Transmission hesitation

[mzsubaru]

I have a 2000 Subaru Outback Limited sedan with 76,000 miles and an auto trans. It is primarily driven daily by my wife but we also use it for longer trips. Needless to say we are both careful drivers and are not hard on it.

 

Lately, we've noticed a hesitation when moving forward from reverse (backing out of our driveway) and periodically after a stop at a traffic light or stop sign.

 

Our Subaru dealer told us that we need to quote "replace malfunctioning valves and clutches in trans." The estimate was $1830.00. When I asked the service desk what kind of diagnostics were performed, I was told that that the tech who checked it out has 20 years of experience and he knows his stuff. In other words we're sticking with his diagnosis.

 

I was incredulous. I would have expected a thorough diagnostic assessment, such as pressure checks and possibly a computer diagnosis to back up his assertion for all of this work. I can't imagine that a 2000 Outback with only

76K and 8 years of careful driving would require transmission work to soon. Possibly after 150K, but not at 76K.

 

I had my transmission flushed by this dealer in January this year.

 

How do other 2000 Outbacks with this mileage hold up? What are my options?

I haven't approached Subarau corporate yet; can I count on any help from them?

 

Anyone else out there experienced this problem?

[nipper]

in 1999 and part of 2000 there were bad batch of seals it seems. This is a common issue for these, years. Thats actually the best and first honest price i have heard for this repair. Usually they just quote a tranny rebuild. If you see enough of these things, you dont need to run a diagnositc teste, as its just a waste of time and your money. They were doing you a favor. If the tires are falling off, you dont need to do a diagnostics test for it, same for this.

 

 

Take a page from the Head Gasket book. Nicely contact subaru. Tell them your the original owner, that a subaru tranny should last the life of the car, how you want your next car to be a another subaru, but now your doubtful.

 

I actually wil tell you you have an honest dealer there. Be nice to him.

 

nipper

[2X2KOB]

We had the exact same problem at 148,000 miles on one of the 2000 Outback wagons. Factory rebuilt transmission (one year warranty) bought from the dealer installed by an independent shop. $3750. At the time, I was working overseas and my wife was home with the car, otherwise I would have sought a more economical solution.

[Rooster2]

I have a 99 Leggie OBW that I posted today as "FIXED!! Trany delayed forward engagement." I posted the original tranny problem post about 10 days ago. Possibly your tranny problem is experiencing the same as mine had.

 

Suggest reading my earlier post with responses, and the easy solution that I came up with.

 

You are wise in looking at different options beyond the dealer's $1800 for repairs.

[nipper]

I have a 99 Leggie OBW that I posted today as "FIXED!! Trany delayed forward engagement." I posted the original tranny problem post about 10 days ago. Possibly your tranny problem is experiencing the same as mine had.

 

Suggest reading my earlier post with responses, and the easy solution that I came up with.

 

You are wise in looking at different options beyond the dealer's $1800 for repairs.

 

so rooster what did you do, the magical elixer?

 

nipper

[Rooster2]

so rooster what did you do, the magical elixer?

 

nipper

 

 

My magical exixer was to pull the trany drain plug. This drained about 4 quarts and one pint of ATF that was changed last Summer. I replaced with Amsoil synthetic ATF, and a can of Trans-X AT slip-stop & leak fix. The Trans-X can label says that their product swells seals, so I thought that might help. Well whatever..........the Amsoil and Trans-X fixed the trany problem after about 10 minutes of driving. Now, when changing gears from Reverse to Drive, the annoying sometimes 5 to 10 second delay to actually complete the shift into Drive is completely gone. Now, the trany promptly shifts from R to D with no hesitation like it is a new transmission. I completed this work only about 24 hours ago, so it will be interesting in the days ahead to see if the fix is truly a fix.