nipper

ATRA is a good place to start but still be cautous, I'm surprised about the warrenty, as usually it is the lifetime of the original tranny, not of the sale

AAMCO is still an evil place. Look around find an independent shop. If you do some research on them it is hard to find a good one, I am sure there is one out there some place, But for the most part you will leave with a transmission whether you need it or not. You gte hit with the "we have to take it apart to see whats wrong" Then you get the call that if you dont' want them to fix it becuae the price is too high, they give you a bucket of parts back. Used transmission is a more economical way to go.

AAMCO, if you og there i will personally see that your subaru ownership rights are taken away, right down to your spare parts and owners manual AAMCO is bad, bad, bad. Ask a subaru dealer where they send their customers. Ask around ask anyone BUT aamco. If the car has been doing this for a while and it hasnt gotten any worse it should be fine. Driving over the pass you should be in D3 and all should be well, if not thats why we AAA cards

When mechanics tell you to start throwing additives at something, thats not a good thing (but the mechanic does deserve a pat on the back for it). I will have to look at the flow maps for the tranny (Think I have them) to see if there is anything different on the up shift from the down shift. Lets do a little logic (very little). The transmission, all of auto trannies since after fred flintsone burnt out his feet operate the same .Basically they balance pump pressure (constant) over line pressure (variable). Line is affected by speed and throtttle position. Just the way these things are measured and controlled have changed. Instead of a goveneor we have the VSS, and instead of a modulator we have the MAP. Then there are a series of valves. In a subaru you have both solenoids and mechanical. By manually shifting you override the solenoids. The transimission will force an upshift at or over redline to protect the engine, they all do that. Since you stated that it does it when in D4 and when you manually shift it to D3 we can rule out electrical wierdness. Since this has not gotten worse in years I am going to rule out a band or clutch pack, otherwise by now it would have gotten worse. The band adjustment is minimal, adn I need to look it up to see what that band does on a 4eat. Again since you upshift fine the band is fine. Two Possabilities: An Over Running or one way clutch failed. These operate only during specific times. This breaks it will cause free wheeling, at a specific time, but not make things any worse. See [age 8 as this is what I suspect is wrong. It is not unheard of to have one fail, but not common. The OTHER computer in the transmission, the valve body. The only thing I can think of is one of the spool valves are sticking in one direction (they are called spools as that is what they look like). Some are mechanical, some are floaters (the two different pressures on either side operate them) and some are electrically driven. I am going with it being one of the floaters OR a sticking accumulator. Like I said I need to dig into the schematics to find out, so this is all speculation. I may completly wrong, but I dont think so. Once you see a flow diagram for an auto tranny you can undertsand what is going on (really not that hard to figure out with the set of them). Now I have to see If I have them. some light reading http://www.northursalia.com/techdocs/pdf/transmission/4eat.pdf Some even lighter reading http://www.spooledupracing.com/download/Manuals/FSM/Subaru/Impreza%2006/1-Training%20&%20General%20Tech.%20Ref.%20Books/4EAT%20(Automatic%20Transmissions).pdf

Is it a missfire or power loss... like a overly active knock sensor?

Er um .... how is it on the upshifts. A shift solenoid will do it up and down. What happens if you: take your foot off the gas Pop it into neutral while rolling then put it back in drive. Any other driveability issues or changes. How long has it done this When was the last time the fluid was changed What color is the fluid?

The spring sometimes can do it, but its primary function is to keep things from bouncing and rattling.

Yes. just like anything else it can be intermittent. The next time it happens (do NOT touch) get your hand close to the wheel and feel if it is hot. Your judgement to touch it as if that is the issue I do not want you getting burned.

A hydraulic hose can swell when pressure is applied and you wouldnt notice it. The hoses are a reinforced rubber, with some sort of woven material and a teflon liner. The liner can fail and allow fluid to get to the rubber and cause expansion. Before you do that, are you sure the return spring(s) are working?

Well thats because you don't have one. They are great little units and you would have discovered by now if you had one (by accident). If you suspect brakes you are going to need rotors too and a brake flush. If the brakes are getting that hot to smoke the rotors are probably over heated along with the brake fluid. Over heated rotors can cause warping. There arent many thing that will do this in the front of the car with that smell.

:banana:

Try this, if not let me know i will DL it for you and look into it http://volkswagenownersclub.com/vw/showthread.php/27040-VW-1977-1983-Diesel-Service-Manual-and-Repair-Guide... It is a bit torrent, not sure if it works as i dont have a torrent program on the laptop.

i dont have one either, so i'm just about in the same boat. This is a straight forward repair however if this is what it is.

re using the clips are your problem. You never reuse them as it always results in having to take everthing apart to replace them.

I can give you a source for rebuilt ones, also you can find them at http://www.car-part.com/

after grounds (a notorius older VW issue) i was going to say a main relay of some kind. That may be an interlock year. http://volkswagenownersclub.com/vw/forum.php? try there

I said it could affect an auto. It would NOT happen to a manual because they use one VSS. That VSS goes bad, no spedo but you still have AWD. If this is not cable driven and he is getting the code it means the SENSOR is bad, not the cluster. It mat have happened to you, but it also could have been something else. There have been almost no 96 cluster issues on this board (I said almost) and would rather go with the more common cause first.

Yes do you mean 2.2, 2.5?

Key thing it is an auto, it has two VSS. If one goes bad the spedo will still work, car run normally, just no AWD. 1996 doesnt have cluster issues, that would be the last place I would look. The to sensors are on the transmission and fairly obvios, one rear one towards the front. Dont know if a manual one is the same.

Did you put in a new throout bearing and new clips? There is a clutch spring (forget if it is the pedal or the fork or both) that can cause this. If this is the original cable I would replace it just because.

A seizing CV joint? A dragging brake caliper ... not many things make that smell with loss of power.

The resistor block is cooked. 4th speed is just a straight connection from 12v to the motor, everything else goes thorugh the resistor block. Just replace that and you will be golden, nothing wrong with anything else.

This sounds almost like a bad battery or altenator. The E brake light here is a clue.

Do not get eastern cats, the fail quickly, and i doubt you did anything to kill them. Cats can even handle oil burning.

That looks normal to me. It is shaped like that incase the mount fails your tranny doesnt drag on the floor. This old it has probably seperated and could use a replacement. I am going with driveshaft. Your going to have to drop it and check the joints that way to see if they have play or are seixed.