birdman717

Hello, I have a 2002 Legacy L Wagon 5spd with 195k on it and it's in great shape, runs strong and I love it. I have put many hours into this car mostly in preventative maintenance (keeping the rust away is yearly task up here in SaltLand!). But anyway... my issue: A month or so ago I was pulling into a camping spot in some slightly off road conditions (which I do not normally do, I know it's AWD, but it's not a Jeep!). The place I was pulling into had shallow ruts and it was a very tight turn, and I had the steering wheel cranked all the way to the right and attempted to cross over the ruts and she stalled out because the front bumper cover hit a rock and I was being easy on the throttle. So, I was going to change my angle of approach and I backed up and tried again, and again, with the wheel pinned to the right, she shuttered, bucked and stalled out (remember, it's a manual transmission and I wasn't hammering the throttle). So, I then gave up on this way into the camp site and when I went to take off in first gear there was like this crunch, crunch sound coming from the front end. It was unmistakably a metal sound, so I thought maybe I was hitting a rock, so I got out of the car and looked under it to look for obstructions; and there was none. So I just shrugged my shoulders and continued on down the road. I started hearing like a "clack, clack" sound when I would let off on the throttle, and I thought maybe I broke a tooth on a CV joint or something. Later I noticed a whining when I got up to about 30 miles an hour, mostly when I let off on the throttle. It seems to go away when I give it throttle or am over 40mph. I showed a mechanic friend of mine the problem and he said not to worry about it... so I haven't been... UNTIL THE OTHER DAY! .... I was backing down a friend's dirt driveway and maybe going a little fast for being in reverse, but all of a sudden it just sounded like someone dropped a bag of ball bearings into my gearbox! It didn't entirely bind up tight (there were no skid marks) but it slowed way down, and as soon as this happened I threw the clutch in.... When I proceeded to back up, it seemed find again... It's been a week now, and it's still going, but has the whining and clicking sounds like it has since I broke whatever I broke. I will not be gunning it in reverse again! My question: what did I break, how can I fix it and how much longer do I maybe have until I will be without a ride? Has anybody else ever heard of anything like this or experienced anything like it? Any insight or direction would be appreciated. Thanks! Chris