My wife just called me at work saying that our 2000 OBW is stuck in 4th gear. She said that she was putting it into reverse to back out of the driveway and didn't move it far enough over and put it into 4th instead of reverse. she let the clutch out and the car stalled. She was able to start the car but couldn't get it out of 4th. She then said that when she got out there was a funny smell. My guess is she was smelling the clutch.

 

Any thoughts?

Also, the car is parked on an incline and the clutch seemed to be working fine. Was getting some clutch "jitter" when running the car cold.

Got it out of gear last night. I figured the weight of the car was holding it in 4th. Had the wife get in to shift it out and I pushed it forward... came right out. Took it for a test drive and the clutch isn't slipping and its shifting fine into all gears. Can anyone tell me how the gear would get stuck like that?

 

Thanks

I have had a number of cars and trucks with a bit of wear on the linkage that would do this. Usually the cure is to replace bushings in the linkage but this looks like a misery in a Subaru. I would be careful of it and try to live with it until my next clutch job was due if possible. If it jammed again I would probably bite the bullet and go for it.