bobn3, this might be of interest to you on your braking thing...

I've found that when changing up at about 3-5000rpm, sometimes there's a strange grating sound from the clutch etc. I thought it was me doing something wrong, or an expensive clutch job.

Turns out it's a vibrating tin plate on the mechanicals somewhere that vibrates sometimes under these conditions - nothing too much to worry about at all! My local dealer's fixing it soon.

Just thought you'd all like to know. Happy New Year btw!

Richard

 

Richard

Please can you provide more details as a lot of MY99 owners have had this type of problem and we never got to the bottom of it!

Cheers

Sunil

 

Hi Sunil,

Wondered if anyone else had had this. My local dealer (Welch's of Great Shelford, near Cambridge) spent ages looking for it, including stripping down the gearbox etc on some other guy's car. They eventually found out it is a bit of tin plate covering something on the gearbox or near. Anyway I haven't actually got it fixed yet (not back in Cambridge) but will do in the next week or two. I'll let you know exact details when it's done.

Cheers
Richard

 

Ditto for me please Richard.

I thought it was something I was doing wrong.

On my MY99 it sound like a low pitch grating or vibration just as you change up (normally when accelerating fairly hard.

Did anyone see my post that I couldn't get 1st 3rd or 5th gears the other day. Felt like the gate had "moved". It's not done it again but was a worry- SUbaru have not heard of the problem before. What is the difference between the older gearboxes/clutches and the MY99 ones?

 

Hmm. Not heard of that one before!

Will put more details when I get it sorted on Saturday.

Richard

 

My MY00 has a simliar sounding noise, no ill effects and its not always there. I'll get the dealer (Lancaster Pangbourne) to check next time I'm in and I'll mention the info posted here.

 

Righto, got this solved now!

The problem comes from the brake lines (5mm dark pipes) coming across the bulkhead, in the centre of the bulkhead at the top. At some points, these rub against the bulkhead, but without much force. Under certain conditions, this contact point resonates, causing the sound we hear. On my MY00 they had tried to fix this at the factory by wrapping the line in light blue insulation tape - however it didn't go far enough and when it dipped down next to the brake fluid top-up point, it rested against metal again. The fix? Simply bend the pipes slightly away from the bulkhead. It's never done it since.

Apparently a similar problem is cause if one of the brake pipes rests against the tin heat-shield for the brake fluid top-up pipe, so just bend it away a bit again.

Let us know how you get on!

Cheers
Richard

 

Had a simliar problem on my MY99, Osbornes is Colchester had it for 3 days. Turned out to be a duff tourque bearing(if I remeber right) in the gearbox. Took a while to find and fix and ended up with a subaru engineering getting involved.

Steve

 

Richard,
thanks for that info.

Work that Columbo himself would surely be proud of!

 

Thanks Richard,

I'll be takeing the wheels off on Saturday to check the brakes, and now I look at the brake lines pipes,

Cheers