Can't get 2nd gear sometimes on Impreza WRX

[jamesred]

Newby here (1st post). I am also a relative newby owner of Impreza Turbo (since June this year) and am hoping someone can shed some light on a problem I am getting from time to time with gears - or more precisely 2nd gear (am hoping there is a simple and cheap answers, but have my concerns).

The car is a 2004 Impreza Turbo WRX (2 litre turbo) with the Subaru Prodrive Performance Pack fitted (i.e. extra 40hp from engine remap and different exhaust). Sadly car is now past its 3 year warranty period.

The car drives well most of the time - however, every now and then, I am unable to put the car into 2nd gear. The 1st time it happened, I took off from the lights in 1st gear, took the car up to about 5500 rpm and then tried to pop it into 2nd gear - however, it wouldn't go in at all (and yes, I had depressed the clutch pedal fully before trying). I pulled over and then drove off again in 1st, but again couldn't find 2nd, even at low revs. I had to go 1st to 3rd to get home. The problem however went away the next day magically, having just been selecting gears with the engine off and then starting up and driving away in 2nd (I am not sure if that had anything to do with it suddenly working again, but that is what I had been doing).

This problem only seems to happen every now and then. Sometimes 2nd gear works fine, but I can feel when selecting it that the movement of the gear lever in the gate does not go as far back as normal and occassionally the gear pops out of 2nd.

So in summary, sometimes I can't get 2nd at all, sometimes I get 2nd briefly and then gear pops out, sometimes I get 2nd working fine, but gear stick feels as if it has not been pushed properly into 2nd ..... and most of the time 2nd works fine!

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks
James

[_Al_]

Loose linkage? Pop the cover off and take a look. Failing that climb under and see what you can see.

[stevieb]

sounds like your syncro is on the way out or you are trying to change gear to quickly and the sncro cant keep up

I had this a few times when trying to do a quicker gear change and the sncro was not able to spin up quick enough.

[jamesred]

Thanks for both of your advice / thoughts....

Having never worked on a car before, I would not know where to start with when look at the linkage....

I mentioned my problem to the local Subaru Main dealer and they suggested that it was going to take them a lot of time (and therefore money for me) to look into this and establish the problem... not very helpful.

I am going to try and find a specialist who may be able to be more helpful. If anyone knows any good specialists in the South / South East please do let me know.

Cheers
James

[stevieb]

There are quite a few specialists in the south east. One that i can recomend is Greenwood Racing.

www.greenwoodracing.co.uk


Steve

[jamesred]

Thanks very much - I will give them a try.

[ScoobieWRX]

James,

Here's a quick and easy temp fix that will last long enough.

Purchase 4 quarts or Redline Heavy Shockproof oil. Empty the gearbox oil (very easy to do) via the gearbox sump plug on the very underneath of the gearbox, having properly warmed up the engine first.

Refill the gearbox with said new oil via the gearbox dipstick tube in the engine bay underneath the intercooler. Run the car gently and with respect for a week or so till the prob starts to go away. Straight away you will notice a difference to the gearchange though, and after a week or two the gearbox should feel very good and cure some if not all of the Synchromesh issues you have (i agree with StevieB it is the Synchro).

I have had a very similar prob with my 2002 WRX gearbox plus crunching in 4th/5th gears. This oil did the job and my gearbox is a 100% better than it was. It's a cheap fix and will keep you going till you can buy a rebuilt or used (breakers yard c.£500) gearbox.

Whoever opens up and looks in your gearbox will charge an arm and a leg just to do that and tell you what's wrong with it, and then you'll have to sell a heart and kidneys to do a proper rebuild on your gearbox, plus the car will be off the road for a good while. Just don't take it to the stealership when the time comes, stick with a specialist, there are a few good ones about.

Edited by ScoobieWRX on Tuesday 16th October 16:05

[Holst]

I have a similar problem on my car (honda)

The 5th gear syncro is damaged and to get 5th I have to double declutch or I get a clunking noise. I have managed to drive my car like this for ages, and as im being genle on the box it should last allot longer.

So if you get this problem again try and double declutch (clutch in, gear to neutral, clutch out and back in, select gear)
If the syncro is the problem then you should be able to get it into gear this way.

[GravelBen]

Holst said:

So if you get this problem again try and double declutch (clutch in, gear to neutral, clutch out and back in, select gear)
If the syncro is the problem then you should be able to get it into gear this way.

Used to have to do this to get 2nd on cold mornings in my old Subie Leone. Got better once the car warmed up though.