Transmission Trouble

[Maverick4u]

 My daughter has a 2011 Legacy 2.5i . The other day her dash lit up and the AT Oil temp light came on. Apparently, her tranny is overheating. There was fluid that leaked on to the engine. Looks like some pressure built up in the tranny case and blew fluid out the seals. Took it to a local repair shop and they said the transmission is blown and needs to be replaced. A new CVT transmission is like $6100 just for the part (ouch!) But they said they could put a used one in for $3200. Aamco here won't even work on Subarus. They said there's a chip in the transmission and  needs to be flashed and the Subaru dealer won't do it? 

At any rate, looking for any help or direction on what to do here. The used one this local shop found has 120k miles on it. Are there any good sources for remanufactured transmissions? Anything I can try before I plunk down $3-4k for a replacement? Thanks for any help!

 

[silverton]

the CVT's need a 'relearn procedure' that requires a subaru select monitor, or SSM.  dealer tool.  If you have a local subaru specialty shop, they should be able to do it for you.

[Maverick4u]

Ok-so if I get a used transmission it wouldn't work in my car? If I had this local shop (not the Subaru dealer) put it in they wouldn't be able to complete the installation since they don't have the software or SSM etc? They aren't a Subaru specialty shop...

[silverton]

They may have acquired an SSM setup?  all it is is a piece of software and a denso dst-i interface box.

[m sprank]

I know of no shops with a SSMII. Tool was made by Hitachi. Subaru would not sell to independants.  Dealers were not allowed to sell or loan. Why woukd they??? Hitachi would sell you one. But... they were over $7k each.  So no way to justify at that cost. I believe they are now out of production. Not even every dealership has one anymore.  Tough to find a dealer to reset a 4th gen as they dont have the SSMII anymore and the new tool is not backwards compatible.  Going to become an issue for 5th gen now too. 

[NVAKeith]

Sorry you’re going through this.  Gambling on a used CVT is a crapshoot.  They had a 10/100 warranty due to issues and the 10-12 had troublesome torque converters that could cause stalling when coming to a stop (TSB 16-90-13R).  It’d be ideal to find a used one that was already replaced under warranty, but not sure how you’d accomplish that.

https://www.subaruoutback.org/threads/tsb-16-90-13r-torque-converter-found-it.403601/

[Maverick4u]

Thanks for your input here. What I don't understand is why just about every other part on this car (and other cars) can be repaired or replaced but not the transmission. I mean if the head gasket blows-no problem. Tear down the engine and replace it. If the suspension, cooling system, drive train go bad all can be repaired. But not this transmission! I mean the CVT transmission isn't that complicated. Prob the torque converter or valve body is shot-why can't you just open it up and replace the bad parts? You can't hardly even flush and replace the filter in this transmission. My Subaru dealership told us $11,000 to replace the transmission Wow. Someone told me that Subaru treats the tranny as a permanent sealed unit that should never be opened or even flushed.  How is that feasible?

[m sprank]

Because contaminants destroy the internals. A CVT is baically a rubber band. You are not supposed to open the system and even fluid changes can cause issues. Transmissions are assembled in a clean room enviorment. Same is true of A/C's.  Once you open the system, its never the same. No way to remove 100% of the moisture and contaminant no matter how many driers you swap.

Not to mention Subaru had several issues with the early CVTs. 

[Maverick4u]

Ok I can see that but eventually you have to flush the tranny and change the filter because of contaminants and degraded oil right? Esp in a car that has 200k miles on it

[m sprank]

No.  According to many manufactures a CVT is lifetime.  If it needs a fluid flush and filter, you need a new transmission.  Welcome to the new world.  Just wait until all you can buy is electric. 

[silverton]

the CVT fluid being lifetime is bullshit.  I think what they mean by "lifetime" is, we want you to buy a new car when it fails. If you read the fine print in the service manual it states, under severe conditions, the CVT fluid should be replaced every 25,000 miles. At about 60,400 I sent a CVT sample to blackstone and they said the fluid is likely good for 70,000 miles, I posted their report in my 'build' thread. I was able to get 3 complete drain and fills out of a five gallon bucket, might be a fourth but I don't want to chance being short on fluid and I was happy with the fluid condition while performing the fill procedure.

the independent I work at has an SSM2, 3 (big green brick), and 4 on a laptop with a denso dsti interface, no idea how they were acquired but we got em!  the SSM2 is archaic looking   that being said, our ssm4 is outdated from 2018... i've asked several times to get an update and it hasn't happened yet, thankfully we can still put the 19+ in to brake maintenance mode. We do at least one valve body, torque converter, or whole cvt replacement weekly.

Severe is categorized as, repeatedly driving short distances, bumpy roads, dusty conditions, extreme cold weather, wherever they salt or other corrosive used on roads, coastal areas, and high humidity or mountainous area.

My commute is 2 miles, that's repeatedly driving a short distance.  the roads are fucked around here and everywhere, so that's the bumpy roads.  dust, cold weather, salt.... dont get much of that here, I imagine extremely cold weather is subzero, but I am in a coastal and mountainous area.

[Maverick4u]

Yea my feeling is if it got flushed and the filter changed or maybe at least flushed the car would still be ok. At this point, my choices are replace the transmission with a new or remanufactured one or roll the dice with a used one. Anybody know how much a reman from Certified Transmissions costs?