05 Outback XT Won't Shift Into 3rd

[jonb96150]

Thanks for the replies.

The symptoms are rare enough that after hours of internet searching, this one thread is the only mention of the same problem. I found threads on tribeca trannys (same trans I believe, the 5EAT) having hard shifts and bad torque converters. But my search kung fu could be weak.:-\

 

Just as Nipper said, the trans does not seem to even know it has higher gears. When this problem occurs, and we then put it into sportmode, there is not the customary gear indicator display. Is is just blank until you use sportmode to force an upshift. It will not upshift at redline unless you use sportmode to manually upshift.

 

When we get time to take it to another dealer (75 minutes away) I will ask about the inhibitor switch and cables. Although I would have figured there were no cables to adjust like on older trannys. I just figured it was all electrical inputs on this tranny but I don't know diddly about auto trannys.

 

Thanks again, any info helps!

[nipper]

No indicator light now is telling me it is a bad tcu.

[jonb96150]

Is there a way to test the TCU?

 

I really appreciate your time and knowlegde!

[nipper]

This is an intermittent thing so not really unless you have a fault light on the dash. The other way to test it is to swap TCU's and see if it goes away. It may be in the shifter itself fdon't know as the car is not in my driveway.

 

Another tool they are supposed to use is a set of pressure gauges on the transmission to read what the tranny is doing internally. This shop just doesnt want to invest the time.