Share your transmission fail. What killed your transmission? What killed your clutch?
Thread Starter
Da Brit.
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From another thread it was determined that due to the split case design, the 5mt is subject to flexion under load. The health of the 5mt is dependent upon driving style but also a max of around 300whp. I'd like for all people who have had transmission failures, broken gears, busted synchros, slipping clutches to share a few things about the 5mt and the 6mt. This will help determine the fail point, and what specifically caused the failure to the transmission in various conditions.
Thanks for reading.
1. Your symptom. Example: synchro grind entering 4th gear.
2. Your setup. Example: Which transmission, clutch, flywheel, gear set. Example: rps clutch, act lightened flywheel, 5mt with ra gears.
3. How much whp and wtq you had at time of failure. Example: 340/365 on ethanol.
4. How many miles were on the transmission when the failure occurred. Example: 100k on transmission, 30k on clutch, 30k on flywheel.
5. Other details, example: clutch slipped under wot @ 125000 miles on clutch, and 160000 miles on case.
Copy and paste this then fill it in...
1.symptom.
2. Setup.
3. Power.
4. Mileage.
5. Details.
Thanks for reading.
1. Your symptom. Example: synchro grind entering 4th gear.
2. Your setup. Example: Which transmission, clutch, flywheel, gear set. Example: rps clutch, act lightened flywheel, 5mt with ra gears.
3. How much whp and wtq you had at time of failure. Example: 340/365 on ethanol.
4. How many miles were on the transmission when the failure occurred. Example: 100k on transmission, 30k on clutch, 30k on flywheel.
5. Other details, example: clutch slipped under wot @ 125000 miles on clutch, and 160000 miles on case.
Copy and paste this then fill it in...
1.symptom.
2. Setup.
3. Power.
4. Mileage.
5. Details.
Last edited by johndabrit; Aug 6, 2010 at 09:31 AM.
Thread Starter
Da Brit.
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I'll start
1.symptom.
I ripped all the teeth off first gear.
2. Setup.
2002 5mt, exedy oem replacement clutch, gruppe-s lightened flywheel. Stock gears.
3. Power.
300whp/300wtq on 91@19psi.
4. Mileage.
203,000 miles on transmission. 25k on clutch, bearings,flywheel.
5. Details.
Was normally taking off after a red light. 1st gear broke and rev tacked pretty high. It surprised me because I was only going 20 mph and only at 1/4 throttle if that. The gears lasted over 200k miles with an aggressive driving style most of the time. I love my subaru. I hate paying to fix my Subaru.
1.symptom.
I ripped all the teeth off first gear.
2. Setup.
2002 5mt, exedy oem replacement clutch, gruppe-s lightened flywheel. Stock gears.
3. Power.
300whp/300wtq on 91@19psi.
4. Mileage.
203,000 miles on transmission. 25k on clutch, bearings,flywheel.
5. Details.
Was normally taking off after a red light. 1st gear broke and rev tacked pretty high. It surprised me because I was only going 20 mph and only at 1/4 throttle if that. The gears lasted over 200k miles with an aggressive driving style most of the time. I love my subaru. I hate paying to fix my Subaru.
Last edited by johndabrit; Aug 6, 2010 at 06:38 AM.
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Yup...,that's the story i hear the most: "I was just pulling away from a stop sign and, BAM!!..my car stopped."
In my opinion, it has to do with the material used AND how hard the transmission is pushed.
Engineers use various" safety" factors when designing a product; if max anticipated load is X, then they design it to withstand 3X. Obviously, the higher the safety factor, the higher the cost.
I've seen a pretty trick one off dog box go many drag racing miles without failure.
But it cost over $10k.
Another factor is crappy lubricants like scotty's cocktail.
Call redline oil....they'll tell you NOT to use LW shockproof in a subaru transmission; the suspended solids clog up the splash lubricator for the main shaft.
In my opinion, it has to do with the material used AND how hard the transmission is pushed.
Engineers use various" safety" factors when designing a product; if max anticipated load is X, then they design it to withstand 3X. Obviously, the higher the safety factor, the higher the cost.
I've seen a pretty trick one off dog box go many drag racing miles without failure.
But it cost over $10k.
Another factor is crappy lubricants like scotty's cocktail.
Call redline oil....they'll tell you NOT to use LW shockproof in a subaru transmission; the suspended solids clog up the splash lubricator for the main shaft.
Thread Starter
Da Brit.
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Yeah I'm not a fan of the cocktail or any band aid quick fix. I'm surprised nobody is sharing their 5mt failure story. I KNow of a ton of failures personally. Well, I'm closer and closer to my repair. Medical bills be damned.
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Da Brit.
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1. 1st gear grinds sometimes due to (IMO) first gear syncro going bad.
2. Stock flywheel and clutch, RA geared 5spd
3. ~225WHP ~230TQ
4. around 20k on the tranny before I got it, about 30k now.
5. when I got the tansmission I was told a syncro was most likely chipped. Begining to be obvious.
2. Stock flywheel and clutch, RA geared 5spd
3. ~225WHP ~230TQ
4. around 20k on the tranny before I got it, about 30k now.
5. when I got the tansmission I was told a syncro was most likely chipped. Begining to be obvious.
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Nothing, 360whp on my old trany for over 3 years and no problem, now it's in lanzors car
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Car Info: 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Sport Wagon
02 WRX Wagon
250whp 260wtq on stock 5 speed (infamous glass tranny) with Exedy stock replacement clutch (Original clutch replaced at 95k)
Vehicle mileage: 129,900
Purchased mileage: 74,000
Been tuned at that level for a few years. ~60k of that was my "spirited" shifting. I just did the first drivetrain fluid change a few months ago SINCE PURCHASING THE CAR! with Subaru Extra S up front and mix of Motul and Extra S in the rear diff (yes I know that was retarded to wait 50k to do a trans fluid change, but ya....I have no excuse lol). I take the car to/past 6k 1st to 3rd about 4 times a day and launch at about 3700 to 4200 maybe 3 times a week. Not worried about someone finding this out. I would straight up tell someone that I drove it like I stole it, if I was going to sell it...to which I have no plans to do.
Would I endorse this type of behavior as a good idea? Absolutely not. I keep about 5 grand extra in the bank because I am expecting it to fail and planning on doing a 6spd swap soon for more track oriented gearing. Surprised it lasted this long actually. Unicorn 5 speed maybe? I know of so many that have blown on even stock power (driver may have been a factor in those cases though).
(For those of you on safety patrol, none of that craziness was done on residential or even business district streets. Track, auto-x, Expressways, highways and freeways only. Nobody was put in any more danger than doing the same thing at the track as pedestrians are scarce on freeways and onramps tend to be fairly enclosed. Absolutely no street racing was involved.) My grandma is more dangerous doing 25...
250whp 260wtq on stock 5 speed (infamous glass tranny) with Exedy stock replacement clutch (Original clutch replaced at 95k)
Vehicle mileage: 129,900
Purchased mileage: 74,000
Been tuned at that level for a few years. ~60k of that was my "spirited" shifting. I just did the first drivetrain fluid change a few months ago SINCE PURCHASING THE CAR! with Subaru Extra S up front and mix of Motul and Extra S in the rear diff (yes I know that was retarded to wait 50k to do a trans fluid change, but ya....I have no excuse lol). I take the car to/past 6k 1st to 3rd about 4 times a day and launch at about 3700 to 4200 maybe 3 times a week. Not worried about someone finding this out. I would straight up tell someone that I drove it like I stole it, if I was going to sell it...to which I have no plans to do.
Would I endorse this type of behavior as a good idea? Absolutely not. I keep about 5 grand extra in the bank because I am expecting it to fail and planning on doing a 6spd swap soon for more track oriented gearing. Surprised it lasted this long actually. Unicorn 5 speed maybe? I know of so many that have blown on even stock power (driver may have been a factor in those cases though).
(For those of you on safety patrol, none of that craziness was done on residential or even business district streets. Track, auto-x, Expressways, highways and freeways only. Nobody was put in any more danger than doing the same thing at the track as pedestrians are scarce on freeways and onramps tend to be fairly enclosed. Absolutely no street racing was involved.) My grandma is more dangerous doing 25...
Thread Starter
Da Brit.
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So good to hear yours held on over 300hp. Eventually I'll get an ap and get a corn map for track days etc.. Id leave it on the corn if I had a station closer to home or even on the way to/from work.
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i will reserve this spot for me for later but basically, i blame my wife's learning how to drive a MT on my clutch failure. and now... i am getting a bit of 4th gear grinding, i blame that on track days and drag strips, entirely my fault
...but it still sucks
...but it still sucks
Differentials
I've got a very mild tune (220 whp, stock turbo w/ STI intercooler) and my 5MT is going fine at 96k on the factory cluch; however, I have blown THREE differentials, the rear one twice (20k and 40k) and just recently the center one. You have to open up the transmission to work on the center, and the mechanic said it was in fine shape, probably 40k left on the clutch, but the differential was toast. As I don't do donuts, I'm going to guess that my 02 WRX came with a bad read diff from the factory, and uneven loading due to friction has slowly taken out other parts of the driveline.
Reverse grinds on engagement, but that's a factory feature, it did that from 7 miles on the odometer.
Reverse grinds on engagement, but that's a factory feature, it did that from 7 miles on the odometer.
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