Problem with AT on '99 Legacy Outback

[jschoene]

Hi there,

I have the following problem on a 99' Legacy Outback with automatic transmission, about 80k miles on it:

When the shift lever was in N and you shift it to D the clutch will not close until the rpms reach about 2200rpms. Then of course, the car yanks forward... This problem persists independent of the engine temperature and always happens when shifting from N to D.

Now this problem does never happen, when you shift from N to R.

The hydr. fluid level and the fluid filter were checked before.
And sure the mechanic wants to rebuild the transmission, which will cost "no more" than 2300 Euros...

Anybody having an idea?

Thanks a lot,
Jan.

[Legacy777]

Have you tried having the transmission fluid replaced/flushed?

It could be varnish or sticking solenoid.

[jschoene]

Josh,

no, as far as I know, the transmission fluid never got replaced.
Does one have to do this on a regular basis?

And, yes, that is what I wondered. Could it simply be a sticking solenoid. That should be servicable, right? I wonder, if I could do this by myself. I just ordered one of those replair books from amazon.com - don't know how much they write about automatic transmissions.

What exactly does "varnish" mean in this case?
Is that some sappy stuff, that is degraded oil?
Sorry I'm german, that means no nativ english speaker, I assume this is a technical term that I am not familiar with.

Thanks for your reply.
Jan.

[Legacy777]

Yes, the automatic transmission fluid should really be replaced on a regular basis. It's really one of the most important things you can do to prolong the life of the transmission. That and an additional transmission cooler.

I don't believe the owner's manual tells you to change the transmission fluid until 30,000 miles or something like that.

What you can do is pull the automatic transmission dipstick and see if the fluid is brownish color, or smells burnt. If either is the case, you should definitely have the fluid drained and replaced, or use one of those machines that flush all the old fluid out.

Yeah if it's a sticking solenoid, they should be able to drop the valve body, and repair it. Without knowing exactly what the problem is, I'm not sure I'd try and tackle this on my own. Especially not without a factory service manual.

The repair books from amazon are ok, but typically don't go into as much detail.

I would first try replacing/flushing the transmission fluid. I'm not sure if you can find the stuff over there, but if you can, you may want to try some trans tune
http://seafoamsales.com/transTune.htm

Yeah, varnish is a sappy/gummy residue left when oil breaks down.

[jschoene]

Thank you for your reply.
I will have a look into if and when the hydraulic fluid got changed.
Getting the fluid here should not be any problem.
Well if that approach does not work out, it is likely, that I will come back to this great forum.

Thanks again for your help,
Jan.

[Legacy777]

You're welcome. Let us know how it turns out.

[jschoene]

Hi Josh,

the problem got solved:
We turned the Outback in at the local Subaru dealership. Although even the boss of the workshop did not know shit about automatic transmissions, we did change the automatic transmission fluid, replaced the filter and flushed the oil cooler and voila:

The AT is running like on the first day...

Again, thank you for your help,
see you back here,

Jan.

[Legacy777]

Glad you got everything worked out.