4EAT problem

[Vostok 7]

Hi all,

My father testdrove a '91 Legacy Sport tonight and had some questions.

There's what I guessed to be a problem with the electronic power distrobution system.

What it's doing is on the freeway at certain speeds it'll pull wierd when you throttle it, kinda like torque steer is how he described it. And it will shudder like all your wheels are out of balance and get worse as you go faster. It's also sluggish. He says it feels to him like it's moving the power around to the different axels constantly.

Then, he took it to some gravel and throttled it. The front wheels broke loose, and then the rear wheels broke loose shortly afterward... He drove it around a little, and then when he got back on the freeway he said everything ran perfectly... but then after a little while it would start not working again.

I guessed it's probably a problem with the TCU - somehow it's confused and isn't working correctly on pavement.

It's a '91 with 74k miles and is otherwise immaculate. It's a good price for general condition, though if the owner can't figure out how to fix the problem we're going to negotiate a lower price and try to fix the problem ourselves.

My guess is all it needs is a TCU reset and it'll be fine, that somehow the transmission's brains got scrambled but I wanted to know what others thought.

I need an answer ASAP so we can move on this car if we should!

Also, how much would a tranny or tranny computer replacement or repair cost?

Thanks,
Patrick

[eastbaysubaru]

Depending on the cost, it sounds like a great deal. I would jump on it as it's the only year that got the LSD. Especially if it's in as good of condition as you suggest. I've got a 4EAT and seem to have what's known as torque bind. It happens at slow speeds though.

-Brian

[Vostok 7]

Looks like it was torque-bind.

Odd since the car only has 74k miles. Looks like the guy's going to try to fix it, but we got a quote to fix it for $500!

Hopefully in the next couple days there'll be a Legacy Sport added to my small Subaru family!

Patrick

[eastbaysubaru]

$500 sounds like a good deal. Do you know exactly what they're going to do for that?

-Brian

[Vostok 7]

$500 sounds like a good deal. Do you know exactly what they're going to do for that?

-Brian

Not 100% positive, but if the guy selling it can't get it fixed, we'll find out since I know it involves replacing the back end of the transmission (roughly).

The shop who quoted us $500 is a reputable tranny shop and he said he's seen alot of subarus of that vintage with that problem, so it sounds like he knows what he's talking about.

Patrick