Can I get a redo for today please?

Wildman

Over Analyzer Extraordinaire...............
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So I was suppose to be going to the VA today (Wednesday 12/02) and just as I was getting ready to head for the door and start driving to Seattle my phone rings and it's my lovely daughter. And I can tell right away that something is wrong by the way she's talking on the phone. She was headed home from college for the break until the first of the year. So I'm like WTF?? Didn't say that but was thinking it for sure. So she's like DAD my car just broke down on me... Now I'm thinking great now what? So we go thru 20 questions and I'm thinking to myself that she needs to start riding the bus. Well I don't know how she does it but the clutch has gone out in her car. Yes the Subaru that I had got her in May because the clutch had gone out in her Jeep in April. So now I'm hitting boiling point in under 2 micro seconds but do my very best not to blow my top and start yelling because it isn't going to help. So I ask Okay do you know what mile marker you are near? Also what is the closest city? So she's just north of Salem, OR. So I tell her okay I'll call you back in about 10-15 minutes. So hop on my trusty laptop and start looking for a Subaru dealer. Ok good there is one in Salem so I try to call them and get to play the let me transfer you. After about 10 minutes of being transferred and still never getting in contact with anyone I hang up. So I try calling to places that had popped up saying they only work on Subaru's and both are the wrong number.
So at this point I call her back and ask if she's called AAA yet. She had but they won't dispatch a truck to her until she has a destination. So I hang up again and get back on my trusty laptop and do a quick search of places I can get the car towed to where she can sit until I can get there to pick her up. Lucky me there is a Pilot truck stop up the road about 10 miles. So I call her back and give her the address to the Pilot at the Brooks, OR. Then I go out and hook my trailer up to my truck and get some gear loaded into the truck and get ready to head to OR. I call the VA and change the date for my appointment and then make one last check to make sure I'm ready. Walk over to my neighbors and ask if she can come over about every 4 hours and let the dogs out and to feed them. She's like YEP not a problem.

So now it is noon as I am pulling onto the freeway headed south in a round about way because there isn't any road that will take me in a direct route to where I'm going. I make great time down to OR via I-82 & SR97 until I get on I-205 and then it's stop and go traffic for the next 30-40 miles even once I'm on I-5 south bound. It finally clears up about 10 miles from my exit and I arrive around 4:40 PM. Okay not really bad travel time as I wasn't pushing it and was doing the truck speed limit since I'd forgotten my wallet at home... Yep I drove to OR and back without my license or my debit or credit card so that I could fill up if needed. Lucky for me that I try to keep my rig pretty close to full during the winter so I had just under a full tank. I knew once I got there to pick her up I could get fuel then because she had her debit card and I could transfer some funds onto it. There were some people watching me get the ramps all setup that came over to help push the car up on the trailer. Yep I have a winch sitting in my garage that I keep saying I'm gunna mount onto my trailer but as with a lot of things I just haven't gotten it done yet.

So I spent 11 hours in my truck today doing nothing but looking at road slide past me. 20 years ago I'd have laughed at someone for saying how rough driving for 11 hours is on someone. But now that I'm on the downhill side of 59 it kicks my ass. And the whole trip back was in the dark and I hate driving in the dark when I'm towing a trailer. She had a friend with her so we stopped at my house and unhooked the trailer and them drove another 45 minutes to drop the friend off and then came back home. I'm still trying to UNWIND so I'm not ready to fall asleep yet. So I figured I'd share my story. So much for my savings account that was there to purchase a snowblower & the Fox shocks for the Jeep. It'll just get pushed back a little bit.

So I need some thoughts from those of you who have driven and worked on manual transmission vehicles. She said she was just driving down the freeway when all of the sudden the car started to slow down and the RPM's were climbing higher. So the clutch just BOOM went out. My experiance with clutches were that they would start slipping and such letting you know there was a problem before giving up the ghost. So I'm stumped about this as. I'm hoping it's something EASY (no such thing) like the clutch and not a blown transmission. I'm just stumped that it gave no indication that the clutch just went out.

So that was my HUMP day. How was yours?
 
Awesome story, that’s what dads do! I have zero experience with Subaru’s, but the only clutch failure I have experienced was just that, years ago in my mustang the clutch started to slip and wasn’t grabbing nice and crisp. A new one solved the problem. Her situation definitely sounds different.
 
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When this happened to me with my clutch, it was the slave cylinder that just completely blew out and I could no longer use the clutch at all. So I would start looking there.

Sorry to hear about all this, but that’s what dads do, right? Having three kids I am sure I’ll be there myself soon enough.

I also hate driving at night in general. I avoid it if I can.
 
I used to drive nothing but manual transmission up until 10yrs. ago.
When a clutch did what you said, it was usually a linkage issue, most always a bad pressure plate or disc will take some time and start slipping before giving it up.
Just my thought. Good luck .
 
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Definitely sounds like a clutch to me based on her description. Sorry your day sucked buddy, at least she has an awesome dad to look over her.

Funny story - I was a Toyota tech in a former life, had a young gal (teenager) come in one morning with a new-ish Celica that I could smell from the service lane. The clutch was absolutely roasted, but the thing only had around 10k miles on it. She's describing how the RPMs go up but the car doesn't go any faster, and as I'm talking to her about the problem I notice that she keeps saying the words "power pedal" when she's describing the symptoms... I asked her to clarify what the "power pedal" is and she says she's talking about the pedal all the way on the left. You know, the power pedal.

At this point I'm confused, so I ask her to take me around the block in her car so she can show me what she's talking about. Turns out her understanding of the system is that when you gently press on the "power pedal" while you're driving and then take your foot off it gives the car more power and you get a little acceleration bump. In a nutshell, she was driving this car around since new constantly slipping the clutch all the time to get a little boost. Apparently no one taught her how to drive the thing & she figured it out on her own. Her parents were none too happy with the bill as a shredded clutch & blued flywheel was not covered under warranty.
 
I hear you on long drives once you age; tough on the old body! Treat yourself to a swim or soak in a hot tub if you can. Good on you for taking care of family in need.

Since this is her second blown clutch (assuming the Subaru clutch is also toast), I think you should observe how she drives to see if she's doing anything wrong like @qslim pointed out. Some folks leave their foot on the clutch even once it's fully engaged, etc.
 
I was on my way to a dance sister's wedding in an '05 Toyota Matrix. Went to downshift on a hill, and that was all she wrote. Managed to coast to the side of the road - the car only had 125K on it, but my wife and I both had difficulty with it because it had ZERO bottom end grunt and the clutch took the brunt of that. Needless to say, the entire clutch had grenaded.

Called AAA and called another dance sister who was going to the same wedding. AAA showed up quick for a change, hauled my ass to the Toyota dealer, and a car full of Belly Dancers showed up to take me to the wedding!

+2 on a driving technique evaluation. Maybe its coincidence, maybe not.
 
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Assuming it still starts and idles without difficulty, it sure sounds to me like the failure is with the clutch disk or pressure plate. I’ve had both fail catastrophically, albeit on a more powerful vehicle when I was really getting into it. I would think it less likely the failure is with the transmission. It seems likely you are into it for a clutch disc, pressure plate, throw out bearing, and maybe resurfaced flywheel and a slave cylinder if it is internal.

It has been many years since I’ve owned a Subaru. Hopefully the parts are cheaper now than they were back then. Since the Subaru is the official car of the PNW I would think you’d have a plethora of independent shops to choose from. Hope it doesn’t turn out to be too costly. It’s never good time for that but especially not around the holidays. Good luck!
 
I'm 16 years old, 2 stick cars, there all I drive, my jeep has 260,000 miles and I believe it is still on the OE clutch, the other one is a '66 VW that I have taught over 10 people to drive stick on, not to mention it sat for 10 years, both clutches show no signs of slipping, and I have done my faith share of launches. She must be driving it wrong somehow, maybe it's the subies, but 2 seems suspicious.

When I was looking at Subarus ( mostly the 2000- to 08 WRX/Imprezas) there clutches were particularly fragile and performance-oriented. though this was largely regarded as a not problem because all the guys push too much boost and blow an engine every 50,000 miles. and they would just replace the clutch then.

The fact that it didn't go slowly, but was sudden in odd, maybe something in the engine, or the pedal assembly, slave cylinder overextended and locked up, IDK. but it doesn't add up.
 
my clutch issues have almost always been the opposite - suddenly depressing it does nothing and I have to limp home by rev matching and trying not to stop. It happened to me on 3 different vehicles before I turned 20 and hasn't happened since.
 
Sudden failure is odd. But she might not have noticed the smell or feel it had been slipping.


Another theory, and this is not a dig on her, did she let any friends drive or borrow it? I only ask because I can see some jackwagon trying to do some AWD launches and beat on it.


Sucks man and I’m near Salem so if you ever need help down this way just call.

Is the last shop that dig the work near you? I’d take it back ask them wtf happened. I know some places warranty their work, maybe not a clutch but if the part failed without being abused.....might be worth a shot.
 
Fudge man what a day sorry to hear the car woes.
 
Sounds clutch related. If you can put the car in gear and it doesn't move, there's a disconnect between the engine and trans.

If it was the slave, the pedal would suck, probably go to the floor and stay there. If you put it in gear and try and start it, does the car move at all?
 
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I've been working this over in my mind and still haven't gotten anywhere with the what and why. I'm the one who taught her how to drive a clutch and was very strict about not letting your foot stay on the clutch pedal. And yes I asked if she was doing that anyhow and she says no. I'm just totally stumped by it going out like this.

A little back history on this car. It's been in my family since it was brand new. My parents bought the car and then about 5 years ago my sister bought it from my mom. The clutch was replaced with about 112,000 miles on it. Then something was wrong either with the install or the replacement clutch and it had to be replaced again in June of 2016 with 123,000 miles on it. It only as 163,000 mile on it now. My sister said that after the clutch was replaced it never felt "RIGHT" after that. I drove it once just to try and see what she was talking about and it would grab almost the second you let the pedal off the floor. But I'd never driven it before the clutch had been replaced so don't have anything to compare it with.

So there is a chance that there was something wrong with either the install or with the clutch assembly itself. So now I'll just find me a shop to work on it and get the clutch replaced.
 
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So I was suppose to be going to the VA today (Wednesday 12/02) and just as I was getting ready to head for the door and start driving to Seattle my phone rings and it's my lovely daughter. And I can tell right away that something is wrong by the way she's talking on the phone. She was headed home from college for the break until the first of the year. So I'm like WTF?? Didn't say that but was thinking it for sure. So she's like DAD my car just broke down on me... Now I'm thinking great now what? So we go thru 20 questions and I'm thinking to myself that she needs to start riding the bus. Well I don't know how she does it but the clutch has gone out in her car. Yes the Subaru that I had got her in May because the clutch had gone out in her Jeep in April. So now I'm hitting boiling point in under 2 micro seconds but do my very best not to blow my top and start yelling because it isn't going to help. So I ask Okay do you know what mile marker you are near? Also what is the closest city? So she's just north of Salem, OR. So I tell her okay I'll call you back in about 10-15 minutes. So hop on my trusty laptop and start looking for a Subaru dealer. Ok good there is one in Salem so I try to call them and get to play the let me transfer you. After about 10 minutes of being transferred and still never getting in contact with anyone I hang up. So I try calling to places that had popped up saying they only work on Subaru's and both are the wrong number.
So at this point I call her back and ask if she's called AAA yet. She had but they won't dispatch a truck to her until she has a destination. So I hang up again and get back on my trusty laptop and do a quick search of places I can get the car towed to where she can sit until I can get there to pick her up. Lucky me there is a Pilot truck stop up the road about 10 miles. So I call her back and give her the address to the Pilot at the Brooks, OR. Then I go out and hook my trailer up to my truck and get some gear loaded into the truck and get ready to head to OR. I call the VA and change the date for my appointment and then make one last check to make sure I'm ready. Walk over to my neighbors and ask if she can come over about every 4 hours and let the dogs out and to feed them. She's like YEP not a problem.

So now it is noon as I am pulling onto the freeway headed south in a round about way because there isn't any road that will take me in a direct route to where I'm going. I make great time down to OR via I-82 & SR97 until I get on I-205 and then it's stop and go traffic for the next 30-40 miles even once I'm on I-5 south bound. It finally clears up about 10 miles from my exit and I arrive around 4:40 PM. Okay not really bad travel time as I wasn't pushing it and was doing the truck speed limit since I'd forgotten my wallet at home... Yep I drove to OR and back without my license or my debit or credit card so that I could fill up if needed. Lucky for me that I try to keep my rig pretty close to full during the winter so I had just under a full tank. I knew once I got there to pick her up I could get fuel then because she had her debit card and I could transfer some funds onto it. There were some people watching me get the ramps all setup that came over to help push the car up on the trailer. Yep I have a winch sitting in my garage that I keep saying I'm gunna mount onto my trailer but as with a lot of things I just haven't gotten it done yet.

So I spent 11 hours in my truck today doing nothing but looking at road slide past me. 20 years ago I'd have laughed at someone for saying how rough driving for 11 hours is on someone. But now that I'm on the downhill side of 59 it kicks my ass. And the whole trip back was in the dark and I hate driving in the dark when I'm towing a trailer. She had a friend with her so we stopped at my house and unhooked the trailer and them drove another 45 minutes to drop the friend off and then came back home. I'm still trying to UNWIND so I'm not ready to fall asleep yet. So I figured I'd share my story. So much for my savings account that was there to purchase a snowblower & the Fox shocks for the Jeep. It'll just get pushed back a little bit.

So I need some thoughts from those of you who have driven and worked on manual transmission vehicles. She said she was just driving down the freeway when all of the sudden the car started to slow down and the RPM's were climbing higher. So the clutch just BOOM went out. My experiance with clutches were that they would start slipping and such letting you know there was a problem before giving up the ghost. So I'm stumped about this as. I'm hoping it's something EASY (no such thing) like the clutch and not a blown transmission. I'm just stumped that it gave no indication that the clutch just went out.

So that was my HUMP day. How was yours?

Thats the life of a good dad.

Down the road.. she will pull out that memory file of how her dad hauled across another state for her.


Regarding the clutch... it sounds burned out. Does she ride the clutch?

Switching from a jeep to a subaru requires new muscle memory.

Just got my daughter her first car... a 2020 jetta.. stick shift!

She says driving the jeep was easier.
 
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40,000 miles isn't very many but it's better than the 11,000 miles the first replacement got. Maybe similar to the first replacement there was something wrong, maybe it just wasn't quite as bad. It's hard to tell at this point

I hope your daughter hasn't caused HER second clutch problem this year by either her own driving style or lending it to (or teaching) other college kids. I'm not putting blame on her but kids are kids almost regardless of age.

Anyway, no matter what, I'd double team the checking of the new clutch (which would also let me double check her driving style). I'd also let her know that slipping will be noticed far earlier when in high gear (just try passing) which will buy her some time before getting stranded .
 
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Have you tried it since?

the failures I’ve had with clutch have been the clutch cable. Immediate failure. I could still drive the car by putting it into gear and then starting. Gear shifts were fun because you had to rev match and slam that sucker into second. There was nothing in that clutch. It would just go to the floor

the second was the slave seized and failed. That one gave plenty of notice. Screamed like a banshee anytime you tried to engage.

if you’re unable to move the car in gear it maybe the friction plate is gone.
 
Yes I was just out messing with it and it won't go anywhere. I can start the car and release the clutch pedal and row thru the gears with no affect at all. Lucky for me a neighbor has a shop where he does car & motorcycle repairs so he stopped by to see what was going on. He agrees that something strange has happened but until we take it apart there isn't any telling what went wrong.
There isn't any smell like you would find if the clutch disc had burnt up. So he's able to get it into his shop either this weekend or first of next week. And his price is a HECK of a lot better than what the dealership wanted.
 
So just doing a quick search for a clutch kit the LuK kit is $272 and this is without a new flywheel. The flywheel was replaced 45K miles ago so we're gunna wait until it's torn down to decide what if anything needs to be done with it. It's also why I am going to wait to buy any parts at this point because we both feel it just doesn't feel right. The clutch pedal is stiffer than it should be which is telling us we need to look first before I buy any parts.
 
So the saga continues as I have another day I'd like to get back. Today was an EXPENSIVE day.. Dropped almost $1K on parts and then had to pay my neighbor who is doing the work also.

We had the engine out by 11AM today and found some other issues with the car that needed to get fixed while we were working on it. 1) The Rack & Pinion steering had a ripped boot and was leaking.
2) Front passenger axle shaft had a torn CV boot
3) Bad oil leak on drivers side valve cover
4) Coolant leak at thermostat housing
5) Exhaust leaks at heads
6) Spark Plugs are SHOT..... I'll take a picture of one tomorrow.

So all this on top of the clutch... Clutch disc was metal to metal which would indicate it's been slipping for some time or that the drive was slipping the clutch very badly. We both think it was the first and don't think it was her fault on this one. I'm really starting to doubt the quality of workmanship that has been done by the shop my sister had been taking the carto. Just too much wrong for them to ahve been doing quality work.

Engine coming out.


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Here's the clutch disc & pressure plate. The flywheel was SHOT from being on metal to metal.

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Friction material from the clutch disc.


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Flywheel is FUBAR


20201205_105258.jpg


Rack & Pinion steering


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Torn CV Boot


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R&P steering is OUT...

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So we stopped around 3:45 today so Mike could watch a college football game. But car should be running and driving tomorrow.

Told my daughter that she just got her Christmas present in this early today.

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