Well I have had a progressively louder and louder noise in my transmission area for the last 3 weeks, and it's pretty unbearable (for me) now. It's silent when I have the clutch pedal depressed or in neutral. Otherwise at all times I have a groan/deep whine noise. It's really bad on deceleration, and is present at all times except acceleration (Which may be a product of my loud exhaust drowning it out)

 

So I'm leaning towards TOB, especially since my input shaft had some serious wear and I didn't know about the repair sleeves, OR it's my input shaft bearing, but I thought that would make noise in neutral as well?

 

I just need to make it last about 3 weeks until tax time, but don't want to buy a whole new clutch kit unless I have to either. This is an Exedy KSB04 kit, but the pilot and TOB were bought from a parts store.

I have the same year/car with manual trans also. Mine makes the groaning noise in neutral off the clutch and driving off the clutch. i have owned the car for 1 1/2 years and its done this since i bought it. I drive it every day and even take it trailing every chance i get. I would like to figure out what it is so when something does give, i guess i can be that much more prepared. Let me know if you figure anything out.

That would be the infamous mainshaft (input shaft) ball bearing failure. Clutch engaged makes noise, disengage clutch and it stops.

 

I've dealt with several of these and you described the symptoms exactly. The next symptom will be popping out of 4th and/or 5th gear. You'll then lose 3rd, but you probably have 15k miles or more before either of those occur.

 

Replace the bearing before it starts popping out of gear to avoid serious wear. I think GD posted not long ago that there is a better bearingn available that was used in the early turbo transmissions.

 

97preza, you may want to expedite replacement if you've been driving it for that long with it making noise.

 

Junkyard transmission is an option, but a gamble as you may get one with the same problem.

Edited January 27, 201313 yr by Fairtax4me

Sounds like my upgrade budget just got tightened up a bit. Balls. Fortunately I have another 3.9 5mt in a 96 Legacy I'm parting out. I'll slap that in for the time being and rebuild mine. Not like I wanted to put time into learning PP6

 

Any good reads on doing the bearing(s)? Any recommendations on WYAIT?

Edited January 27, 201313 yr by cal_look_zero

Bearing is like $50 from a dealer. Know anyone with a press? Only takes a few minutes (with a press) to pop the old one off and the new one can be tapped on with a hammer and the inner race of the old bearing. Torque the nut on the end to 85 ft lbs and restake it. Just be damn sure you put the new bearing on so the outer snap ring is in the correct direction. If its not toward the back end of the shaft it's not gonna fit back in the case.

 

There are a few threads floating around here with more details.

Sounds painless enough. I'd rather just gank mine out and do it in a day instead of swapping trannys and having to pull 2 of them.

 

I'll look more into it. I thought GD said that the bearing was like $135.

 

I just bought a 12 ton press like 3 weeks ago... Time to put it to use I suppose.

 

Those P/Ns look about right?

that will help

Dems it.

Anything else I should do/look for while in there?

Check condition of the bearings in the transfer section. Probably nothing weong with them but they're easier to replace if the case is out of the car. The rest don't really go bad, and if they do its not worth replacing them because its a pain in the rump roast and they're godawful expensive.

Check condition of the bearings in the transfer section. Probably nothing weong with them but they're easier to replace if the case is out of the car. The rest don't really go bad, and if they do its not worth replacing them because its a pain in the rump roast and they're godawful expensive.

 

Good to know. I'll get them ordered up.

You don't need any of the bearings except the rear input shaft bearing. That's the only one that ever fails on the pre-99 transmissions. You will of course need the seals - input shaft, stub shafts & o-rings, shifter rod, etc.

 

The bearing is $27 from the dealer. If you never want to do it again order a bearing for a '91 Turbo 5MT. These have 10 balls instead of 6. About $65.

 

No need to find a replacement transmission - you can easily pull the transmission, replace the bearing, and have it back installed in the same day.

 

GD

You don't need any of the bearings except the rear input shaft bearing. That's the only one that ever fails on the pre-99 transmissions. You will of course need the seals - input shaft, stub shafts & o-rings, shifter rod, etc.

 

The bearing is $27 from the dealer. If you never want to do it again order a bearing for a '91 Turbo 5MT. These have 10 balls instead of 6. About $65.

 

No need to find a replacement transmission - you can easily pull the transmission, replace the bearing, and have it back installed in the same day.

 

GD

 

Any chance you have a list of P/Ns laying around so I can get the right parts straight away? Seems like all the online Subi dealerships only offer a whole transmission for purchase and no exploded diagrams.

Would be nice to get a part number for that turbo bearing.

The only one you really need is 806225100.

It is a good idea to replace the input seal while the trans is apart, that's 806725090.

I don't have the part numbers - I just call my dealer and tell them what I want. Call Lithia Subaru in Oregon City. They ship. Tell them Rick at SSi sent you....

 

GD

Just got everything ordered up for $82 including all of the seals.

This looks wrong...

 

Called them back and ordered the 806225100. Any ideas what this one is?

 

EDIT: The 806225100 is the 10 ball bearing from what the parts manager said.

 

Edited January 30, 201313 yr by cal_look_zero

Hhhmmm - the standard are 6 ball. That appears to be a 9 ball..... I remember the turbo bearings being a 10 ball..... Now even I'm confused.

 

GD

Hhhmmm - the standard are 6 ball. That appears to be a 9 ball..... I remember the turbo bearings being a 10 ball..... Now even I'm confused.

 

GD

 

 

Look how small it is though... And it doesn't have the snap ring. It's the wrong one for the application, however it looks like:

 

Edited January 30, 201313 yr by cal_look_zero

Ah indeed they have given you the completely wrong part. Hard to tell from pictures but now I see it.

 

GD

I got in touch with the manager of parts who says that the 225100 references a turbo 5mt gearbox and should be the beefy one; overnighted it and gave me a decent discount. In any case, I'll be able to get cracking on it tomorrow night after work and hopefully do a nice little write up on things.

Yeah that's a single row bearing probably for one of the transfer shafts.

Probably why it was only $27. The mainshaft bearing is usually about $60.

This sucks... A little more of a task to drop the tranny than I had imagined.

 

The bearing in question though, was totally kaput. Now to see if my parts show up soon...

 

Makes me glad I invested in a press though!

Transmission went together smoothly, ran out of daylight though. Hopefully it installs a bit smoother than it came out. 1st time is always the worst.

 

The old bearing, I'll keep around to play jingle bells on come Christmas time lol.

 

I was noticing that my stock transmission mount, well, sucked... I decided to tinker a bit with polyurethane filling. Hopefully I'll have good results to post up tomorrow.