sound of linkage letting go and stick shift suddenly loose!!

[Marydf]

Im driivng a 2003 Outback, and tonight as we pull into drive, I hear this sound of metla dragging on pavment under my car... I hear a weird sound, and then my stick shift feels awfully loose!!!!!!!!I had to get it into first to get up into driveway.. but then neurtal and rollede to park...
i knwo somethings WRONG
terribly
wrong
I THINK
im a woman car owner
I love my subaru
I hear sounds , and am attentive to its "knockings".. and creeks...
today had the oil censor changed as I was spewing oil onto engine...
also had mechanic take it for a drive
i \been hearing a sound like wheel bearing.. for a longgggg time
but ... also wondered about what else that might be
scared now

i put a new transmission in it less than 6 months ago

thanks for advice
MA

[Wiscon_Mark]

If it feels loose, it may just be the linkage connections (possibly something's unhinged and causing poor feel). I certainly hope it's not inside the transmission case.

If you heard a constant whirring sound (like a wheel bearing) that likely has little to do with this instance.

Do you notice any difference in clutch feel?

When they did the transmission, did they do the clutch, or mention anything in the clutch assembly needing work or resurfacing?

Why was the transmission replaced?

The best thing you can do is have your mechanic look at it and hope that if it's something related to the work he's done (unlikely the oil pressure sensor job is related though) that he'll back his work up and take care of it for you.

[Marydf]

It felt like something was also wrong with clutch I should mentioned that

my mechanic didn't do the transmission, a specialist did it
and he said I had a good solid car after the trany was fixed
he put in 3 & 4 th new gears & a viscus clutch...inside trany

by said nothing about the Clutch itself, or anything else... :roll:

[Marydf]

the sound was something metal dragging under car as if I had ran over something metal
but I didn't run over anything...

I had instant thoughts
muffler, no its not LOUD
mmm
oh oh I cant shift its loose real loose...
oh oh
i have no clutch,...
but I did get in to 1st
and then to a rolling stop
somehow and parked her

:(( feel bad tonight
worried
cant afford this right now
we just bought a house
i don't have the $$
*sigh**
hope its not going to be another $2,000 repair

[Dead91silvia]

A few things...

1. Does the shifter just flop around, or does it slid into the slots for the gears like it should?
2. Is it stuck in gear?
3. If it goes into the slot for the gears, have you tried 4th and let out the clutch?

The more info we can get, the more we can help. :smile:

[Wiscon_Mark]

Based on what you said, I think you're having a clutch engagement problem. It may be stuck. Hard shifts could have caused your linkage to break/snap or something.

Try what Robin (Dead91Silvia) said with the car off and then with the engine running. If you can shift gears (but stiffly) with the car off, but can't get anything to move without the syncros complaining (foot in on the clutch of course) with it running, I don't think your clutch is disengaging.

That noise you mentioned, was it speed or engine RPM dependent? Was it only when you were moving (say you were coasting or shut off the engine while coasting to listen), or only when the engine was running?

[Marydf]

i once lost power, car died.... while going down a hill
i had no brakes... everything... depends somehow on car running...

my mechanic said its cause everything runs that way in a Subaru...
is that true?
it made me fee unsafe if I cant stop if I sudden don't have brakes...

YUK

I will try the shifting parked.. seemed good to me when I went out to car & funny the clutch seems ok too
let me go see about running up and around driveway & back lane
BRB

[Wiscon_Mark]

i once lost power, car died.... while going down a hill
i had no brakes... everything... depends somehow on car running...

my mechanic said its cause everything runs that way in a Subaru...
is that true?
it made me fee unsafe if I cant stop if I sudden don't have brakes...


Braking & Power steering systems both require a power boost from the engine running to assist you, so the engine has to be running for you to get effective control over those two systems. It's not a Subaru thing, it's a modern car thing. It's not that you can't brake, but if the engine's off, it's up to you to push the pedal hard enough to stop 3400 lbs of metal moving at speed.

That wasn't really the point of my post though. If the noise was engine dependant, it would go away by shutting off the engine. If it was a wheel bearing or something in the hubs/suspension like you're thinking, it would still be making that noise with the engine off, provided you were moving. If you were stopped, it probably wouldn't.

[Marydf]

I went out... it felt fine, not running
started it, backed up
moved car around in our parking lot area.. seemed fine
maybe the noise was something else..
there are drips of OIL all up the drive way & back lane.... on the cement
I will keep an eye on it...

lets hope today's safe driving for me
:smt031

[Marydf]

my mechanic is going to put it up on hoist Thursday
& the 4 tires of course have to all turning together being all wheel drive...
may be can do that in neutral
up on hoist
and in gear seeing if & what the noise is & where from
thanks

[Dead91silvia]

Losing power with the brakes has to do with the car running and it's the same for 95% of all cars in the word, not just Subaru. The brakes run off of vacuum and when that stops, the brakes are much harder, like a car from the 50's.

If it's running and driving now then it might have to do with your clutch master and slave. I ran into the same problem with my car back in December.

Let us know what happens.

[Marydf]

To: Dead91silvia
what happened in Dec when your master cylinder? explain
thanks

[chuckthefuk]

Clutch slave cylinder
Worn out clutch


I know you had a "specialist" install your transmission items but depending on the quality of the original clutch / replaced unit it could fail.

As far as the shifter linkage there are 3 sections to focus on:
1) Return spring <--- when this spring snaps it causes the shifter become wobbly and sometimes make each gear feel like neutral.
2) Linkage <--- made of 2 roads (upper that attaches to the shifter rod and lower which connects to the lower portion of the shifter)
3) Locking Clip / Retaining clip <--- this is the little horseshoe clip that clips the lower linkage to the shifter road. <-- when this fails the shifter pops up as in vertical and makes gear selections extremely hard to locate the gear of choice.

Sure in freak situation the linkage could snap or the bolts let go but I have yet to see/experience this.

Let us know what your mechanic says.
-Chuck

[Dead91silvia]

To: Dead91silvia
what happened in Dec when your master cylinder? explain
thanks

It was incorrectly adjusted and old. So I replaced the slave, master and soft line so I didnt have anything else to fix. Just sold the car a couple weeks ago and it was driving great.

Parts cost was under $200

[Marydf]

that's good news thanks.... I'm going to talk to mechanic to price parts for me..in case this happening the last time we ordered actual Subaru parts for the transmission it took a month for the city's dealer to even put in an order, i was 7 weeks with out a car

[Dead91silvia]

Make sure the clutch master in made from Aluminum. That and the slave can be aftermarket, it's much cheaper, but I would get a "Subaru" soft line for sure! They are not that spendy and also you dont have to worry about them not fitting correctly. Thats just how I did mine...

[Wiscon_Mark]

I'm going to move this thread to Transmission & Differential now that we've pretty much narrowed it down.

[Marydf]

but aren't we talking about the problem being my clutch? master & Slave possibly?
possible replacement needed?
is that transmission related? or differential?

[chuckthefuk]

Its Transmission related. Differential is still grouped together with transmission :-D

Subarus have 3 diffs (front/center/rear) from your original post it sounds like the center diff had been replaced when the new gears went in.

[Wiscon_Mark]

I consider clutch to be Transmission related, yes. Your linkage is also transmission related. The section is just called Transmission & Differential. We try to keep things sorted for the future people looking for advice.