Manual Transmission problems of the 1999 Subaru Outback

Vehicle has a manual transmission. When driving in 5 th gear the transmission will pop out of gear without warning. Subaru tech explained that a packing nut on the gear shaft was not properly peened. The nut backed-off over time and damaged the transimission.

We have an auto repair garage, and we have seen a recurring problem on 1999 Subaru legacy Outback cars with manual transmissions. These cars develop a "tweety" clutch release bearing. When we go in to replace the bearing, we have found that one of the two clips for the bearing is always missing. This is what causes the bearing to go bad prematurely. Each time we find the same thing. One of the clips on the clutch release bearing had broken, causing the bearing to sit crooked. This then allowed the clutch release bearing to wear a groove on the snout that the bearing rides on. The bearing was then getting caught in the groove, preventing it from releasing fully. We then not only have to replace the bearing and the clips but also the entire transmission housing because the snout is cast into the housing. This is a very expensive repair for such an inexpensive clip. We feel that these clips need to be looked into further to find a stronger one to prevent this problem.

I bought a 1999 Subaru Outback 30th anniversary limited edition in may of 1999. Within six months, the car began to exhibit clutch and transmission problems. I brought this to the immediate attention of the Subaru dealer. For three years they denied that there was anything wrong with the vehicle, always saying they were unable to duplicate the problems. Finally in June of 2002, I was able to get a regional service supervisor to admit that the car definitely had problems. His first solution was to suggest that I trade the car in on a new one. When I declined, he offered to have the car properly repaired, as it should have been three years prior. After four trips to two different Subaru dealers and after supposedly having the entire clutch assembly replaced three times, the car is in worse shape than it ever has been. Subaru has refused to repair the car, despite the fact that it's under an extended warranty that covers the entire transmission. Subaru claims that the car now "operates as designed" and that any problems I am now experiencing are a result of my driving habits. Subaru refuses to replace the car because they were able to stall any repairs until the car passed the two year lemon law exclusion.