tow truck dropped my Subaru!

[Chicobiker]

So, my wife is heading home from shopping and pulls onto the highway,
but the car slows down and eventually she pulls off the road and
stops. She can't get it going again, saying it "won't stay in gear."
And she's complaining of a bad smell. I'm at home an hour's drive
away, so I call a tow truck company for her.

Tow truck company A shows up and asks her if the car is front wheel
drive, my wife says four wheel drive. They hook up the car somehow
and start pulling away. A few seconds later, somebody says "Oh $h!t"
and the Subaru is seen plowing into the ditch on the side of the
highway.

Lots of unimportant stuff happened after that. Police. Tow truck
company B. Rental car. blah blah blah.

Physical damage looks (from teeny cell phone pictures) to be front
bumper, front driver quarter panel, possibly front driver door, and
god knows what else underneath.

My wife doesn't think they put anything under the rear wheels, and Tow
Truck Company B made a point of saying that Tow Truck Company A didn't
hook up the car right. What are the chances that some major
components of the drivetrain were damaged by this towing episode?

As for the mechanical trouble, my guess is clutch. It's a 5sp 2003
Outback Sport with over 200k kms. I had the clutch replaced under
warrantee at 40k due to slipping, and I had noticed starting to slip a
little bit on cold take-offs recently. However, my wife now drives
the car more than I do. She has said it's been acting funny lately,
with what sounds like the car revving too much.

How much does a clutch replacement cost typically? What are the
chances the towing episode damaged so much of the drive train that the
clutch gets replaced as part of the Tow Truck incident?

I guess on Monday an insurance adjuster will look at it and decide
what parts to fix first.

This has been a strange day ...

Chicobiker

 

[John]

So, my wife is heading home from shopping and pulls onto the highway,
but the car slows down and eventually she pulls off the road and
stops. She can't get it going again, saying it "won't stay in gear."
And she's complaining of a bad smell. I'm at home an hour's drive
away, so I call a tow truck company for her.

Tow truck company A shows up and asks her if the car is front wheel
drive, my wife says four wheel drive. They hook up the car somehow
and start pulling away. A few seconds later, somebody says "Oh $h!t"
and the Subaru is seen plowing into the ditch on the side of the
highway.

Lots of unimportant stuff happened after that. Police. Tow truck
company B. Rental car. blah blah blah.

Physical damage looks (from teeny cell phone pictures) to be front
bumper, front driver quarter panel, possibly front driver door, and
god knows what else underneath.

My wife doesn't think they put anything under the rear wheels, and Tow
Truck Company B made a point of saying that Tow Truck Company A didn't
hook up the car right. What are the chances that some major
components of the drivetrain were damaged by this towing episode?

As for the mechanical trouble, my guess is clutch. It's a 5sp 2003
Outback Sport with over 200k kms. I had the clutch replaced under
warrantee at 40k due to slipping, and I had noticed starting to slip a
little bit on cold take-offs recently. However, my wife now drives
the car more than I do. She has said it's been acting funny lately,
with what sounds like the car revving too much.

How much does a clutch replacement cost typically? What are the
chances the towing episode damaged so much of the drive train that the
clutch gets replaced as part of the Tow Truck incident?

I guess on Monday an insurance adjuster will look at it and decide
what parts to fix first.

This has been a strange day ...

Chicobiker

Hi Chico...bad, very bad when towing AWD with two wheels on the ground
unless the tow company or your wife placed the fuse in the FWD socket
under the hood. Since the car wound up in the ditch me thinks they
didn't do that and your wife told them it was 4WD shouldn't matter, they
F'd up.
Your other issue does sound like a clutch but you need to have the
drivetrain inpsected for further damage by the improper tow. Working
for you is that it didn't go far so you may just get away with the body
damage and clutch.

 

[bugalugs]

Hi Chico...bad, very bad when towing AWD with two wheels on the ground
unless the tow company or your wife placed the fuse in the FWD socket
under the hood. Since the car wound up in the ditch me thinks they
didn't do that and your wife told them it was 4WD shouldn't matter, they
F'd up.
Your other issue does sound like a clutch but you need to have the
drivetrain inpsected for further damage by the improper tow. Working for
you is that it didn't go far so you may just get away with the body
damage and clutch.

If it was towed for any distance with just the front wheels off the
ground you'd be looking at the centre dif and gearbox. (well the towing
company would be looking) And if they're paying make sure the work is
done be a Subaru dealer.

 

[S]

Hi Chico, John!

This has been a strange day ...

Chicobiker

Yea, I've had a few of those.

You can tow a 5spd Soobie with all four down and the tranny in neutral
w/o problems. Pick up one end, and it's a whole different story; you
are then forcing the viscous coupling (VC) thingie to decouple . . .
and the 5spd transmission (at least as recently as the 2002 models)
doesn't have the electronic clutch for the rear wheel drive, so there
isn't any way to disable the AWD.

If it was towed more than a very short distance, and/or at speeds
exceeding 15 or 20 MPH (if that), the tow company put some serious
wear on that poor ol' VC, to say the least.

Now I suspect that one could change the VC (a $500+ part from Subaru)
without pulling the transmission, but the tow truck company probably
doesn't know that, and replacing the VC doesn't address your original
problem (the one that sidelined the car in the first place), which is
almost certainly a worn-out clutch. (Revs go up, car goes slow,
rapidly get's worse if you try to force the issue.)

What I'd suggest is that you get the car to a reputable independent
Subaru shop, and tell them your story. If, rather than replacing the
VC, you (your shop) ask the tow company to fork out for a replacement
transmission (junkyard component OK, probably around $500), you can
probably get the shop to do the clutch for not a whole lot more than
the cost of the components (about $300), as they will have the engine
and transmission apart anyway. Otherwise you're probably looking at
$500 - $600 or more for the clutch work.

In any event, the tow company is responsible for any damage they cause
to your car, regardless of the fact that the missus told them 4WD when
it is actually an AWD car; they're The Pros, and should know better.

Post again when things settle down and let us know how it worked out.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

 

[1 Lucky Texan]

Hi Chico...bad, very bad when towing AWD with two wheels on the ground
unless the tow company or your wife placed the fuse in the FWD socket
under the hood.  Since the car wound up in the ditch me thinks they
didn't do that and your wife told them it was 4WD shouldn't matter, they
F'd up.
Your other issue does sound like a clutch but you need to have the
drivetrain inpsected for further damage by the improper tow.  Working
for you is that it didn't go far so you may just get away with the body
damage and clutch.

Does the car have a limited slip rear diff? I think i read that can
cause a towed vehicle to pull off to one side?

anyone?

 

[Catherine Jefferson]

If it was towed for any distance with just the front wheels off the
ground you'd be looking at the centre dif and gearbox. (well the towing
company would be looking) And if they're paying make sure the work is
done be a Subaru dealer.

Not necessarily. The best Subaru mechanic in the Los Angeles area
(where I used to live) is an independent shop -- Suby Specialties in
Monrovia. (Suby Specialties is probably the best west of the
Mississippi; they're that good.) The best in the Reno, Nevada area
(where I now live) is another independent shop -- the Auto Clinic. This
isn't meant as a bash of dealers in general, by the way. But the best
mechanic to do your work will depend entirely on the local situation
where you live. The dealer is not always (or even mostly, in my
experience) the best.

When I moved to the Reno area a couple of years ago, I did my homework
to find a good, reliable Subaru place to do maintenance on our 1999
Forester. I'd lived in the San Francisco Bay area for many years, and
Carlsen Subaru on the San Francisco peninsula is a wonderful business
with a top-rated repair shop. The local Subaru dealer in Reno, however,
has an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau, and a terrible
reputation locally. I wouldn't recommend trusting anybody with that sort
of record with your car, and I certainly wasn't going to.

*Always* check out the local situation if you want the best place to fix
your car.

 

[Chicobiker]

Update:

"They" finally figured out what to do next.

Damage: Front bumper cover, front driver fender was buckled by the
bumper cover getting ripped off, a signal light, gas tank. I guess
the car came to rest on the gas tank when it ended up half in the
ditch.

Insurance company seemed really hesitant about it, saying it was a
"unique situation." It seems to have taken forever for them to figure
everything out.

Mechanic who inspected the underside will do the clutch for me.
Hopefully no damage to the centre diff, but can only tell after the
car is driveable. So I'm told.

After a visit to the scene, I'm now fairly certain that the tow only
lasted less than 100m. They got from one side of a highway underpass
to the other. Not much speed or distance, and the mechanic told me
that the front wheels would not have been "locked" into the tow truck
cradle. I'm thinking the front wheels were spinning fairly soon after
takeoff and after a few moments of travelling the car skipped itself
out of the tow truck.

So hopefully no lasting effects to the centre diff, although it will
always be in the back of my mind. The physical damage looks to be
fairly minor.

I'm ready to get my car back, but it will be another couple of weeks.
The gas tank is not a simple job. It's up above the drivetrain and
exaust!

A Toyota Matrix is not the same level of car as an impreza!!!

 

[Chicobiker]

Does the car have a limited slip rear diff? I think i read that can
cause a towed vehicle to pull off to one side?

anyone?

This one has an open rear diff.

 

[S]

Hi Chico!

Update:

That all sounds encouraging.

Once you get it back on the road, take it into an empty parking lot,
and do some lock-to-lock figure "8" turns at a pretty good clip, both
in first gear and reverse. The object is to _work_ that viscous
coupling, so go fast enuf to get your tires to complain a bit.

If the VC is OK, your car will do this without any evidence of
drive-train stress, but if it is binding, you will hear (and feel) a
clunk-clunk-clunk that will stop as you go thru the transitions (where
the wheels are straight).

FWIW, this is also a test for bad half-shafts, but in that case, the
clunk will be noticeably worse while turning in one direction, whereas
the VC will sound about the same either way.

We'll keep our fingers crossed for ya!

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

 

[Chicobiker]

Post again when things settle down and let us know how it worked out.

Got the car back today finally. Insurance companies suck.

Anyway, clutch was the original issue.

New front bumper cover, new front driver fender, and new gas tank
later, car looks good as news. New clutch definitely feels
different. I couldn't move it an inch the first time it stalled on
me. Getting used to the new release point. Feels good to have the
car back. Now I'm gonna look into a new one. Stick in the city just
too much of a pain. Like the CVT ...

 

[Chicobiker]

Hi Chico!



That all sounds encouraging.

Once you get it back on the road, take it into an empty parking lot,
and do some lock-to-lock figure "8" turns at a pretty good clip, both
in first gear and reverse. The object is to _work_ that viscous
coupling, so go fast enuf to get your tires to complain a bit.

If the VC is OK, your car will do this without any evidence of
drive-train stress, but if it is binding, you will hear (and feel) a
clunk-clunk-clunk that will stop as you go thru the transitions (where
the wheels are straight).

FWIW, this is also a test for bad half-shafts, but in that case, the
clunk will be noticeably worse while turning in one direction, whereas
the VC will sound about the same either way.

We'll keep our fingers crossed for ya!

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB
Laboratory Manager
Microelectronics Research
University of Colorado
(719) 262-3101

Thanks Steve.

I did this. I know what the centre diff clunk feels/sounds like
because I had to replace mine a while back. (I had 140k kms on the
car.) No evidence of it whatsoever. I drove the car "spiritedly" for
15 minutes or so to warm it up, then drove circles with it. At one
point, I caught a whif of burning fluid, but that might have just been
things settling down after the clutch & gas tank work. No more smells
after that. No sign of clunking. I didn't push it that hard to chirp
the wheels tho! And I didn't try reverse.

Now, my rear suspension is super-squeaky for some reason! I hope that
goes away. Everybody was staring at me!

So, I feel satisfied for the moment.