Manual Shift Grinding Noise

[roback@earthlink.net]

I just got a Forester. Never had a Subaru and I love it so far! One

small concern. My wife was driving it back from the dealer on the freeway (40MPH or so) with less than 25 miles on it yesterday and it was at night. She had gotten confused about the shift pattern and instead of going into 5th gear she moved the gearshift lever down almost as if she was going to go into reverse when she heard metal on metal and immediately corrected what she was doing and put the lever up into fifth. Whe did it one more time today but going slower and the clutch was not fully engaged according to her. I am freaking out thinking that she ground gears or something. The car runs fine, no problems but I am wondering what the metal on metal sound was. Should I assume that I have metal fragments inside of my transmission now or was that just the pressure plate or what? If anyone can help I would certainly appreciate it. This is a brand new car!! I know in the past when I have had sticks I at times rarely when I didn't have the clutch down far enough did something like this but she was on the freeway, not that it should matter but I don't know. One website suggests that this is harmless and happens every once in a while and does not leave metal shavings in the tranny or cause any problems. I am confused.

[Setright]

Breathe easy!

 

The third gear cog wheels are not in constant mesh like the rest, and that means the noise is the sound of strong cog teeth skipping over eachother. Sounds terrible, and while it does produce metal particles in the oil, the amount is too small to worry about.

 

Most of the metal bits in gear oil are from the differential "hypoid" cogs. And you have no influence on these.

Obviously, grinding reverse at forward speeds on a daily basis will upset the transmission in the long run, but a few missed shifts aren't gonna break anything.