replace 5mt cost?

my wifes 2005 lgt wagon has 120k on it and transmission totally failed last week. shaft broken in half, parts melted-all apparently from the bearings going ( i think, i'm pretty stupid on this stuff) dealer says $6k to replace with a new one ($4.5 for a used -so badly destroyed that repair is not recommended by mechanic). is this reasonable?

 

has recent timing belt/wp change. new brakes and tires. new turbo at 40k. looks great and drove great til last week. she loves the car but drives 2000 miles a month on mountain roads. we drove lots of cars yesterday and she didn't like anything as well as her gt (i kinda liked the awd nissan juke). we've almost decided to do the new tranny repair, hoping to get another 50k mile from the car. Are we nuts? any advice would be appreciated

i bet you could find one for cheaper. maybe a used one for 3k

including labor?

I been looking at six speeds , but in my searching I've seen a few 5 speeds used, or the vendor section has a dealer out of CO. Giving good prices shipping can be pricey.. If you have the time to hunt,and know a good Indy shop 3k may happen installed.

Where are you located?

 

I doubt it's so badly damaged that repair isn't an option. The case would have to be junk for that to happen.

 

Why did the first one fail? It wasn't mileage. I put 174,000 miles on my old transmission (in my Forester) and replaced it only because I got a good deal on a new one.

thanks guys. i just talked to the service manager. he says the throw out bearing blew up the inside of the transmission and the only thing good is the case. armed with the discount cost from one of the vendors on this site for a new tranny, i got the price to replace down to $4800. it also needs a clutch, an axle boot (unrelated to the bearing going) and a few other smaller parts. he's going to change the turbo filter and flush the engine(?) per a new subaru recommendation to prolong turbo life. apparently there is some new flushing stuff from subaru available. he's also throwing in some trim parts- an inside door pull handle and a floor mat hook. so i figure you guys save me at least $1200. thanks very much!

I sold my complete 5 speed swap for $1K. I guess someone got one heck of a deal:)

I have a spare 5mt in my basement that is rebuildable. It pops out of 4th and has some 1st gear noise.

 

Where are you located ? May be we could work something out ?

 

I'm thinking about having it rebuilt as a spare for mine.

The throw-out bearing isn't inside the transmission. It's in the bellhousing. He's taking advantage of you.

i'm in southwest virginia, near bristol (no, we haven't done the friday night fights at the dragstrip here with this car but i've thought about it). the new trans is $3600 list and the price from the vendor here was $2725 + shipping so i don't think its a bad deal. it's a lot less than the new wrx we test drove and the only car she really liked this weekend. wife wont go for used tranny because of reliability. she's in remote areas a lot. thanks for the offer though. i have to say the dealership was very receptive to negotiating the price but i guess that's not a surprise given what we're gonna spend.

well that's worrisome BAC. i saw the inside of the transmission saturday night. there were melted parts and a broken shaft. it happened suddenly on a country mountain road. the clutch went to the floor and stuck when she pushed it in. she turned the car off, started it again and it made a horrible racket. before they pulled the trans they said sparks were flying out when they started the car. what might explain all this? i had the oil changed 3 days before in a local shop, could they have screwed something up? the dealer says no, that the part that is destroyed is dry.

BAC is correct...unless the TO Bearing caused the shaft to snap and destroy the internals of the transmission that would also cause the transmission housing to be unusable. If you saw the internals of the tranny and it was grenaded, probably a safe bet that the dealer isnt pulling one over on you. Might be the service advisor was giving you "cliff notes" on what happened.

There is one for sale in classifieds for 800.00 bucks.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/nm-2005-legacy-gt-5-speed-partout-155457.html

well that's worrisome BAC. i saw the inside of the transmission saturday night. there were melted parts and a broken shaft. it happened suddenly on a country mountain road. the clutch went to the floor and stuck when she pushed it in. she turned the car off, started it again and it made a horrible racket. before they pulled the trans they said sparks were flying out when they started the car. what might explain all this? i had the oil changed 3 days before in a local shop, could they have screwed something up? the dealer says no, that the part that is destroyed is dry.

 

Check the engine oil. Is it over full?

 

A NEW technician could have easily drained the transmission, filled the oil, and called it good.

 

It happens mostly on automatics, but it could very easily happen on a 5-speed. ESPECIALLY if the tech didn't remove the plastic undertray.

 

If the TOB blew up, it would have destroyed the inside of the bell housing. I've never seen an input shaft snap from a TOB failure.

 

In addition to that, there is NOTHING dry inside the transmission case. Nothing at all.

 

See if you can get pictures and post them.

 

I wonder if they are taking you for a ride. The TOB blew up, and they are just trying to sell you a whole new transmission rather than, at most, swapping the case halves out (a job that costs considerably less than $4800).

BAC is correct...unless the TO Bearing caused the shaft to snap and destroy the internals of the transmission that would also cause the transmission housing to be unusable. If you saw the internals of the tranny and it was grenaded, probably a safe bet that the dealer isnt pulling one over on you. Might be the service advisor was giving you "cliff notes" on what happened.

 

No way. Dealership service departments are run by greedy, uneducated children. Very rarely are there exceptions to this rule. The technicians can be both good and bad, but on the whole, service writers and managers are full of crap and willing to take you for every dime they can.

 

I would be equally surprised if the OP's transmission was really blown, as I would be if the dealership got a blown transmission from another car and passed it off as the one out of the OP's car.

Check the engine oil. Is it over full?

 

A NEW technician could have easily drained the transmission, filled the oil, and called it good.

 

It happens mostly on automatics, but it could very easily happen on a 5-speed. ESPECIALLY if the tech didn't remove the plastic undertray.

 

If the TOB blew up, it would have destroyed the inside of the bell housing. I've never seen an input shaft snap from a TOB failure.

 

In addition to that, there is NOTHING dry inside the transmission case. Nothing at all.

 

 

I think you would have to know nothing about cars to do this on a Subaru. The transmission drain bolt is actually a plug and you need a square male drive to take it out. I have never seen an oil drain bolt that was like this.

No. It didn't used to be. It used to be a bolt. The current one is a Torx T70. I've seen many people replace the T70 drain plug with the old-style bolt so that maintenance would be easier.

 

Google "Jiffy Lube Subaru Transmission". It used to happen a LOT.

 

I'd love to be wrong about this.

Then that would make sense. You might be right on the T70....I can't remember if the rear diff was the square plug or if it was on the tranny. I have both sockets so dont remember just going off memory:) but I do know it wasnt a bolt.

The rear diff uses a square plug. You can use a half-inch breaker bar to get that one out.

i got the oil done at a local full service garage but it was hectic there. they have changed the oil multiple times before however. i really don't think the dealer is crooked. he went to bat for us when the turbo blew under warranty and got it covered when another dealer wouldn't. additionally, he's not making that much when the part is so expensive to start with. i'd think he'd do better jacking up the cost of a used transmission. anywho, thanks for your thoughts.

I am sure your dealer is super-nice and full of integrity.

 

Full retail on a complete transmission for that car from Subaru is under $3600, you can buy them for under $3400 without trying.

Before you sing their praises, remember that they were about to charge you $4500 for a used transmission. Until you came here, they were going to charge you $6500 for a new transmission! Its only ~$500 in labor to swap out a transmission.

 

Dealers get paid for warranty work. They went to bat for you, because they got paid. And if the claim got denied, you'd have paid them to swap the turbo. Its win-win for them.

 

If the service writer is telling you that a TOB failure destroyed EVERYTHING but the case, he is lying to you.

 

You are getting screwed in the most uncomfortable way.

BAC, no matter what, this forum saved me money and i appreciate it very much. as you can tell i'm not very knowledgable on this stuff...and i respect yall's comments. i really don't have much recourse however at this point. my wife wants a new transmission instead of a new car...that's a big dollar win for me in my book and a testament to the appeal of the lgt. i'm not sure i want to know if my local shop screwed up since it will be hard to prove and to win in court but i will see if the oil is overfilled. if it is, then i'll probably feel guilty for not changing her oil myself...and i'm not sure i'm better of going to an indy tranny shop where they might be crooks and/or incompetent. so i'll very reluctantly eat the $4800, find a new local shop to change her oil every 3750 miles and pray the car lasts another 50000 without stranding her again. if i was as well versed as you folks, i'd do it differently but sadly i'm not. thanks again. one thing i might add to the board for interest. the street fights at bristol motor dragway are real. i think it's $5 to race on the track. it starts April 1 (their motto is "run what ya brung"). more info at the bristol dragway site site. might be of interest if any of you are ever down this way.

I just hate that you are getting taken advantage of.

 

You'll definitely get 50k out of it. Just make sure to check out the oil.

I'm not suggesting that you rebuild your transmission yourself or do any of the work yourself, but don't kid yourself - your dealer is not your fiend, even if they gave you a drink cozy, a free oil change and pretend that you are in their thought and prayers 24/7. The fact is that they tired to overcharge you by more a factor of 2 or three on the used transmission.