ekoebel

Thanks so much everybody for your input! It's very useful for me being a non expert to understand the reality of the situation. Additional input is still very much appreciated!

I'm looking for some expert advice here. My 2013 Crosstrek has 68,000 kms on it. I recently noticed some fluid leaking on my driveway, so I brought it into the shop and the mechanic said there was a crack in the transmission casing. So I brought it back to where I recently got the transmission fluid flushed and the mechanic literally broke a chunk of the casing off by hand. The piece broke off near one of the plugs (I'm no expert, so excuse the poor explanation). This plug would have been taken out and put back during the transmission fluid flush. Now I have a big problem. It's still under warranty so I brought it into Subaru and they immediately said they cannot honour the warranty because this is clearly a human failure; they claim the mechanic overtightened the bolt and cracked the casing. However, the mechanic (and 2 other mechanics, including a transmission expert) say they've never seen anyting like this and this couldn't have been caused by overtightening because the threads are all completely intact. If anything, they claim, the threads would've stripped before the case would've cracked. The mechanic also claims he doesn't even have power tools in his shop, so this would've been done with a wrench. So now I'm stuck between two parties who are not taking responsibility, and I'm faced with an $8,500 bill. Does anybody have any opinion as to whether this could've been caused by the mechanic who did the transmission fluid flush, or whether this could be a manufacturer's defect? Thank you!