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Shifting problem 5th to 4th on 05 LGT


paulh

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I have about 1200 miles on my LGT wagon and on about 20 occassions have had difficulty in shifting down from fifth to fourth gears. No matter how slow or quick I shift it wants to make a light grinding noise and will refuse to shift down even if I increase the revs to match the speed or double declutch. The only way is to brake and change it into third where it will shift with no problem.

 

I can go for days without the problem reoccurring. I have not complained to the dealer as I am certain I will not be able to duplicate the problem to order.

 

Has anyone else had a similar experience and does it get better with more mileage?

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make sure you're pushing the clutch ALL the way in. I was short about 1/2" and was having shifting problems. have since repositioned seat about 4 inches closer

 

Good thought but I was very conscious of that. In fact I purposely tried shifting down without flooring the clutch in an effort to see if I could duplicate the problem so I could show it to the dealer, but every time I tried that it shifted perfectly!

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Another thing that I noticed at first... if your habits were formed in a transmission with a different shift pattern (VWs, in my case) you may apply too much rightward pressure when coming down from 5th to 4th and touch a bit against reverse. It took exactly one such experience to start me working on breaking THAT habit!

 

The VW has reverse to the left of 1st, and a sloppy enough linkage that you can haul mostly aftward from 5th and it'll fall into 4th... I didn't realize that all those years of VW ownership had corrupted even my reflexes!

 

DKB

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Another thing that I noticed at first... if your habits were formed in a transmission with a different shift pattern (VWs, in my case) you may apply too much rightward pressure when coming down from 5th to 4th and touch a bit against reverse. It took exactly one such experience to start me working on breaking THAT habit!

 

The VW has reverse to the left of 1st, and a sloppy enough linkage that you can haul mostly aftward from 5th and it'll fall into 4th... I didn't realize that all those years of VW ownership had corrupted even my reflexes!

 

DKB

This is my third 5MT Subaru. None of the others exhibited this problem. One one of my no downshift problems I tried leaving the clutch alone and matching the revs - still would not go into 4th. I tried changing without using the clutch when I did not have the problem and by synching the revsa with the roadf speed I had no trouble

shifting gears. This would seem to eliminate clutch problems. It really seems more of a mechanical problem within the gearbox.

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  • 1 year later...
I'm having a similar problem. Seems like the clutch is almost slipping occationally in 1st but not always. And getting into reverse is sometimes impossible. This weekend I couldn't get into 5th from forth. I called the dealer today and they said to bring it in, not that it will happen when they have it, but he said that it may be the trans axile if both the clutch and trans seem to be involved. Any other ideas??
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I had stated that I had 1200 miles. It should have read 12,000. However, I have had this problem since day 1. The dealer told me that the owners' manual states that it should not be downshifted. I asked him to show me this text as I could not find it in my book. Apparrently according to the dealer, I have a later printing and for some reason the newer manuals have omitted that fact. I have referred the matter to Subaru of North America and their official written response is that

this model is not designed to be downshifted! I had a WRX and an Outback prior to this LGT, and never had a problem downshifting. I feel for Subaru to have made such a radical design change that they should have put a prominent warning out that their cars are no longer designed to be downshifted.

 

Because of other problems I had with my original dealer, I changed to a different dealer, who was unaware of this downshifting limitation. Unfortunately I could not duplicate it at the time. Most times it will downshift, but one has to use quite a bit of force. On the ocassions when it won't shift down to 4th, no amount of force will work. I do not have a problem going from 3 to 4 which probably rules out bad synchros. Also I am very careful to push the clutch all the way down and have even removed the floor mat to get it further down. I have also tried to shift without putting the clutch all the way down and I have the same problem, i.e. most times it works but sometimes does not.

 

What Subaru calls a design feature, I call a design flaw, which completely

ruins what otherwise could be a greatall around car.

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I had stated that I had 1200 miles. It should have read 12,000. However, I have had this problem since day 1. The dealer told me that the owners' manual states that it should not be downshifted. I asked him to show me this text as I could not find it in my book. Apparrently according to the dealer, I have a later printing and for some reason the newer manuals have omitted that fact. I have referred the matter to Subaru of North America and their official written response is that this model is not designed to be downshifted! I had a WRX and an Outback prior to this LGT, and never had a problem downshifting. I feel for Subaru to have made such a radical design change that they should have put a prominent warning out that their cars are no longer designed to be downshifted.

 

Morons.... They are just trying to get rid of you.

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make sure you're pushing the clutch ALL the way in. I was short about 1/2" and was having shifting problems. have since repositioned seat about 4 inches closer

strange. I only have to push mine 1/4 of the way down for full engagement.

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A manual transmission that's not designed to be downshifted....BWAHAHAHA

 

I guess you're only allowed to use 1-4 once then you're stuck with 5th for the rest of your life.

 

I also guess you're not allowed to try and pass someone or you have to come to a complete stop on a steep hill and start over with 1st to get up it.

(Updated 8/22/17)

2005 Outback FMT

Running on Electrons

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