Back from the Dealer

Got the Legacy back from the dealer a few days ago. Took it in to have them inspect the rear struts again and to check out a loud whining noise while in reverse. I know that Subarus in particular are noisy in reverse but this was obscene. John Elway West was very helpful and gave me a loaner car while they were looking at it. Nothing found in the rear struts, they are not leaking at this time, nor were the technicians able to make them "clunk" as we have heard on occassion. I figured that it would be hard for them to find any problems unless they saw a leaky strut or something, so nothing was done there. The transmission however, was a different story.

I went on a test drive with a technician to confirm the noise, and he agreed it was an excessive amount of whine. The dealer called the next day to inform me that they were going to have to pull the transmission to locate and fix the problem and that it would be a few days to have it repaired. I then returned to the dealer that night to get something out of my car and the technician already had the tranny out and apart. I spoke with him in brief about the cause of the whine and he explained that his assesment was that the case had been "streched" because of repeated clutch drops. I then asked him about the wear on the friction disk of the clutch and he replied that it was only about 20% worn. I found this amusing that he thought the case had been streched due to abuse, yet the clutch is only 20% worn after 20,000 miles! My wife doesn't even know the meaning of the term clutch drop, so I am positive that IF this "abuse" happened it was within the first 3,000 miles before we purchesed the vehicle. He also informed me that the parts that were needed were in New Jersey and that it would be the next week before I got my car finished. I didn't mind, I was driving around an '06 Forester XT as a loaner.

I went home expecting a fight from the dealer the next day regarding covering this under warranty. To my surprise, I recieved a phone message that informed me of the problem and gave me a timeframe in which they were going to try and get the car done. Nothing about excessive abuse or voiding of the factory warranty. I called and confirmed that eveything was going to be covered under the factory warranty and was very satisfied with the service and demeanor of my advisor, Patty.

I know this sounds like a plug for John Elway West's sevice department, but I really was impressed with the way they handled my blown struts, twice, and this incident. I will stay doing business with them until I have a reason to go elsewhere.

They ended up replacing nearly the entire transmission, including sycros, the case, the forks, ect. I picked the car up the next week and have had zero problems with it since. The transmission feels a bit more "notchy" like my WRX's did, and the lack of noise in reverse is nice.

All in all I'm happy to have the car back and it looks to be in top shape and ready to recieve some bolt on parts. It's been nice Mr. Warranty, maybe I'll have one again on a different car.