5MT Oil caramel color, HELP

[freedom]

Just had a used 5MT in my 94 Wagon installed by Subaru. The old 5MT was about to loose 3rd & 4th. The new/used 5MT has a Hi/Lo dual range which was not present in the old one. The old rear 4.11 diff was not swaped out as the new tranny matched it or so the reapirman said.

So after 200 miles after the install the spedometer went out. Looked under the hood and the spedo cable was hanging there. After closer inspection I saw the plastic threads were melted and the tranny was real hot. WTF I ponder?? Checked the oil level and its fine except it smells horrid and is very caramel and light smoldering off the dip stick. The repair shop is closed this week and so I droped the old oil and replaced it with fresh until it can be looked at next week.


Anyone have a clue why this 5MT is acting this way?

[rallysam]

Hmmmm... weird.

Well, I've always seen gear oil is caramel colored and smells like something rotting. But I can't help you with the rest of fit. I guess having the wrong final drive ratio might lead to this because you are constantly stressing the viscous coupling in the center diff.

[freedom]

The complete driveline was pulled from another wagon. Only the transmission was swapped. The rear from the new tranny is 4.11 so that explains why the tech left the original 4.11.

It's within the realm of possibility that the 4.11 is other than what it's labeled. A friend suggested the internals were replaced or the cover. If this would be the case that perhaps a different gearing was present then drivability would be very poor in addition to what has happened thus far.

I wonder if my center diff is toast?

[professor]

melting nylon = 480 degrees F

don't drive that, you may have a fire or expel hot oil all over the place

[rallysam]

I dunno, sounds like that explanation is starting to get far fetched. It's possible but....

I would check around for other problems. Is an exhaust pipe anywhere near this nylon? Could there be hot oil or coolant leaking out of something nearby? Could there be an electrical problem?

BTW - I think this hi/lo setting indicates that the tranny is be from an older Subaru, not a Legacy. I don't see how that sheds light, though.

[freedom]

Thanks for all the reply's everyone.

No leaking fluids but heat shields are long gone. The Hi\Lo Tranny was pulled from a 93 Wagon (European) here in Germany. The 94 I own is a US model. I don't think there is any difference between US/Europe or?

Well I'm looking at installing the 4.11 rear diff that was married to the tranny Saturday. Also the gear oil will be replaced with new. Logic says the effort is fruitless but anything is possible at this point.

[Project_Legacy]

im pretty sure U.S. and Europe models are different. i thought the U.S. were the only ones to get the 2.2T Legacy Turbos while everyone else got the 2.0T Legacy Turbos. correct me if I'm wrong...

i have no idea if tranny's are different though.