Does your manual gearshift return to center?

[weelliott]

When I bought my 95 legacy in 2002, the gearshift wouldn't return to
the center position. Every other car I've ever owned will return to a
point exactly in the center of the shift pattern--between third and
fourth. Mine will sit there if you put it there, or if you just pull
it out of second it will stay between first and second. I got used to
it and it doesn't bother me.

However, at 190k miles the transmission was having problems staying in
fourth, and the syncros were slow on second and fifth. So I had a shop
replace the transmission with one out of a crashed car with 120k miles
on it to the tune of 2100 bucks. When I got it back I expected the
gear shift to be normal since I believe that this is an internally
gated transmission. It wasn't though. It behaved the same way. Now I
am at 233k Miles and I am starting to notice some reluctant shifts and
suspect that perhaps they just serviced the transmission, but didn't
actually replace it. So how many other people have a 'broken' shifter?
What are the odds that the other transmission out of a car with 120k
miles on it was also broken in the same way?

Thank you for your input.

Have a good one,
Bill

 

[Dano58]

When I bought my 95 legacy in 2002, the gearshift wouldn't return to
the center position. Every other car I've ever owned will return to a
point exactly in the center of the shift pattern--between third and
fourth. Mine will sit there if you put it there, or if you just pull
it out of second it will stay between first and second. I got used to
it and it doesn't bother me.

However, at 190k miles the transmission was having problems staying in
fourth, and the syncros were slow on second and fifth. So I had a shop
replace the transmission with one out of a crashed car with 120k miles
on it to the tune of 2100 bucks. When I got it back I expected the
gear shift to be normal since I believe that this is an internally
gated transmission. It wasn't though. It behaved the same way. Now I
am at 233k Miles and I am starting to notice some reluctant shifts and
suspect that perhaps they just serviced the transmission, but didn't
actually replace it. So how many other people have a 'broken' shifter?
What are the odds that the other transmission out of a car with 120k
miles on it was also broken in the same way?

Thank you for your input.

Have a good one,
Bill

Perhaps it is just the way those transmissions are. Having never
driven a manual-transmission Legacy, I can't comment. But it may just
be a characteristic of the transmission.

Dan D
'99 Impreza 2.5 RS (son's)
Central NJ USA

 

[weelliott]

I've driven a 97 legacy that didn't have any problems returning to
center, and a 94 impreza that also had no problem. I really doubt it
is by design. The first tiem I drove it I couldn't get it into third.
I had been taught to let the spring do the work so as not to wind up
accidentally in fifth, so I pushed forward and wound up hitting no-
mans-land between first and third. I thought the car had no third gear
and was pretty unimpressed until I figured out that the spring that
returns it to center wasn't working.

I'm starting to wonder about the legal recourse I have to sue this
place for the difference between the work they charged me for and what
they did. My limited research tells me that the VIN is stamped on the
transmission case. So if it matches my chassis, it means they didn't
swap it. I think this counts as fraud. Even though it was in January
2005, I wonder if I could still sue them.

Bill

 

[Bob Noble]

Are you sure this return to center thing is the transmission, or maybe just
the shifting mechanism, under the shifter?

 

[weelliott]

Are you sure this return to center thing is the transmission, or maybe just
the shifting mechanism, under the shifter?

I'm fairly sure the return mechanism is in the transmission, but I
could be mistaken. When I did the clutch job on the car I'm pretty
sure that once the transmission was pulled, the shifter had no
springiness in any direction. You could just row around with it like
an old VW microbus.

Bill

 

[bugalugs]

I'm fairly sure the return mechanism is in the transmission, but I
could be mistaken. When I did the clutch job on the car I'm pretty
sure that once the transmission was pulled, the shifter had no
springiness in any direction. You could just row around with it like
an old VW microbus.

Bill

I was of the opposite opinion; that the spring which kept the shift
lever in the 3 4 plane was in the console at the base of the shift lever.

 

[scarano1]

weelliott wrote:

I was of the opposite opinion; that the spring which kept the shift
lever in the 3 4 plane was in the console at the base of the shift lever.

I just got done replacing the spring on my 98 legacy and it was
accessible from underneath the car near the crossmember. The spring
itself was about an inch and a half long and the old one had rusted
and snapped. The symptom I was addressing was that the transmission
wouldn't center if wiggled to the left, but it would center fine if
wiggled to the right. After the new spring was in place, everything
worked fine.

Steve.

 

[weelliott]

I just got done replacing the spring on my 98 legacy and it was
accessible from underneath the car near the crossmember.  The spring
itself was about an inch and a half long and the old one had rusted
and snapped.  The symptom I was addressing was that the transmission
wouldn't center if wiggled to the left, but it would center fine if
wiggled to the right.  After the new spring was in place, everything
worked fine.

Steve.

So it is external to the transmission. I stand corrected and have my
answer. Thank you Steve.

Have a good one,
Bill

 

[mulder]

So it is external to the transmission. I stand corrected and have my
answer. Thank you Steve.

Have a good one,
Bill

On your '95 the spring is external. On later models it was moved
inside the trans.