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Driving down the highway at 70mph tonight a violent metal grinding slowed me to a stop in a few hundred feet. I felt parts flying at me in the cabin as I was slowing down.

 

Upon inspection the shifter has popped free of it's layered plastic housing and is stuck in park. Moving it does not seem to engage the tranny. The car is still runnig but stuck in place.

 

I'm assuming it's a blown transmission but understand that is quite rare on these cars. Anyone else has a similar experience?

 

The car is a H6 3.0 Outback 176k miles. Previous symptoms were stuttering upon acceleration and an intermittent rattling that I thought was the exhaust shield.

 

I will post pictures of what I find in the morning.

Edited by ztrain727
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Well, I'm impressed you both mentioned blown U-joint. Sure enough, that's the first thing I noticed. See attached photo. The back wheels spin, but the front end is totally locked. It says the car is in park, but the gear shift is totally loose and has broken parts and no lights.

 

If the u-joint is what failed first, what other damage should I expect?

 

I will start by draining the tranny fluid to see what I find.

 

Thanks so much for the help!

 

Edit: I just noticed looking at the photo that the u-joint collided wth the gear shift cable so that explaines that. Do I need to replace the whole tranny assembly?

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Edited by ztrain727
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wow - that's pretty much the definition of catastrophic failure.

 

I suppose, at one level, it's hard not to consider a trans swap - if fo no other reason you may be able to find one with half the miles of the one you have now - but you STILL would need to fix the other damage so - yeah, I agree with 86B'man and suggest starting with the known problems and see how the trans is.

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Might have got lucky. Can you spin the yoke that's still in the trans?

You may have to pull the shift lever on the side of the trans to get it out of park. 

 

If it spins easy and you don't feel any wobble or up/down play, pull the yoke out and see if its scored or marred. If it looks smooth then you can probably get by with replacing the driveshaft, the gear shift assembly and the shift cable.  

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The yoke spins smoothly in the trans with no noticeable play, but I cannot remove it from the trans. It begins to slide out, maybe a couple inches, and then hangs up. 

 

Can anyone comment on the compatibility of driveshafts and/or transmissions for an '04 Legacy Outback LL Bean Edition H6. I understand the 3.0 and 2.5 are the same, and this run was from 2000-2004 I believe. 

 

@msmithmmx If you have a shift cable for this model, I would definitely be interested. Mine is pretty mashed. 

 

Thanks for the help as always! 

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That's what I feared but the suggestions of the other members gave me hope that it may have just been the drive shaft. I don't recall the wheels locking up, no skid marks, no tranny fluid under the car. If I removed the 4 bolts to the rear diff, plugged in the 2wd fuse and could get it to shift into drive with the cable, I would have my answer quickly. 

 

Does it usually take some tugging to free the yoke? Should I remove the dust cover? 

Edited by ztrain727
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Great. I will make a few calls to local u-pull yards. 

 

Anyone have any ideas for getting the yoke out? I've read of other vehicle owners using a come-along through the u-joint. Should I remove the tailhousing? 

 

I guess the real question is, if the yoke is really stuck in there, am I looking at a new transmission anyway? 

Edited by ztrain727
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Not necessarily. Sometimes they wear a little funny and can bind a bit right at the end before it pops out.

This would certainly happen if the shaft was wobbling around for a long time (causing your shudder on acceleration).

 

Just yank on it a little harder. Sometimes it helps to turn the yoke as you pull outward.

 

The tail housing is replaceable. You can unbolt it and install a used tailhousing if the bushing sleeve is too damaged or if you find damage to the output shaft or bearings.

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You need to unbolt the center carrier bearing from the chassis. That will give you enough play on the drive shaft to remove it. You will need to remove the dust cover to get to the carrier bearing. You will need to get the exhaust out of the way as well. You can't drive without the front drive shaft.

Edited by msmithmmx
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