Erockanderson Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 Hi I recently bought a 93 Legacy AWD Turbo and about a month ago I changed the transmission fluid with a 75-90wt Valvoline synthetic. Since I did this its become increasingly difficult to shift into 2-nd gear. It was a little difficult to shift before the fluid change and actually got a little better after , but then went downhill from there. Can anyone tell me what the probable cause is and if they would reccomend trying any of those magic fluids in a bottle?? Thanks for the help. Eric Anderson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 If you mean Valvoline "Synpower", then I think you need consider seriously worn synchro rings on second gear. Synpower is the best oil to use in these Sube gearboxes, so if you have problems then it's not your choice of oil. What speed are you selecting 2nd at? Any chance of helping it along with a bit of double de-clutch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erockanderson Posted November 4, 2005 Author Share Posted November 4, 2005 What speed are you selecting 2nd at? Any chance of helping it along with a bit of double de-clutch? I usually shift into second at about 2500. It gets better if I swing the shifter over and then slowly bring it in from the right. So keeping the clutch in longer before attempting the shift helps, I'll try double cluthing tonight. What kind of job am I looking at, $$ and time, to replace the synchro rings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumby Boy Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 are you going to do the job your self? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95 super subbie Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 i got a 95 legacy that grinds going into 2nd, double clutching did help it for a while but no matter what i do it still grinds while a tranny flush help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rweddy Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 Hi I recently bought a 93 Legacy AWD Turbo and about a month ago I changed the transmission fluid with a 75-90wt Valvoline synthetic. Since I did this its become increasingly difficult to shift into 2-nd gear. It was a little difficult to shift before the fluid change and actually got a little better after , but then went downhill from there. Can anyone tell me what the probable cause is and if they would reccomend trying any of those magic fluids in a bottle?? Thanks for the help. Eric Anderson DO NOT USE Valvoline synthetic or Mobil one in your tranny!! These are GL-5 fluids and too slych for the synchros in a manual tranny. Read this post You have 3 options, go back to dino oil, use Redline or Castrol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 HOGWASH! Synpower which covers GL3, 4, and 5 is the best of all. Castrol Syntorq is good too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumby Boy Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 well at work we only use castrol multitrax unless its an STI in which case we use castrol syntrans but by the sounds of this it is a little worse than a simple oil problem. Is it only 2nd? is it only on the up shift? is it crunching into 2nd and hard to shift other gears? perhaps it is a clutch problem not a syncro problem? but because you say it happned since changing the box oil you may have to consider the oil is starting to "eat" the syncro metal and after and if the box is split and problen fixed, using a different oil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blitz Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 The GL-4 vs GL-5 in a Subaru debate rages on. MT-90 is one of Cobb's top recomendations. As it is, Sube trannies are a bit reluctant to shift, but the MT-90 made a huge improvement in mine over whatever what was in it when I bought it used (probably factory fill). The tranny wasn't completely filled with an even number of bottles of MT-90, so I had used some 75W-90NS that I had lying around to top it off. This way I have a little bit of gear-protecting, synchro-eating sulfur in there as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tunered Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 arent syncros brass? wasnt these designed to slow down the motion ,dosent there have to be some friction here? just thinking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnuman Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 It sounds to me that your choice of gear oil was not the cause of the problem, and may have helped a bit, but was too late. This sounds to me like your 2nd gear syncro ring is biting the big one, and needs to be replaced. How comfortable are you with taking a manual transmission apart and putting it back together? I'd give a look at 1stsubaruparts and see what new syncros cost. then we go from there. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rweddy Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 It sounds to me that your choice of gear oil was not the cause of the problem, and may have helped a bit, but was too late. This sounds to me like your 2nd gear syncro ring is biting the big one, and needs to be replaced. How comfortable are you with taking a manual transmission apart and putting it back together? I'd give a look at 1stsubaruparts and see what new syncros cost. then we go from there. . . Before you go to all this work, sway your fluid with some Redline 75W90NS and put it in your car, I bet your issues will go away or go away enough to live with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erockanderson Posted November 6, 2005 Author Share Posted November 6, 2005 well at work we only use castrol multitrax unless its an STI in which case we use castrol syntrans but by the sounds of this it is a little worse than a simple oil problem. Is it only 2nd? is it only on the up shift? is it crunching into 2nd and hard to shift other gears? perhaps it is a clutch problem not a syncro problem? but because you say it happned since changing the box oil you may have to consider the oil is starting to "eat" the syncro metal and after and if the box is split and problen fixed, using a different oil. Its only really only second, if Im shifting hard it will crunch just a bit going into third. It doesnt crunch at all going into second it just wont go for a bit. Like I said if I ease it in it'll go. It happens both on the up shift and is a little better on the downshift. I too thought the problem may lie with the clutch, I just got the Chiltons manual and I'll check the settings soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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