My trasmission is getting hard to shift into 1st and reverse.
Reverse is worse than 1st.
When it's not going in, I engage clutch in nuetral and rev a little bit, and then try again. Sometimes works, sometimes not.

Is there any cure for this?

I just changed transmission fluid but it wasn't MOTUL or anything fancy.

If there is a transmission fluid you recommend, post it here.
NEO? MOTUL? REDLINE? ...???

It's 99 2.5 RS transmission.

right before you go into those gears. blip the gas a little and it will help it go in easier.

I think the difficulty with reverse is one of those things thats there so we can look back fondly on the little 'bugs' in our classic Impreza. Almost everybody has had a problem with shifting to reverse and downshifting to 1st, not to mention the clutch chatter.

check your fluid level. Make sure its warm and make sure its level.

If it wont go into reverse, put it in first and disengage the clutch just a little, make the car move half an inch, and it should then slide right into reverse.

Good luck

Pete

i have the same proublem .. although it has been getting colder and the proublem is getting better???

i have redline 7590ns in there right now ..i am going to change it to either mt90 or shockproof ... probbaly shockproof

from what i have heard shockproof is only good for 9-10k miles

My WRX sometimes wont go into first, have to let the clutch out a tiny bit, or put it in a few other gears first.

Same thing in reverse.

Sometimes I'll put it in reverse, let the clutch out about halfway and it will EXPLODE out of reverse... Scaring the crap out of me and my passengers. I imagine its only time till it explodes into pieces.

Interesting if nothing else...

~v6

Originally posted by V6turboTA
My WRX sometimes wont go into first, have to let the clutch out a tiny bit, or put it in a few other gears first.

Same thing in reverse.

Sometimes I'll put it in reverse, let the clutch out about halfway and it will EXPLODE out of reverse... Scaring the crap out of me and my passengers. I imagine its only time till it explodes into pieces.

Interesting if nothing else...

~v6

The reverse thing is very weird sounding, although I did find out after I had about 1,500 miles on my Suby that it will throw the car in neutral if you get up past ~20mph in reverse. Strange, but probably a good idea.

It will do it at almost a standstill. Right as the car starts to move BANG!!! out of gear.

You can almost tell when its going to do it, but sometimes I miss it i guess. Like when you put it in first and it seems to go halfway in...

Weird...

~v6

That definitely sounds like something that deserves a dealer look-see. Might be a bad fork or spring in there somewhere.

Originally posted by V6turboTA
It will do it at almost a standstill. Right as the car starts to move BANG!!! out of gear.

You can almost tell when its going to do it, but sometimes I miss it i guess. Like when you put it in first and it seems to go halfway in...

Weird...

~v6

I agree, take it to a dealer before it gets out of control and they dont fix it cause you negelcted to bring it in sooner. At the very least you have documented proof that the problem has been around for some time.

Pete

Yea, make sure you swap out all your mods so they have no reason to void your warrenty.

Originally posted by Lobster Man
Yea, make sure you swap out all your mods so they have no reason to void your warrenty.

Good point, and make sure you take out EVERYTHING. Ive heard horror stories about dealerships getting crazy over the dumbest ish, so be careful

Pete

Originally posted by IMPREZIV
Good point, and make sure you take out EVERYTHING. Ive heard horror stories about dealerships getting crazy over the dumbest ish, so be careful

Pete

Anything that doesn't affect horsepower would be irrelevant to his transmission, so he doesn't have to worry about suspension and stuff. The burden of proof is on the dealer to prove that your mads CAUSED the problem, not just might have. A good contract lawyer will eat them up if they give you crap about it.

"My trasmission is getting hard to shift into 1st and reverse"
This is completely normal for Subaru transmissions. My transmission has always acted this way. Also, when I added Redline 75/90ns to the transmission the problem was more evident...

I had this same problem only that it wouldnt go into 1st & reverse sometimes and even popped out of reverse before. I took it to the dealer and they replaced the syncros (for 1st i guess, becasuse reverse doesnt have one)

Originally posted by IdriveaWRXwagon
I had this same problem only that it wouldnt go into 1st & reverse sometimes and even popped out of reverse before. I took it to the dealer and they replaced the syncros (for 1st i guess, becasuse reverse doesnt have one)

They probably did it just because they can. Probably had zero effect, right?

Originally posted by Impreziv
If it wont go into reverse, put it in first and disengage the clutch just a little, make the car move half an inch, and it should then slide right into reverse.

Good luck

Pete

Thats what the service department at the dealership told me a long time ago. He said it was a subaru thing

Well, its normal for it to be hard to shift into 1st and reverse, those gears aren't synchronized...

I something grind in first gear too. :(

most of the time it's okay for me. Only when the car has been off and I need to back out of the space. But 90% of the time i back into a space, so I don't normally have the problem. but when I do, i go into first then reverse....

well if you are over 20 mph, you cannot down shift to the 1st gear for protection of the gear teeth(i dunno how to say this-im not not american)- this sux for people that love the handbrake turns since putting it back in the 1st makes a lot of diffrence for the pick up of the car after the handbrake turn.



has anyone noticed this; its been 3000miles on mu wrx and the gears are still really stiff to change. i thought it should have been smoother by now, the 2003 golf gti's gears change like no other....too smooth.

I had the very same problem. I took it to Santa Cruz and they did a major part swap job with the tranny, replacing 90% with new upto date parts and as I was told some new prototype tranny from Subaru.

All my problems have dissapeared, but dont expect the same feel you had before. You might have to re-learn the tranny and clutch over again cause everything feels smooth. Shifts into gears like a hot knife cutting through butter. Only downside is the feel of the car, is just doesn't seem to transfer as well through the shifter like before. But hey no more grinds.

They said the the most likely cause of the grinding into specific gear was because the clutch plate wasnt completely disengaging.

yah, i sometimes have a hard time getting it into 1st and alot of times getting it into rev. the colder the tranny, the harder it is.

just take your time. if you're at a light and it wont' go into 1st,
dont panic and shift into 2nd then into 1st. if that doesn't work,
roll a little bit forward in 2nd and slide it into 1st.

reverse, you should shift into 1st gear before shifting into rev.
i sometimes get minor grinds on my 02wrx, but that's usually from
the disengaging/engaging clutch timing. pump your clutch in/out a few times before engaging rev and make sure your car is completely stopped. if it still doesnt go in, then roll forward about
an inch or two then engage rev.

SubieDo -
What was the turnaround time at Santa Cruz for the transmission rebuild? And how bad was your problem?

Thanks and Happy Motoring