tow truck dropped my Subaru!

Hi Chico...bad, very bad when towing AWD with two wheels on the ground unless the tow company or your wife placed the fuse in the FWD socket under the hood. Since the car wound up in the ditch me thinks they didn't do that and your wife told them it was 4WD shouldn't matter, they F'd up. Your other issue does sound like a clutch but you need to have the drivetrain inpsected for further damage by the improper tow. Working for you is that it didn't go far so you may just get away with the body damage and clutch.

If it was towed for any distance with just the front wheels off the ground you'd be looking at the centre dif and gearbox. (well the towing company would be looking) And if they're paying make sure the work is done be a Subaru dealer.

Yea, I've had a few of those.

You can tow a 5spd Soobie with all four down and the tranny in neutral w/o problems. Pick up one end, and it's a whole different story; you are then forcing the viscous coupling (VC) thingie to decouple . . . and the 5spd transmission (at least as recently as the 2002 models) doesn't have the electronic clutch for the rear wheel drive, so there isn't any way to disable the AWD.

If it was towed more than a very short distance, and/or at speeds exceeding 15 or 20 MPH (if that), the tow company put some serious wear on that poor ol' VC, to say the least.

Now I suspect that one could change the VC (a $500+ part from Subaru) without pulling the transmission, but the tow truck company probably doesn't know that, and replacing the VC doesn't address your original problem (the one that sidelined the car in the first place), which is almost certainly a worn-out clutch. (Revs go up, car goes slow, rapidly get's worse if you try to force the issue.)

What I'd suggest is that you get the car to a reputable independent Subaru shop, and tell them your story. If, rather than replacing the VC, you (your shop) ask the tow company to fork out for a replacement transmission (junkyard component OK, probably around $500), you can probably get the shop to do the clutch for not a whole lot more than the cost of the components (about $300), as they will have the engine and transmission apart anyway. Otherwise you're probably looking at $500 - $600 or more for the clutch work.

In any event, the tow company is responsible for any damage they cause to your car, regardless of the fact that the missus told them 4WD when it is actually an AWD car; they're The Pros, and should know better.

Post again when things settle down and let us know how it worked out.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Does the car have a limited slip rear diff? I think i read that can cause a towed vehicle to pull off to one side?

anyone?

Not necessarily. The best Subaru mechanic in the Los Angeles area (where I used to live) is an independent shop -- Suby Specialties in Monrovia. (Suby Specialties is probably the best west of the Mississippi; they're that good.) The best in the Reno, Nevada area (where I now live) is another independent shop -- the Auto Clinic. This isn't meant as a bash of dealers in general, by the way. But the best mechanic to do your work will depend entirely on the local situation where you live. The dealer is not always (or even mostly, in my experience) the best.

When I moved to the Reno area a couple of years ago, I did my homework to find a good, reliable Subaru place to do maintenance on our 1999 Forester. I'd lived in the San Francisco Bay area for many years, and Carlsen Subaru on the San Francisco peninsula is a wonderful business with a top-rated repair shop. The local Subaru dealer in Reno, however, has an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau, and a terrible reputation locally. I wouldn't recommend trusting anybody with that sort of record with your car, and I certainly wasn't going to.

*Always* check out the local situation if you want the best place to fix your car.

Update:

"They" finally figured out what to do next.

Damage: Front bumper cover, front driver fender was buckled by the bumper cover getting ripped off, a signal light, gas tank. I guess the car came to rest on the gas tank when it ended up half in the ditch.

Insurance company seemed really hesitant about it, saying it was a "unique situation." It seems to have taken forever for them to figure everything out.

Mechanic who inspected the underside will do the clutch for me. Hopefully no damage to the centre diff, but can only tell after the car is driveable. So I'm told.

After a visit to the scene, I'm now fairly certain that the tow only lasted less than 100m. They got from one side of a highway underpass to the other. Not much speed or distance, and the mechanic told me that the front wheels would not have been "locked" into the tow truck cradle. I'm thinking the front wheels were spinning fairly soon after takeoff and after a few moments of travelling the car skipped itself out of the tow truck.

So hopefully no lasting effects to the centre diff, although it will always be in the back of my mind. The physical damage looks to be fairly minor.

I'm ready to get my car back, but it will be another couple of weeks. The gas tank is not a simple job. It's up above the drivetrain and exaust!

A Toyota Matrix is not the same level of car as an impreza!!!

This one has an open rear diff.

That all sounds encouraging.

Once you get it back on the road, take it into an empty parking lot, and do some lock-to-lock figure "8" turns at a pretty good clip, both in first gear and reverse. The object is to _work_ that viscous coupling, so go fast enuf to get your tires to complain a bit.

If the VC is OK, your car will do this without any evidence of drive-train stress, but if it is binding, you will hear (and feel) a clunk-clunk-clunk that will stop as you go thru the transitions (where the wheels are straight).

FWIW, this is also a test for bad half-shafts, but in that case, the clunk will be noticeably worse while turning in one direction, whereas the VC will sound about the same either way.

We'll keep our fingers crossed for ya!

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101

Got the car back today finally. Insurance companies suck.

Anyway, clutch was the original issue.

New front bumper cover, new front driver fender, and new gas tank later, car looks good as news. New clutch definitely feels different. I couldn't move it an inch the first time it stalled on me. Getting used to the new release point. Feels good to have the car back. Now I'm gonna look into a new one. Stick in the city just too much of a pain. Like the CVT ...

Thanks Steve.

I did this. I know what the centre diff clunk feels/sounds like because I had to replace mine a while back. (I had 140k kms on the car.) No evidence of it whatsoever. I drove the car "spiritedly" for

15 minutes or so to warm it up, then drove circles with it. At one point, I caught a whif of burning fluid, but that might have just been things settling down after the clutch & gas tank work. No more smells after that. No sign of clunking. I didn't push it that hard to chirp the wheels tho! And I didn't try reverse.

Now, my rear suspension is super-squeaky for some reason! I hope that goes away. Everybody was staring at me!

So, I feel satisfied for the moment.