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Comments
John
Gears in a transmission are always moving (rotating) at dissimilar speeds, otherwise they wouldn't be needed. The synchromesh rings allow the dog collar on the shaft to synchronize rotation speed of the shaft and the gear through friction before the dog teeth lock into the side of the gear.
Since a collar/shaft combination is not a gear, this case is hereby dismissed on a technicality ;-)
And now back to our regular programming...lol
John
Always, Sam? Think about that, because it's completely false. When the vehicle is stationary and the clutch is disengaged, none of the gears are rotating at all. A non-synchronized transmission can be freely shifted among all the gears when the vehicle is stationary with no grinding. Synchros are unnecessary in that circumstance. Yet, that's what the technician who misinformed Elissa told her must always be the case - that her vehicle must always be at a dead stop in order to engage her synchronized first gear without damage. And that advice from the technician is pure baloney, which is what this discussion has been about.
thanks for the scoop, I was going to put synthetic in at 30 k, but this is more than once that I have heard of it being too slippery for the synchros to work properly.
Is this true????? should I just change back to regular fluid in my manual tranny ???????
Of course, Elissa's mechanic's statement is baloney. I think the problems with some transmissions' 1st gear failing are due to either a design flaw or manufacturing defects, not the principles of operating a manual fully synchronized transmission.
John, the XT has a beefed up tranny, I doubt that anything short of heavy abuse will break it. The X/XS has a regular tranny, but I'm pretty sure it will be durable. The X/XS does not have a lot of power to mess up the gears, unless, of course, you do clutch drops at every launch. I had an older Legacy, and never had problems with the tranny, or the clutch, and I beat the living daylights out of it (had no choice - the thing wouldn't get out of its own way...lol).
Does this mean anything to those of you who know transmissions?
I wasn't really THAT sore about the whole synchro conversation. Just giving you guys a hard time
;-) c'mon now! LOL And I totally understand about a synchro's purpose and why it SHOULD not be necessary to double-clutch. I just believe that the first gear synchro may be a weak point on some subies and I'd prefer to baby them than replace them. ANYWAY...
That being said, that same technician who suggested the double clutching and never downshifting to first also said he didn't recommend synthetic fluids in the diff or tranny since it can cause aforementioned grinding. He did however fully endorse synthetic in the engine. Just throwing that out there FWIW. I really hope I'm not starting another argument. *wink*wink*
-Elissa
MNSteve
Redline has a synthetic gear oil w/o friction modifiers specifically to improve interaction with syncros.
Jim
Here is what I've found...
Some of the subie trannies like synthetic (mobile 1, Amsoil, redline) some don't. It's a try and see type dealio. On my legacy I get a bad grinding in 1st and 2nd, mostly 2nd so we put in the amsoil to try to quiet it down. It got slightly better but not perfect. Gonna try the redline and see if that helps. If that doesn't then gonna go back to subaru specific gear oil, which i've heard works wonders.
-mike
mike - Is this what you would get from the dealer?
Jim
I found out that my CEL came on because of "Sensor circuit slow response, Bank 1, Sensor 1". That refers to the upstream O2 sensor, I think.
Does that mean that the sensor doesn't come on line fast enough, making the system run in open loop mode for too long? Time to change it? Anybody know?
It was for all the world like a dead alternator turns out the new spiral gel battery I just put in was dead would not hold a charge, the dealer lent me a battery so I could get mine changed under warranty.
The good news was checking the problem and lending me a battery was provided no charge.
Needless to say I was impressed and his stock has gone up a lot in my estimation.
I am quick to dump on bad service but just as quick to praise good service.
Cheers Pat.
mike - Is this what you would get from the dealer?
Jim
Yup, the only problem is that it only comes in like 5 gallon containers.
-mike
Jim
was that an Optima battery? I've never heard of one being DOA.
~c
1. Exhaust smells real bad
2. Gas gage keeps going up and down
Question, can a head gasket leak ruin a converter, I assume it is possible since (according to the dealer) it ruined the front O2 sensor.
for your rights under this mandate in case it applies. -elissa
When I picked it up that night they charged me a $75 diagnostic fee. I asked them why, and they responded that they did that to confirm the part was bad. Grrrrrrrrr.........
When the airbag computer went I just let them troubleshoot it themselves - it was a flat diagnostic fee. That and it was a $850 job anyway.
Larry
-Dave
Take care,
Paul
This repair cost me $380 (for a fuel level sensor), if I took it to a local mechanic it would of been around $250. Live and learn
-Dave
FWIW - I would suggest you call in your concerns related to the diagnostic fee being added to the charges for the repair. The Rep. can report it and things like this do facilitate change. This isn't something that SOA controls, so we can't force a dealer to change a business practice, but if the dealer knows it puts a negative spin on the dealership, who knows.....
Thanks - and I'm sorry about the whole problem!
Patti
Charges were as follows:
1 hour for diagnostic $88
1.5 hours to replace the parts $120
parts: fuel meter unit1 $69.95
gasket $9.22
fule meetr unit2 80.77
I also complained about bad exhaust smell (when the head gasket blew it ruined the oxigen sensor) I think the leaking antifreeze may have damaged the converter. They told me to use different gas (has been using Mobil). At least I have it on record so if it is the converter.
Interesting that we had numerous problme with the Forester (all repaired under warranty which is great) and no problems with the Legacy GT, they both have about the same milage.
Thanks!
Patti
-mike
We will see, time will tell, any more problems with the battery and the sucker will be replaced with an Optima at their expense.
Cheers Pat.
I have a 2003 Forester with Yakima round crossbars. I'm going to be driving from FL to NH and could use some extra storage space. Any recommendations on compatible rooftop hardshell carriers? The catch is, I'd really like it to work on my wife's Acura MDX that she's getting ("04). For some reason, the yakima rooftop carriers are not compatible with Yakima crossbars on the Acura. Any ideas would be really appreciated, since this costs about $300 and it would be nice to be able to use it on both cars.
Dan
~c
Steve
-mike
that identical battery, would it by any chance be "Interstate"?
I recall they carried re-badge Optima.
-Dave
Bob
After Wappingers insisted doing an alignment and wheel balancing on a wrecked car (before sending it to the body shop) I don't go there anymore.
That is cheap, though, I recall a group buy price in the $110 range.
Pat: glad to hear they took care of you, and that you shared the experience.
-juice