So I was on my way back from marin yesterday, and hit SF right when everyone was leaving Fleet Week. Basically, it meant I got to sit in creeping along bumper to bumper traffic driving over the hills of the Pac Heights. Lots of clutch use on STEEP hills.

Now, I've been driving a MT for 9+ years, so i know what I'm doing, and how to not slip the clutch too much. My car hit 9000 miles recently (05 WRX).

I'm finding that now, as I drive though the city, starting off I get the terrible shudder through the whole car as the clutch crosses the friction point. It feels exactly like the transmission "shuddering". Only happens when starting out - if its happening during gear changes I can't feel it. I also can't detect any clutch slip - I can go WOT in 2nd and the RPMs climb as they should with speed.

Any ideas? I hesitate to take my car to the dealer for fear they will give me a line about how my TBE caused it .

 

hmmm... Subaru has been having cluth shudder thing for the longest time. You should be able to to search and find a LONG list of threads on this. But I thought that was fixed in the later trannies. I had the same problem with my 02RS but started at 24k. after the replaced it it was good as new. But I sold it at ~54k (30k) later so I can't tell you if it really fixed the problem or not. You should be able to bring it to the dealership without a problem. I can see how TBE can cause a clutch shudder. They have to prove that to void your warranty. HOWEVER, if they do decide to fix it for and and ended up having to remove the exhaust system. They might NOT put it back on for you because they are not allow to install illegal parts. Good luck!

 

I am told that the problem was fixed on 05s . As far as the warrenty issues - I canquote the Magnussen-Moss act by heart, but its still a PITA. Good to know about the illegal exhuast thing though.

 

I would call the dealership first without taking your car in and tell them it's stock, go over the clutch shudder problem with them, and see if they'll tear it apart under warranty and see what the problem is. If they agree that it should be covered under warranty, pull the TBE off yourself. By bringing it to the shop with it installed is saying to them, "Hi, I'm a moron who doesn't know how to drive a manual transmission so I decided to modify my car to achieve extra horsepower so I can race it but instead I ended up roasting my clutch." No offense to you, I believe you know how to drive a stick after 9+ years. I know it's extra work and a pain in the butt, but re-install the stock exhaust system yourself and take it in so there are no doubts whatsoever.

I just hope they will replace it. I was reading in the auto section of the newspaper one weekend a few months back about a father that had bought a brand new VW Beetle, manual transmission, and tried to teach his daughter (who had just received her license) how to drive stick. All in all, he ended up having to take it back to the dealer because the clutch was literally gone after 70 miles, but they wouldn't cover it because it was a "wear item". Anyways, I don't know where Subaru stands on this issue, so I thought I'd put in my 2 cents. Best of luck to you!

 

This is an excellent idea. Thanks.

Well, wear items like the brakes and clutch are covered for me for 12 mos/12K miles under Subie's warrenty. So thats good too.

 

Take it off.

 

Well, it looks like it healed itself - took the car for a drive this morning, and everything was fine. No shudder.

Maybe I just overheated the clutch?

 

Hopefully that's the case. I've had clutch shudder since around 20k miles. Some mornings it doesn't shudder, other times it feels like it's about to rattle to pieces. Don't be too suprised if it comes back.