a few months ago i got back from the beach and was driving my car when i shifted into 4th and heard that awful grinding sound, yes i put it all the way in 4th it happens when i am shifting into 4th, any suggestions?

 

Is it under warranty? When they replaced my first gear synchros for grinding at a dead stop, they also replaced the fourth gear synchro. Something about updated parts...

 

Your synchro's are going. This means now that your gears are not engaging smoothly and soon you're going to be wearing down/busting teeth on the them.

I had this happen 3 times with my 02 and it was all covered under warranty. The problem was always with 3rd to 4th. They replaced the 3rd and 4th gear pack.

 

who did that warranty work for you? (what dealer)
What year is your car and how many miles did you have on it?

my 03 wagon does the same thing (grind at dead stop) and would LOVE to get that problem resolved.

thanks!
- Luc

 

Another suggestion, and this is not a cure-all solution, but many people find that you can eliminate the grinding with a better tranny oil. I have also heard that full synthetic oils can make the problem worse so be careful. I recently had Silkolene put in my car during it's 30K service and it has made a positive difference. I used to have trouble on occassion shifting into first gear from a stop, and also the 3-4 shift, but not anymore.

 

ORRRR see your dealer first, so they cant blame your fluids for ruining you tranny..

1st stop - try dealer, if they wont do it, THEN try resolving it on ur own

 

^ Definitely, if the car is still under warranty take it to the dealer first, let them replace parts, tranny fluid, etc. BUT if the car isn't under warranty, I would try the tranny fluid first before a huge repair bill.

My car never had enough of a "grinding" problem to really concern me, but when I had the 30K service done I thought a better quality tranny oil would help, and it does. But it's not a cure-all fix, if you have broken parts in your tranny, well, better fluid ain't gonna help.

 

So err.. if you take it back to the dealer and they say "Your care does not have the stock exhaust!" and may not pay for the repairs.. what do you do?

Their excuse being, "Oh, but we don`t know what the car has been used for!"

 

Well 'hopefully' a dealership won't void a warranty repair because of an exhaust, but that is always dependent on the dealership you go to. And for example, if you have a blown strut, then having an aftermarket exhaust is very unlikely to have caused that problem. So, unless you take your car to a dealership that is a performance oriented place (like Subaru of Dallas here in TX), I would just return your car to stock before taking it in. Better safe than sorry.

 

thanks for all the suggestions and advice, im taking my car into subaru sometime this week, but no my car is not under warranty, how much do you think it would cost to replace the gear synchros?

 

I had this problem in my 2000 RS. The dealership in Idaho was reluctant to work on it, but after enough complaining, they rebuilt the whole tranny. I don't know if this is what will be needed in your case, but the dealership billed the aftermarket warranty company about $2,300.