See image below
3x cylindrical bearings came out of my 06 manual Subaru Outbacks gearbox today. Car has 177xxxkms.
I'm going on a road trip tomorrow. Thoughts???
Is it rooted? Should I be looking to sell it asap? She's already had two lives in terms of expensive repairs (transmission input shaft exploded, fixed roo damage to a panel).
Yeah that's my thoughts too. But it's been driving fine for the last xxxxxxxx kms, so why stop now? I haven't changed transmission oil during my ownership until now, so can't say if it was better or worse before.
Honestly, it could be nothing as you have had previous tranny repaired/ some sort of work. It could just be that someone has dropped something and it has lived near the plug this whole time.
If that's the case, you're fine, however, your definition of a road trip and mine may be different. To get rescued on my road trip, I'd need a sat phone.
Re the roo damage, when it's $1k to replace and respray panel plus replace headlight and the car only cost me $6k I'd say that's a major repair.
Road trip is from greater Sydney to the snow, so not that out of touch but will certainly ruin the trip if my car dies lol.
@[Deactivated]: You said panel damage. I agree, it is expensive when lights are involved. The lights alone was…
To the snow, probs have lots of other travellers. I'd say go for it but the biggest price to pay can be very very bitter - having to tell/hear the story of how you took for a roadtrip a car with bearings coming out the oil drain the day before. Personally, that is a price too high to pay.
@[Deactivated]: Got a second hand light so it wasn't tooooo bad but yeah they ain't cheap.
Yeah agreed, we just don't have another car to take so ehhhh. I've got roadside assist… Lol. Will see how we go.
Sell the car when I come back?
Sell the car when I come back?
I would have listed the car before posting this on OzBargain.
@[Deactivated]: You keep saying "sell the car" in a context that implies you aren't planning to advertise this fault to any prospective buyers.
@thrillhouse: Nature of the used car market innit? Gearbox works fine as far as I can tell, if I sold it I'd get chips if I said "needs a new box".
I'd probably more likely trade it in anyway if I was to sell it, so don't worry.
@[Deactivated]: If they ask if there are any problems or odd behaviours, then you're kinda obliged to answer….unless you wanna lie to them too and say nothing's wrong with it or out of the ordinary…
@Zachary: Of course, I'm not going to lie if asked if there's any possible issues.
But would I put in an ad on Gumtree that I found some bearings in the oil? Probably not.
@[Deactivated]: They're just spare bearings, in case of emergency. Like a spare tyre. No problems here!
@[Deactivated]: Selling a car with hidden issues is pretty much asking to get a brick through your window when they're discovered. Had a mate who pulled a fast one and sold a falcon with a milkshake transmission. Week later woke up to a brick and a keyed car.
@JKMason: How do you know the brick and the keyed car was from the same guy who bought his falcon? Didn't the guy ask if there were any issues unless your mate lied and still said yeah nah it's all good?
@Zachary: Agree. Could be a coincidence. I know my brother’s car got torched because the arsonist thought it belonged to his neighbour while parked in its usual spot on the street.
@Euphemistic: I was thinking maybe he caught the guy who did it on camera and looked to be the exact same guy who bought his car off…
@JKMason: @JKMason
I mean at the end of the day, buying a used car is fraught with issues. You'd be stupid to take out your issues on the previous owner. I don't actually know what is wrong with my car or how broken it is. It could break tomorrow or do 100,000kms with no issues. I've bought lemons in the past and never blamed the previous owner.
Having said that, if I sell privately I will of course tell the new owner what I know.
You'd be stupid to take out your issues on the previous owner.
Not if he's lying and he knew about it….but neglected to tell you about it…
@[Deactivated]: Zach: "Sooo….are there any issues with the car that weren't listed on your ad that you would like to discuss in person privately?"
jrowls: "Nope"
Zach: "You sure? Coz if I find one later through a mechanical inspection and you said there is absolutely no issues with the car - I know where you live…"
"jrowls: "Uhhh, actually, well um yes there are a myriad of issues with this car…here, let me point them out for you so you don't come back and blame me for not telling you…."
@Zachary: Yeah sure, but you're missing the point - there's no way for the buyer to know whether the seller knew beforehand. You wouldn't assault someone or damage their property without evidence, would you?
Awww
yeahnahnahyeahnah
yeah
i think she's cooked.
I'm going on a road trip tomorrow. Thoughts???
NARRATOR: he was not going on a road trip tomorrow.
What an absolute shit to find, I don't know if I'd risk going on a road trip before getting it checked out by a transmission specialist. Maybe jump on a Subaru forum for more specific advice. But as @tshow said, the only thing that should come out, is oil.
My brain read it in Morgan Freeman's voice.
I read it as one of those people on RBT.
I went for the Arrested Development voiceover.
Can we have Morgan Freeman do the narration?
Maybe they've been there since new? Or transmission has previously been repaired and these leftovers were hiding in some nook and missed?
I'm going on a road trip tomorrow.
Yes, a nice road trip to the closest transmission specialist.
I would say she's cooked.
Yeah my thoughts exactly. Wanna buy a Subaru?;)
This is the car's equivalent of vomiting out chunks of bad food. With those rotten parts out of your car's system, it should be back to full health soon. Just give it some water to drink as it may be dehydrated.
Those mean time to replace the gearbox
Very thoughtful of Subaru to put that feature in!
Think they're differential pinion bearings. They're not gear teeth so can rebuild it. Either way shouldn't drive it.
Thanks for the tip! I'll investigate.
Any idea how much that would be? Gearbox rebuild sounds exxy…
@[Deactivated]: Just replacing the bearings really, not a complete rebuild. Not sure, the only person that touches my STI and my old WRX, if you're in NSW, email him the pic, he probably knows the part numbers off the top if his head lol
@Bid Sniper: Thanks mate I am in NSW but not near Gosford, won't send an unsolicited email if I can't pay the man for services at some point. Think I'd rather replace the box or sell the car than bother with a rebuild tbh - something else will go soon at this rate.
When you say ‘they came out of the gearbox’ what do you mean? How did they get out, were you changing oil, replacing something else or was there just a horrible noise and you found hem on the driveway?
Changed the oil, as per the linked image they were attached to the magnetic drain plug.
Makes sense now. Couldn’t quite work out what I was looking at.
Not a real good sign! Might go for another 100000km, might grind to a halt at the end of the street.
How long has it been running since the input shaft was repaired? If it’s been a while, it might keep going for a while - but expect it to blow up at some stage.
Yeah sorry bit of a weird pic tbf.
Input shaft repaired probably… ~10,000km ago.
Remove gearbox. Fit gearbox from wreckers. Tally ho.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Or… drive car for a bit longer. Sell. Tally ho.
Subaru 5 speeds are cheap. I thought you loved the outback?
I do but I'm sick of fixing it mate! Dropped too much money on the bastard, might be time to move 'er on, get something with lower kms?
@[Deactivated]: Was the other fix you had done on it the input shaft bearings, or the release bearing? You will have issues with anything, if the outback fits your needs, there is basically nothing else available that's the same.
@brendanm: It was the input shaft itself actually, the whole thing exploded. They replaced clutch and input shaft.
The outback does fit our needs but it's not totally necessary, we could get by without and just borrow a 4wd if we wanted to go on a trip that required it. Or get a Golf/Passat Alltrack, an XV, etc etc, even a newer Outback.
There are other options out there and it would be nice to have something with sub 50000km and / or a balance of warranty! Most problems come up later in the car's life generally.
@[Deactivated]: Can't see I've seen many problems with Subaru 5 speeds, only "normal" issue on all of them is the clutch release bearing a going, and the centre diffs locking up sometimes.
From memory the alltracks are an on demand AWD, not full time.
Warranty and low KMs is nice, but if you don't like the car it's a bit of a moot point. I personally don't think the newer outbacks are a replacement for the old, and xv doesn't hold a candle to it. CVT 😭
@brendanm: Well yeah but mine's on its second driveline issue in 18 months of ownership … ;)
Pretty much every other AWD system on the market is on demand, not full time. That's ok by me. It's for the snow and extra traction in the wet / on an occasional dirt track or two, not bushbashing in the mud.
Agreed on the moot point, but there are newer cars out there I like as mentioned. I agree that the CVT is a turnoff, but it's in every single non-performance subaru now so if you want a subaru you want a CVT unfortunately. I haven't driven a subaru made CVT but I hear they are good as far as CVTs go, so who knows.
@[Deactivated]: Depending on who did the input shaft, and how, those rollers could have come from the repair. Who knows.
You should take a newer Subaru for a drive. I've been a Subaru fan for a long time, but don't like the new 4 cylinders, and dont like the CVT. Perhaps I'm just set in my ways haha.
@brendanm: I suppose it's possible, I just had envisioned them as somewhat separate entities - the input shaft and the transmission proper. But I haven't seen a schematic.
I would love to test drive a newer Subie, I've only driven a loaner XV which was fine but not that noticeably anything in particular. I don't generally like CVTs but I have only driven a couple so I can't say for certain.
@kiitos: It's a worse driving experience and not very good for any amount of offroading / towing / snow driving.
LOL @ troll… rollers come out on the magnetic sump plug… "should I go on road trip???"
Yeah… just put some banana skins on the gearbox. I know a guy who might have a good used gearbox for sale…
Not a troll mate. Box has been fine, who knows how long those have been sitting there? No noises, feels good in every direction, oil was clean, and I have roadside assist.
Obviously the box has seen better days but the post was more for help with what the story is.
I have to say though, it is weird for a bearing to drop that many rollers and not have something collapse. If a roller bearing has dropped that many rollers, it should have dropped more as the bearing fails.
But no noise… Either way, something is wrong, and you dont want floates like this in your gear box, even if they were from the last rebuild.
Agreed! That's why I posted. Everything that has come loose is intact - i.e. not bits of gears being ground up, or something being ground up by the gears and there's no other chunks around, and no symptoms of anything wrong. Bit weird if you ask me.
Yeah those loose dick bearings mean problems to come.
You can kinda work out where they dropped from but I think it’s the synchro. Check for grinding and stuff. It will get worse. Usually with those dicks falling off, it should be accompanied with brass/copper shavings in oil as well.
When more dicks fall off it will rattle the shaft (where the group of dicks came from ) and eventually you will get worse grinding to the point the internal gears start loosing teeth and you will break down on the road or seize.
Your box is no good
They could possibly be from synchro, but all gears and reverse work great, no grinding, in first time every time.
Oil was clean too, no shavings or anything.
I’d change the oil again at 5000 and inspect using a magnet in oil as well as a visual.
It’s from something small in there. No pops, crunching, whining sounds after another 5000 would be strange when travelling in twisty hilly areas.
If everything is still clear maybe it’s foreign. Who knows..
Username checks out.
Car has 177xxxkms.
Call the wreckers old man 🤣
Are you being sarcastic or nah? I'd expect 250xxxkm+ out of a decent car before it needed to be wrecked.
That is unless youre one of those car nuts
I'm going on a road trip tomorrow. Thoughts???
How lucky do you feel???
Should have changed your oil more often. More often than what the manual says because Australian heat can be ruthless on engines, especially on cars that stay in high revs.
You tried to save money, now it's going to bite you back :)
Your probably do quite a lot of exploring with your Subaru, right?
Why is this tone so condescending the whole way through, mate? Easy tiger.
Transmission oil doesn't get changed that regularly. I've only owned the car for a small portion of its life, ~10xxxkm. This was the first time it needed changing. I've looked after it well other than that, I didn't try to save money.
Sorry if I sound aggressive, I just happened to be with my mechanic friend and that was his opinion.
No stress :)
It might be true for some, but I've looked after it and the previous owner was a mechanic so either he was a pretty crap one or I'm unlucky.
@[Deactivated]: Yeah it happens mate. My trusty Corolla was flawless and it recently started to eat oil for no reason… the same mechanic looks after it like it's own and always lets me watch what he does because I am interested too.
It's now eating 2L every 1000km and he is 100% sure it's because of the car's old age and worn out pistons or something. Not mine or his fault.
He just told me it might be the previous owner of your car. We will never know, it's just one of the "joys" of used cars.
"Australian heat" doesn't do squat.
I regularly go to Hotham, Buller and Falls creek in VIC, (dont know what it is like to go to perisher or Threado).
In the twisties up the mountain, there arent a lot of place for errors, or place to pull over when you need it to.
Please also consider the safety of other people using the road as well as yours.
Absolutely mate, I'm a Hotham regular myself. If I was going that far I wouldn't dream of taking it, but as this trip is only to Perisher (much safer road than up to Hotham) I was considering it.
Great point though.
The safety issue is a good point. I used to have a 1985 old Subaru 4WD wagon that started making a bit of a whine from the gearbox. People I talked to seemed to concur it wasn't worth worrying about, would likely slowly get worse.
What actually happened is it locked solid at 110kph on the highway. Left a couple of nice skidmarks from the front wheels as it came to a halt.
Turned out to be no drama, and I discovered it would still drive, but only if I put it in neutral! enough to limp back to town.
I hate to think what might have been happened if there was traffic around at the moment it locked though. There was absolutely no warning (other than the preceding weeks of a slight whine). Car was about 15 years old at the time.
Could be the needle rollers that go between the input shaft and main shaft. They may have dropped out when the shaft was replaced. Did they pull the entire box apart to do the repair?
I don't think they did, just spoke to the mechanic who did that job about a year ago, he said there was only one bearing changed (can't recall which) in that job and it shouldn't really have been possible for those bearings to get involved in the rest of the transmission…
He said it was weird but "if it's driving ok, should be right" haha.
Loose debris near moving parts, okay it is not.
I'm no engineer but I'm pretty sure if one of those loose thingies go into one of those moving thingies the moving thingy may get wedged and both the loose and moving thingy may stop moving.
A rule of thumb. When changing oil, if you find anything other than oil, don't go for a road trip the next day.
(I wouldn't consider a single panel only roo damage to be a major/expensive repair.)