I hope you guys can help me out, I have a 5 speed M/T 2000 Outback with 255K on it and when I put it in gear it won't move? The story started when after a short trip the car would not pull hills and when you were accelerating, the RPM's would go up but the power would not transfer to the wheels? So being the shade tree mechanic that I am I went with the most obvious "bad clutch". I had my doubts because this same issue had happened on 3 other occasions, but went away after a mile or 2 of easy driving, and bad clutches just don't fix them selves. I installed a new clutch,pressure plate and T/O bearing, and ended up with the exact same issue. Keep in mind that this entire time the "slipping" was happening there was no odor that you would get from a slipping clutch. Two things that I was able to observe.....1 if you revved the motor in 1st 2nd and 3rd, by the time you got to 3rd, the slipping stopped and something "engaged" and then you were able to drive the car, but it then became intermittent? 2 - when the slipping is occurring, the speedometer goes up even if you are completely still? I talked with my local subuguru, and he told me that in 25 years of working on Suby's he never heard of that before.
5 Speed won't move
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VSS is on the main body of the transmission. This model is predominately FWD. Getting a speed readout without moving indicates an issue with the front diff or the output from the gear train.
Fluid levels and condition?
Any noises? Hard/quick engagement when it happens, or is it a slow engagement of movement as it begins moving?
Fluid levels and condition?
Any noises? Hard/quick engagement when it happens, or is it a slow engagement of movement as it begins moving?
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18,427 Posts
Yes, something in the drive train.
There's also a viscous coupler in the differential that will lock the two drives when their speeds differ. Consequently, when one of the drives tends to turn faster, the VC engages, slowing that side down, and concurrently, causing the other side to start to turn at the same speed.
The fact that the speedometer works, and that the symptom is similar to a slipping clutch, suggests that there's a disconnect somewhere in the front or rear drives after the center differential. This would allow that "side" of the center differential to spin freely. The VC would then try to slow it down and lock the two drives, thereby moving the car through the working end, but it can only handle "so much". So like a clutch it will slip. The VC can fail totally, in which case, the car won't move. (The speedometer works because it's sensor is in the transmission, before the center differential.)
Check the half shafts (axles going from the front and rear differentials to the wheels). There's a possibility one of the CV joints is broken and so that axle is free to spin between the differential and the joint. (There was a case like this not too long ago. The rubber boot was intact, but the joint inside was broken. The input side shaft would turn but there was no rotation on the output side of the joint.) Also check that each of the axles is fully inserted and snap-locked into the differential -- there have been cases of the axle stub coming out far enough so that the splines aren't meshed with the differential side gear, but yet doesn't fall to the ground.
Okay, this is a manual transmission; it uses a center differential to connect the output of the transmission to the front pinion drive shaft and to the rear propeller drive shaft. As with any open differential, the distribution of "power" depends on the resistance of the two outputs. If one output is free to turn while the other is not, the free side will spin, while the other does nothing.
There's also a viscous coupler in the differential that will lock the two drives when their speeds differ. Consequently, when one of the drives tends to turn faster, the VC engages, slowing that side down, and concurrently, causing the other side to start to turn at the same speed.
The fact that the speedometer works, and that the symptom is similar to a slipping clutch, suggests that there's a disconnect somewhere in the front or rear drives after the center differential. This would allow that "side" of the center differential to spin freely. The VC would then try to slow it down and lock the two drives, thereby moving the car through the working end, but it can only handle "so much". So like a clutch it will slip. The VC can fail totally, in which case, the car won't move. (The speedometer works because it's sensor is in the transmission, before the center differential.)
Check the half shafts (axles going from the front and rear differentials to the wheels). There's a possibility one of the CV joints is broken and so that axle is free to spin between the differential and the joint. (There was a case like this not too long ago. The rubber boot was intact, but the joint inside was broken. The input side shaft would turn but there was no rotation on the output side of the joint.) Also check that each of the axles is fully inserted and snap-locked into the differential -- there have been cases of the axle stub coming out far enough so that the splines aren't meshed with the differential side gear, but yet doesn't fall to the ground.
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22,835 Posts
I have money on a CV joint thats been slipped. IE the CV is not actually fully connected and the axle is just spinning with no power making it to the tire. Could be more than one CV doing this.
Any idea if the CV's were replaced at some point with cheaper non OEM axles?
Any idea if the CV's were replaced at some point with cheaper non OEM axles?
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