Can anyone offer some information?

... My 5th gears pops out into neutral now and again while driving on Motorways.... its hella annoying!!!

Anyone know why it keeps doing that and is it expensive to fix?...

... im guessing its the bushes.... but might be way out!

 

knowing scoobies the nut has come loose which holds 5th gear set to shaft. would need to take tail shaft of gearbox off to inspect, or worn syncros or bend selector folks

 

If its the nut then its not that bad, anything else and it can cost you a few hundred quid
Tony

 

Mine did that and it was the snycro. As it's an overhanging 5th they can do it without taking the box apart so not as expensive as you think.

Yours is a 5 speed box I assume?

 

thanks for that ....

would you know if its expensive to inspect... i.e does it take alot of time to "take tail shaft of gearbox off" ???

 

Can't help you there but my total bill was about £2-300 I recall.

 

Thanks for the comments fellas...

... hmm... if it doesnt do damage to the box then I suppose I can live with it for the time being

p.s. yup... 5 speed

 

is usually best to have gearbox removed and fully split the casing to make sure all is good in there, especially if running more than 300bhp, is a weak point

 

What model year is your car? MY99's are known to have an issue with this. Subaru changed the design of the nut for MY00 to address it. That said, all of the five speed boxes use fundamentally the same design so it can theoretically happen with any of them.

Great in theory, trouble is, it does do damage to the box. If you continue to drive the car, the nut will loosen more and more, allow the fifth gear to float fore and aft on the input shaft. This will eventually result in the gear being pushed into the synchro behind it, wearing and then, eventually, overheating it.

This all increases the repair bill, and if you allow it to get really bad, the synchro hub itself can split, stopping the shift collar sliding over it and jamming the mechanism, which can be a right pest if you're in the middle of nowhere and the box is stuck either in top or reverse (or won't go *in* to reverse when you need to go backwards).

So, it's better sorted sooner rather than later. You don't have to take off the "tail shaft" of the gearbox, you take off the centre diff casing, but, provided the box is otherwise working properly and the oil looks reasonably clean when it's dropped, there should be no need to split it completely. Can be done on the car but it's a better job to take it off and check on the bench.

 

Hi Splitpin.. thanks for the input... appreciated.

... I have a 99 Type-R... so guess and hope its the nut... as that doesn't sound too expensive.. just spent money on insurance, MOT and tax at the same time.... so piggy bank is a lil' deflated hehe...

... will get on the case ASAP me thinks....

 

defo shaft nut, do it quicker rather than put it off as i did so the movement in the gear warmed the bearing up and locked the gear up so was stuck with no gears and flat bed truck to garage were i stripped it and due the bearing overheating had to pay subaru 320 quid for a new 5th gear syncro assembley and bulk ring...if your in 5th and let off throttle and back on again the gear stick moves back an forth with the movement of the syncro on the shaft then it pops out wen just on throttle.....only need to take half the box off too plus rear prop shaft if you can get to tighten the nut up in time but if syncro needs re placing it whole box out n strip because the folk stops it coming off so input shaft needs to be removed

 

Thanks andyxros....

its deffo that... i can feel movement in 5th when i accelerate and decelerate.... almost like its gonna pop out but not just... then after a while it pops out itself... grrrr......

will get it looked at as soon as poss..... meanwhile i have a 2nd car I can drive... so its alright .....

 

As above, most likely the retainer nut for the fifth gear that has come loose, get it tighten up and your good to go

 

at least your now awear of it..when i first got car it was doing it but inbeknown to me and would be going downhill on m.way with loud music on sat there out of gear reving nuts off it to probably red line, god knows for how long till wanted power to get up hill and realising oooopps out of gear

 

Glad I found this post. Just bought a W reg 2000 Turbo wagon a few hours ago and found the 5th gear pop out on the motorway home from the garage. Only happens occasionally after accelerating and decelerating glad it's nothing too serious otherwise I’ll be taking it back.

The car is due the 120K service soon so will get it looked at the same time.

 

It can be one of 2 things, the factory issue where they incorrectly torqued up the nut in the gearbox (best to get it sorted sooner rather than later, you dont want the nut in your gear gogs ) or 5th gear syncro has gone due to people keeping their hands on the gear lever and causing undue strain.

Tony

 

Cars booked into garage on Wednsday for service and look at the gearbox. Just hope it's the nut since only bought the car today so dont want too many big bills straight away.

 

I'm being a plank.

The car has 3 months warantee. I'll get the garage i bought from to do the 5th gear work.

I presume it will need new gear box oil after as well?
If so thats one less thing to add to the service in a few more miles.

 

FIXED!

Had the 5th gear pop out problem fixed at Triton Motor sport. Turns out the bolt on the 5th gear selector shaft was almost at the bottom of the thread and was soon due to fall off into the gear box which would have killed the gearbox. Also with it being so low on the shaft it was rubbing up against an oil pipe which had almost cut through.

Now comes the tricky part getting the garage I bought from to pay me back for the work under the cars warrantee.

I'll have another word with Traiding standards and get a latter with a copy of the bill to post to them recored delivery to see if they pay up.

 

It is going to be very tricky if you didn't approach them first to fix the problem. They usually have a friendly mechanic who would do work like this cheaper for them.

 

I did approach them first. There mechanic didn’t want to do the work so was told to get the work done myself and they would consider paying half the bill. I have now lodged a complaint with trading standards since the garage is now ignoring the e-mail I sent to them telling them how much it will cost and that I want to be paid back in full since the car is under warrantee.

 

You best have a look in the small print of the warranty as most of them I've had have always been that they'll only pay half towards it. If it says that then you definitely won't get it refunded in full

 

Unfortunately only paperwork they gave was the receipt for payment. I only found out the car had warrantee after I phoned them up and asked.

I’m waiting to see what trading standards say at present.

 

Well spoke to Trading standards and they say except the 50% of the bill paid by them. So had to apologise to the garage owner on the phone after sending him 2 letters threatening him with trading standards and eat humble pie and ask if he would still pay half the bill. The cheque is in the post hopefully now.