bulwnkl

Yeah, any gear oil will do just fine, as long as you don't want to shift the car today. Interestingly, the head physicist/chemist/tribologist/formulator at the former Specialty Formulations didn't seem convinced that Subarus needed a GL-5 level of EP additives. I know that, in a super-generic way, the GL-4 rating is 'for' heavily loaded hypoid gears, though GL-5 obviously can help protect things that are more heavily loaded. Maybe he had actually done some load calculations on a Subie diff? I didn't get that far into it with him, since I was able to get a GL-5 treat rate from them easily.

That's simply not true. The two things are entirely different. I agree that the difference between a GL-4 and a GL-5 fluid is almost universally the treat rate of the Extreme Pressure (EP) add pack. It is done this way for manufacturing/production simplicity. In most gear oils, the EP add is still primarily a deactivated Sulfur-Phosphorus package, though some companies use Borates instead. Nevertheless, the dynamic friction modification needed for good synchronizer performance is not precluded in any way by the EP add treat rate needed for hypoid protection. The reason you see nearly all synchronized manual transmission fluids rated as a GL-4 is simply because nearly all manual transmissions need only GL-4 levels of protection. The reason you see more and more transmissions using lighter, ATF-viscosity fluids (and even ATF in many cases) is primarily for fuel efficiency and to be able to get the gear lube to flow well throughout the case to all parts which need it. The nice thing about Specialty Formulations was that, if you simply asked them to, they'd increase the EP treat rate in any of their manual transmission lubes to GL-5 levels. Then you had the proper dynamic friction modification for the synchros, but a GL-5 level of protection. Worked beautifully in my XT-6. **EDIT** I forgot to add that Red Line's 75W90NS product is often used in Subaru transmissions, but it isn't a manual tranny lube. While it lacks the friction modifiers that make many gear oils 'too slick' for synchronizers, it does not, to the best of my knowledge, contain the friction modifiers for outstanding synchro performance. I believe this is part of the reason that many Subie owners find it less than perfect as a manual tranny fluid in our cars.

Guys, this makes absolutely no sense as a Subaru-specific issue. All (essentially) transaxles are designed and built this way; the transmission and final drive are all in the same case sharing the same fluid. The only thing 'unique' about the Subaru is that the final drive (aka differential) is a hypoid unit, whereas transverse-mounted front-drive transaxles (aka nearly all front-drive transaxles now) generally do not employ hypoid final drives/diffs. There's still "the diffs and the output gears and the syncros sharing the same fluid." The presence of the hypoid unit (which is essentially just a matter of where & at what angle the pinion is located relative to the ring gear) is why Subaru specifies a GL-5 gear oil rather than a GL-4 or GL-4/5 like most transaxles. To be clear, though, nearly everyone who ever changes the gearbox oil on any transaxle ends up putting a GL-5 fluid in. That the Subie doesn't shift all that well is more a design issue than anything else, but I certainly agree that all synchronized transaxle fluids can significantly impact both durability and shift quality.

The trick is to know the difference between gear oil and (synchronized) manual transmission lube. That's where the different frictional properties lie. 'Synthetic' manual tranny lubes are better for the tranny and synchros than 'conventional' gear lube. Specialty Formulations (now defunct) used to have a superb mtl for Subies. If you're comfortable with a GL4 gear lube in a Subie rather than a GL5 (personally, I'm not), then Amsoil has an mtl for you (can't recall the name), or you could use Red Line's MT-90. Red Line's 75W90NS isn't actually a synchronized manual transmission lube, but they do leave out the particular friction modification package that most people describe as 'too slick' in terms of how they describe synthetic gear lubes. The fact is, though, that Subaru transmission just shift poorly. Fluid changes can only help that a certain amount.

Not likely, John. The pump pumps the fluid out quickly. I've used this method, too, though I just run the truck (Baja) until the pump sucks air, fill the tranny with fluid, and repeat once or twice more. I'll end up using a case (3 gallons in quarts) of tranny fluid, though the dark stuff is all gone after a couple gallons in this truck.

You probably knew this already, but NOx increases primarily as CC temps rise. It will also increase if the engine can't breathe. So, I think that Log1call's question is a good one. Plus, any chance you need to change the air filter?

I misunderstood your question from the post title. I was going to reply: You could try that. Perhaps LSD would allow you to believe you had become very small/thin and removed the diff guard using nothing but magical purple haze which you keep in your pocket. Seems kinda risky, though. But then I read your post, and realized you were asking something entirely different.

Definitely not, unless they've changed quite recently. It makes sense (to me) that Wix would specify the same p/n for engine and tranny, just as Amsoil does. There's a tie-in there. However, from Subie, they're not the same part number nor are they the same filter. Personally, I wouldn't use anyone's engine oil filter there unless maybe it was Amsoil's EaO. Otherwise, I'd just buy the Subie spin-on. It's a bit expensive, but honestly it'll never need replaced again, or you can do it in 5 years if you really want to.

My information is about slightly newer models, but I believe it is applicable to the '98s as well-- Engine coolant is not routed to the transmission. Rather, ATF is routed forward into the engine radiator. There are dedicated tubes inside the radiator's lower tank that the ATF circulates through in order to provide temperature moderation (either cooling or heating, as applicable). So, disconnecting lines going forward from the A/T should only cause ATF to leak out on you.

The Subaru spin-ons aren't cheap themselves. ~$30-35 at the local dealer here, IIRC? Anyway, according to Amsoil (FWIW), you can use one of their spin-on oil filters in place of the stock Subie spin-on A/T filter. Those have gone _way_ up in price the last year or two as well, but they're still somewhere around $15-17, IIRC? They have a bypass valve in them, just as most any (engine) oil filter does, which is either not present in Subaru's tranny filter, or else it's a very different pressure differential setting (I can't recall whether there was one in the last Subie tranny filter I took off or not). I put an Amsoil on my tranny anyway, because, whether I like their marketing or not, Amsoil has proven to be pretty darned good about actual field testing of their products, and pulling their recommendations if they detect a potential problem. **EDIT: I have no idea what the Subaru OEM transmission filter efficiency ratings are, nor do I believe that anyone who has that actual information direct from FHI will share it. Still, if you obtain that info, please share here!

<sigh> Well, if that's what fixed yours, I'm in trouble. This thing has only ever had Subaru's own branded idiotic version of Bars Leaks. Even that only once, and not for a couple years, and it's been flushed with regular radiator flush (citric acid, I think those products are?) a time or two since. Did you get any visible junk or crap out of the thing when you were flushing it?

I have this same issue on a 2005 Baja. Same procedure on the Baja? The temp control knob feels like a manual connection to me. I do believe the directional control is electric. Now I just have to try to get the O.P. back and see if he'll post some pics. Even though the Baja is the previous-gen Legacy platform, surely there's enough similarity for pics to help me find out what to take apart and where to look?

That's outstanding!! Hey! Why's the steering wheel on the wrong side?

I'm sorry, guyc, but I only have maybe 2 oz. left. Probably more like 1.5 oz. The automatic transmission dose rate is 6 oz. (half a bottle), if I recall correctly. I went ahead and contacted Frank at Auto-RX, and they do ship to Belgium if you choose to give the product a try. Best of luck to you!

Thanks once again!

That's good info. It was indeed that the replacement bearings were single-width (leaving ~half of the pulley unsupported), vs. double-width on the original ones. Thanks!

Ignorant question: What's this "non-fouler?" Aside: I am aware that it's against federal regs to tamper with or alter emissions-control systems. I don't have any code that I'm trying to correct, and frankly I prefer emission-controlled vehicles. I'm just curious about this.

Guyc, my Baja is a 2005, but mechanically all Bajas use the 2000-2004 American-market Legacy platform and powertrain. I have a partial bottle of Auto-RX left in my garage. I would be willing to ship it to you, but I do not think there is enough left. I will check this evening and see.

Leases are no different than purchases. If the dealer thinks that what you're concerned with is just the monthly payment, he'll do any and everything he thinks he can to push the price higher and simply extend the timeframe out longer. Or, he'll do things like say that you're paying 'taxes' up-front. What taxes? You're not buying the car, so you don't pay sales tax! The sales tax is paid each month and only on the lease payment amount (barring some super-scummy jurisdictional issue). Saying that you pay the 'taxes up front' is a tricky way to inflate the price of the car. I once had a dealer quote me a lease on a car I was very interested in. The manufacturer's captive finance company had a subsidized lease available for a certain price that was all over TV, the newspapers, the internet, and magazines. This was at a time where I knew my credit rating and score, and knew exactly what kind of cash money I could obtain from anywhere, without collateral, just on my signature. This dealer quoted me 35% higher payments! I told them they'd seriously messed up the numbers, laughed, and walked out. They tried to stop me outside, but there was no way I was going to do business with them at that point. There are lots of ways to fudge leases, just as there are purchases. Be wary, 'cause dealers will also suck up several full percentage points on the loan/lease rate just because they can and you say yes. They and the lenders work for each other, not for you.

Triangle Auto Supply (that's the actual business/store who uses the Flea-bay name 'theimportexperts') has always been good to deal with for me. They're in the Yakima, WA, area, and used to have a store in Kennewick, too. That one closed some years ago now. I bought my timing belt kit for my Baja from them. I didn't use all the pulleys because some of them didn't have bearing support all the way across the actual pulley the way the stock ones did. The stock ones gave no hint of wear, so I just put them back in. I was on the phone with Triangle about the issue for some time, and for quite a while they were having trouble understanding what I was talking about. They thought I meant that the pulley was not wide enough. It was fine; the bearings were what was not wide enough. I'm sure I could have gotten some pics exchanged and gotten different/better resolution, but I frankly wasn't very worried about those couple original idlers anyway. I'd still do business with Triangle (aka 'theimportexperts') again.

Guyc, I suggest you go to http://www.auto-rx.com and ask them via email whether they can/will ship to you. I have used this product, including in my Baja (Legacy) A/T, and it will do all that Trans-X will do. However, Auto-RX is not a hazardous material, and in fact was developed by a fellow who had myriad serious health problems that he believes came from working with hazardous solvents all his life. Again, I've used it, including in an A/T, and it actually does what it's advertised to do. In my experience, very few products actually do, but Auto-RX and Trans-X both do. Good luck!

I've thought about replacing mine ('05), but I just don't feel like dropping the fuel tank unless I get some overt problem I can trace to the fuel filter or pump. One thing I read once made it almost seem like dropping the tank wasn't necessary. That one thing made it seem like you could get to it under the rear seat cushion with the tank in place. I haven't looked to see about that. If you end up doing it, let us know how it goes?

I agree on the walk-away. I'll bet you the original owner(s) never even so much as changed the oil if it's shuddering that badly at only 45k. Who knows what other malfeasances they committed against it. My '05 Baja will shudder at a stop IF I put the A/T in neutral. It did it significantly when we first got it at ~75k, but it's much, much less now at 105k. Amazing what good maintenance (or lack thereof) will do to a car.

Yeah, I was trying to explain that to the shop who originally installed it for me, but they flatly refused to plumb it that way. They were just stuck on how that would put heat back in the fluid, which was almost worse than heresy to them. Anyway, if the flow direction doesn't matter, then I'll just un-hook and re-hook. I'm not going to use them both, just the factory one. Don't need the aftermarket any more. My ATF cooler (stock one) is a cross-flow, though I must not have phrased myself very well. I meant to say that the factory input and output are on opposite sides of the lower tank on the coolant radiator. So, the ATF inside flows across the tank, just as you say. Sorry if I was unclear before, and thanks for the help.

Hmm... Well, the Baja (what I have), like the newer Legacys, doesn't have a 'top' and 'bottom.' Both ATF lines are in the bottom radiator tank, and there's a left and right. The hard lines along the frame rail from the tranny are also both pointing nearly-straight down. There's a forward one and a rear one. ??