[Sand in my tranny?]

Does your car not have dual-range AWD? All stationwagons are DR in Europe.

 

 

Oh, and one final idea, was the car in first gear? Trying to pull away in 3rd would give the same kind of symptoms - even on solid ground.

 

No, we don't have Dual Range here. At least, not that I know of.

 

And yes, it was in first gear. I tried it in second, thinking that might help - kind of like pop-staring a motorcycle - but it didn't work.

 

DAve

[Sand in my tranny?]

I doubt sand has gotten into the transmission.

 

I agree with the others that the engine was probably overwhelmed.

 

 

By the way, a manual has NO AWD COMPUTER! What were people drinking, absynthe?

 

Heh heh. No, just beer and wine. But they also were not Subie experts, or knowledgeable about AWD at all. Some of them owned, or had owned, Subies, but were not gearheads with them.

 

Kinda like me. I still don't know the ins and outs of my AWD system. Which is why I'm asking you folks.

 

DAve

[Sand in my tranny?]

What you may want to try, is place a brick in front of each wheel. then try to drive over them. I think it will stall then too. My feeling is there is nothing wrong with the car, it was just dug in.

 

You might have something there. We did put 2x4s in front of each tire, and eventually I was able to get traction on them, but it died again once it got back on sand.

 

Do you think I should have it looked at? I probably will anyway, it's just about time for it's 6 month service.

 

Go to a army/navy store and toss a folding shovel in the back of the car.

 

That's another good idea. Although, I don't think I'll be driving on sand again any time soon.

 

 

Thanks!

DAve

[Sand in my tranny?]

Here's a shot of the car. As you can see, the sand didn't get that high up the wheels.

 

DAve

 

[Sand in my tranny?]

Was your clutch slipping? Did the car feel like it was 'pulling' at all?

 

very strange

 

Carl

 

I don't think the clutch was slipping. The power seemed to be getting to the wheels, they just didn't want to turn, which caused the engine to stall out again, if I let the clutch out all the way.

 

DAve

[Sand in my tranny?]

Long shot-is there any possibility that once you stopped and sank into the sand there was simply not enough power to get going, hence the wheels not spinning. But then were just fine when got winched up onto the pavement.

 

Well, maybe, but the thing is, the car stalled out due to the wheels locking up before I stopped - that's what stopped me.

 

DAve

[Sand in my tranny?]

Hi All,

I'm new here - first post. I wanted to see if anyone has any ideas as to what happened to my 97 Outback wagon yesterday. Here's the story:

 

I was bringing some firewood to a beach bonfire, and (despite the "No vehicles" sign) I decided to drive the hundred yards on the sand to unload the wood. Just as I pulled up to the firepit, the car stalled (5 speed). Starting it up and trying to move it, just caused it to stall again.

 

The wheels were not turning. It's not like they were spinning and kicking up sand - they just wouldn't budge. It was like I had put the parking brake on. Forward, reverse, nothing.

 

We managed to push it a few feet in neutral, then I tried first gear again, and the wheels locked right back up. After that, they wouldn't come unglued, in any gear, or even neutral.

 

Eventually, I called AAA and the tow truck driver hooked up a winch and pulled my car to the road. At which point, everything worked fine - no problems. Drove it home and everything.

 

Some (drunk) people there theorized that the AWD computer got confused by being on sand and didn't know where to route power, and just locked up.

 

Another theory was that sand got in the transfer case or other part of the drive train, causing the wheels to lock up.

 

Anyone here ever hear of this happening? I know the wagons aren't the most beachworthy cars, but I didn't expect it to just lock up.

 

Thanks,

DAve