Drive failure problem on Legacy 2R.

[gforceg]

Hi, hopefully someone in here can shed some light on this one.

I started my Legacy this morning and turned on the rear window demist and the auto defrost / demist on the climate control.

The car was in neutral, obviously, and I got out to scrpae ice off the windows.

This is where it gets odd.

While standing next to the car it jolted forward a couple of inches and stalled. Luckily the nearside tyre nudged a low kerb and stopped the car.

I got in and turned off the ancilliaries and restarted the car. It started no problem with my foot on the clutch (I always start cars with the clutch pedal down).

I could select gears but even in neutral the car would stall again when I came slowly off the clutch.

I tried reverse and there seems to be no drive.

It feels as if the clutch is dragging enough to stall the car at idle but not enough to move the car.

If the clutch had failed surely there would be no drive but no drag either?

Any ideas gratefully received.

Thanks in advance.

[vxr2010]

what's the mileage and age , if there is no drive it sounds like a clutch issue , have you tried to drive it , is clutch fluid reservoir full ? i'm assuming engine is running ok , does it stall in neutral with clutch up or down ? , mileage wise depending on use 90 k miles and clutches start to show some wear but can be good for a lot longer or less again on how it's driven

[gforceg]

Hi thanks for getting back to me. It's a 55 plate with 153k on the clock. I can only assume it isn't the original clutch but haven't been through the paperwork recently.

The engine is running fine but the drag begins to happen when I start to engage the clutch in neutral. Clutch reservoir looked ok this morning but I'll check it all again when I get home and update then.

Cheers

[gforceg]

Further to this;

gears are quite hard to fully engage with engine off (the lever only moves half way towards full engagement).

When a gear is engaged, which is usually reverse, there is no drive getting past the clutch (bugger).

When reverse has been engaged and tested it is then very difficult to get the lever out of gear and back to neutral.

Clutch pressure feels normal and pumping doesn't help.

Does this suggest I have two problems?

I have pressed the plate which drives the piston back into the clutch slave cylinder. Fluid flows back to the reservoir. That piston waggles around when not under pressure provided by the plate. Is that normal?

Any ideas beyond "I probably need a new clutch at least"?

Thanks again.

[vxr2010]

sorry i don't go on here much now i don't like the new layout , i would go clutch first , gearboxes if they fail are not too expensive for a rebuild , i think until you do the clutch you won't know , every time i have had a gearbox go on non subaru cars it's whilst it's being driven so if it worked before and not now then fingers crossed , i would do a fluid change on the box too and see if you have any debris on the magnet

[gforceg]

Thanks for coming back with that VXR. I'll try to remember to update when I know what's what.

Cheers.