fireboy401 Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 but I can't seem to find the info I am looking for regarding the 2002 wrx tranny. it's been a long time since i've been on this board and i've tried using the search funtion but i've had no success. i'm a subaru fan, but i'm only familiar with EA-82's. My girlfriend is looking at possibly buying a 2002 wrx, 35K miles on it, 5spd manual transmission. It's owned by it's original owner, my 45 year old neighbor, it's never been abused, etc. And I'm pretty sure it has a couple months left on the original 3 year warrentee. I've heard of a lot of problems regarding the 2002 trannies, but the people who seem to be complaining about them are the ones who modify the cars. I've even resorted to searching NASIOC (yes, I know, laaast resort ) and all I can seem to find is a bunch of 16 year olds crying about blowing their '02's when running 435346546 lbs of boost. What exactly is the design flaw with the 2002 transmission? My understanding is it's something with the syncros? If she gets the car, it won't be modified, not even an exaust, and will always be driven conservatively (neither one of us are into accelerating/driving hard). So, is the tranny so much of an egg that normal driving habits will kill it? It seriously will never be driven hard or abused; i just don't want her to invest a considerable amount of money into a car that's going to fail and cost me many sleepless nights repairing it. Any info offered is greatly appreciated; I'm a pretty knowledgeable guy so you can go into detail about the car and I'll understand it; any website with detailed documentation on the transmission and it's problems would be great. Oh, the guy wants what he owes on it, $15K dollars. He used to be a loan officer for a Subaru dealer in the Pittsburg area. I've checked with my bank and ran it's VIN by them and they told me it's worth $18,100. I've also test driven the car once, driving it about 10 miles on small streets and on the highway up to 65 mph, and everything felt top shape, including shifting. Once I have more tranny info, if it's worth buying, I'm gonna pull it into the garage and do a detailed inspection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 i wouldn't worry about the trans, i haven't heard of many problems at all involving transmissions on subaru's of any era. most complaints on the boards i frequent involved the OLD school 3 speed auto back in the 80's, other than that most of the transmissions are very robust with the exception of the SVX, and those mostly go out due to heat, a trans cooler is their friend. i consider low mileage subaru motors very reliable. if he lets you check it out, drain the trans fluid and inspect the plug/fluid. look for build up. doubt you'll find anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Setright Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 The trans will be fine. As you have already noted, it's the tuned engines that eat the WRX gearboxes. You might want to refill it with my present favourite gear oil: Valvoline Synpower. Works a treat in terms of shift speed and no grinding. Well, ok a little stiff when cold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zefy Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 we've had problems with my parents 01 legacy wagon... i dunno if they fixed this problem in the following year, but it will pop out of reverse whenever it gets to some speed, or the clutch is most of the way out... its not really a huge problem... not like i'm racing people in reverse (or racing people at all for that matter) its just kinda spooky when it happens... its just "POP!" and the engine just revs... now i usually hold it in reverse anyway... no biggy... but if you get it, and its still under warrenty, maybe you should look into getting it fixed... i know it was covered under warrenty... but i found out only after the warrenty ran out...(my parents aren't huge believers in extended warrenties or anything...) but ya, just take it into a parking lot... pop it into reverse, and get some speed going... have some fun, do some donuts, make a party outa it...:-p i'd say go for it though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwithers Posted November 9, 2005 Share Posted November 9, 2005 I've got a stock 03 wrx, with no tranny problems - I'm in the process of replacing the clutch at 38,000 miles, but that's the result of quite a few serious starts. If you're not gonna drive it to it's full potential, it should be just fine. BTW, I've never encountered the problem that Zefy mentioned about the transmission popping out of reverse... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sea#3 Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 but I can't seem to find the info I am looking for regarding the 2002 wrx tranny. it's been a long time since i've been on this board and i've tried using the search funtion but i've had no success. i'm a subaru fan, but i'm only familiar with EA-82's. My girlfriend is looking at possibly buying a 2002 wrx, 35K miles on it, 5spd manual transmission. It's owned by it's original owner, my 45 year old neighbor, it's never been abused, etc. And I'm pretty sure it has a couple months left on the original 3 year warrentee. I've heard of a lot of problems regarding the 2002 trannies, but the people who seem to be complaining about them are the ones who modify the cars. I've even resorted to searching NASIOC (yes, I know, laaast resort ) and all I can seem to find is a bunch of 16 year olds crying about blowing their '02's when running 435346546 lbs of boost. What exactly is the design flaw with the 2002 transmission? My understanding is it's something with the syncros? If she gets the car, it won't be modified, not even an exaust, and will always be driven conservatively (neither one of us are into accelerating/driving hard). So, is the tranny so much of an egg that normal driving habits will kill it? It seriously will never be driven hard or abused; i just don't want her to invest a considerable amount of money into a car that's going to fail and cost me many sleepless nights repairing it. Any info offered is greatly appreciated; I'm a pretty knowledgeable guy so you can go into detail about the car and I'll understand it; any website with detailed documentation on the transmission and it's problems would be great. Oh, the guy wants what he owes on it, $15K dollars. He used to be a loan officer for a Subaru dealer in the Pittsburg area. I've checked with my bank and ran it's VIN by them and they told me it's worth $18,100. I've also test driven the car once, driving it about 10 miles on small streets and on the highway up to 65 mph, and everything felt top shape, including shifting. Once I have more tranny info, if it's worth buying, I'm gonna pull it into the garage and do a detailed inspection. The tranies on the WRX are just fine if you drive it like a human ... The warranty on the trany is 5 year or 60 k miles (powertrain) SEA#3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy777 Posted November 10, 2005 Share Posted November 10, 2005 You'll be fine. The only issue is that the trannies/syncros can be tempermental depending on the oil you use. This just doesn't go for WRX's. My turbo legacy tranny is big time picky. It hated the valvoline stuff. I ran some neo synthetic in it, and currently have some stuff that a lot of porsche guys use. It's better, but there's still a grind from 1st to 2nd once things warms up. I'm probably going to add a little bit of penzoil syncromesh to it, and make it a cocktail. One of the guys on NASIOC has a few posts about a tranny cocktail of different fluids that seem to work really well. I believe his board name is uncle scotty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fireboy401 Posted November 10, 2005 Author Share Posted November 10, 2005 I've got a stock 03 wrx, with no tranny problems - I'm in the process of replacing the clutch at 38,000 miles, but that's the result of quite a few serious starts. If you're not gonna drive it to it's full potential, it should be just fine. BTW, I've never encountered the problem that Zefy mentioned about the transmission popping out of reverse... whatever the problem was, i've read subaru corrected it for the '03 and up model year... it's unique to '02 trannies alone. thanks for all of the info/ suggestions folks... it seems the car will work out just fine for my girl, as we're not going to abuse it. hopefully she'll buy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.