HELP! Grinding gears....WTF?

[Batmobile_Engage]

I had Dave @ RalliSpec rebuild my tranny back in Sep of last year, been great so far. Had to replace the reverse idler, gear and hub. Figured while he had it apart, might as well do the carbon baulk rings and new synchros. He only replaced what needed to be replaced and only charged me for what he replaced, which was two of the shift forks due to the plastic tabs being close to gone, a full synchro set, the reverse gear parts, 3-4 gears and hub and the 4-6 baulk rings. Shifts like butter now.

Can you recall what the prices were for parts, and also for labor? I'm expecting to do something like this soon.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

I talked to Rallispec just a few minutes ago on the phone. Explained my issues to them and also that
I'm not very transmission savvy. The person I talked to took down my email address and is going to send
me some information today with itemized parts and prices. Great customer service already, I must say.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

I still haven't heard back from Rallispec. I also contacted 5 transmission shops in the area. It's been pretty
disappointing so far. One shop quoted $800-1,000 in labor and did NOT sound confident in doing the job. Another
shop that supposedly specializes in transmission repair says "What is this again...a Subaru? Nah, I don't work on
exotics."
The last shop I talked to today quoted "$1,000 in labor and maybe a bit more if we run into problems." I hope I
can find a shop that is a little cheaper than that, BUT this ^ shop did seem to be the most competent by far.

Thoughts?

 

[Spamby]

Given the going rate of labor and the few hundred in parts. I don't think that sounds unreasonable.
Just make sure they know what they're doing.
In the end, trust your gut feeling.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

Those prices are labor alone. I stated that I would provide the parts. Just for shits and giggles, I called a local Subaru stealership.
They gave me a ballpack figure, on labor alone, at $2,200. They might be insane.

 

[Spamby]

Dealers are usually insane on prices.
I still wouldn't say that was bad. You gotta understand they are taking the tranny out and tearing it apart and then doing all of the reverse.
If the guy sounded confident then go with him or try some other places around. (If you have any? )

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

There are not a whole lot of great options. I may find some better ones, but if so they may be much further away.

 

[Spamby]

Good thing is that you have time. Not like your pushing the car everywhere. Lol.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

Good thing is that you have time. Not like your pushing the car everywhere. Lol.

This is true. As long as I'm not on the highway, or hauling ass through town for some reason :nos:
I don't grind......yet.

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

The more I read, the more I see other people talking about grinding issues, and completely eliminating them with a different choice of fluids.
Everyone has a "special formula" and I think I would use the Grimmspeed Tranny Cocktail (as we talked about before) but I just wonder if I'd
just be delaying the inevitable. Your thoughts? Thanks guys.

 

[Spamby]

It sounds like your wavering a bit.
Give the fluid a try. It can't hurt at this point. However I still think you would be buying time.

 

[IGOTASTi]

Did it ever grind before the fluid change?

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

Yes. 5th started grinding a few thousand miles before, but it was very rare and almost unnoticeable. It has gotten worse and started in on
4th gear as well, which has overall been far worse than 5th gear. After the fluid change, it continued to get worse, which I think has little or
nothing to do with the grind.

 

[IGOTASTi]

How old was the fluid in there before the change?

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

~23,500 miles.

 

[IGOTASTi]

OK. Was wondering.

I say try the cocktail.

 

[Spamby]

What became of this?

 

[Batmobile_Engage]

What became of this?

Nothing yet. I don't drive very far/fast (5.2 mi <50mph) on a daily basis so it hasn't seemed super time critical.

I have decided to get the cocktail though. Will order it Sunday/Monday.

 

[ANGKlingon]

Sweet! I have been thinking of the tranny cocktail, havent really tried talking to grimmspeed to get it ordered and see how they came up with it.

 

[Spamby]

Updates ??