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Does any body out there know of a good source for syncros and other parts for our cars with 5 speed trannys?

Mine has been grinding into 3rd and 4th for some time and today I drained it and replaced the fluid.
This helped it to shift a little smoother but not much.
Maybe it will get smoother after a little more driving.
The drain plug had an UNfair amount of metal debris on it and the old oil has metal “dust” floating in it. So I think it might just be time to rebuild it, but I haven’t found a good source or any source for the parts. Now I have not checked with the local Subaru dealer. I usually try to avoid the dealer for parts as they usually cost much more than after market parts.

Any ideas?

Anyone…? Anyone?

Junk it and find a good used unit. There seems to be plenty of supply out there of 5 speeds.

The synchros are brass or bronze, so your debris on the magnetic plug did not come from the synchros. methinks there are other problems with that box. You can also "fish" a magnet around in the oil to see if the suspended dust sticks, if it does then you have one or more gears disentigrating. Does the box whine when in any gear ?

I have been looking for a replacement, in my price range, without much success. Certain other things trouble me too; I don’t know what my final drive ratio is, if I were to find another tranny and it had a different ratio then I’m faced with changing rear diff also (more money).

It doesn’t make any whiney noises, doesn’t growl or howl doesn’t pop out of gear. It just grinds going into 3rd and 4th. I can even keep it from doing that by double clutching (good for tranny: bad for knee).

The debris on the magnet looks to be some kind of sheet metal, as for the fluid, I already disposed of it. Sometimes I really am too efficient. That’s how it always is, for me any way, no matter what it is as soon as I throw it out, I need it for something or other.


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Spell check users of the world unite. We will meet at eight tonight. We will see you there.

Redline MTL ? Synthetic manual gearbox lube. That stuff is like magic in some boxes. I've had a few cars with worn 2ng gear synchros and it made the problem much better, you could shift quicker without the grind. Also makes cold driving much better, it dosn't thicken up into sludge like conventional oil when cold. Boxes that are hard to shift when cold react really well to the stuff.

It seems strange that it is your 3rd and 4th gear synchros, usually 2nd goes first. 3 and 4 should be on the same shaft so there is probably a bearing problem letting the shaft get out of position; one of the only things I can think of that may be sheet metal would be bearing ball cages (oops!).

I would think someone on this forum could choke up the right box.

The dusty metal look is normal.. any transmission with good miles will have this.

My BRAND NEW fully rebulit supra transmission brand new scyros/bearings had this.. You can do A flush it if you're worried about it or B leave it and just drive the car.

Many MANY 5 spds have syncro problems it's just the nature of a 5 spd.

Just live with it until it detonates.

professor, have you read through my stickied thread about grinding synchros in this forum? Redline gear oil is by no means a cure-all...