Wuss

My warranty is up in a few months and I have made a list of the problems I have with my UK MY00.

1) The car keeps 'popping out' of the fifth gear on the motorway - the garage say it is a 'synchro problem'!!

2) The driver's side electric window mechanism seems to have developed a fault!

3) The clutch judder has become so bad that I almost killed myself at a junction on Thursday. The car has done only 23,000 miles!

4) The back bumper has developed a rattle. It seems to be loose but there is no evidence of it having been hit??!

Sorry for the moan, but I thought these cars were meant to be reliable!

Has anybody else had similar issues and how much of the above can I expect to get fixed under warranty - in my opinion, it should be everything...

Just needed to get this off my chest...

A very p*ssed off Wuss.

chiark

Everything should be fixed under warranty...

Wuss

chiark,

Does that include the infamous 'Clutch Judder'? They always seem unwilling to talk about it at the dealers.

Toonman1

Sorting the clutch judder's easy - give it a boot off the line. Always worked with my '98R, to the extent, it was never a problem. The other faults should be easily fixable.

Cheers

chiark

Yes, it's covered under warranty and should be sorted IMHO. Other people have had this fixed, and it isn't as if your car should have excessive wear at 20-odd k miles...

gregh

I had my clutch replaced due to judder under warranty. One garage wouldn't do it, so one phone call later, I found a place that would, and they then got all my service business

Greg

Wuss

Greg,

Roughly where in the country are you based?

W.

ChrisB

Give Tooman's suggestion a go - a full bore standing start cleans up the clutch plates a treat and no more judder for a good few thousand miles.

The smell will go away eventually too

Toonman1

"smell will go away"

I love the smell of clutch in the morning. Smells like, like victory...

Wuss

Don't want to sound thick here but can you explain what 'a full bore standing start' actually means??!!

Are we talking about a 'rev to 5,000rpm and lift the clutch holding the revs above 3,000rpm, etc.'

I just want to make sure that I completely **** my engine, clutch and gearbox rather than doing a half-arsed job of it!!!!

Wuss.

Toonman1

"Are we talking about..."

Pretty much. You don't have to side step the clutch or anything, but you need to drive it hard enough to "burn off" the crap. It's no big deal.

Cheers

markwild

My 98MY clutch judders every Sunday.... Not sure why !

I just pull away and keep the revs around 2K, and slip the clutch, just for 20 yds or so, (enough for the car to come up to 2Ks worth of speed..)..

Usually OK till following week ..

It was replaced at 37000 miles, now done 75000, so draw your own conclusions.....

As for other probs... I've had throttle linkage replaced, inner front CV, bottom ball joint, SRS column, new battery...

STILL A STONKING MOTOR THOUGH (A friend of mine has had a quattro for 3 months - new door handle, 2 coil packs, throttle link sensor!)...

Mark

Wuss

Mark,

I understand your situation and, yes, I also love my car even with all of its problems.

My Scooby judders EVERY time the car starts (even if it's warm) and in the morning it will judder for a good five to ten minutes. Sometimes it even judders when I've been driving for a while. I thought it was me, but my mate has a P1 and he says its definitely the car...!

I was leaving work at 6.00pm on Thursday, I pulled out and the car went into its normal spasm. At this point if I rev too much more it just starts to vibrate uncontrollably, so I had to ease off. Unfortunately, I was in the middle of the road by then and a guy had to do an emergency stop to avoid smashing into my car. I have been driving 13 years and I have NEVER caused an accident. I think this clutch problem is a major issue, but the dealer seems to disagree.

I know you can avoid this by keeping the revs high as you pull off, but why the hell should we have to make adjustments to our driving style because of defects in the clutch assembly?!!

Tell you what, I'll sell you a TV but you have to hold it in your left hand and stand on your right leg to turn it on - sorry, it's a 'design feature'! What the ****?

Wuss.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Wuss, Get the clutch done under warranty. My MY99 is in next week to have it's second new clutch because of judder. Loads of people have had theirs replaced under the warranty. Insist on it being done.

Wuss

Right then, time to write a letter to the dealer and I'll report back on what they say!

Thanks guys. Sorry about the rant.

Wuss.

Re-Bitten Hero

Also get the 5th gear thing sorted - it's a known problem, and it happened on mine. Got it fixed by my local dealer immediately. It's a loose nut on the 5th gear engagement system, but they have to take an entire day to take it all apart, put it back on, then reconstruct everything

Good luck getting it sorted!

Richard

DJ140

Mines in for it's second clutch under warranty, now done 35K miles from new. The dealer has advised that the replacement is a new part number and looks different, must be good then!

My local Subaru dealer has ben very helpful and has never suggested that Subaru would not provide a replacement.

Dan

TARManiAC

Get your clutch fixed under warranty.

My Scooby (MY01) has "the knocking" every time it´s started from cold. Dealer listened to it and said: Definitely not the tensioner but more likely the piston(s) (slap). When I told him lately to fixed it he called the importer who said: Definitely not the slap but more likely the tensioner. He then changed the tensioner but the noise is still there. When I listen to the engine the sound doesen´t seem to come from the front of the car but from the middle (pistonslap?) So the dealer arranged that some guy from Subaru comes to listen to it from cold. I expect to get the "they all do that sir" treatment.

Good luck.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

They can replace the clutch and flywheel while they've got the gearbox out

I had the clutch replaced at 30K along with the engine on my MY97. Still judders a bit, once every full moon when cold.

Brendan Hughes

As hinted at by gregh - if your dealer isn't interested in the clutch, find another who is.

Mungo

As others above, I've had 2 new clutches fitted under warranty. They will check it's not worn out (measure friction lining) and you have to bear the risk that if it is, you'll pay for a good 6 hours labour to take it apart and put it back together. Oh, and then you might as well pay for new parts so they haven't just charged you £500 to put the duff one back.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

I had that situation but I insisted that irrespective of clutch wear the clutch was not "fit for purpose" and therefore I insisted that they put a claim in to IM. I did have to pay the £550 when it was first done (30000 miles) but I got this back as IM passed the claim with no problems even though the dealer had said they would not pay because the clutch was almost worn out. TBH the dealer was very good about it and admitted that they were very suprised that the claim had been honored. Although they do have an interest in you paying as they get more money that way.

matty01

I manage a fleet of brand new cdi sprinters and reliability is allways in context on any vehicle,even brand new mercs develop faults ,don't think you did so bad, i've had more faults than that on some new merc vans(and they're pretty good in the van arena ).I've never run any make of vehicle from new with no problems ,comes with the territory,vehicles are inherently fighting a losing battle.(Plus you must be a thrashing git ) you can't realistically expect every scoob off the line not to develop any faults,i guess you'd find other makes are worse than this mate

Wuss

Matty01,

Generally I'm quite pleased with the car. It's never broken down on me and I understand that cars of this nature have greater stress placed on them during normal day to day usage, etc. My only point is that these four problems come on top of:

- The mechanism in the boot went t*ts up so I couldn't open it - trip to the dealer.

- The cat nicked one of my sets of keys and when I went to use the other set, the key fob had failed - another trip to the dealer!

- The sun visor on the front passenger side fell off in my wife's hand and the dealer tried to imply we were having a **** in the car and she was hanging off the visors - I f*cking WISH!!

- The clutch started to drop about an inch every time it was pressed, like it was getting stuck on something.

- The gears started to grate at about 10,000 miles. It was only when I had the PPP put on the car that the nice guy at Prodrive sorted that problem when he was fitting the new quick-shift.

Thank God the engine, suspension and wheels are sound!!

The clutch is the final straw - I should not have been made to feel that it has been caused by my 'driving style'!!

Sorry if this is boring everyone by now. Rant continues...

Wuss.

Andy486

Had my MY99 clutch done at 20k miles and again at 30k (they messed up the first one). Told me they were putting in P1 plates but judder comes back eventually. Had to try a couple of dealers before I could get it done. Eventually guys at Pangbourne did it but had to leave it overnight so that they could test drive it cold to confirm the judder.

Not had any trouble with 5th yet but engaging 3rd has become an occasional pain (literally) especially with high rev changes. Anyone else suffered this?

Wuss

Oh and I forgot!

- I and now having real difficulty putting the car into reverse! Sometimes it just will not slot in and I really have to give it a shove??!!

Arggghhhh...

Wuss.

Mungo

Yup, also sometimes have 3rd gear baulk on me when changing up quickly. 1st seems to be more of a problem though - I'm having to double de-clutch every time I select 1st for the first 10 minutes or so when it's cold.

Wilster at Work

To engage reverse more easily i.e. not force it, spin the box in neutral first.

I get clutch judder on my MY99 but it seems to have gone away at the moment; mind you am more used to the car now so fuel consumption has dropped from 28 to around 20-22 If the juddery thing returns will be contacting my dealer to arrange repair!

Has anyone here ever paid the £400 notes odd for a fifth year of (extended) warranty??

Paul.

pslewis

In my opinion its the dealer that can make or break a warranty claim, if they can be 4rsed to try hard for you then it will be done - if, on the other hand, they couldn't be bothered with fighting your corner then you are shafted.

Mill Lane Engineering replaced my cambelt, under warranty, when it went noisy BUT then they said that the underseal that had come off the car in strips wasnt covered!! Simpsons at Swindon took my car in willingly and carried the undersealing job out, when I asked them if it was covered under warranty - they said they hoped to get a refund but would risk it in order to keep their good name!! What service - and its Mill Lane that gets ALL my servicing work!!

Pete

awd2000

Paul

Funnily enough I've just sent the paperwork into the dealer today for an extra 2 years on my MY00 - when I look back on the amount of warranty work I've needed in the first 3 years, i.e. rear discs, door seals x2, clutch, front discs etc., £404 for 2 more years seems like a good bet!

AWD