stuck in the bush with a dead subaru

[kohustu]

Hello folks, new here, and here's a shot in the dark...

 

I'm in a remote area, with SOME internet access and my 2000 Legacy just died. My son left the key on all night, but the battery was fine this morning and the car started no problem. I wasn't sure what to do when I discovered the key on, but thought I'd better check to see if we had enough power to get it started so we could deal with it if we had to. Maybe I should have waited, I don't know... I'm assuming something got hot, or ? because after about 30 seconds of running just fine, it made a weird noise up front and died, and now I have ZERO power anywhere... the noise was something similar to a click you'd here when you shut a computer off by holding down the power button instead of a proper shut-down. There weren't any loud noises or sounds of mechanical parts failing. Just a "click" sort of sound and the car died.

 

My mechanic I trust has just offered to check things like the battery terms etc, which are fine, and from there use a test light to find where the short is. Checked fuses under the hood and everything looks fine. He doesn't think it would be a computer of ign module or the like, because I should still have power in those cases.

 

Don't even know where to begin if I did have a test light, which I don't.

 

ANy help greatly appreciated! Maybe someone has done the same thing and can offer something?

 

Thanks to whoever reads this.

[kohustu]

ok made discovery. went back to car and it started fine. But it's stuck in gear, even with shifter in neutral. I can tell its in a higher gear when I try to let it out. If I put it in gear, first or otherwise, its as though I've applied the brakes. Strange that it originally was idling in neutral when it first died this morning...

 

Its making a whirring noise off and on like a bearing or something. Thought it was power steering or alternator or something, but then discovered a bolt missing from the upper tranny mount (I'm that's what it is) right beside the clutch slave. It's hard to tell where the noise is coming from.

[BarManBean]

So manual transmission?

 

You're in a remote area--offroad? Could you have damaged something in the shift linkage or something?

 

I don't have much of an idea here for you, sorry.

[kohustu]

THanks for the reply anyway. In the interest of not leaving a thread hanging like a loose end, here is the end of the story:

 

FOR ANYONE WHO MAY EXPERIENCE THIS!

 

I dont think I knocked anything loose offroad, and I heard from my Sub mechanic that he has seen this before, so I hope if it happens to anyone else, they will find this thread.

 

I dragged my car with my Landcruiser up the driveway in different scenarios, poppoing clutch, riding clutch, stalling car because it was stuck in high gear, dragged it in first, clutch in, clutch out, all of the above. After a couple hundred yards, it would go into first, and VERY ROUGHLY AND LOUDLY would try to move when I released the clutch. After a few more yards on its own without being towed, EVERYTHING WENT BACK INTO PLACE! Whatever it was out of alignment, re-aligned and it appears I'm home free. It drives fine. Thank God I took the risk instead of just calling a tow truck from 3 hours away. Thank God also that my kid left the key on all night so I would start the car spark this chain of events in the driveway, and also that the bolt chose to fall out of the mount while sitting in neutral, perched on the clutch slave... ay yai yai, wow. Thanks for reading! Hope this thread saves someones butt in the future!