Stu Smith

Took my car to be serviced the other day (01, Impreza P1 with 30k on the clock), full service with diff and gear oil changes. Noticed on the way home that the gear box seemed a little louder. Now 3rd gear has develpoed a "whine" (sounds like reverse gear) and it crunched slightly going from 2nd to 3rd today twice, which it has never done before. Ive never had any problems at all with the box before the service? Is there anything else they could have done that might have upset it.

On the job sheet it says " gear oil - Shell" No grade or anything?

Could it be the oil that is wrong/overfull/underfull? It seems weird that it only developed this after its service???

Anyone have any experience or recommendations? Im going to have a word with the garage tomorrow and see what they say, if not, im gonna do what I should have done anyway - Let Clive at RC Developments do the gear oil changes!

Cheers all!!!

Stu

RON

Check the gear oil dipstick, to the left of the intercooler, and pray that there's oil on it!

Stu Smith

Cheers Ron, Ill try that tomorrow!

Stu Smith

Your a legend Ron!

Not a hint of any oil in the gearbox whatsoever! Absolutely shocking! Someone is gonna get a serious bollocking at Subaru on Monday morning!

I have done around 75 miles since the service, not any hard driving though. Will there be damage?

Cheers all!

PS - Ron, I owe you a beer! I didnt even know there was a dipstick for gearbox oil!

Paul_H

Insist that they fit a new box.

chrome

yup.
write to IM too

shocking from a dealer!!!

Stu Smith

Do you think Id be able to get a new box out of em then?

If I have to, Ill get an independant specialist to check the box and make sure there is no damage! I should think these P1 gearboxes are pretty expensive!

Its just not the sort of thing youd expect though is it? Everyone said I was mad for spending all that on a service and why was I going to Subaru anyway? My answer was 1) It keeps the full "main dealer" history and 2) They are specialists who can be trusted! Egg on my face eh? Both my reasons are worthless with workmanship like that!

I have had better service on my girlfriends car - A Fiat. Its just not what youd expect from a main dealer is it? Not when they are working on a £30k+ car! Imagine BMW doing something like that?

Cheers all!

steveho

If there is no oil in it then the damage is done ,i'm surprised it hasn't totally seized by now.Even if it is filled with oil now the bearings will have sustained lasting damage and the gearbox will never be the same again.
It's down to the dealer to rectify this by fitting a new or exchange unit ,possibly a repair depending on the severity of the damage.

I'm a motor technician of 19 years experience and see alot of issues like this.


steve

RON

Stu
Glad I got it right, but also saddened by the lack of ability now-adays, it's not the first time i've heard of this happening, one of the 'specialists' did a similar thing, that took some sorting!!
You must INSIST on a NEW gearbox, not a recon, they are at fault, they must fix it! You could try for some compensation too, cos they'll have the car for a while so therefore you won't, and don't get lumbered for any loan car charges either.
I've gota say, I wouldn't want to be in your shoes, they ain't gonna like it thats for sure! But keep on at them, and as already said, get IM onto it aswell!

Good Luck

Ron.

deano555

Stu, I pressume you still have mondial cover, if so get it recovered to the dealer, you can atleast say that you took the precaution of not driving it once you realised that there was a problem. I'm a BMW tec. so please don't tar us all with the same brush, beleive me the quality of technician can vary immensley in all dealers. Anyway your gearbox is fried and insist on new not a 90,000 mile recon box. Hope you get it sorted, get straight onto customer services if not.
Cheers Deano. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Stu Smith

Spot on, thanks for all the feedback guys! To be honest now though, I dont really want them to go near my car! If they make a ***** up of just topping up oil, I dont even want to think what damage they would do putting a gearbox in!

The feedback is spot on though, a big help and much appreciated!

New gearbox here we come then!

Cheers guys!

PS - Do I name and shame yet or what!?

Stu Smith

Sorry to be thick............whats IM?

Cheers!

Tone Loc

iTrader: (1)

IM = International Motors, the importers for the UK. basically Subaru UK (i think i'm correct there).

If your from Manchester then i'm guessing it's either Monks Heath or Robinsons..... am i close?? You've got to name and shame. That is absolutely shocking!!!!!

Tony.

Stu Smith

It is very poor isnt it!

Thanks again guys, I will let you know how I get on with all this!

Yeah, they are the 2 local dealers eh! Never heard of Robinsons though.........................

Cheers
Stu

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

If I were you I'd check the final drive as well?
JohnD

Stu Smith

From what everyone has said, Im gunning for a new gearbox now! I dont think they have a leg to stand on. I tried to spek to the AA's legal dept but they arent there until tomorrow!

Ill let you know how it goes!

Stu

supertouring

How come our local specialist (ProSport) has a much better reputation than most of the main dealers in the region, but to keep the warranty we have to use the main dealers? Totally unfair!

scoobyboy

because people only remember the bad things thet dealers do never the good things

RON

Like what they get paid to do I suppose!!!!

Tone Loc

iTrader: (1)

LOL.... scoobyboy. I can forgive a few bad things but forgetting to put oil back in is completely unforgivable!!!!!! But i suppose if they gave the car a good wash then we should still go back to them eh .

Tony.

Ian D

As has been said above insist on a new gearbox, especially true on a car as new as yours, may be worth talking to IM and insisting on another dealer do it if you don't trust yours.

Call me 'not very trusting bloke' if you like, but I would note the serial number of the damaged gearbox or mark it with a subtle centrepunch mark or two to make sure they do actually change it.

MACCAMY99

isn't that why they have a checklist they suppose to tick to stop them forgetting things like this ?
when I bought my scooby, it had a full dealer service history so I thought I was save. After a week or so, i noticed a grinding noise coming from the rear brakes when I reversed of my drive. Got out and had a look down to see that the rear brakepad had fell out ! after taking the wheel off I found the problem, someone had fitted solid disks instead of vented so as the pad had worn it fell through the gap in the caliper.
Couldn't prove the dealer had done this but it was a company car for the guy I bought it from so he was unlikely to take it to a backstreet garage !

Stu Smith

Yeah, the air freshner they put in was lovely...............thinking about it, I might just pay to get the gearbox replaced myself!

There should be no bad things when you are paying a main dealer "specialist" £450+ for a service!

Ill let you know hos it all goes tomorrow!

Cheers
Stu

ScoobyDuck

iTrader: (1)

new box - check all the other levels as well.
stand there & watch as they check the rear diff & other levels etc.

gear oil is VERY thin and sometimes hard to see on the dipstick - so make sure (as its new oil) that it really IS empty.

Also IM is a good move.

And i think im right in saying that you actually DONT have to take it to a main dealer for servicing to retain the warrenty. its just that they've been done to IM standard & using OEM parts.
it's only warrenty work that MUST be carried out by IM dealer ?

Steve - who may be talking complete dangilies !

Stu Smith

Hi all

Spoke to the AA this morning - They told me the garage didnt have a leg to stand on and probably wouldnt even argue! They did advise me to get an independant specialist to write a report on hi views of the box before the car goes in. Which I can sort no worries.

Spoke to the offending garage after that, the guy on the phone just didnt know what to say, the cat proper got his tongue. He told me to get the car down to them which is no worries thanks to the AA. He then said they would assess the situation. I basically told em that I want a NEW box, he again stuttered!

So, Im going to get an independant report - but there isnt much that can be said really without the box being stripped (Ill get one anyway though) I am then going to get the car transported to the dealer so they can do their thing. They will then probably strip the box themselves anyway. If they say...... 1) They will repair the box, I will obviously refuse and get a specialist up there to inspect the box whilst its stripped down or 2) They will replace the box for new, then sorted, thats fine by me BUT I want a full refund for the "service" and a courtesy car while mines up there!

I am also going to speak to Subaru UK about it aswell, just incase the garage get sh*tty! I dont really think they will though!

Is there anything else I should say , do or prepare?

Thanks for the help guys! Ill keep you posted!

Stu

supertouring

LOL @ Scoobyboy

Dealers should NOT do anything which could be considered BAD!

Good luck with the gearbox.

highlander

Hope everything gets resolved to your satisfaction and yes check everything.
Why - because I don't trust dealers to get it right - broad and sweeping statement isn't it but there is reason in my thinking.

The garage will have several top notch mechanics I am sure - however you can be pretty sure they did not go near your car - the service will most likely be done by an apprentice!!!!!

I have had a car back once which had loose wheelnuts and if I hadn't noticed the noise before I got on the motorway - well you know the scenario!!!!

I think the AA are right and it is shocking for a dealer to give you your car back with no oil in the box!! New gearbox is a MUST!!!

Wonder Wagon

Do you have some news yet?

coaster

Very interesting... Generally speaking I've had bad experiences with all of the Subaru dealers that I have used; Ridings in Preston took 5 hours to check 4 wheel alignment and didn't spot that the tyre pressures were all over the place, bad attitude from salesmen in Derby and Macclesfield, stone-walling after the service in Widnes, Cirencester weren't too bad and the verdict is still out on Tiley in Bristol. All that just for a FSSH

jmk

Just had my 10k service from Cheam motors. Helpful bunch, service done on time. Their labour rare seemed extorionate for such a moinor service compared to my previous car however they were cheaper than any other dealer within 30 miles so really they weren't that bad.

Only annoying thing is that the main issue I had wasn't checked out due to the weather - it needed a prolonged test drive, but they tried. So I'll have to go back soon but they don't open at the weekends!