Not on a manual trans. Only out of the car. I've done it on an auto in the car, but that's a completely different job...

Damn well i'd rather a more tedious less risky job. The next problem would be finding another garage and someone who knows what they are doing lol....

It would be cheaper for you to get the transmission out yourself and just take it in to a place.

Interesting. Jay Storm told me he did his in the car.

Just left my car with Cory. He didn't say it's impossible he was just saying he hasn't heard of it being done in a manual tranny.

Good point... Wonder if it would cut cost to take it out myself.. but let them fix and put back in? Mainly because putting it back in is where we screwed up.

Shift linkage that's actually bolted to the car properly makes a WORLD of difference.


The linkage hardware was installed, but finger tight, allowing WAY too much slack in the shift actuation. Feels tons better now.

Sweet Cory. I'll find out when I get there I guess though about the 4th gear situation.

It goes into 4th. Soon as I repair the axle seal that was pushed too far into the trans case, I'll take it for a test drive and make sure everything's up to par.

Once again Cory is teh man.

It goes into 4th when parked Cory. It's when driving that 3rd and 4th give me problems. I just gave Derrick the ok for you guys to go pick up a new front axle seal at Lithia. Also I know you really recommend against mixing fluids but I can't afford to go buy another 2 quarts of Redline shockproof. So I guess we have no choice but to put w/e you have in there.

Are there any consequences to driving with 2.5 quarts of fluid instead of 4.5-5?

Low fluid can fuck your whole trans. I'll top it off with standard fluid. As I said, people do it, but if you want my opinion, I don't recommend mixing them. I've never heard of anyone having any catastrophic failures caused by mixing fluids, just my opinion.

I know it went into 4th when parked. That's why I ran it at low speed in the air to be sure all of the gears were obtainable, and intend on driving it as soon as the trans seal is fixed.

Yea I take what you say very seriously and appreciate all the advice. I really wish I could scrap together 30 bucks to get more Redline shockproof ; (. Hopefully i'm not the first person to have catastrophic failure from mixing shit. Knowing my luck lately i'll be the first LOL.

Cory I'm going to go get you 1 QT of Redline, that's all I can afford. So that we we are only putting 1 QT of the basic stuff in instead of 2.

Well clutch goes in smoother and seal is fixed but I definitely think I have that dented plate Will mentioned. Still won't go into 4th gear. Will can you try to remember the exact name of part so I can order it? I'll get it put in when I save money.

I'm assuming you're planning on parking the car until it's fixed right? I'd be extremely wary of driving a car w/ a gearbox that's got the input-shaft misaligned. Unless you're planning on saving enough money up to replace the whole thing. :eek:

Well - you are going to have to find someone that knows about the 06 transmission (thats what you have, right?)....

For my car (2003 wrx) there were two versions of the plate, each with different thicknesses. Which plate you got in the transmission depended on the exact bearings/gears/spacers/etc that they assembled the transmission with.

I had to pull the transmission and take off the center diff section and remove the plate to check what part number was inscribed in it before I called Subaru to order the part.... it only took a day or two for them to get in stock after I called them.

You may get lucky and they may have standardized their parts more - back in the days of the 02 and 03 wrx's they were just throwing them together with different brakes, gears, and other parts on the assembly line.... (sucks, lol - I've ordered the wrong rear brake pads for my car twice....)

Yea 06 is when Subaru made a strong push to standardize everything to cut costs hence the merging of the 2.5l engines in all of their vehicles etc. I'll go ahead and look into it. I figure if you can drive it for a year... I can drive it for 3 months or so until I can save enough for the job.

Scott given my current job hunting situation i'm not going to be able to park it man ; (. Will drove like that for a year and I plan on having 500 bucks or so in 2-3 months for the job. I hope i'm not the one who gets an example made of me by making it way worse.

Not to rain on your parade, but you are going to make it way worse. One guy avoiding catastrophic failure when the main aligned component inside the transmission is out of whack is the exception, not the rule.

Drive it, sure. Expect to fix it for pennies in a few months, no way. If you don't plan for a $3k tranny bill (and that's assuming the case isn't demolished, torqued, or out of alignment after an extended time with off-kilter components), you're only deluding yourself.

Sorry to be harsh, but anyone familiar with Subaru mechanics is going to back me up on this.

I was only going off what the 1 person on the entire forum that has experienced this told me. He said he drove it a year and he bets he made it a bit worse but didn't mention it causing serious damage. So logically me having just done the damage driving on it for a couple months while I save doesn't sound far fetched. Has nothing to do with understanding Subaru's it seems more like common sense. Regardless it's not a choice. It's more of a situation where I don't have a second car so I have to take the risk.

I'm not going to save purely for a certain job I just need to save in general to even get the thing looked at.

Personally, I'd suggest fixing it now. It's a $45 part, and you have all the time in the world to do it yourself, since you're not working right now. Just take your time (which you have plenty of) and don't mess it up again. Putting it back together is like a puzzle. Things fit a certain way, don't just force all the pieces together.

I messed my transmission install up the first time I did it just like you. Then I pulled it again (wish I hadn't have waited so long to do it) and fixed it all myself, taking care to put it back together properly. My transmission is VERY noisy now - I run Redline Heavyweight Shockproof to quiet it down. I did drive it for a long time but thats because I didn't know exactly what was wrong with it and figured it was shifter forks and a bunch of other things that would make it too expensive to fix - at the time (before I learned what it was) I was saving for a new transmission or an sti tranny and I was just going to scrap the one that was in my car.

I could help you to ensure that you don't make the same mistake when putting it back together if you'd like.

@ Rob. I don't have a garage or space for it... and i'm using my car as we speak to look for work at least 5 hours a day. Rob i've been out of a job 2 weeks man, don't make it seem as if i'm some lounging bum haha....

@Will I'd definitely take any help I can get. Regardless though it will still take me a week to get 50 bucks and hope to find a garage/help.

Actually, common sense dictates that if you've got two geared shafts, and one of them is out of alignment, any shock-load through the gears will strip the teeth right off them.

Driving it for a few months will very likely in needing a new gearbox. Listen to the advice being given here... it's good advice. Fix it now while it's under $50 to fix. You've had the gearbox out, you've already learned the hard way how not to do the re-install, don't discount that experience you gained... you'll be able to put it back together yourself as long as you're patient.

3K? 3K? you can buy a fricken JDM 5 speed with DCCD for 3K !

Worst case you can buy a used transmission for $600 ish

But ya you should try to fix it now if possible. Maybe someone on the boards will offer to help you out with garage space, and or time. I'm a lousy mechanic myself and have ran into teh fail when trying to remove/install a transmission, let alone take one apart... But with a lil help you could probably get through it.

sign up for unemployment and use that money to fix your transmission?