Trans advice for 95 legacy.

[AdventureSubaru]

A friend of mine recently contacted me for help with her Legacy. It's a 95ish L sedan with the 2.2 and automatic transmission. Bout 175k on the odometer. The symptoms she described are unusual to me so I figured you guys might have a better explanation than what's in my head.

 

1. The trans shifts with a bit of a clunk every so often.

 

2. When the car is put in park, it sometimes drifts forward a little after it is turned off.

 

3. She said her mechanic told her that "the tracking when turning was off" and that this was a trans related issue. (Or at least that she needs a new trans.) It was explained that the wheels are out of alignment when she turns the car.

 

All this has me wonder if she's being fed a bunch of B.S. or if there is an issue here such as the front diff? Can the trans cause such alignment issues? I will be looking at the car myself in the next week.

 

Any thoughts or advice or things to look for?

[davebugs]

Don't know where to start - other than a different mechanic.

[eulogious]

Yup, different mechanic.

 

All those "issues" aren't really issues. The car has 175K, of course things aren't going to work right! The clunk is normal for older subarus. The car moving forward... use the ebrake more. Then it won't move. And for #3, WTF? Where did he get that from? Never heard of that destroying a transmission.

 

Find a good subaru mechanic to look over the car, that's the first thing I would do if I was really worried about the car.

 

HTH!

[987687]

Mine shifts into 2nd with a bit of a bang, it has 250k miles on it, it's not showing any signs of dying.

Every automatic will roll forward a bit when you put it in park. It has to roll forward or backward onto the parking pawl. If you're parking on a hill, use your parking brake. That way you're not abusing the transmission.

[Rooster2]

Responding to your questions by the numbers:

 

1. Change the ATF. There is a drain plug on the bottom of the trans to do this. Change and drain 3 times with min of 5 minutes of drive time between changes. Reason for this, is that you can only drain about half of the ATF out of the trans. The remainder stays in the torque converter. The 3 changes helps get all of the old tranny fluid out. I am guessing the trans fluid in the car has never been changed during the life of the car. New fluid in the trans will certainly help the trans to shift better. I would do this first before doing anything else to the trannyh.

 

2. Normal for car to roll just slightly forward or backward when selector is put into Park, and motor is turned off. All cars with an automatic transmission do this.

 

3. I have no idea what the mechanic is talking about regarding tracking. I don't think he does either, as reasons to replace the tranny. Sounds like mechanic scare tactic given to a woman to sell a tranny job. I wouldn't go back to that mechanic again.

 

Just my 2 cents worth of advise. Keep us posted on any updates!

[ivans imports]

as they wear the clearances get biger and the gear asemblys start to shuttle back and forth the plastic trust washer on the pump stater is probly worn and has a bit to mutch clearance should not afect it to bad but will eventualy wear to far and get damaged but takes years the first syemtem is takeing a long time to go into reverse or clunking going into reverse or clunk going from reverse to drive

[Fairtax4me]

Rolling forward a little after being shifted to Park is quite normal for automatic transmissions of any kind.

 

Info here: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/automatic-transmission11.htm

 

Clunking and hard shifting from 1-2 and 2-3 are fairly normal for the 4EAT. A fluid change may help, but probably won't, it's just how these are.

 

Find a good mechanic for your friend to take her car to. Don't let her take it back to that guy and get robbed.

[Ricearu]

#3 sound like torque bind, if you have no flashing AT TEMP light on start up, I would start by pouring in a bottle of Trans-X, available at wal-mart, or auto parts stores.

 

if it bucks and lurches while turning corners or circles in a parking lot, it's torque bind.

[Recian]

Find a real mechanic. When the wheels turn the alignment does change. Thats a duh moment. Also even new automatics drift until they hit the parking pawl when on a hill. A hard shift is to be expected at that mileage. A fluid change wont hurt as long as theres no torque bind.

[ivans imports]

check tire preshures a low tire will cause awd to come on when not suposed to

[vasy]

 

Clunking and hard shifting from 1-2 and 2-3 are fairly normal for the 4EAT.

 

I agree. My 96 OBW with AT always shifts with a noticeable clunk from 1-2 (but not 2-3). It's been doing so since 1996 when I bought it new. I change AT fluid every 30,000 miles and haven't noticed any change in its shifting characteristics in 16 years.

[987687]

I agree. My 96 OBW with AT always shifts with a noticeable clunk from 1-2 (but not 2-3). It's been doing so since 1996 when I bought it new. I change AT fluid every 30,000 miles and haven't noticed any change in its shifting characteristics in 16 years.

 

Did it when new? Wow, I always just assumed when brand new they worked properly.

the 2-3 thing is more the phase2 trans, and it's a slow shift issue.

[AdventureSubaru]

Thanks guys! Good info. I suspected the "mechanic" was up to no good most likely. She's a girl... in Chicago... and she wants this thing to last a while.

 

I'll be looking at it either Sunday or Wednesday and we'll see what's up.

[AdventureSubaru]

#3 sound like torque bind, if you have no flashing AT TEMP light on start up, I would start by pouring in a bottle of Trans-X, available at wal-mart, or auto parts stores.

 

if it bucks and lurches while turning corners or circles in a parking lot, it's torque bind.

 

Okay. Here's the scoop. Looked over the car today and could use just a little more help.

 

Oil leaks were minor. Looks like a bit from near the camshaft pulley and another from the back that is probably the oil separator plate. It's not consuming much. just enough to keep the bottom of the engine wet.

 

The AT TEMP light is flashing on startup. Am i correct in that would indicate a trans code to be pulled?

 

Either way I am suspecting a little torque bind. It doesn't quite buck around when taking tight turns but something seems a bit unusual. Like one of the tires is skipping a bit or something.

 

I advised new/matching tires for it. She has all 4 same size but 3 different brands of tire on it and probably a little variety in tread depth/inflation.

 

Struts were weak in the back. One at least seems to be leaking. Maybe both.

 

So am I right in advising 4 matched tires as priority 1, new rear struts priority 2? I put in some trans x as an added help. Stuff is great on subes.

 

Would autozone or anyone pull the codes for that AT TEMP light? or what am I looking for there. The car is OBDII I think.

[Fairtax4me]

Pull the trans codes to find out why the AT temp light is blinking. AT codes must be pulled manually, You cannot read AT codes with an OBD2 scanner.

 

4 new tires or 4 matching used with the same tread depth will help, but may not fix the TB problem. Likely the Duty C solenoid is bad, or there is some bad wiring to it.

[AdventureSubaru]

Okay. Is there a writeup for pulling the codes manually?

[AdventureSubaru]

Been reading up and Torque bind is a safe assumption. If it doesn't go away with new tires, what's the best way to get rid of it? And how do I pull trans codes?

[Fairtax4me]

Typically once torque bind has started it doesn't go away. Sometimes fluid changes help, but the causes vary, and there are a few fixes depending on the cause.

 

There are a few threads on how to pull TCU codes. I think the method differs from older to newer models.

[Ricearu]

if it's a TCU code, it could be the duty c solenoid, the clutch pack or the TCU itself is kinda prone to failure. My outback had torque bind and NO codes and a bottle of trans-x made it go away. But my wife's 96 sedan still had it so bad that I had to take out the rear section of the driveshaft.