WalterDeat

Thanks to everyone for helping me figure this out. I haven't been able to get the transmission fluid flushed yet, but hoping to get it done friday. Everyone has been really helpful and nice, so it looks like this is a really cool community. I hope to stick around and continue to learn more about my subaru, and subaru in general!

Alright, so I put the fuse back in again and drove for about 10 minutes in different places in a tight turn at low speeds. The problem is completely gone when the AWD is disengaged. This is a relief to me. I'm going to go to the dealership tomorrow (picking up the title anyway) and seeing if they are willing to do the ATF change for free. If not, then I'm going to see how hard it's going to be to do it myself. Here is a question: Should I leave it in FWD mode in the meantime? If I do, will it hurt the car? The torque bind isn't too bad, but I don't want to risk screwing something up.

alright, so I did the fuse thing. I put the fuse in the FWD slot, and when I started the car, it switched over to FWD, and it had the FWD light on. So, from what you guys are saying this means that the solenoid is not the issue? Should I proceed to change out the transmission fluid? I'd like to do it on my own if I can, but I only have basic tools, etc. Thanks to everyone who has helped me out on this so far :-D

So I'm going to go ahead and change out the ATF, but I'm not sure if I can do this on my own or not. Can this be done without putting the car up on a jack? If anyone has a link to the procedures for this it would be most appreciated. My manual doesn't say anything about how to actually do it, and searching google didn't turn up anything right away. Will continue to look for some instructions though.

I actually checked that this morning, and it appears that the AT TEMP just lights up when starting the car, like all the other lights. I thought it was actually flashing, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Is that a good sign?

I checked, and I don't think that the same law applies here in Missouri. I think the no lemon law only applies to brand new cars. When I lived in kansas though I know all used vehicles had to be covered for 30 days.

Thanks BadBrian, that was really helpful. I'm going to try the fuse thing in the morning and see if that disengages the AWD. I'm really hoping that I don't have to get expensive work done, because the dealership sold it to me AS IS and I doubt they'd be willing to fix it for free. I should have done more research before buying the car, but oh well. And when you say ATF, does that mean the transmission fluid?

Some extra information: It has 102k miles on it.

And I don't know why I spelled "torque" as torch...must be tired. I'm not THAT much of an idiot, I promise!

Ok, so I just bought my first Subaru a few days ago. It's a 1997 legacy 2.5 gt. I love the car, but after 2 days of driving it I noticed a slight shudder/shake when doing a very low speed turn (out of the driveway, parking lot, that kind of thing). After searching on google, and finding these forums, it seems likely that I may have torque bind issues. Whenever I start the car the AT temperature light comes on, is that related? I'm not the most technically skilled, and I don't have very much knowledge on the mechanics of cars besides the basics. My question is this: If untreated, will this issue develop into something much worse later on, or is it just an inconvenience? After reading some posts on here I'm a bit confused also on what exactly needs to be fixed. I saw some things about an inexpensive fix for the issues, and then I saw some posts about replacing some parts, and it costing anywhere from 500-1000 dollars, which is scary considering I just got the car. I know you guys have probably gotten a similar question in the past. Rest assured that I did search around to see what I could find, but figured I'd give the details of my specific situation and see what I could find out. Thanks for any help, it's much appreciated.