SoloTSi97 Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 2006 LGT MT I park the car facing uphill, with the parking brake on and in first gear. My wife went out to drive the car to work, she couldn't get the car to roll. She depressed the clutch & brake, started the car, shifted from 1st to reverse, and took the parking brake off. At this point, she lifted off the brake pedal expecting the car to roll backwards down the hill. Instead, it didn't roll at all. She then tried to shift out of reverse and was unable to get the shifter to move at all. I went out and verified that the car would neither roll nor let me shift it out of reverse. I checked the MT oil level, which didn't show any oil on the dipstick, but it's parked on a pretty steep uphill so that is certainly not an accurate measure. I chocked the back tires and jacked up one of the front wheels to relieve pressure on what I believed to be a seized transmission. As the tire came up, it clearly spun a bit (without other wheels moving), which leads me to believe it was relieving the tension on the transmission. After lowering the tire back down, I was able to easily shift out of reverse and roll the car down the hill to a level spot. At this point, I had to add about 1/4 quart of gear oil to bring the level to FULL on the dipstick. I haven't had any trouble with it since, but obviously this isn't something that I would consider to be normal. It was obviously a little bit low on oil, but for all I know it's been that way (I've owned the car less than a year and can't say I've checked the level before). I haven't noticed gear oil leaked on the driveway where I park it daily, so if it is leaking it's doing it while moving. Has anyone else had this happen? I *guess* that the combination of it being a little low on oil and parked on a steep uphill caused some sort of starvation condition? I've been parking it in the same spot to see if it happens again ... but so far haven't had any problems again. Confused ... -Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 That's an odd one, and I would only think that there has to be some foreign object in the gearbox or that for some reason two gears were engaged simultaneously. (Probably 4th and reverse at the same time) I have experienced two gears at the same time, but that was on a tractor and not on a car, but I would say that it can happen even to a car. And since you did get it out of gear and didn't blow anything I would say that this can be a one off but watch out since it may happen again. As for oil starvation - manual gearboxes are splash lubricated and doesn't use a pump so if there were any lubrication problems you would have had a lot of noise. And the amount of missing oil you had - no big deal but good that you corrected it. 1/4 of a quart should be about 2 dl, which means that there were 3.3 liters instead of the specified 3.5 liters in the gearbox. Hardly a cause for great concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloTSi97 Posted March 7, 2010 Author Share Posted March 7, 2010 Yeah, it bothers me not understanding why it happened (and thus not knowing if it'll happen again). Definitely going to pay close attention to the tranny. I'm getting ready to go out and change the engine oil, so I'll look for signs of leakage as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snow05gtRI Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 could it have been your ebrake that froze? i just got back from a week away from the leggy while it was very cold here. got in for the first time, dropped the e-brake, put it in reverse and the car wouldnt move. put it in drive still wouldnt move. put it back in reverse and had to give it a decent amount of gas and heard the ebrake separate (loud) and i was good from there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burnout8488 Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 My legacy sticks in my garage on a cold startup about 50% of the time. I'll go to back out, hear a pop from the front brakes, and then it starts rolling. Maybe your e-brake is sticking in the same fashion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoozeRS05 Posted March 7, 2010 Share Posted March 7, 2010 I park on a decent hill, always facing downhill tho, never had the transmission or brakes stick. **Set the e-brake, let the car settle on the brakes, then engage the appropriate gear.** Lots of people will let the vehicle's weight sit on the transmission then set the e-brake. Not good. EB's Subaru journal - 2005 LegacyGT Wagon & 2014 Forester FB25 (2008 specB - RIP) IG@legacygtliving Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloTSi97 Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 My legacy sticks in my garage on a cold startup about 50% of the time. I'll go to back out, hear a pop from the front brakes, and then it starts rolling. Maybe your e-brake is sticking in the same fashion. Yeah, that's what I initially figured the problem was when my wife told me about it. I haven't had that problem with the LGT, but had a Ranger whose ebrake was useless in winter because it would stick and drag for several miles before releasing fully. That's not what this was, though, and that wouldn't have explained the fact that I couldn't force the shifter out of reverse. I religiously engage the ebrake on our AT van with it in neutral and allow it to rest on the brake before shifting to park. The Legacy is a MT, though, so I can't swear that I always pay attention to that. But, as I sit here thinking about my "turn the car off" routine, I'm pretty sure I regularly let the car roll back onto the brake with the clutch in for turning off the ignition. Regardless, my wife was able to engage the clutch, shift from 1st to reverse, THEN it was stuck. Thanks for all the suggestions! -Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wonder squirrel Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Bumping this thread to see if the problem was ever solved. I've got a 2002 Legacy with a similar problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloTSi97 Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 I never did figure out what caused this. I have been keeping an eye on the fluid level ever since, and have not seen any signs of leakage. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, the fluid level at the time that this happened was below "full", but only by about 1/4 qt., which certainly seems to be a small amount. Certainly not low enough to be expected to cause issues. That said, the fluid level has stayed right at "full" ever since this occurrence. And, I have continued to park in the same spot on our driveway, facing uphill. I have not had any further problems with the transmission. *shrug* -Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTTuner Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 My legacy sticks in my garage on a cold startup about 50% of the time. I'll go to back out, hear a pop from the front brakes, and then it starts rolling. Maybe your e-brake is sticking in the same fashion. Mine will do this over night in high humidity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt2005bonbon Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 so if you were to park into gear where there's a very small slope and don't use the parking brake, is it bad for the trans? cause I usually avoid using the parking brake during winter and just park in gear whenever possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoloTSi97 Posted January 31, 2012 Author Share Posted January 31, 2012 For an auto, that's definitely a bad habit to get into. It's worse on steeper inclines, but habits are hard to break. And, when shifting an auto out of park with the vehicle's weight in the tranny, things can break. As for a MT, dunno. I'm not aware that it does damage. As I mentioned earlier, I've done that very thing regularly on previous MT vehicles when the parking brake tended to stick in cold weather. That said, I always use my parking brake unless there is a mechanical issue that prevents me from doing so. -Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob-2 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 so if you were to park into gear where there's a very small slope and don't use the parking brake, is it bad for the trans? cause I usually avoid using the parking brake during winter and just park in gear whenever possible. While the tranny can take the load the problem is if it pops out of gear. A bump or rock can have the car slip out of gear. Ebrake can also save the tranny if you were hit while parked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xt2005bonbon Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 thanks for the feedback guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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