Stage 2 ATF

[turbosubaru]

Should I go to the dealer for subaru fluid or valvoline? I havent had the car long enough to change the transmission fluid yet.

[fishbone]

As long as the ATF meets the Subaru spec, ATF-HP, you're good to go.

Valvoline has a good synthetic fluid, I would go for it. No sense in going straight to the dealer and have them put the same dino fluid, although that has been proven to work and work great. The synthetic should last you longer and work better under hard driving.

 

You said you haven't had the car long enough to do a trans fluid yet, I am assuming it is a low miles car? I mention this because if you suspect the transmission has been neglected, a trans fluid flush may not be in your best interest.

[turbosubaru]

Thanks for the reply. I've only owned the car for about 4k miles. I bought it at 82K. I recently got an oil change at valvoline, synthetic, but didn't change the transmission fluid. They said it was full. Why would a trans fluid flush possibly not be a great idea?

[fishbone]

The reasoning you will hear is that if the transmission has been neglected/abused and there are deposits in the lines/pathways, by doing a flush it is possible those deposits will become dislodged and clog very small passageways, leading to trans issues.

However, this isn't necessarily true. First, not all flushing machines are created equal.

There are flushing machines that force fluid under pressure into the trans.

There are flushing machines that will simply let the transmission's own pump do the fluid transfer. These are the kinds you want to utilize. They will suck in fresh fluid from one end and dump the old one the other end. As far as I know the fluid is still pressurized as to not overwork the pump, but it is not forced/rushed in.

If the fluid color looks fine, and doesn't smell burnt, odds are you won't have any issues with a trans flush.

Call the place you choose to perform this and check with them what type of machine they use.

[turbosubaru]

thanks