Hello, I have a 1995 impreza! Over the past few weeks I have noticed that when I'm trying to pull away by releasing the clutch the car shudders a lot.

Also sometimes, if she has been standing for a few days, when you jump in her it wont go into any gears. You have to pump the clutch pedal for ages and then it will go into gear.

Well this week I drove her to work and she was fine, jumped in her to come home, she went into gear to pull away but when I went to put it into second, it wouldn't go, the gearbox just made a horrible griding noise. She would go into anything but 1st.

I had to pull over pump the pedal for age and with a lot of screaming and shouting it went into gear and I got home. I have driven her since and she seems ok, but I am really nervous driving it.

Since I bought her the clutch pedal has never come up all the way, it comes up about half and then springs up the rest when you take your foot off, somethimes I even pull it up with my foot to its correct level.

I'm going to look into changing the fluid first but was just wondering what people thought my problem was!

Thanks Claire

 

sounds like it needs a clutch claire, it isnt cheap if it is im afraid

 

Try and get it sorted before the gearbox gives in.I know this by experience the clutch was on the way out but I could not afford to get it fixed at the time the clutch gave up and the damage lead straight to the gearbox then I had to find the price to get both repaired.

 

Make sure the clutch slave cylinder (bolted to the gearbox) isn't leaking fuild under the rubber dust cover.
Sounds like clutch though, if so the flyweel will need replacing too as they warp which causes the juddering. Sometimes the flywheel can be skimmed but it's piece of Ming just replacing it tbh.

 

Will be watching this thread with interest - the clutch on my MY00 has just started to give me similar problems. It's very stubborn when cold, selecting first is difficult, I have to make sure the clutch pedal is all the way to the floor in order for it to slide into gear smoothly. This week I've had to pull the clutch pedal up to its normal rest position twice with my foot.

About a week ago I put the car into reverse, and as I found the biting point there was a distinct metallic thud, and ever since then the biting point has dropped to about half an inch from the floor. The bite is also much smaller, and there is no leeway for the pedal position; if it isn't exactly in the bite, it either crunches (pedal too high) or revs (pedal too low). Before the thud, it was perfectly normal, and the bite was much bigger; +/- 1cm in either direction.

Car is going into Slowboy on November 15th, will know more about it after that date.

 

This is my opinion as I had all the above problems with my car at the start of the year. The shuddering is your warped flywheel and the the grinding I would check both your clutch master cylinder and slave and have the sysytem bled by someone who knows how.
If the car is due a new clutch , get the flywheel skimmed If good and new pilot bearing .This will solve the shuddering

The symtoms you describe about pumping the clutch is either a incorrectly bled hydrualic sysytem or master or slave problem

 

I've recently had my clutch completely replaced as i had the non-returning pedal thing.

The spigot bearing will almost certainly need replacing, and on mine, quite unusually, the return fork had to be replaced as its bearing was worn and contributing to the juddering. I put in another Exedy anti-judder racing clutch, replaced the master and slave cylinders and lastly a new return spring.

The result is a better clutch and gear change than i can ever remember, but at a price. I reckon i spent about £1,600 and that was with mate's rates for the labour. But a clutch on a Scoob is not a difficult job, it's just a case of how far you're prepared to go with replacing the various components.

Oh and always use Subaru parts, except like me if you're going to use Exedy for the clutch itself. Pattern parts are simply inferior.

 

Mad money , I did it myself cost less than half that with the help of a few mates

 

In either case, ouch. I'm hoping against hope that it's not too serious - my 'box still changes seamlessly, as long as you are practically trying to push the clutch pedal through the floor. Of course, that isn't practical and does result in an aching foot.

PS apologies to OP for sabotaging the thread somewhat.

 

True, it was too much. Part of the problem was identifying the fault. That took the best part of a week, it would have been quicker and cheaper to have replaced the whole lot from scratch, but of course that's easy in hindsight. But even so, the parts themselves cost what you're saying you spent, so either you didn't replace everything with brand new genuine, or you only replaced the clutch itself?

 

I'll tell you excatly what I did.I live in Ireland so price are in euros

1.Gearbox out..... Time zero cost
2.Clutch and flywheel removed.... time zero cost
3.Skimmed the genuine flywheel too have a smooth surface for the new clutch €30
4.New spigot bearing pressed into the flywheel €10 from a dealer
5.New Exedy Pink Box 230mm Clutch Kit including NTK(same as genuine afaik) thrust bearing €450

6. All refitted..... time Free
7. Bought a Genuine Subaru rebuilt kit for the clutch master from a dealer €80
8. My slave cylinder was ok but a rebuilt kit I think was around €50

All genuine parts bout from Carrol and Roche Subaru, Dublin
Flywheel skimmed in Murfit Clutchs, Dublin
Clutch bought from Ali Burrows Motorsport Northern Ireland

Total €570 or roughly £457 sterling

Gear change was transformed due to the new non weeping master cylinder and no judder due to skimming the flywheel although I've been told it can come back depending on the age and condition of the flywheel, and no corners cut as you suggested

 

I'm not saying you cut corners

But i bought a lot more parts for my job, new master and slave, not just rebuild kits. And a return fork, that alone was £120. So the parts came to just under £750. So not quite "mad money" as you suggested, but still a bill that could have been less if we'd just bought everything and fitted it at the outset.

 

Wow - that fills me with confidence for next week... times like this I wish I intimately knew my way around the internals of a car.

 

Well ok you did suggest I only changed the clutch. And non genuine parts

What was wrong with the fork was it bent?could have been bought 2nd hand

I see now you labour bill was quite high, still though £1600 is crazy money to shell out imho

Anyway whats done is done mate

 

The return fork was worn, it pivots on a shaft and at one end the bearing was non-existent, no idea if that's common or not and fair play to the mechanic for finding it. Yes i could have bought one second hand (i think) but i've never done that, it's been maintained regardless of cost. There was only one in the UK so i was lucky to get it.

Ace you'll probably have a straightforward clutch replacement, most cars only require that. I was just determined to get rid of any trace of judder and it resulted in a complete replacement of the entire assembly from the pedal back. You almost certainly won't need that.

 

My gosh this has got a bit heated on here.

Well tonight she wouldnt go into gear again, but some how my boss did something and she went into second and he took her for a spin and she drove perfect! no shutters, no cruching nothing. So something is stopping the clutch realising but when it does, shes fine!

 

Have you Bled the clutch system or changed the fluid?
So you're boss got it in did he?

 

No shutters


Is it a Swiss chalet?

 

That's expensive over there!

 

That was including the fuel I used driving from Dublin to the North and back to collect it

 

Well, the car is in, and first impressions from Neil @ Slowboy seem to be that it could possibly be the pressure plate that needs looking at, although he will find out for sure today.

Hopefully it's nothing drastic - the gear changes are smooth, the 'box is fine, as long as the the clutch pedal is firmly planted on the floor. The pedal has now worn a hole through the carpet after a few weeks of having to push it down so hard, which obviously isn't right.

 

The answer was a missing bolt in the pedal assembly, apparently, which allowed the clutch pedal to travel all the way to the floor. Will be picking it up tomorrow, so will soon find out if the problem has been resolved.

 

So the peddle wasnt even attached to the servo

Thats a good one , obviously had been worked on before and someone forgot to put the split pin in.............

 

I presume it was at some point, it was fine up until a few weeks ago. It was when depressing the clutch pedal that there was a clunk, and then suddenly the biting point was half an inch off the floor.

In any case it should be ok but I'll find out when I collect it tomorrow.

 

I'm back, I bleed the clutch and up till tonight it has been great! But guess what? It wouldn't go into gear again outside work!

Car off = goes into gear
Car running = no gears!

Only got into 2nd, had to stop 500 times on way home but about 2 miles to home I tried changing gear and it was fine! Like a dream!

Talk about annoying, in an ideal world I would change the clutch, slave and master cylinder but I can't afford that!

Where can I start???

 

Grinding noise could be worn down clutch linings
Judder probably flywheel warped
Trouble with getting in gear worn thrust bearing
Hope this helps ....