its just a bent shift fork

Ouch!!!! Good luck with that. And let us know how things turn out and how well LHM treats you.

Just dropped it off at LHM... They looked up the last rebuild in there records, not even 3k miles yet...
Anyway, said they'd drop it tomorrow morning and let me know whats up

Be prepared for some bad news man....

It still amazes me that you somehow managed to screw up an STi transmission.

Ya... Twice! They prolly didn't even look at anything other than 5th gear though the first time, cuz that's the only complaint I had. Azn thinks my tranny is a lemon!
Sad... :(

but boy is that clutch nice :)

......i just heard my bed call my voice!......go0d night all

but boy is that clutch nice :)

......i just heard my bed call my voice!......go0d night all

he wasn't tired he just had to go pet his panda :lol: :lol:

Ya... My clutch doesn't do me much good at the moment though...

SO, here's the word from the stealership. The mechanic that tore it down said that the hub sleave on 2nd gear failed, causing 2nd drive gear to fail. And because the sleave can't slide, first is rendered useless as well. I asked if it could have been due to workmanship on the first rebuild, dude says nah. Stupid thing is though, the same mechanic that just tore it down is the one that rebuilt it the first time. So obviously he's not gonna knock his own work. So they're saying it's abuse. They didn't even send in a request to the extended warranty place. And now they want 2100 big ones to fix it:eek:
Retarded!~ GRRRRR I'm so mad! :mad: The car has NEVER been driven differently. Since new, its always been driven the same. And now a month after it's rebuilt this happens... Coincidence? I think not.
I'm kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place now, cuz even if I don't want them to fix it, I'm still out $500 for them droppin the tranny. I'm just gonna try calling the extended warranty place, see what they think of the whole situation. Sux though cuz they already paid for the tranny once, so they're not gonna want to do that again. And LHM doesn't want to take the blame for it....
So.. Any suggestions?

Pretty sure you're SOL at this point. To be honest if it were me I would have made the same call. You could get a second opinion from another technician and see what they say the failure point was, but that may not do you any good and could cost you more money.

Call the warranty place and see what they will do. I don't know if any other dealerships would do it for you either, but you could check. Otherwise, bend over and take it like a man who managed to destroy an STi transmission.

The whole sleeve thing is what happened to another WRX tranny we know of...so it does happen...and it sucks....I would try and make a clain through SOA and so forth

Ya, thought about the 2nd opinion, but if its from the same dealership, it really does me no good. And If I want to take it some place else to get an opinion, I'm still out $500, plus whatever the next place says. I called Nate Wade, told them the whole story, they pretty much said I'm SOL too, but they did quote me about 600 less on the fix... But that only equals around 100 and that really wouldn't be worth the hassle...
Hopefully someone at the warranty place is feeling the x-mas spirit!

On to the "Managed to destroy and STi transmission"
That's kind of my point on being upset.... It's lasted 3yrs, then 5th started grinding just barely going in, so I had the dealership check it out and they said it would be covered under warranty. Cool then, I had them rebuild it. If it wouldn't have been covered under warranty, I wouldn't have really worried about it. You could barely notice it. Just bugged me cuz I'm kind of anal about that stuff. So I get my car back on november 1st... And on december 17th it all goes wrong... 47 days! I've been in, seen, other STi's that have been driven way harder than my car, and there transmissions have lasted longer than 47 days! This is why I'm so frustrated. 1st and 2nd gears have never had any problems. Nothing. But miraculously 47 days after the tranny is 'fixed' it happens to have problems. And it's an STi transmission! They're supposed to be tough!~

How would I make a claim with SOA?

Call SOA....warranty department...

raise hellscream and curse at'em....no just tell them the story and then explain to them that you daily drive this car and don't beat on it cause its your main source of transportation also tell them that you have been very pleased with this car up to this point and having 5th go out was one thing but then 45 days later after owning the car for three years this is a bit ridiciulous and not having this covered is a bit out of the question. Just be proffessional in talking with them

Sorry to hear about your troubles...

raise hellscream and curse at'em....no just tell them the story and then explain to them that you daily drive this car and don't beat on it cause its your main source of transportation also tell them that you have been very pleased with this car up to this point and having 5th go out was one thing but then 45 days later after owning the car for three years this is a bit ridiciulous and not having this covered is a bit out of the question. Just be proffessional in talking with them


Eh, I always thought you caught more flies with honey. Did the Tranny pop on a launch? How many miles are you up to?

Just because the 1st/2nd gear thingy wasn't touched, doesn't mean that the rebuild wasn't the cause of the failure. And the OP is right about the guy who tore it down isn't going to rag his own work if he is the guy who rebuilt it in the first place.

Regardless of what gearset is fixed, if the tranny goes out in 47 days, then I say it is the last person who touched it (inside) is responsible and that they sould at least meet you half way. If they had the tranny apart, they could have noticedt he 1/2 gear set failing and replaced that to, but I guess they do work with blinders on.

Sorry to hear about your pain. Is there another, more competant trans shop that you can go to or are you stuck with the dealer? Can you work out a payment plan with them or is it all or nothing? I'd still go with the "last person who touched it" theory.

Small claims court an option?

good luck.

The gear assm. has to be pulled apart to replace 5th, so it could be poor work. It only takes a couple of thou. .002 of an inch to mess a tranny up. The new part "5th gear" could of been the difference. If they just slapped it together this could be the case. Dealership mech's. work on flat rate so there not going to take anymore time than is humanly possible.
I'd fight with them on poor work. "Pull the lemon law." This is the second time this has happened to you. The third would be lemon. This should get there attention.

Funny... The mechanic specifically told me he DIDN'T have to remove 1st or 2nd to do 5th and 6th... Which is true? I went over to the dealer yesterday, bitched and what not, looked at my tranny all tore up, checked out the bad gears/sleave...
The hub sleave between 1st and 2nd is definately the failure point. It looks kinda like the splines on an axle that got twisted under huge torque.... But it twisted then slipped, kinda taking the top of the gear teeth off at an angle. Both sides of the sleave. Which in turn messed up 1st and 2nd driven gears. I took pics, I'll try and post em up later. Mech said cause was hard shifting. I said that's a dumb explanation on a car that came with the factory option short throw shifter... Why else would you get a short throw?! And if a factory option caused tranny failure, I'm sure Subaru would have done something about it.(maybe)
Aside from a lawyer, I think I've done everything I can at this point. Talked to service manager, Warranty place that covered it the first time, Subaru Customer Care..... All with no luck. Everyone says I'm SOL.... The dealers stand point is that they didn't replace those parts on the last rebuild, so thats why they say they have nothing to do with the problem. Had it been 5th again, they may have fixed it...
So ya. I don't know what to do now. Or if anything will even get me anywhere. I just want my damn car back. I'm kind of to the give up point:(

Parts needed for the fix are as follows...
MSRP Dealer Price Subarugenuineparts.com price
Gear 1st Driven 184.43 193.65 135.01
#32231AB080
Sychronizer Set 95.42 100.19 69.85
#32650AA110
Sleeve & Hub Ass. 103.97 109.17 76.10
#32605AA150
Gear 2nd Driven 151.63 159.21 111.00
#32251AA840
Sychronizer Set 95.92 100.72 70.21
#32650AA120
LK Nut 45x10.5 23.45 26.97 17.17
#802645010
Ball Bearing 40.87 44.96 29.91
#806245020
Totals MSRP:695.69 Dealer:734.87 SGP.com:509.25


When the dealer charges more than MSRP, I think I'm getting bent. They did tell me though that I could buy my own parts, and they'd install them. But then that's still the same dumbass dealer doing the work. And labor for the job is $1050.... And if I ultimately decide I don't want LHM to do the job, I'm still out 500 for them takin it out and lookin at it... But then they'd have to put it back in as it was too.... Then I'd have to spend about the same amount to have some other place do it...
So I really don't know what to do. And with the holiday crap and all parts being specialty, if ordered ASAP, they still wont be seen til next year!
GRRRRRRRR:mad:

Utah Lemon Laws require the vehicle to be new(less than 7500miles) And have 4 repairs for same part OR be out of comission due to problem for 30 business days.... So lemon law wont help me.

^^^that **** is whack

**Very upsetting update**:mad:

Summary to date: Car goes into shop on Dec 19th, debate with dealer/Subaru/warranty company on who is responsible to pay for the repair... No luck, so I authorize payment and repair on Dec 27th....

Fast forward to now. I still don't have my car back! $%#$*&%*& :mad:
They have all the parts, except one gear, I'm pretty sure its 2nd... They've ordered the wrong part three times. Contacted there supplier in Denver with the problem, sent pics of bad part, Denver says they don't have the correct part #. So they contact some Subaru parts guru in Japan... He sends them an e-mail back on Jan 10... With pics of the correct part, no #... However, suppliers in US don't have the damn part! So now there waiting on Japan to see if they can get the part, they said to expect 3-7 days wait(from today) on Japan just to get back to them, then (if they have part) shipping from Japan on top of that!
This has gotten ridiculous!
Anyone know a number or something to file a formall complaint directly to Subaru?

****ty...schmitty

So the dealer called me yesterday(the 17th) and said Japan had emailed them back. Japan says the gear that has been sent to the dealer 3 times now, is apparently the correct gear, it's the synchros that are the problem.
WTF?!
I stopped by the dealer that night, an adventure in itself when they couldn't find my car, keys weren't in the key locker, or on the mechanics toolbox... No car outside, no car on lift where it's been for the past 4 weeks(I've been going in periodically, making sure they don't store it outside!) At that point I'm thinking these guys are geniuses. Then one of them asks, is your car silver? Ummm, ya... Is that it?[points to car in back corner of shop] Nice... Atleast they didn't lose my car, and they kept it inside.
Anyway, back to the gears... The one being sent that Japan/Subaru says is the correct part # and all looks completely different than original part. WILL NOT even go on with the current gears, synchros, hub sleave... And the email was very vague. Didn't say if there had been an update on parts or what, just that thats *supposed* to be the right gear.
God I'm getting frustrated! I just want my car back! They could atleast offer me some sort of incentive, like free labor or let me drive an '07 til they get mine done! grrrr.....
Hey, while the trannys out, think I should put in a LW flywheel? I've got a LW Pulley from Cobb(not installed yet) Is it bad to have both? Opinions? I heard somewhere the LW flywheel helps get rid of little shutter when goin into gear...

a light fly wheel is nice, i would recommend a street light one though, (12lbs) the 9 lb ones are nice, but the innertia is so low that your car will have difficulty starting, and keeping idle,

also you might want to replace your clutch if it is still original while you are at it.

im not sure about getting rid of the shudder but it may give you a bounce in the revs when comming off the top. sufficent backpressure in the exhaust helps with this. your cobb should be good for it.

when i ran just the dp my car died every time i came off the gas. after i got the cat back on it was fine

I've already got a clutch... I believe its an ACT, only cuz I don't know exactly what it is and its yellow ;)
Anyway... Best prices I can find are from carolinaclutch.com Prolite(11.1lbs) $326.04 shipped Streetlite(15.0lbs) $303.24 shipped.
Should I jut get the streetlite, or go for the Prolite? Better prices anywhere else?

If you drive it on the street then the street lite but me being the way I am I would get the prolite but thats just me and having a car die when slowing down too fast is something that may happen as the car's ecu learns the new lower rotating mass due to the lightened flywheel