Subaru Outback Manual Transmission issues?

[subiesailor]

Originally Posted by dakboy

Do enough people have enough miles on their 2010+ Outbacks to know for sure what kind of life expectancy the brakes have?

Subaru didn't change a whole lot with the weight or brakes on the 2010's and even my 2001 ran 60+K on the pads which is also in line with what most people will get with the 2003-09 cars.

I'm not even going to bother looking at my pads till we hit 30K and I'm pretty sure even with the CVT that at 30K the pads will have plenty of meat left.

[Pacomutt]

Originally Posted by dakboy

Rather than just saying "LOL, you're so wrong" how about actually explaining why? Everything I have read, every person with significant experience driving sticks I've talked to, has always recommended engine braking.

You can't teach proper driving methods by writing about it here, and frankly, I'm tired of explaining to people who will always think I'm wrong anyway! Maybe someone else will take on the job.
Suffice it to say, though, I have been driving stick-shift cars since 1966, and have owned some of the hottest cars as well as some of the cars you wouldn't expect much durability out of. (read my posts on "worst cars you've owned") I have NEVER worn out a clutch! Period! I have considered them to be good for the life of the car! I have racked up millions of miles of driving, and along the way have taught many others how to properly drive stick-shift cars, and have convinced a lot of drivers to break their bad habits and drive sticks properly.

And I didn't go from being an auto mechanic to being a biz-jet pilot by being stupid!

[subiesailor]

The issue with people now days is that they get offended when told they are not doing something correctly and very - very few people actually know how to use a manual properly let alone teach others how to do it correctly.

At one time learning the proper use of a manual was a big deal and there were highly skilled people who knew how to teach people how to operate a manual not so much now days.

I thought I was hot s---t and knew how to drive a manual till I spent a summer working in the back country driving a live stock truck which never left the dirt roads and wasn't licensed etc. It took me 3 weeks and having a crusty old cowboy riding shot gun slapping me up side the head to re learn what I thought I knew about manual transmissions. Plus with that old rig the only way to control your speed was with the gear box so you screw up with that and your ramping off the dirt banks trying to slow the **** thing down till you can find a gear that will help bring it back under control. Packing a spare pair of shorts was an every day thing for me that summer. Surprised I lived through it. But one thing is for sure using a manual and knowning how to use it are two very different things. LOL

Given I teach adults for a living no doubt no amount of writing could train someone or retrain someone how to use a MT correctly. But a crusty old cowboy slapping you up side the head when you F- up will speed up the process for sure.

[Pacomutt]

Originally Posted by subiesailor

The issue with people now days is that they get offended when told they are not doing something correctly and very - very few people actually know how to use a manual properly let alone teach others how to do it correctly.

At one time learning the proper use of a manual was a big deal and there were highly skilled people who knew how to teach people how to operate a manual not so much now days.

I thought I was hot s---t and knew how to drive a manual till I spent a summer working in the back country driving a live stock truck which never left the dirt roads and wasn't licensed etc. It took me 3 weeks and having a crusty old cowboy riding shot gun slapping me up side the head to re learn what I thought I knew about manual transmissions. Plus with that old rig the only way to control your speed was with the gear box so you screw up with that and your ramping off the dirt banks trying to slow the **** thing down till you can find a gear that will help bring it back under control. Packing a spare pair of shorts was an every day thing for me that summer. Surprised I lived through it. But one thing is for sure using a manual and knowning how to use it are two very different things. LOL

Given I teach adults for a living no doubt no amount of writing could train someone or retrain someone how to use a MT correctly. But a crusty old cowboy slapping you up side the head when you F- up will speed up the process for sure.

Amen, bro!
I carpooled once with a girl that had a 911. She thought she really knew how to drive it, too. It would have made you cry to ride with her!
One afternoon, I wasn't feeling well, probably something I had eaten for lunch- and I knew I would get car-sick if I had to endure her driving. Rather than risk vomit inside her car, she let me drive the 911 home, and I remember her stunned look as if it must be a different car! How can it be so smooth, she kept asking! "I can't even tell when you upshift or downshift, I can only hear it", she said.
Even though it was back in the "women's lib" days, she didn't have a man's ego, and asked me to teach her to drive the car she had had for years!

[subiesailor]

My old HS girlfriend still drives a MT even now she just posted that her honda has 230,000 miles on it ha ha. She learned how to drive MT in my 505 TD 5spd. It had large bore 4cylinder tractor engine in it made learning how to drive a MT easy given even in 2nd gear the **** thing would buck and climb over a parking block from a dead stop with 5 HS kids in it. HA HA -- The newer easily high reving high powered cars actually take way more skill than the old cars given you can spin up the new cars really quick and not even realize your smoking the clutch. So from that aspect the new cars have gone a little the other way regarding MT - the more power and the more easily an engine revs the more MT skill you need to keep everything in check.

[mopartodd]

Originally Posted by Pacomutt

Shouldn't need different fluids to make the tranny perform the way it was designed. It's obviously just not designed as well as some others. Synchronizers
are little clutches that need friction to slow down or speed up gears before allowing them to engage. Just google synthetic transmission oils to find cases of super-slick synthetic oils causing abnormal wear and damage to transmissions. Honda guys especially won't use it.

The idea of switching to synthetics, at least in my case, was not to improve performance of the trans, but rather be better protected while operating within the intended design parameters. The MPG did jump up 1 MPG after switching though (rear differential too). Again it did little to change the cold performance of the tranny.

Too, alot of the cases you are talking about were people putting in the wrong spec fluid for the tranmissions they had, I've seen them.

Honda owners

[mopartodd]

Originally Posted by subiesailor

The issue with people now days is that they get offended when told they are not doing something correctly and very - very few people actually know how to use a manual properly let alone teach others how to do it correctly.

At one time learning the proper use of a manual was a big deal and there were highly skilled people who knew how to teach people how to operate a manual not so much now days.

I thought I was hot s---t and knew how to drive a manual till I spent a summer working in the back country driving a live stock truck which never left the dirt roads and wasn't licensed etc. It took me 3 weeks and having a crusty old cowboy riding shot gun slapping me up side the head to re learn what I thought I knew about manual transmissions. Plus with that old rig the only way to control your speed was with the gear box so you screw up with that and your ramping off the dirt banks trying to slow the **** thing down till you can find a gear that will help bring it back under control. Packing a spare pair of shorts was an every day thing for me that summer. Surprised I lived through it. But one thing is for sure using a manual and knowning how to use it are two very different things. LOL

Given I teach adults for a living no doubt no amount of writing could train someone or retrain someone how to use a MT correctly. But a crusty old cowboy slapping you up side the head when you F- up will speed up the process for sure.

This is priceless!!!

[Cary]

Originally Posted by mopartodd

The idea of switching to synthetics, at least in my case, was not to improve performance of the trans, but rather be better protected while operating within the intended design parameters. The MPG did jump up 1 MPG after switching though (rear differential too). Again it did little to change the cold performance of the tranny.

Too, alot of the cases you are talking about were people putting in the wrong spec fluid for the tranmissions they had, I've seen them.

Honda owners

At 10,000 miles I switched the 6mt and diff to amsoil synthetic 75w-90 (the standard service flavor, not the extreme service grade). I drove last winter with the original dino juice, and wasn't a happy camper. With the synthetic in for this winter, the cold weather shifting improved...it takes less warm-up time now for the gears to shift easily from cold start, and the warm shifting is noticeably smoother. On a cold morning, reverse goes in easily; I still need come to a full stop before engaging first when cold, and then go from first into third, bypassing second. Within a few blocks, second goes in easily.

I'll echo previous posts about down-shifting. I down-shift as low as third, but use the brakes after that. Second gear is pretty low, and first must have been geared to allow the car to idle up steep grades.

Hope this helps.

[Knopey]

The thing I miss most about not riding dirtbikes these days (proper ones, enduro/motocross racing etc) is that I don't get to madly slip a clutch to control power or shift a sequential gearbox clutchless any more.
(Sorry that's OT but I haven't posted in a few days...)

P.s. Just thought of something relevant - I wonder if the clutch life in the diesels will be worse, due to the occasional neccessity to slip it to overcome the non-existent low-end torque to get real accelleration to out of a sticky situation (e.g. intersetion). It doesn't happen often and I know it's evil, but if it's just NOT changing down to first and you HAVE to go, then you have to go. I hope they've over-engineered it...

[dieselraver]

some great feedback so far, but I promise you guys, I don't ride my clutch, I also only downshift from 4-2 if coming to a full stop, usually from 30mph in 4th to 2nd (which isnt bad at all considering the gearing on our outbacks) I have put considerable mileage on my other cars with 0 clutch issues and like I said, even if i was a horrible shifter, there is no way I could burn out a clutch in 10,000 miles unlesss you really tried.