No reverse after brake caliper lock-up

I'm new to this site and have absolutely no knowledge of Subarus. My daughter has a '98 Legacy GT 2.5l with about 267K on it and had one of the pistons on her passenger front brake caliper locked up. When she and her boyfriend got out of the car after smelling something burning, the rotor was red hot. She said they let it cool down before driving the final few miles home. When she got home and tried to go in reverse the next day nothing happened. The car also seems to lurch forward a little bit in park when starting the engine and goes forward in neutral. Anyone have any ideas? I'm wondering if the heat from the rotor transfered up the halfshaft to the transaxle and fried it. The fluid level if fine and doesn't smell burnt though. Maybe the gears went out from having to work so hard from the caliper locking up. I'm going to climb underneath and see if something is wrong with the shifter cable or linkage (her shifter is on the floor) and drop the pan and see what I find. Thanks.

jack up that corner and see if the wheel spins freely, the brakes may have fused together, keeping it from rolling easily.

That wheel spins freely now since I bought a new caliper,pads, and installed it. That's what worries me, it spins freely when the car is in park.

That's what worries me, it spins freely when the car is in park.

front or rear?

auto or manual trans?

it matters.

 

rear wheels on auto trans cars are never connected when the engine is off.

 

more specific details please about "no reverse" .

does the car roll when in park?

is it an auto trans?

does it drive correctly in all forward gears?

The caliper I had to replace was on the passenger front. The car is AWD and has an automatic tranny. It doesn't roll in park and is hard as hell to push when the shifter is put in neutral. I don't know if it drives in all forward gears (I'm afraid to take it out since there is no reverse and I can't get it out of my driveway without having to push it out to the road).

when you put it into reverse, is there any noises? is it clanking or anything? does it try to get into reverse and fail, or does the shifter just move and nothing happens at the wheels? need more info.

There was a momentary grinding noise that appeared to come from below the airfilter housing, around the starter by the firewall. It only lasted a second or two when my son was shifting through the gears. When we put it in reverse, nothing happens. Put it in neutral and it starts to go forward. Start the engine in park and the car sort of tries to go forward a little.

will the engine start if the shifter is in N ?

When we put it in reverse, nothing happens. Put it in neutral and it starts to go forward. Start the engine in park and the car sort of tries to go forward a little.

 

have you checked the linkage to see if it is out of adjustment? if its moving in park and neutral, it may just be out of alignment.

I appreciate your responses but I'm going to be out of the pocket for a few days getting some R&R in Branson. When I get back I'm going to check out everything you've suggested and put the car up on stands to check out the shift linkage. I've just finished rebuilding my strut assemblies and installing them on my Dodge Spirit only to find out I have a messed up CV joint. I'm losing reverse on my Skylark and just did a Seafoam treatment along with a tranny fluid and filter change. Last weekend I replaced the rotors, pads, a caliper, spark plugs and wires on my wife's F-150. Now, I've found out my son's tie rod ends are shot on his S10 Blazer. All this along with my 50 hour a week job and my wife almost dying from a 9mm kidney stone and being in the hospital the second week of the month have burned me out to start off the year. I'll let you know something next week. Thanks.

OK, I'm back. Idled her car today for about 15 min. and checked the fluid level (ok) and smelled to see if burnt (smelled normal). Went through the gears going into reverse and got nothing, went forward in neutral, went forward in drive, went forward in L3, went forward in L2, and did nothing in L1. Forgot to try to start it in neutral but don't know if I should since it went forward in neutral. Jacked the car up and put on stands but ran out of time before getting to crawl underneath to see what I could see. By the way, does anyone know what weight motor oil a 2.5l uses? I see absolutely nothing under the hood or on the engine which tells so.

this is really starting to sound like a linkage issue to me. as for oil, i think its supposed to be 5w30 but i still run 10w40 most of the time. with the rebuild i may switch to 5w40 synthetic tho to see how it runs.