Lots of resistance when shifter moves left or right, also doesn't sit centered

[chebb]

As title says. I'm currently looking at a 2014 BRZ, ~85,000 km on it, I took it for a test drive a day or 2 ago, and there was a ton of resistance in the shifter, it was extremely hard to move left and right to put into gear. I also noticed that the shifter wasn't always sitting in the "Neutral" position. It was slightly off the the left, so to put it into 3rd gear I had to nudge it over a bit instead of going straight up. At first I thought maybe there was some sort of short shifter in it, because I have only driven 1 other BRZ that felt completely normal, but I have a hunch that there's something wrong with it. I also got the CarFax for it, and it states that there was undercarriage damage, costing ~$3400 CAD, which also has me thinking I might pass.

Does anyone know if the shifter bushing might just be worn? Or any ideas what the problem could be? It's for sale from a small dealer that only sells Subarus, but I'm going to see if I can take it to a Subaru dealer before purchasing for sure, but I'd like some ideas for now. Thanks for the help!

[Decep]

run away not today, disco laday

[soundman98]

sounds like that car is going to make you it's b!tch if you buy it.

i mean, if you've got an untold fortune to blow on a recurring issue, at least make it british or italian car, so others will understand.

[DarkPira7e]

There are literally hundreds of thousands of these cars. Don't impulse buy one, take your time and grab one that's sorted out

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by DarkPira7e

There are literally hundreds of thousands of these cars. Don't impulse buy one, take your time and grab one that's sorted out

Not in Canada there ain't! Especially in Manitoba.
I would normally say not to worry about something as simple as a shifter adjustment but coupled with unknown "undercarriage" damage I would shy away from that one.

[chebb]

Pretty sure there's 2 of them for sale in Manitoba currently.. that's about the biggest market I've seen here in 6 months. Should I even bother with taking it to the
Subaru dealer?

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by chebb

Pretty sure there's 2 of them for sale in Manitoba currently.. that's about the biggest market I've seen here in 6 months. Should I even bother with taking it to the
Subaru dealer?

Yep. Those damned Americans think we have as many rolling around as they do when really it is something like 10%.

If you can find out exactly what the undercarriage damage was it may be OK. A misaligned shifter is not that rare on here and can be fixed with a few adjustments but I would be worried about why it was misaligned based on the damage report.

[Ultramaroon]

Just take it anywhere with a lift so you can look underneath it. Post some pics.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by chebb

As title says. I'm currently looking at a 2014 BRZ, ~85,000 km on it, I took it for a test drive a day or 2 ago, and there was a ton of resistance in the shifter, it was extremely hard to move left and right to put into gear. I also noticed that the shifter wasn't always sitting in the "Neutral" position. It was slightly off the the left, so to put it into 3rd gear I had to nudge it over a bit instead of going straight up. At first I thought maybe there was some sort of short shifter in it, because I have only driven 1 other BRZ that felt completely normal, but I have a hunch that there's something wrong with it. I also got the CarFax for it, and it states that there was undercarriage damage, costing ~$3400 CAD, which also has me thinking I might pass.

Does anyone know if the shifter bushing might just be worn? Or any ideas what the problem could be? It's for sale from a small dealer that only sells Subarus, but I'm going to see if I can take it to a Subaru dealer before purchasing for sure, but I'd like some ideas for now. Thanks for the help!

It could be that the shifter plate needs adjustment. You might ask the seller to adjust it and see if that settles it in.


humfrz

[Mr.ac]

Don't buy someone's old headache.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by humfrz

It could be that the shifter plate needs adjustment. You might ask the seller to adjust it and see if that settles it in.


humfrz

No. That's not going to cause that kind of resistance. The seller? If the seller knew jack shit it would've been fixed before any of this started.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

No. That's not going to cause that kind of resistance. The seller? If the seller knew jack shit it would've been fixed before any of this started.

Well, OKaaaaaaaaaaa-

(grumpy old man)




humfrz

[soundman98]

Originally Posted by chebb

Pretty sure there's 2 of them for sale in Manitoba currently.. that's about the biggest market I've seen here in 6 months. Should I even bother with taking it to the
Subaru dealer?

so the way i look at it is this. i account for obvious mechanical flaws in my negotiations, and barter with the expectation that i'll need to immediately pay for replacement parts and their installation. the typical pricing of vehicles is when they are in good condition, and any obvious mechanical malady is indicative that they are not in good condition.

there's actually something about the damage on the carfax about it(rare, but hey, even clowns get a laugh every once in a while!) and it's still not 100% fixed.

on these vehicles, the shifter is part of the transmission assembly. tada san was very specific about maintaining a direct linkage from the shifter to the gears to reduce the soft feeling cables can introduce.

in this image, the little post sticking out of the top, back of the transmission is the shifter connection point



in this picture, you can see it's just a small hard rod connecting the shifter to the transmission


so if there's anything wrong, it's quite likely going to be an internal issue in the transmission itself from whatever that carfax accident documents.

by my estimate a replacement transmission is worth about [spins wheel] $1,000 US, so about $1300 canadian papers. while doing that, i'd also do a replacement clutch, and the updated throwout bearing, so that's another roughly $500($650 ca) in parts for a total of about 1500 us ($1950 ca).

add in labor that's going to be around another $1000 us ($1300 ca), and you're at a grand total of $2500 us, ($3250 ca).

is this particular car worth a $3250 premium? can they be talked down $5000 ca to make it worth your hassle of literally buying a car and then being carless for at least a week to a month while the replacement is located and installed? most likely not--most lots buy cars at auctions where more technical issues like this aren't obvious until they've already bought and delivered it to their yard, meaning their costs into the car likely doesn't grant them that much leeway.

many cars like this start to see auction cycling where people buy it because of it's rarity and low auction price, get it home, figure out that it's a dud, send it back to auction where another buys it, and continues the downward spiral until it ends up in someone's hands that is none the wiser, and they sell it to someone who is even less knowledgeable...

i think there's a reason this car was dumped by the previous owner, and despite the lack of available alternatives, unless there is a serious price cut i see no reason to pursue this particular car.