Car won't go into 4th gear??
 

So I got my car back clutch feels incredible and everything but 3 weird things are happening. In 3rd gear when I accelerate the shifter moves an inch towards me and when I get off the gas it moves back to normal position. Then another thing is that when parked it goes into all gears but while driving it absolutely will not go into 4th. What it does is make a very quiet grinding sound. Finally it goesn't go into gears smoothly. Sometimes I have to put it into reverse first to get it into first gear or first gear to get it into reverse. Is it my syncros? Shift fork? Any ideas guys? Before we had the faulty install and the shop properly installed clutch job I had 0 tranny problems. Do you guys think this sounds external of the tranny or internal?

Did you check the fluid level? Have you had a chance to look under the car to make sure everything looks right? I don't know why it would move over like that unless the tranny mount wasn't hooked up right. You need to take it back to the shop asap and explain the problem before you put a bunch of miles on it.

Sounds like linkage, wrong fluid, or dead synchro.

I would stop driving the car and call the shop that did the install first thing tomorrow. They did something wrong, installed a wrong part (wrong release bearing?), and/or adjusted something wrong. Didn't they road test the car before giving it back?

The shifter moving sounds like a motor mount issue.

Dean I had Redline shock proof light weight put in. My other buddy (Honda guy) also said it's most likely the linkage. He wants to know if I have rods or cables? Does anyone know what the 06 WRX has? I think cables.

Knuckle it's a little mom and pop tranny place and I called and told them and they claimed it has nothing to do with installation of a clutch and that it was probably a bad syncro. If any of you have any time this week to glance at it or drive it around the block i'll travel to your location. If I found out for sure it's improper installation i'll make them redo it. I just would like to have my facts straight first. Knuckle they drove it around the block but on Kietzke the speed limit is 40 so they didn't even get out of 3rd gear. They drove around the block that's it.

Juice I think you mentioning tranny mount problem is a legit possibility. It can't be my syncros or tranny because my tranny was fine previously. Based on what all of you are saying I would think it's tranny mounts or linkage.

I find this a little hard to believe. Coincidences do occur, but I would at least look at it if it were my shop.

PM Cory, aka MPREZIV. Maybe he will look at it. He's a pro mechanic and the one I would have had do a clutch.

They didn't say they won't look at it they just tried to make excuses. It was Saturday and they had spent all day on my car and were about to close. Ok i'll see what Cory thinks man thanks.

check out the two small bushings where the shifter shift rod connects to the joint at the transmission shift fork. those bushings fall out easily and are missed by many people, they would also explain some of your symptoms.

^^^ I agree. a while back my car had this problem after I installed my own clutch and It was hard to put in some gears really hard to put in fourth impossible to get in reverse. My friend suggested the bushings and it fixed my problems.

Ok thanks for the bushings suggestion guys. I'll look into that.

Are any of you familiar with proper shift linkage for 06-07 WRX's?

Sounds like you bent the rear main shaft plate inside the transmission during your botched clutch install. I did the same thing about 5 years ago.... I didn't have the clutch properly aligned and the shaft coming out of the transmission did not fit thru the clutch disc properly - not knowing what I was doing, I just torqued down on the bell housing bolts to bring the engine and transmission together. It ruined the clutch disc and bent that plate in the transmission.

The shifter in my car used to jump forward and back whenever I got on/off the gas and I was in 3rd or 5th. I also couldn't get the car into 4th gear.

The rear main shaft plate is a plate that holds the main shaft in place inside the transmission.

To fix it, I had to drop the transmission and pull off the rear section (center diff) to expose 5th gear and the end of the main shaft. There is a little plate that slides out and is shaped kind of like a 'U'. It was a $45 part from Subaru. I replaced it, tapped the main shaft back into place and put everything back together, and now it works again.

Maybe/hopefully your problem is simpler, but I through I'd throw my 2 cents in....

Shit blue... Problem is that would mean dropping the tranny again. I'm too scared to trust another side job again. Blue another issue though is I have trouble going into all gears. It's never smooth so that's what I think would definitely be linkage based on what i'm hearing.

I dunno man. Bluestreak's explanation sounds pretty dead-on with your symptoms. You can wish all you want that it's just a linkage problem, but the linkage never got touched during either install, right?

But you did in fact miss-install a clutch, and ended up with a flapping shifter and inability to get into 4th gear, just like blue did. I think you're going to be replacing that rear main shaft plate... and you should probably do it before you drive the car any further.

After the clutch was botched the first time, how did you get the car to the shop? What part of town do you live in? If you get the car up in the air, there are quite a few of us who would be able to look under there and see if everything looks right. You need a checklist.

Check tranny fluid level
Check to see if the shifter was put back together will all bushings, etc.
Check engine/tranny mounts
Check your bank account to see if you have enough to replace what Will mentioned

I had it towed to the shop Juice. No I don't have any money unless it's something simple like fluids,linkage, mounts. If it's actual tranny work my car will be parked a month or 2 likely.


Scott it has nothing to do with me trying to pretend what it is or isn't I think the linkage is still improper and Cory himself verified when I went to see him today that it's likely a linkage problem. Blue's problem is just another one i'll have to deal with if I have that as well. There is no such thing as a rear main shaft plate according to a few shops (unless they are idiots) so I need to find out the real name first ; o.

How is something both "verified" and "likely"? You're not going to know what the issue really is until the gearbox is taken apart and actually verified to be okay or not. My point was that blue's description matched your issue right down to the same cause. Occam's Razor pretty much guarantees you're looking at the same issue, and not some new linkage issue... unless you've got two problems.

Maybe you should describe this "linkage problem"... 'cause I'm assuming you're just talking about the way the shifter attaches to the transmission. I'd be surprised if a problem with the linkage would cause the car to pop out of particular gears unless you've got a bushing or something out of place... but that would be easily felt when just shifting the car while parked.

Fair enough Scott. Blue's problem does sound nearly identical and I sent him a PM right away when I read it. Worth looking into the linkage though as the first few people on this post as well as Cory said it's most likely linkage. It's not like i'm bitching and not doing anything about it. I'm scheduled 9 am tomorrow with Cory ;p.

Btw Scott a different mechanic mentioned to check the pivot point shift rail? Is that even relevant?

I don't even know what that pivot point thing is. The external linkage to the shifter is really simple... it's basically just a lever:



Not sure how that get's screwed up during a clutch install. Now if we're talking about the shift linkage inside the gearbox that engages the dog-teeth, etc... well, if that's screwed up, you're going to wish it's the same problem blue had!

Here are some pics from when I fixed it...

The first is the bent plate stacked on top of the new one.

Second: The transmission with the center diff section off. You can see the plate just underneath 5th on the main shaft.

Third: The new plate installed before I tapped the main shaft down (you can see the gap where the main shaft was actually pushed back)

It was not too hard of a job to do once you get the transmission out. The hardest part was getting the damn center diff section back on by myself.

Damn. Blue I hope to God it's not that because I can't afford to fix that.

You can't afford $45? That's a tank of gas lol

No pulling it down again. And putting tranny back in.

You could do that job without dropping the transmission actually.

How?

Yeah, you would really only need to pull the driveshaft off the rear of the transmission and pull the center diff off.... It would make getting it back together very difficult though. I cant imagine how I would have done it without standing the transmission straight up like in the pictures to get the plate seated and all of the shifter forks aligned initially. It took me hours to get the center diff section back on because you have to get the shifter linkage properly positioned while the transmission is in neutral and slowly and perfectly lower that section back on without letting it slip into gear (all while not messing up the bead of RTV that you lay down as a gasket between the sections)...

Has anyone here successfully reassembled the transmission/center diff section without removing the transmission?

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?