legacycentral bbs

So i picked up this car from a bro deal for 500 bucks. Had 129,000 miles. Owned it for like 2 years and didnt even put 1000 miles on it. Then, last week i took a road trip and put 2,000 miles on it in 7 days. luckily it crapped out right when we got back into town.
First the alternator went out, then the tranny, not even 20 minutes later.
First of all I want to ask if its worth keeping. fortunately for me i could care less about cosmetics, but arent these notoreous for dying around 130,000 miles?
Secondly I found a 1993 lego manual transmission at a local dismantler in "good" condition. Would a '93 tranny drop into a '90 manual transmission ? its for 550 - about what i expected it to cost.

thanks

Edit: also, in week preceeding road trip i noticed some leakage from the car, and a trail when we pushed it around to tow it. could the fix be as simple as a leak or the tranny is toast? When it was dying it would go into gear, but wouldnt respond to gas input.

Welcome to the forum. I wouldn't dump it. I would swap in another 5MT if the oil did leak out then its toast. Did you inspect for leaks??

not yet, gotta call my buddy that does work on subis.
can the swap be a one map operation? I havent really done car work too much - just helped out my bro on his cars (240z, off road racing bronco, etc)

What problems are you having with the tranny and is it auto or manual? Subuaru's especially the older ones last forever. My old one had 250k miles and ran like a champ.

Sounds like manual. Swap should be straight forward for your subie friend. Or probably you. These cars are very user friendly

any online manuals/ directions for a swap?

Edit: tranny fluid level good. main oil dry. how can i test to see if the alternator is any good?

manual to manual is pretty straightforward, it goes in the reverse of how it comes out. Pick up a haynes or chiltons book.

Suburban wrote:any online manuals/ directions for a swap?

Edit: tranny fluid level good. main oil dry. how can i test to see if the alternator is any good?

What do you mean the tranny fluid level was good, but the main oil is dry?

Take your alternator to an autozone or pepboys, they can test it.

yeah, do you mean main oil like the engine oil is dry?

yeah, engine oil is dry
manual transmission oil level is good

You might have more of a problem then you think.. Because if your engine is dry then the oil is going some where and the question is where. But your tranny fluid is good then your tranny is probly just shot.

you must have been getting quite a ticking sound from the lifters if the engine oil was dry.

I didnt hear any sounds on the trip.
The engine oil was full at the start of the road trip, didnt really check it during, just once I got the car back to my house finding it empty

hmm maybe it all came out right as you got back. Look around your engine to find where the oil is coming from. Hopefully it wont be anything big.