kendz

Over the last couple of weeks i've become increasingly aware of a noise which seems to be associated with the gearbox/clutch/diff. I can only describe it as a whirring/scraping sound when accelerater is down, and the same noise but broken when decelerating. If I let the car free roll, gear disengaged the sound is constant.

The noise is similar to what a dry/worn bearing would make, and is most noticeable at about 2500 revs, so 50mph in 4th, or 60mph in 5th

The car is a 53 plate WRX with 34k miles. It is still in warranty so i'm taking it into the dealers for them to have a look this week. Has anyone else come across a similar prob??

Many thanks

Matt

Jolly Green Monster

iTrader: (4)

most likely bearing in the gearbox..

kendz

Took car into Subaru (Christopher Neils') on Friday for them to have a look. Mechanic took the car out to have a listen, then got the wheels spinning through the gears whilst suspended on the ramp, noise very noticable when ur under the car!!!

Noise seems to be coming from the back of the gearbox casing, gearbox oil checked, no fragments.

Have got to wait until Tuesday now for Subaru UK to give the ok to go ahead on warranty work and was advised to drive the car as little as possible. Looks like a gearbox out & stripped job to find the problem, major suspect a bearing.

So far really happy with service from Christopher Neil, makes a refreshing change after my only experience of main dealers being Vauxhall, Fiat and Peugeot.

kendz

Update on the story so far...

As above was advised that the dealers would have to contact Subaru UK for the go ahead on any warranty work and I should hear by Tuesday. Heard nothing Tuesday, I called, advised may be Wednesday, no call Wednesday so today (Thurs) I called back again. Advised that Subaru had got back to the dealer and they have advised that the gearbox will need to be stripped to establish where the problem is, and whether it will be covered by warranty. I was advised that should the problem be due to 'wear & tear' then Subaru would not be likely to accept warranty claim & I would have to foot bill for gearbox rebuld (circa. £1500). Dealer can't fit the car in until the end of this month for the gearbox to be stripped and then see where to go from there. I've not driven the car since the Friday I took the car in.

Has anybody had any probs with warranty work before? The car is completely standard, i'm not suggesting it will be but how can a fault in the gearbox be described as wear & tear after 2.5 yrs and 33k miles???

Oh well first 2 months of Scooby ownership went well, let's hope this is a minor glitch!!

Ben v7

stick to your guns and insist it's done on warrenty. Kick up a fuss if they try and argue against that. They are paid a lower per hour labour rate for warrenty work from IM so if they are busy all the time anyway, they try to avoid taking work on as warrenty. It does sound like a genuine issue with the box - manufacture defect.

kendz

Final update on this (I hope!). I've finally got the car back. Spoke to the garage last Friday (30/6) & they advised that the fault had been found and was going to be repaired under warranty. I was advised that the clutch was fairly worn also and that it would be a good time to replace as the gearbox was off the car!! I decided to go ahead with this and it's cost me the price of the part only (£280ish).

The fault in the gearbox was to do with the output drive shaft, it's bearings had failed and the shaft had worn into the rear casing of the gearbox. Thank goodness it was all covered on warranty $$$$$!!! Have to commend the service dept. at Christopher Neils for the work they've done, only let down was that they couldn't sort out a courtesy car for me, but i've managed. One month off the road, i've really missed driving it!! Been using a 1.6 Megane hire car in place and let's just say I won't be looking to buy one of them in hurry!!!!!

Matt

sagerhead

Thanks for the info on your problem, I think I have got the exact same problem on my 1996 UK. Unfortunately my repair will not be under warranty.
Power Engineering are taking the gearbox out and sending it off to be stripped. I'm hoping I just need to replace the bearing and not too much else.

Its going to be a lot of money to spend on a old car.

sagerhead

It was the crown and pinion in the gearbox, so I needed a replacement box that cost £950 + labour costs