ceebee

Hi all,

Finally got rid of German cars and followed my heart and bought a 1993 WRX,
The car is superb apart from 1 thing.

I have noticed that there is a crunching when trying to engage 2nd gear. It is most noticeable when going from 1st, but also sometimes does the same when coming down fron 3rd

The gears are fine when the car is cold, but the noise becomes noticeable after driving for 10-15 minutes.

I am getting the gearbox oil changed next week at a specialist to see if that helps, but I would appreciate any suggestions as to whether this could be a major problem. I suspect it may be the syncromesh???????????

I didn't notice any noise on both a test drive or drving the 30 or so miles home after picking the car up.

My wife did have a drive and said that she had been trying to select reverse, but had trouble getting it into gear before she realised that reverse was below 5th.

Has she bust it!!!!!! and if so do you think it would be cheaper to get divorced, or repair the gearbox.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


Cheers

Ceebee

powerman

My my2000 was a bit notchy on 1st to 2nd and had only done 15k.Best way to find out is to let someone drive it who has a scooby and see if there is a noticible difference it may be just a quirk of the 4 wheel drive set up that your not used to.............. powerman

Scooby Roo

I have had a similar problem in third to fourth, when hot not cold.

1. If you double de-clutch and the gears are fine then it is probably the syncro. Could possibly be expensive.

2. I found that it happend when I hesitated before engaging gear, try shifting quickly.

I had my oil changed and so far no problems, you need a good quality oil as some do not have additives to stop it gunging up and causing selection probs

If there are any e's missing apologise cos its bust.

Cheers

Rup

KLR16V

iTrader: (2)

Had the same on my 93 wrx 5 th to 4 th , changed gearbox oil to castrol syntrax which is what everyone recommends 4litres in gear box 1 litre in rear diff if you are lucky like a lot of people have been it may well cure the problem if it is still there sounds like syncro's have gone . it worked for me .


Mark

ceebee

Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

This problem occurs when I try to change gears "normally" If I change them slower then the noise & crunch is not as bad.

I think my best bet is too see if a change of gearbox oil helps before spending any serious money?????

Just for info does anyone know how much it would cost if the syncromesh needed replacing?

Thanks

Ceebee

easyrider

I can help on the cost of the synchro repair-but i definately recommend putting Castrol Syntrax in it.My old scoob had the same symptoms,and the oil change cured it.

BTW-Syntrax is formulated specifically for jap boxes.

easy

Keigo

Easyrider - Do you do synchro repairs, as in rebuild job as well? How much do you charge? I may need your service. Let me know by e mail please. keigokato@hotmail.com

Thanks
Keigo

easyrider

Keigo-Sorry mate, i think you mis read it,i said that i cant help you on the price of repairs,but highly recommend the Syntrax.

easy

StickyMicky

no you didnt, you said you could help him

easyrider

DOH-oh yea,didnt realise i hadnt put the t in cant-sorry.

easy

mart360

I read some where that pre 98 cars suffered from notchy gear changes 1st- 2nd and it was normal..

mine 96 gl does it with no probs...

my saab 900t used to until i found that you needed to to do a slight dog leg from 1st to 2nd and all was cured..

mart

Scooby Roo

I personally think that it down to the gear change as mart says.

Cant help for syncro but for a gearbox change I was told between 8 to 10 hours labour, @ £60 an hour I'll let you work it out, figure gives me a nose bleed.

I'm not an expert but Subaru usually use Shell (something or other) which has suitable additives.


Rup

MKC

I change gears quickly and have had no problem for two years.

But I recently had my MY99 serviced at subaru, including gear oil
and since I got it back, after 10-15 mins of warmin I get a crunch
into 4th or 5th at high revs/speeds. Low revs, no problem.

1st gear however, after stopping for 20 mins, has started doing it to now.

Can the synchros on 3 seperate gears all go wrong at once ?

Thanks.

Chaddy

MKC, Oh yes, if it is the oil that is doing it, the synchro effectiveness on all gears is likely to be reduced, mine is running with Subaru Shell, and does it into 4th, I'm going to try Castrol Syntrax next.. When I can get out of the garden !

tmo

Change the oil, worked a treat on mine. I had the crunch between 3rd and 4th. Changed it to Syntrax and not a problem since.

MKC

How easy is it to change the gear oil on a MY99 ?

How do you go about doing this, preferibly without jacking the car up ?

Can I over fil lit ? Do you need a gasket or special tools ?

Do the bolt or things which you undo to let the oil out ever break whilst undoing or doing up ? What do you do with the old oil ?

Can I just add an addative to whats already in it ?
Best place to get the stuff you have all suggested ?

Anyone yet know what labour and part costs would be for just the synchros (presuming its less time to do than replacing a gearbox) ?

Any tips and advice for a total novice would be welcomed.

Thanks,

MKC

MKC

[QUOTE=MKC]How easy is it to change the gear oil on a MY99 ?

Anyone able to let me know if a novice can do this and how ???? Thanks.

bruce

iTrader: (5)

does the Castol Syntrax have a specific grade? so that I get the correct oil as I have a crunch going from 3rd to 4th and 5th to 4th as well.

MKC

I have just asked Halfords to put 4 litres aside for me.

There only seems to be one castrol syntrax transmission oil.

Its £9.49.

You can get it for £7.99 a litre or buy 25 litres etc somewhere i believe.

Can anyone answer my original question ?

On a MY99, where is the sump plug ? What size is it (21mm?) ?
Can I just unscrew it and let the oil flood out ? Do you need any gaskets and any special tools ?

Thanks...

easyrider

[QUOTE=MKC]
I cant remember the size if the drain plug,but it right at the base of the box,and easy enough to get to once its up on the axle stands.
Before you start,make sure you have a funnel with a long thin end on it(about 14 inch long,with a 1/2inch wide end) or you can rig up a piece of tube to a std funnel,so you know that you can refill the box through the dipstick hole.
All you have to do is to remove the plug,drain into container(bigger than 4 litres in size),remove dipstick to allow air in the top,once its finished draining,clean any metal particals off the drain plug thoroughly,refit the plug,refill the box to the correct level through the dipstick hole as described above.

easy

bruce

iTrader: (5)

I have changed the gearbox oil to Castrol Syntrax now, should there be an immediate improvement? or does it take a few miles to start working properly?.

MKC

I have my 90k service at subaru and they replaced the gear oil with their standard Shell one. I then got crunching on the odd ocassion going into 1st, over 5k going into 4th and over 4k going into 5th (every time without fail).

I jacked up my UK MY99 as suggested. Used an old 5lt oil tub with side removed (found that the flap/side being left on it was useful to stop the fluid being drained gliding down the car as opposed to dripping straight into tub), drained whilst jacked, lowered and continued to drain when level.

Simple to do, I have never done this before. 21mm nut to undo with a magnet in it. I had a few tiny particles of metal on the magnet.

Re-filled with 4 x 1 litre Castrol Driveline Syntrax transmission oil bottles at £9.50 from Halfords. This brought the level opn the dipstick to half way between low and full. I now have a slightly notchy 5th but no crunch at all, even at 6k revs or higher.

Found that the gear oil I drained has micro gold specs, probably the bronze from the synchros (says my dad) and only seemed to be about 3.5 litres !!
We did not loose/spill any oil so either 0.5 was left in the gearbox or it had vanished somewhere ???

Found that the extendible see through pull out nozzle that comes with the 1 litre syntrax bottles fitted neatly into the end of a normal garden hose and the other end fitted into the g/box dipstick hole. Had to let a bit of air in at we were going along as it was a fit slow filling, punching a hole in the base of the upside down syntrax bottle would have probably sped up the filling process...!!

Take it from me, I know nothing about cars and even hate jacking them up.
As long as you can safely jack the car up, the rest is easy.

Hope this info is of use to someone.

MKC