ArtemasRex

>These are older cars with parts becoming harder to find, and more are no longer available. Yours looks just like mine. I'll take a picture of mine tomorrow and put it in my profile.

Can you offer me advice on sorting through car-parts.com inventory? I will be searching my area for a mechanic who can either fix the transmission himself or procure one, but I'd like to spend some time seeing what's out there on my own. Car-parts.com doesn't list the GL in its Subaru section. Are GL parts compatible with another make, and what range of years can I search under? I'm still deciding if I'm going to keep this car or if it's just a sunk cost at this point. Figuring out the availability of parts will have a big impact on that decision.

Okay, thanks. So I DO need a new transmission. Darn it malarnit! Any suggestions where to look for one? I mean like a website that'll ship it out or something. I know I can Google but maybe there's an inobvious best option.

The DOJ boot is definitely bad. You can see the tear just from glancing at it. For some reason the mechanic I saw a week ago took one look at it and said it needed replacing. This is the same mechanic who looked at my empty differential fluid and thought he was looking at the transmission, so... Your wife's situation indeed sounds very similar to mine. I drove about 15 miles last night, testing my ability to prevent the clanking by keeping a bit of throttle on while braking. Engine braking is a great way to describe what is causing the shuddering. Anyway, having put brand new oil into the differential yesterday and after driving the 15 miles, today the improvements caused by replacing the tiny bit of old oil were gone. I looked at the oil today and it is significantly darker than when I put it in. This could be caused by the black oil that was already in it that didn't get drained, but I don't know... why was the existing oil so black to begin with? I'm sorry, what is ATF? Also, what did they do at the garage? Did they replace the differential or was it something they managed to repair? Was the problem solved?

My continued thanks to members of this forum for all the good information so far. I filled my empty transmission with transmission fluid and then discovered that it was in fact my differential fluid I had mistook as transmission fluid, thanks to who I now regard as a less than competent mechanic who hates Subarus. So I emptied the differential fluid, which came out black. I refilled with 80-90w gear oil. The car indeed seemed to improve. It no longer violently jerks, now it's been reduced to a relatively benign (but still concerning) clank. Here's the story: When cold and driven up to 30 mph it is perfectly fine. After it warms up a bit there is a moderate clanking when acceleration is relieved. At highway speeds the clanking gets worse. You can feel it in the steering wheel and the shifter especially. The funny thing is it only happens when the throttle is nearly completely let off. If I put my foot down just enough to get throttle there is no clanking. I'm actually able to avoid the clanking entirely by applying a gently bit of acceleration as I brake. There is usually no clanking at all below 25 MPH even after a highway trip. It seems to occur at any RPM, speed, or gear. Possibly the first gear doesn't have this problem, I haven't tested that enough to be sure. There is certainly a problem in the left front axle at the joint that's closer to the center. After a trip it is dripping grease onto the exhaust, causing a decent amount of smoke. Is this a transmission problem? Or am I lucky enough that it all comes down to the axle? When I bought the car I was told the left bearing was about to go, which I have already replaced. Perhaps it was the axle problem and the previous owner was mistaken about it being the bearing? Thanks!

To everybody who kindly chipped in advice for my last post: I am sorry that I left out some important information that I here lay bare. I don't know how to explain the lapse, but lets just say cognitive dissonance and my own shame at being a careless idiot got the best of me. So I bought this very well cared for 89 GL at 160,000 miles. It was running like a dream. Until about 10 miles AFTER I parked it in neutral without the ebrake (I KNOW I'M DUMB YOU CAN CHASTISE ME IF YOU WANT, IT MIGHT EVEN HELP ME BE LESS DUMB IN THE FUTURE) and it ran into a tree at about 15 mph. The only thing that seemed damaged was the front license plate. It drove away fine until about 10 miles later it started heaving and hawing, which later a mechanic (who hates Subarus, incidentally) diagnosed as the transmission. He also noticed the fluid was empty. Hmmm... it wasn't empty when I checked it after the problem started. This was all about a week ago and the thing has been sitting in front of my house because I'm just not sure about replacing the transmission. I was thinking about it tonight and I realized what was leaking around the time of this accident. DUH. The transmission fluid. The stuff didn't look red at all, and the mechanic himself didn't even seem to peg it as transmission fluid, but it just makes the most sense. The oil level hasn't lowered and the dripping isn't coming from the power steering, where there is an already known leak. My question is how do I best proceed from here. It's been driven 5-10 miles in this condition, so assuming I find and fix the leak, is my transmission likely shot anyway? I plan on buying some tranny fluid tomorrow and driving around the block after I pour it in, is this advisable? And if it turns out my transmission is shot, what are your opinions on the worthiness of restoring it? I would fix a disturbed axle and fix the power steering at the same time. My mechanic who hates subarus will do the whole thing for $1500-$2000. Honestly this is a really sweet car and it's been well treated its whole life and it kind of breaks my heart to junk it. She deserves better than that. Thanks for the advice, and again... I'm sorry for being a jerk and not telling you all the whole story originally. Even though I am 34 I am technically a millennial, and thus by definition I am retarded at life and so none of this is my fault anyway. I blame my mom who coddled me. Haha, just kidding. I blame myself.

Man, I wish I had posted on this board rather than the intros board when I bought this thing. If I had known that this isn't a viable daily kind of vehicle I would have avoided it. Sucks to have thrown $2500 away. Maybe I'll learn a lesson and not do that again.

A week ago I bought an '89 GL with no issues except the front driver wheel bearing needing to be replaced. I drove about 30 miles with no issues and all of a sudden it started this horrible thing. A violent clanking as I pulled out of a parking lot. This clanking would come up intermittently, usually around 25 MPH with some deceleration. The whole car jerking back and fourth with a slamming sound coming from the engine compartment. We replaced the bad wheel bearing, but things just got worse after that. The test drive didn't go well. The same clanking, but now I was losing power. I did half a mile on the freeway and couldn't get above 45. By the time I got back home the damn thing was smoking. I noticed a bunch of oil on the ground where it had just been parked. After I re-parked it a whole new trail of oil. codswallop. The neighbor who helped me with the bearings said it was a blown head gasket but I couldn't get much more out of him because he was so pissed that I had been ripped off. I don't know if I was ripped-off intentionally, but this vehicle was certainly a huge mistake. Any bright ideas? Assuming the guy I bought it off isn't going to magically refund my dollars, how much do you think this might be worth as a parts car? Everything on it sure seems tip-top shape. Seems.

I do look at ads, but this particular car is not well represented. I suppose I can use similar years as a reference, so I'll check. It is known that Suburus are more expensive out here, because that's what most people want to buy. Of course you're right about relationships, BUT... you haven't seen my Civic. It's pretty representative of me, or rather how I was and don't want to be anymore. The woman would be marrying down, I'm using this as an opportunity to improve my self in all regards. It's not actually about the car, or the girl. I'm a pretty unevolved man in this regard, but I don't really find enough motivation to work hard and do well if it's not in service of a woman and eventually my family!

Do you know what a shop might charge to fix that? Is it something a a moderately handy person with resolve should attempt? I am tempted to offer him $2,500.

o