I purchased my 2002 WRX new in 2001 and it has been extremely reliable, until this evening when the 5spd transmission grenaded on the way home. I had downshifted to 2nd to go up a large hill and there was a clunk and then the car started making a loud rattling noise. This happened about 1/2 mile from my house so I tried to make it home, but then the gears seized up and the car is now stuck on the side of the road. What fun. The engine is running fine, but the shifter is stuck in gear and the car will not roll while in neutral, so my best guess is that a gear failed.

So now I need to get the car running again. I've been searching the web, but would really appreciate it if anybody has input on the following:

1. Good transmission shops in the east bay, I'm in North Oakland.

2. Is it worth pulling the transmission out at home and taking it into a shop, or easier to just have the car towed in? In other words, if the shop is only going to charge a few hundred bucks to drop the trans then that's worth it for me.

3. A Sti 6spd swap is going to run ~$4k so I'm leaning towards either rebuilding my 5spd with stock parts or putting in a used one. I know there are aftermarket gear sets, but I'm realistically only going to keep this car for another 1-2 years so it's probably not worth the investment. Any other options to consider?

Some possibly useful info:
- 2002 WRX
- 126k miles
- Clutch was replaced under Subaru recall at ~40k
- Cobb Stage 2 for the last 90k miles or so

Thanks. Tomorrow I'm going to get it towed to my house. Any input or advice is greatly appreciated.

- Matt

 

Call up paul at fw motorsports...got 2009 wrx gears in a case built before I got there...got there at 10am or so and left about 3pm same day driving home with new gears/synchros everything + clutch/flywheel for under 4k

I've had my car towed from san leandro to fw which is up in roseville for about $2-250

 

i just finished a sti swap on my 03 and have the 5 speed out, it has 64k miles, lmk if you're interested

 

I think Gagan (Joltdudeuc) has an 02 WRX tranny for sale, may be an RS one tho. I'm not entirely sure

 

Its a wrx one $500.

 

^Lazy

here is a link

https://www.i-club.com/forums/norcal...20-ecu-244943/

 

There is probably no need to pull the transmission at home or at a shop. You said its on the side of the road in Oakland? well The locals might just do it for you for free.

 

I have a good, working transmission. Will be out of the car next week!

 

If you aren't keeping the car then don't go 6spd and don't build the trans to be any better or stronger.

Cheapest way is buy one used and put it in.

A shop will charge you many hundreds, probably close to $1000 in labor for a trans swap. But Call around to get an idea. It's easily a 6hr job with a lift and trans jack.

 

Thanks for all the fast replies. resty_kun and joltdudeuc, you've got PMs.

I agree that putting in a used transmission is the way to go. Other than a transmission jack I have all the tools to get it done at home, but it's a big pain and I might just cough up the money to have a shop do the swap. The clutch has ~80k on it so I might as well replace it at the same time.

Step one is going to be getting the car towed back to my house, then step two is finding a used transmission and thanks to you guys I already have two leads.

- Matt

 

On Friday I called AAA to tow the WRX to my house, and of course once they were there I was able to get it into 1st gear and limp home under it's own power. This was a bit annoying since I tried for 15 mins the night before to get it moving, but at least it's in the garage now.

This weekend I'm going to drain the transmission to check the fluid for metal chunks, and then I'll drop the trans.

Is there any chance I've simply had my clutch or throwout bearing fail? Could that cause the symptoms I've described? It's probably wishful thinking, but replacing the clutch would be a lot cheaper than replacing the transmission. Either way I'm going to purchase an Exedy OEM replacement clutch so I have it ready for the install.

- Matt