2003 TCM in a 2001 car ? is it possible ?

[AlainB]

I'm the owner of a 2001 Outback H6, the canadian edition which is close to a LL Bean in the USA, so it's not a VDC

next week i'm doing a transmission swap with a JDM VTD transmission from a Lancaster H6 not that I was looking into it but my front differential is broken and I had a nice deal on Ebay on the tranny, compared to what I would pay in a canadian yard for overused canadian one, even a plain MPT 

 

for the moment i'm just planning to use the 10 amp fuse in the FWD slut in the fuse box so the VTD transmission stay in 45-55 fixed mode plus adding a manual switch for a Center diff lock on demand

 

in trying to know if a TCM from a 2003 would be compatible with the harness and communication bus of my 2001, even if I had to move a few wires around ?

My idea would be to get the TCM from a Legacy GT 2003 which also came with the VTD transmission so I could have the full VTD mode enabled 

 

[wtdash]

Hi,

This isn't a perfect comparison....but I had a '02 WRX w/the 4EAT and played around w/a '02 JDM TCU / TCM. I was trying to gain access to the Power / Hold option on the JDM version.

 

It didn't work - gave me a trans code when I turned the car on. I was unable to find the code ANYwhere on line, so I never actually tried driving the car. Didn't want to screw up the transmission.

 

If you could get a JDM version to go w/your JDM trans, then it might work and I'd think the 2001-2003 would interchange - BUT I also tried an '05 TCU on my '02, and it caused a light case of torque bind - no codes - but definitely wasn't right. The '02-'05 USDM WRX used the same EJ205 and were virtually identical, but obviously there were differences between years.

 

TD 

[Fairtax4me]

You'll need to find FSM for those years and compare TCU I/O pinout diagrams for both of them. You may be able to make something work, but first you need to know what will need to be changed in order to even plug them in.

You may fry the new TCU as soon as it gets plugged in if you don't make sure it has the same pinout as the old one.

[AlainB]

after hours of searching on google I found my answer

2003 legacy GT = 3 x 24 pins connectors with many empty pins

2001 outback = 2 x 24 pins connectors with a few empty pins

 

I need to get the exact pinout of both cars

rewiring is possible and beeing an electronic technician I'm used to play with wires ....

 

legacy gt also has the same final drive

[idosubaru]

since i'm an electrical doofus, I'm sure you know this if you're an electronic technician!

but just in case - to be Subaru specific - in other Subaru situations you can "unpin" a connector by depressing the tabs and pulling the pin/wire out of the connector.  And then repin a new connector. 

 

But how about this question:  

 

*** Is the wiring of the 2003 different due to it being a 4 cylinder or non-VDC or non-VTD? 

 

Probably VDC but might want to verify that. 

 

The FSM's are readily available online for free, I've gotten a few H6's for free online.