99 2.5 Subaru needs tranny work.Any good mechs in the house

RocketJok · Post by **RocketJok** » Thu May 31, 2007 12:51 pm

Transmission is leaking at the rear flange which connects to the back housing. I took it to a Subaru dealer in rockville and was told the pinnion shaft seals and the O-ring for the valve body are worn. The price they quoted was outragous. I am still courious how they know excatly what is wrong when they didn't even drop the transmission. Can anyone recommend a "local" tranny shop that knows Subarus and does quality work. Or a local mechanic that works in his garage. Any help would be greatly appricated.

zaxrex · Post by **zaxrex** » Thu May 31, 2007 1:42 pm

Seperating the rear housing from the main housing is pretty easy, anybody can do that. But if there is a problem with thesurfaces that is not letting the seal do its job, then you get into machining & such. Any mechanic could do the job, but it would be better if they had the Subaru specific tools for removing and installing the new seals, just less chance of mucking something up. Most shopw would probably replace the whole thing and offset the cost with the core refund.

Is there damage to the trans housing (curb, rock, debris being run over), or is the seal just not holding the liquid?

Even though this is for an '02 Impreza, the steps will be pretty much identical;

I have heard of people backing the housing off a little, then getting RTV gasket goo all around the seal in there and bolting it back up to fix leaks.

Did the dealer show the brakedown of the parts & labor? If the total was around $1500, they woold probably replace with a remanned trans instead of fixing the problem and re-installing it.

On a side note, a co-worker has a 99 Outback auto and has had trouble with it not going into drive even though te selector lever is in position. Takes sometimes up to 40 sec before the car starts mooving. Anything like that happen to you?

RocketJok · Post by **RocketJok** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:07 pm

Thanks for the answer Zaxrax.
This engine is in a 99 outback wagon and the guy at the dealership showed me a breakdown schematic of the Tranny. This "pinion shaft seal" and "valve body o-ring" are all internal to the tranny. The transmission would have to be dropped from the car and the rear housing removed to access these parts. There is no damage to the external housing. The dealer wants 2200.00 to fix these parts. 1800 in labor and 400 in parts.
I tried to scan the schematic and place it in this text but it would not work. I could email it or fax a copy to you so you could have a better idea what I am talking about.[/img]

Post by **Sabre** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:42 pm

Sounds like it isn't something we could easily help with

AndrewTech Automotive up in Gaithersburg specializes in Subaru tranny work, I would give them a call.
http://www.andrewtechautomotive.com/

zaxrex · Post by **zaxrex** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:44 pm

Yeah, this site doesn't host pictures for you, sy you will have to link it to somewhere like imageshack or snapfish or something.

You can e-mail it to <me>@yahoo.com, but I have only ever delt with the manual trannies, so I don't know how much help I would be.

Mr Kleen · Post by **Mr Kleen** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:51 pm

for $2200 I would buy a new transmission and install it myself.

sirwilliam · Post by **sirwilliam** » Thu May 31, 2007 2:58 pm

RocketJok wrote: I tried to scan the schematic and place it in this text but it would not work. I could email it or fax a copy to you so you could have a better idea what I am talking about.[/img]

Try scanning it into a PDF. Not sure if the free image posting websites will do a .pdf file. If not, you can use the Acrobat "selection" tool. Highlight all and copy and paste to another format to post.

There is also photobucket.com

Sabre wrote:Sounds like it isn't something we could easily help with

AndrewTech Automotive up in Gaithersburg specializes in Subaru tranny work, I would give them a call.
http://www.andrewtechautomotive.com/

^^+1...that is where I take my car if I can't fix it myself.

Mr Kleen wrote:for $2200 I would buy a new transmission and install it myself.

No joke.

RocketJok · Post by **RocketJok** » Thu May 31, 2007 9:37 pm

You guys have been a great help. I am stuck in an "insurance sprial" and need to get my tranny fixed. I thought about doing it myself but my time is really tight. I travel way to much to teach myself how to rebuild a Subaru transmission. I have dropped a few in my life time, but now it is not possible. I am really glad I found this forum. I will check in again and maybe meet up with you guys at a meet. I plan on calling the guy in Gaithersburg. He has got to be better than the dealer that I have been dealing with. Thanks again. I will let you all know how it works out. When I go should I use any of you guys as reference? Who know, maybe you'll get a bird dog fee.....

Mr Kleen · Post by **Mr Kleen** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 7:58 am

i've heard a lot of good things about AndrewTech Automotive. so many in fact that they have a waiting list.

call right away if you need the work done soon.

Post by **Sabre** » Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:26 am

RocketJok wrote:You guys have been a great help. I am stuck in an "insurance sprial" and need to get my tranny fixed. I thought about doing it myself but my time is really tight. I travel way to much to teach myself how to rebuild a Subaru transmission. I have dropped a few in my life time, but now it is not possible. I am really glad I found this forum. I will check in again and maybe meet up with you guys at a meet. I plan on calling the guy in Gaithersburg. He has got to be better than the dealer that I have been dealing with. Thanks again. I will let you all know how it works out. When I go should I use any of you guys as reference? Who know, maybe you'll get a bird dog fee.....

Andrew and the folks definitely know us

They come out to a meet every so often. I doubt you'll get a discount (some of our official sponsors DO give discounts) but it's always nice to let them know we're sending business their way. Glad we could help and good luck!