Hi,

I am new to this so I thank everyone in advance for their patience.

I have an '86 GL wagon 2wd AT. My wife was driving along and the car suddenly stopped responding to the accelerator. The engine reved but the car didn't move.

When I went to get it, it started fine (despite 2 days in minus 25 celcius weather) but when I put it in gear it made a strange noise. Same noise in all drive gears and reverse but not in park or neutral. Also, the speedo would read a speed, I had it up to 60 kilometers per hour without moving. I dragged it home and am now trying to decide what to do.

I have searched many posts here so I see these trannies are troublesome so does anybody have any ideas if this may be a "repairable" problem or should I just look for a replacement tranny?

What surprised me is the car ran excellent until that moment. Don't trannies usually give more symptoms before they pack it in.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I would guess your tranny is shot but I am not a automatic expert at all.

 

oh yeah welcome.

 

hmm I would check all basic stuff like are drive shafts still attached is one spinning free for some reason? really doubt it. most likely bad trany.

and a 86 2wd a/t wagon? it may be cheaper and better in the long run to buy a complete 4wd M/T wagon.

Thanks,

I also figure the tranny has likely had it.

We actually bought the car simply as good basic transport for my wife. ($600) I wasn't "into" Subaru. The longer we have it though the more we like it. These seem to be really great cars and I am on the look out for a 4wd MT.

the 3AT is a decent tranny...just the gearing on it sucks and the Torque converter is not the best...

Im sure you can get another 3AT pretty cheap somewhere...

 

I had a hard time killing the two 3AT's i had.

$10 bux says you broke an axle.

 

$10 bux says you broke an axle.

 

$10 bux says you broke an axle.

If it's a broken axle, you could fix it yourself, easy.

 

If it's a broken transmission, don't try to fix the transmission itself, just go to a wrecker and get a used one. If you have a decent spot to work on your cars, you could do a transmission swap yourself.

It could also be that the splines on one of the hubs are stripped out. If there are caps on the wheels, pull them off. Then put the car in gear and see if the axle is moving but the wheel isnt. Also, the front diff might be toast. Hence the noises, but this could also be a hub/grinding.

Will, you haven tried very hard. The Subaru 3AT is a POS.

And thats from experiance.

This is likely a stupid question but how do I test to see if one of the axles is broken without removing them. I can't get my head around how I can tell a broken one when the car won't move. If the end of the shaft is broken, for example, won't everything still look OK?

 

The broken axle idea intrigues me because it would explain the sudden breakdown.

Dude, ditch the damn AT, I hate AT so im biased, but a manual will last longer than 2 motors no problem if you take care of them and dont super-fast-mega-ham-fisting-monster-speed-shift the darn things. the 1990 legacy i just bought has 245k on the odo and shifts like butter. someone back me up on this.

 

 

 

 

 

~Josh~

My 1982 is on its original 3AT, at 216k+. Never needed service, clutches in great shape. I have had to replace the vacuum modulator this last summer. I do admit you can hear the gears though. I dont know how many cars with auto tranny's will go so long the planetaries wear out.

 

 

 

Alex

This is likely a stupid question but how do I test to see if one of the axles is broken without removing them. I can't get my head around how I can tell a broken one when the car won't move. If the end of the shaft is broken, for example, won't everything still look OK?

 

The broken axle idea intrigues me because it would explain the sudden breakdown.

 

Get someone to help you. Lift the bonnet (Hood) and maybe remove the spare wheel. Have your assistant start the car, and put it in drive. Get them to put one foot on the brake pedal to prevent accidents, and give the car a mild rev with the other while you look under bonnet. Out of each side on the transmission, in line with each front wheel, you will see the driveshafts, and where they go into the trans they have an inner CV joint. Odds are that one of these inner joints will be spinning, which is bad. If one of the axles/inner cvs is spinning without the car moving the other wont drive either thanks to the differential. Its unlikely for the axle itself to break, more liekyl the inner or outer CVJ has died. Prolly easiest to source a complete secondhand axle and fit that, since youd have to remove the axle to replace a CVJ anyway.

The Subaru 3AT is a POS.

And thats from experiance.

Second!!!

 

I bet you've got 1) a broken axle, or 2) stripped splines or 3) a F@%$ed up tranny

 

in that order

Thanks for the help. I hope it is an axle problem cause obviously that is a MUCH easier and less expensive fix than the tranny. I have had an axle out previously for bearing replacement so I'm "experienced" with that part.

 

Also, I had noticed some noise for a week or two prior to the breakdown which I thought sounded like CV noise but I have only ever had bad outer CV's on my FWD cars. Never even considered the inner CV.

 

Thanks again, I'll post when I figure out the problem.

Have you ever removed the inner DOJ to do the bearings? Might want to check and see if the DOJ is on the axle stub, it might have a broken or lost roll pin too. Now thats the easiest to fix

Turbone,

 

Sorry, I'm still learning. DOJ means what?

Also, by roll pin is that the spring pin that goes in the axle near the tranny?

 

I have had the whole passenger axle out from tranny to spindle and I replaced it using the same spring pin. Does this mean that could be the problem that that pin broke or fell out? Made that would be great. That is also the side I suspected CV problems beacuase of the noise.

 

Unfortunately I am unable / unwilling to look into this stuff right now cause it is between minus 20 and minus 37 celcius (between 4 below 0 and 35 below 0 farenheit) here the last few days and I have an unheated garage. Waiting on some warmth.

DOJ > Double Offset Joint. Its the inner joint.

You right about the roll/spring pin, altho they dont fall out that often.

Hey, I complain when I have to work on my car outside when its 32deg

I'd say you spun a cup. The Inner cup is spinning around the shaft...hence the funny noise you here. You should be able to do what mikie suggested with relative ease. You don't need to get on the ground. Just pop the hood and look. Keep us updated.

[HTi]Johnson

hey i have two 2wd 5-speeds i'd give you just to get them out of my plce as far as i know they work fine i got them with a bunch of other parts and am never going to use them i won't run i two wheel drive the one i have i just got the stuff to convert it to 4wd

Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice and assistance. Turns out that the splines inside the brake rotor are stripped clean.

 

Without this message board I may have stuck to my assumption that the tranny was toast and gone ahead and replaced it. Boy would I have been pissed when the problem stayed the same. Now all I have to do is find another rotor and bolt things back together.

 

Thanks again everyone!

Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice and assistance. Turns out that the splines inside the brake rotor are stripped clean.

 

Without this message board I may have stuck to my assumption that the tranny was toast and gone ahead and replaced it. Boy would I have been pissed when the problem stayed the same. Now all I have to do is find another rotor and bolt things back together.

 

Thanks again everyone!

Great!

 

I'd replace the axle too, as the process of stipping the splines on the hub probably didn't fare well with the splines on the axle, go get a new one, and keep the old for a spare, or take to NAPA (or similar place) and turn it in for a deposit on a lifetime-warrantied remanufactured one.

To keep this from happening again, make sure the axle is seated in the hub all the way. And that axle nut needs to be re torqued a few times after driving it.

$6.00 hub from the JY and I'm back on the road. A LOT better than a tranny. I will definately take the advice to retorque the nut and I plan to change out the whole axle ASAP.

 

Thanks everybody for saving me huge hassles and loads o' cash.

Mike