wholtcamp@comcast.net

FYI the shop called and they said they "forgot a bearing" - what does that mean? Doesn't give me a lot of confidence in their work!!

I called this morn and said first my car is making a scraping noise and 2nd I did some research & want to talk to you again about the bill. He didn't want to, and was extremely rude, said no I couldn't talk to a technician (when I asked which one worked on it he said "lots of them"), no he wouldn't give me the owner's name ("If you did so much research why don't you use some of that research to find out for yourself") etc. I mentioned small claims court and that I reserved the right to cancel my credit card fee until the work was done right. He said I'm not going over the bill but bring it down and he'd drive it with me. So I did and the tech who worked on my car drove it with me and sure enough there's a problem. I actually remember now that the scraping started immediately AFTER the "weird feeling" when I shifted between 4th and 5th on the way home, and then it's been constant since. They determined they had to take it apart again so gave me a rental car which they're paying for. They were also calm when I got there and (there is a manager in training as well) and did show me the parts (I will take them home and take pics & post here). I have no idea of knowing whether the parts were actually bad and needed replacing or what. He said that only rear differentials make noise when they're about to go out, the front differential is inside the transmission and also called the "drive train". When I asked if the gear ring & pinion just dropped in, to the tech - he said yes, then said no, and I said do you have special Subaru tools and he said no, we use the same tools on every car. I said that I've been told Subarus require some special tuning afetr it goes back together but I didn't really get a clear story. The tech was not a native English speaker so I'm not sure he could fully comunicate back to me what he was trying to explain with the engine though. That was the impression I had. I asked the manager the same thing about it slipping in, and he didn't give me a clear cut answer either but I certainly didn't get any sense of confidence like "oh yea, Subarus require special this that or the other, and we've dealt with hundreds of them..." or something to that effect. can you use non-Subaru tools on them?! I'll post again when I get word on what's wrong this time...The scraping sound happens in all gears, and definitely heightens in intensity while pushing the gas pedal. It seems to be related to driving, not idling. It doesn't sound when sitting at a light.

OK I'll do that. I need to take it down anyway because they need to fix the scraping sound... what would cause that?! And I want them to go over the bill with me. Hopefully they kept the parts. They had told me the parts would not be there from Subaru until noon, but the car was ready by 1130. I'm assuming it got there early, but 6-7 am is impossible because no courier delivers before 8am! Thanks for your feedback!

So do you mean that you've had this problem yourself? With a Subaru? Do the have to get inside the transmission to replace the clutch? Can I take it to another place and have them look at the work, or will they have to open up the transmission again to do that?

I have a standard 2001 Forester with ~150k miles. The other morning, when I'd put it into any gear (1st or Reverse) to move, it would just sputter and die. I had it towed to a transmission place, who (after taking the transmission out/apart) told me the stickshift was stuck in gear, and it needed the front differential fixed and also a new clutch. It was $1946. This seemed high but what could I do? I agreed. I picked it up today and not 2 miles out of the shop, it started acting up. It shook a bit when shifting from 4th to 5th, and it sputtered (the feeling where it's not getting gas). The shop was closed so I can't do anything until Monday. But looking at the bill, they claim to have ordered all these parts that don't seem to have anything to do with the "differential" and they charged me for a lot of labor that they couldn't have done (because they told me that they had to overnight the differential from the dealer & it wouldn't be there until noon Sat, but then when I called at 11am Sat, the car was ready). How done one get 12 hours of labor out of this?! I feel like I've been scammed, but don't want to take it back to get it fixed there if they are dishonest and do shoddy work. List of parts they charged me for: snap ring, ring gear & pinion (oddly says L,S, Automatic Trans - 4.44 Ratio - but I have a manual not automatic...), clutch disc assembly, clutch pressure plate, clutch release bearing, seal & gasket kit, gear & hub assembly. The labor is 10.3 hrs for "transaxle assembly - remove, install & overheaul) plus ~1.6 hrs for the clutch. Has anyone ever had the stickshift STUCK in gear? Why would it do that?! Does it really sound like a differential problem? I think they said the clutch issue wasn't related but it was needed "also". Any feedback or advice is greatly appreciated! Feel free to email me at wholtcamp @ comcast.net (remove spaces)