Kennyfvholla Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Okay, so I've already spoken with a few people about this and gotten some ideas. This car was just purchased today, and I have gotten some better and longer time behind the wheel to better feel out what the transmission is doing, so I thought I would run it by everyone. The PO told me that someone had done a trans flush. I believe this may be a part of the issue, but I'm waiting on him to tell me if it was done before or after the problem started, as I can't remember. And apparently he has had this issue for about a year.... First, it hesitates to engage forward gear from park, reverse, and neutral. And when I say neutral, that's even when you press the throttle hard enough it to down shift. The engine revs way up and then slams into gear when the lower forward gear finally engages. This is what I noticed during my first test drives... Today, I took it for a few laps around the block. It still hesitates to engage forward gear while at a stop, but had no problem dropping gears when I asked it to by either giving it more gas or dropping the gear myself with the shifter. It has no problem running through the gears while being driven normally or hard. Shifting was smooth with no hesitation. The ONLY other issue I had was when I slowed down (the trans automatically dropped down into third like it should have)and then as I gave it gas again to get going, an intense but non-jarring vibration occurred for half a second before 2nd gear was engaged. Any input is greatly appreciated. I am going to do a trans fluid drain and fill along with replacing the filter on Friday when I get paid, and will do two more drain and fills over the next few weeks. I'm thinking it is some sort of issue with the valve body. Would an overfill of trans fluid cause this issue? Thanks guys! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 *UPDATE* I just got off the phone with the PO The issue has been there for about 2 years now. He took it to a shop for regular maintenance. The shop did a flush and apparently replaced the fluid with the incorrect type, and the issues started about 3 to 4 months later. PO said that he then drained out all of the fluid himself, replaced with correct type and poured in the amount at it's capacity. So, the transmission is definitely overfilled with fluid. He also added the "thick, syrupy, red additive" which caused the issue to get a little bit better and it hasn't gotten any better or worse since. So, I'm hoping that the drain and fill and filter replacement will help monumentally... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stang70Fastback Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Shouldn't he have gone back to that shop and gotten a free rebuild??? I mean, if that's exactly what happened, and he has some sort of documentation, it seems pretty clear that they are responsible for damaging the transmission... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stasis Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 ^Agreed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
famaya26 Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Shouldn't he have gone back to that shop and gotten a free rebuild??? I mean, if that's exactly what happened, and he has some sort of documentation, it seems pretty clear that they are responsible for damaging the transmission... Yea but think of it this way, would you take your car back to a shop that broke it in the first place. If that's what really happened the PO should have held the shop liable and had them fix it through the dealership. I used to go to a shop for my oil changes. Last time I was there I asked if they could check the car to see if anything looked wrong. After a small inspection, the mechanic comes to me and tells me I have oil leaking but wasn't sure from where. He also mentioned it was strange that my engine had Turbo when it was a SOHC engine. Moral of the story; don't take your Subby to just any shop for work! Look for people that has worked on Subarus before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 The guy isn't too bright in this area.. He didn't take it back because he didn't want them working on it again, and his friend also had a car that got messed up by this shop. I don't know why he didn't take alternate action, I didn't ask. That wasn't my concern. What's done, is done. Regardless, I just want to know what you guys think could have gone wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnegg Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 the 99 - 00/1 4eat has a know issue with slow to engage from P or N. do a drain and fill 3 or 4 times to replace the fluid. on the last fill include a bottle, 1 qt., of TRANS-X slip stop. this is known to correct the problem. the problem should be better as soon as you start the car and if like my 00, gone within a few miles. it cannot hurt and it may fix it. this is the only additive i would ever put in a subaru trans and this is the only issue i know of that can be corrected with an additive. good luck and have fun with your new car. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=87708&highlight=success+transx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 26, 2012 Author Share Posted July 26, 2012 Thanks John!! I knew you'd chime in with the answer sooner or later. Now, I plan on replacing the filter on the drain and fills. Should I replace it on the first or last drain and fill? Or even at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stasis Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 removed to avoid confusion. Below is accurate from johnegg the wizard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnegg Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 i don't think it matters. the filter does not have a change interval. so it could go for life. but i would do it on the first one so you know it is doing it's job on the new fluid. but don't make the mistake some have and install an engine oil filter. that would be a HUGE mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 27, 2012 Author Share Posted July 27, 2012 I went to the dealership this morning and bought the trans filter and 4 quarts of Subaru's ATF fluid. I'm gonna get going on it tonight after work. I'll just replace the filter then. Might as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Okay, so I have another update on this whole thing... I replaced about 4.5 quarts of transmission fluid and added a quart of Trans-X slip stop when it wasn't helping too much. The car does shift into Drive a tad quicker than it was, but it still slams into lower gear when throttle induced downshifts are attempted. And the REALLY weird thing about that issue, somehow one of those slam shifts killed the alternator and battery... Also, I now have an issue when it's shifting into 2nd gear. The whole car does that shuddering vibration. It sometimes shifts almost instantly into forward gear, but only when I throw it into Neutral and then back into Drive less than 2 or 3 seconds later. Otherwise it take it's usually 5 to 6o seconds. At one point during the drain and fill process, the car was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT and shifted with no issues whatsoever. And then, all of a sudden, the issue started up again. I only did one drain and fill, but I'm starting to become at a loss for the whole thing. I did replace the filter, as the one on there was not OEM Subaru and had a 05/2007 date stamp on it. The fluid that I drained out from the drain hole had a dirty-ish red color to it, BUT the fluid that came out when I pulled the filter was dark brown and nasty. It also almost seemed to have less viscosity to it, but I honestly can't remember for sure... OH, and the last thing. I only used 3 quarts of Subaru trans fluid.. I ended up having to get more from Advance Auto as it wasn't going to make the 35 mile drive back home from where I did the job unless I added more. I used the Dex III / Merc (or whatever it is; Advance Auto's own brand). Should I have used something different? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baddog Posted July 31, 2012 Share Posted July 31, 2012 Make sure the level is at the full mark. Not more, Not less. These 4EAT's are tricky SOB's. I usually don't advise many people to do their own fluid on an automatic because too many people screw it up. You need to see how much comes out and put the exact amount back in. Shift through all the gears. Drive it for a little. Repeat. How long has this slip stop been in there for? Could take a little time. If the fluid was that bad as well you should finish getting all that out of there by doing the drain and fills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Make sure the level is at the full mark. Not more, Not less. These 4EAT's are tricky SOB's. I usually don't advise many people to do their own fluid on an automatic because too many people screw it up. You need to see how much comes out and put the exact amount back in. Shift through all the gears. Drive it for a little. Repeat. How long has this slip stop been in there for? Could take a little time. If the fluid was that bad as well you should finish getting all that out of there by doing the drain and fills. Problem is, I'm having a really hard time on this one figuring out where exactly the fluid level is at... I did 3 different drain and fills on my 96 GT to get rid of torque bind and smooth out the shifting and it wasn't this hard. I was able to get the dip stick very cold and then figure out pretty much exactly where the fluid level was at. I try that with this car and it doesn't help... I would put in exactly what I took out, but the problem was that the PO had overfilled the transmission by a few quarts. Almost 8 quarts came out of a trans that's supposed to take 9.3 The slip stop has been in for about 1 day now. I drove it around for about 10 to 15 miles total now. I'm thinking that I need to do a couple more drain and fills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 I'm having another issue now.... It's with the alternator. I went to start it up this morning after sitting all night and the battery and brake lights were on, just like they were after the car died on the side of the road. It was working perfectly fine yesterday. I'm going to cut and replace about 5 inches of the lines that bolt to the top of the alternator as they look a bit rusty and corroded. But could that really kill an alternator?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kennyfvholla Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Anyone? Anything? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.