Hi,

My dad has a 2.2L 95 Legacy manual. Shifting or downshifting results in grinding the gears unless it is done very gently. Doesn't matter if car is hot or cold. Any ideas?

 

Damien

Mileage? How old is the clutch?

 

 

nipper

It's got about 130K miles on it....I have no idea how old the clutch might be.

With the engine off, shift through all the gears. In each gear, you'll feel a bit of resistance, then the shifter will go into gear.

When you're shifting, slide the stick to that position where a little resistance is felt, pause slightly, then slide it the rest of the way in.

 

Your transmission's synchros are old and worn. It's really not a condition worth fixing, until the car becomes undriveable. The fix is to install a new (or low-mileage used) transmission.

It's also possible that the gear oil you have in there is too thick and is exascerbating the problem.

 

p.s.

Mine will grind if I shift too forcibly, especially going into third gear. Synchros will wear out on any synchronized transmission, if the car lives long enough.

Hi,

My dad has a 2.2L 95 Legacy manual. Shifting or downshifting results in grinding the gears unless it is done very gently. Doesn't matter if car is hot or cold. Any ideas?

 

Damien

 

Sounds like a clutch to me. Does he feel like he's taching higher than he would be normally, yet feeling a loss of power? Cause then its definately a clutch.

Could be either at this point. CLutch would not be out of the question, as usally a bad synchro shows up at 1-2 shift.

 

Clucth test (which may not work at this time...since it just rearing its ugly head) Try to start the ar off from a dead stop in third gear. Car should moan buck and even stall. If you can do it smoothly, i would say the clutch is going. Also if it is the synchro it wont get dramatically worse over time, but the clutch will.

Make sure the clutch is adjusted right. Try this:

 

At standstill ,engine idling, shifter in neutral. Press the shifter forward toward third gear, just press it firmly, don't try to force it. Keeping doing this and slowly depress the clutch pedal. Pedal a bout two/thirds down, the shifter should slip forward into third gear.

 

If the pedal has to go to the floor to get the shifter moving, you need to tighten the clutch cable a little bit. Adjustment is on top of the gearbox.

 

 

IF that's okay, then the best thing to do next is drain the gearbox oil and refill with Valvoline Synpower 75W-90 (or Castrol Syntorq). The Valvoline oil has stopped a number of Subaru's from grinding.

Clutch seems ok...I guess it's the synchronizers. :-|

 

Thanks for everyone's input!

 

 

Regards,

Damien