Rally Prep... is it bad when there's metal on your tranny drain plug?

[Subie Gal]

uh.... :unamused:

had I not decided to change the gear oil yesterday,
my race this weekend would have likely had a nasty NASTY ending.


routine pre-rally maintenance
my list is too long to post here at the moment
(gotta keep this short as I'm out the door on the way to the event soon)

yesterday decided to drain/fill engine and gear oil

gear oil out... hmmmmm fairly large metal shard on my drain plug (magnetic)

Did not look to be part of the tranny in any way
Not a gear piece
Not a syncro
What is it?


3 subaru technicians later....
we decided it was part of the snap clip off of the axle inner stub inside of the front diff.

to confirm?
using a pry bar we put slight pressure on the suspect drivers side axle
sure enough, axle moved freely in and out of the diff
even though the pin to hold the axle was in place

yikes.

had I gone off and run this rally w/the axle loose like that
the end result could have been really ugly :roll:


anyways, removed the axle/and the axle stub
and yes, only pieces of this clip remained intact
from my calculations there is still 1/4" chunk in there somewhere
hopefully NOT in my syncros or gears...... :shootsself:


guess we will soon find out.

So I am off to Oregon Trail.....


I have no idea how this happened.
No idea how these things do happen
but they do.... every rally.....

gotta keep telling myself that this is fun... we like rally... this is fun!
;)

I'll check in w/you guys when I return
Jamie http://www.subiegal.com/subiegal-smilie.png (http://www.subiegal.com/)

[MetalNeverDies]

that sucks sorry to hear about that. i still need to change my trans and diff fluid. is the bolt that comes in the car from the factory a magnetic bolt or no? im kinda scared of what mine is gonna be like now.

[409industries]

yeah the OEM plug has a magnet on it.

Thats pretty cool that it was diagnosed correctly. Good thing it was caught!

[sebhockey]

Wow, talk about a lucky find, you and Burnsie would have had a nasty falling out. Would you be willing to post your normal rally prep routine on here when you get a chance? Good luck at the Oregon Trail Rally.

[pigpen]

glad you caught the problem ahead of time!

[kreitz3]

I usually have large chunks of metal on my plug when I drain my gear oil. I assume that's bad since 2nd gear is gone.

[Subie Gal]

Yeah all that prep work and 2nd gear blew within sight of the finish marker

in spite of that

great rally... good to be back on stage after a year off

We ran regional only

Won PGT both days

Took 1st Overall in the first regional rally, 3rd overall on the 2nd regional rally

feeling pretty good about that considering the car had quite a few problems

(more on that later!)


Jamie http://www.subiegal.com/subiegal-smilie.png (http://www.subiegal.com/)