About a month ago we were visiting my sister-in-law for the week. Before we started our 5 hour trip home, a friend of my son asked if we could pick up a car for him on the way back. $1,000 for a clean 2005 Subaru Outback with a bad transmission. I rented a U-Haul trailer put it behind the Excursion and hauled back broken Subaru that needed fixed.
The boys searched out the internet and found a used transmission with a little over 40k miles to swap out. With shipping it was around $500.
We planned out a weekend and started tearing into this bad boy. The boys helped get the garage cleaned out so we could stuff it inside to work on it. Once we had it up in the air, it was time to start tearing it apart.
The front axles had to be removed along with the exhaust, driveline, a few electrical plugs and hoses. Then unbolt it from the engine and rip it outta there. We did find a damaged main wiring harness plug on the newer transmission. So while the boys were cleaning up for the night I transferred all those 20 or so pin connectors from the broken plug to the good one. After day 1 the transmission was on the ground and we called it a night.
Of course when 3 sixteen year old boys are together you can’t expect an early morning. I talked to the boys parents and told them it would be a great idea to go ahead and pull the motor too. It had some pretty bad leaks that needed to be addressed. So out came the motor!
We ended up doing a timing/waterpump job, head gaskets, intake manifold gaskets, and valve cover gaskets. Along with a rear main seal.
These boys are kicking some ass!! I did get a little dirty myself but these boys did 90% of the work. After getting the engine and transmission mated together we called it another night.
The engine and transmission went back in the vehicle pretty smoothly. It definitely helps to have a few sets of eyes looking at how things are lining up.
These boys were worn out from the weekend but excited to see this car running after all their hard work. They got ahead of themselves a couple times when putting things back together but that kind of stuff is gonna happen.
Soon enough the car was on the ground and ready for a test drive. Well sad to say the smiles on their faces turned to looks of discouragement. We had a leak!! Right at the front of the transmission. Stupid me!! I should have replaced that front input shaft seal!! I told the boys,
“You win some and you lose some. Stuff like this happens and it can be very frustrating. Especially after all the hard work you guys put into it. You boys know how to get it out and we will get back after it next weekend and get it fixed. Keep your heads up! You boys kicked this cars ass this weekend!”
So the following weekend we pulled the transmission again. Got in there and replaced the seal and reinstalled the transmission. No more leaks and this car is running like a champ once again!! I believe in total he is about $2,500 into this clean 2005 Subaru Outback. Not bad… not bad at all.
Seeing these boys work together, talk crap to each other, and complete a task like this is awesome!! I feel so bless to be able to help and guide these boys in a project that most 16 year olds wouldn’t even consider doing. What a great learning experience for the boys and a good teaching experience for me.
Yes, there are 3 of them under there. LOL
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