Why are shops afraid of my car?!

[grampswrx]

Any one have any idea why so many subie shops are afraid of doing an auto to manual swap for me? I found a complete swap to buy and I am trying to get someone to do the labor because I have neither the time nor the expertise.

One place said they can't because my abs won't work on the manual and its illegal for them to do it. Another said that it would cost $2000 in labor at $100 an hour (which seems long to me seeing as a bunch of you have done it in the driveway over a weekend) and another just doesn't get back to me.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them. FYI my tranny went out.

[mike-tracy]

Thats rough. Maybe there's a subie community down there who would be willing to work for beer and pizza?

[grampswrx]

Agreed. If anyone wants some work, let me know. I'll probably be taking the car in to get the 4EAT rebuilt next week sometime. I'll pay and supply whatever you want to keep you working...

[SILINC3R]

SO does this mean you're keeping the car? And also, the tranny needs rebuilding already?

[MConte05]

Any one have any idea why so many subie shops are afraid of doing an auto to manual swap for me? I found a complete swap to buy and I am trying to get someone to do the labor because I have neither the time nor the expertise.

One place said they can't because my abs won't work on the manual and its illegal for them to do it. Another said that it would cost $2000 in labor at $100 an hour (which seems long to me seeing as a bunch of you have done it in the driveway over a weekend) and another just doesn't get back to me.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to them. FYI my tranny went out.

$2000 in labor isn't too crazy. Considering a full trans swap by yourself for the first time will take a few days. Now factor in another guy helping you and now you have 10 hours to do a swap. Which seems reasonable considering what needs to be done. Plus they are not working off of a factory manual or anything, so there is a lot of liability involved. These kinda things either have to be done at a specialty shop that works on Subaru's, or just suck it up and do it yourself.

[grampswrx]

I have only contacted subaru shops and none of them work with cars this old. I am not sure what happened with the tranny. It ran fine for 6 months, then I got it flushed at the dealer and 3 months later it started slipping. It only slipped every so often until one day it wouldn't really engage at all. So its been parked and I have been borrowing my friends 3rd car. I can't believe the tranny needs work after so few miles. I barely drive the car and when I do, I drive very gently. Basically everything will be brand new or fresh when I am done with it. Maybe then I will sell it.

[James614]

I've heard a lot of stories about transmission flushes killing older transmissions. I would definitely stick with drain/refill on all of my cars, it's a pretty useless and potentially dangerous service if you ask me.

[Legacy777]

Yup, transmission flushes are not your friend. They can dislodge built up gunk in the trans and plug holes and really screw things up. Your best bet is to drain and refill only.

Regarding why shops won't do the swap.....it really is a huge liability....espcially in a state like California. The other issue is that most mechanics or shops really don't know what's all involved. It really seems like a daunting task. Plus they are probably not going to take the time to do all the research needed to figure out how to make everything work properly. It is an unfortunate reality of today that most shops just change parts. Some will actually diagnose a problem, but even those, they are pretty tied to following troubleshooting charts laid out by the manufacturer. I haven't run across a lot of techs/mechanics that really just go at the troubleshooting from the fundametals. Some of that is due to the fact cars have a TON more computers in them now.

My suggestion is to print out my swap page and the diagrams and see if that helps them be more comfortable with things. Other suggestion, like folks have mentioned is to do the work yourself.