Hi everyone ,

I was driving home from work and heard a metallic grinding noise and thought it was the brakes binding so slowed down as I was nearly home but suddenly something locked up and it felt like I had hit a brick wall , I tried to move car forwards and backwards using the gears and nothing the car felt as if something had jammed, I rang a mate who towed me home , the car didn't want to move at first then something went and it towed the 400 yards home ok , we took the tow gear off and I started the car and tried it again and the car went forwards and backwards ok with no noises at all and rolled freely,I have looked under the car and cannot see anything externally wrong , I am now worried that if I drive it again that it will lock up at speed which won't be pleasant , the car is a 1998 uk Subaru impreza turbo , has anyone experienced this or can help me through this problem

Paul

 

Hmm doesn't sound particularly good, might e worth getting your car towed to a specialist, If its anything to do the the gearbox or diff you don't want to cause more damage

 

This can be the pad material on the rear brake shoes coming away. It then gets wedged causing a violent stop! It can be freed by rolling in the opposite direction to follow by probably getting wedged again. It might also be caused by the shoe failing to release correctly. Worth having a look in the rear brake drums before condemning the gearbox.

 

hi yes i do agree this is most prob cause i had same problem on a peugeot 406,the handbrake shoes inside the rear brake had disbonded andslid under the opposide shoe,hope this helps

 

ah, forget that scoobs have a secondry brake type! that very well could be the case then!

 

Check your simple things like your brakes! Etc before gearbox and diff
Don't know if this will help I had a similar thing with a pulsar!
Ripped it apart and it was the half shaft that snapped!

 

same thing happend to me in the transit pickup. stopped dead and wouldnt move worth a look before anything else.

 

Thanks for the help guys I will check the rear brakes tomorrow weather permitting, fingers crossed it is the brakes as don't fancy the cost of another gearbox ect ect

 

air con pump seizing up?

 

Well my back brakes are all stripped off and the handbrake shoes are worn but still in one piece and very rusty , new discs,shoes and pads ordered , so I don't think sudden lock up was caused by the shoes splitting and jamming , front brakes are fine , air con pump ok ,

If it was a gearbox problem would the car suddenly lock up and come to an abrupt halt ( tyres screeched ) after tugging it with another car something gave way and it rolled freely , surely if the gearbox had gone it wouldn't drive again , mine did forwards and backwards only went up to second gear though as didn't want to cause more damage , there was no grinding noise at all , still worries me driving it until I can find the cause , any help appreciated , I am a competent home mechanic but never worked on a scooby before so I haven't come across this problem before

 

Have you checked the prop shaft ? The only time i heard of something similr was on a car that picked up some rope that en round itself around the prop. Check the UJ's are good .

 

Prop seems fine but I have noticed that I need a new front inner cv boot as its in two pieces , have also noticed that the driveshafts are only held on by a pin ( gearbox end ) is there meant to be a little play in this area ?

 

the force of the full strut/hub assembly should keep the driveshaft in place. only time ive seen them pop is if bottom ball joint totally fails and comes out of the hub.

you checked the brakes? bad grinding noise could be metal to metal on pads/discs and possibly a disc fracture locked up a wheel?? start with simplest stuff first.