Transmission issue on 2011 Legacy GT (manual).

jimmee64

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this question but here goes.

Should I expect a diagnosis or educated guess from a Subaru dealer for transmission issues before i have to pay $1,400 for them to crack open my transmission?

I brought it to one dealer already and for the $120 fee my professional diagnosis was "something is wrong with my transmission" (which is why I brought it in). I'm hesitant to bring it to another without some idea they know what may be happening and what to look for. From the symptoms it seems they should at least have an idea what to look for:

The symptoms are it makes a clunking noise (like driving over small ruts in the pavement) only when warm and only when driving slow with the wheel turned sharply left or right. It does this in 1st, neutral, or reverse when warm. When cold it does not do this at all. It shifts smooth and the transmission seems fine all other times.

thecardoc3

The description is only enough information to set the stage for someone else to go out on a road test and attempt to reproduce it. From there you need someone with enough experience and have the right kind of intuition to visualize where the back-lash is likely to be occurring and from there how the sound and sensation are being transmitted back into the car.

TSB's could then be accessed to see if there have been reports for similar issues and the technician would then need to investigate if they are plausible to what ever issue is at hand this time. Ultimately it eventually comes down to someone just might have to take it apart and do some physical inspection of the components and make end play and back lash measurements. There is a lot to be said for how much better cars are today and how few failures they actually have. But with that comes the reality that techs face many more once in a career failures than they ever did in the past and its quite likely that no-one that you are going to speak to has seen this before.
From the description alone it cannot even be judged as something that has to be repaired.

Chriscory28

Well... I'm in a real bind and could REALLY use some expert advice and input. I own a 98 Subaru Legacy Outback, manual transmission. 2 days ago, the gears just stopped engaging. Since then I have been parked in front of a lady's home with my 3 dogs and all my belongings in the world. I recently moved to San Antonio TX from Lake Tahoe. I am literally living in my car until I get myself established. My car is my home as well as my transportation to and from work. The car has run phenomenally with no real problems whatsoever. All the fluids are full. It runs great. And I really DRIVE it. A few days ago, I had my car running while I was giving someone a jump. The dogs were trying to get something on the driver's side floor, and I heard them pressing full force against the gear shifter, grinding. I immediately disbanded that. Within a day or two, I started noticing the 4th gear not engaging. Sometimes it would, but I kinda had to grind it by pushing it a bit more to the right towards 5th to get it to engage. So I basically just went from 3rd to 5th most of the time. About 3 days later, I was just driving up a regular side street. I stopped at a stop sign. When I went to drive forward, I shifted into 1st. And it popped out. I laughed, thinking it was me. But then it never went into ANY gear again. I literally had to stop in the middle of the street and push my car to the side of the road. And I've been there ever since. I don't know much about cars, but I have definitely familiarized myself with all the basics in the driver's manual. I have no choice but to figure out how to repair this myself. I have no money. I just started working steadily. In 2 weeks, I start a job as a Kayak Tour Guide. And I will need my car for that job and to do just about anything. So... The bottom line is I have to learn NOW what to do and how and spend whatever money I earn daily directly on solving this problem. No room for error. I did download the repair manual, which is basically Latin to me. I've been reading blogs and sites like yours and asking people questions. 3 people who know cars have all told me I can remove the center console and there is a ball or button beneath the gear shift that I can insert into to adjust the gear alignment. And they've all said that it has totally worked for them. My inclination is they may be right. It does seem that the dogs grinding the be gears is the direct cause of the gears suddenly not engaging, since there has been absolutely no issue with the gears at all prior to this. So I don't think it's some other random issue with the tranny. So, it would seem this is something I can nip in the bud by correcting the precise problem NOW. At the very least, being able to identify what has happened and what the damage is and what part (s) need to be replaced or adjusted while the failure is pretty localized and specific, would be the most practical and inexpensive way to fix this ASAP and learn about my transmission at the same time. Please call or text me with ANY advice or input. It will be genuinely appreciated. Thank you for your time. 210.264.6789