speedo and tranny questions

gunablue · Post by **gunablue** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 1:02 am

Hi!!
I have two questions regarding my car. First question, what would cause the transmission to shift erratically? Would a broken speedo cable cause this? Would a broken speedo cable cause loss of reverse or is that just a typical problem with the 4eat. I have an SVX, so I'm familiar with the problems they have...just wasn't sure if they were the same....

Second question, looks like I'm going to have to give up on the idea of a manual tranny swap because I'm having knee trouble. So my question is, do I have to put a Legacy turbo tranny in my car ( the people at the junk yards that I've spoken with thus far say I have to) or can I put a tranny from any subie within 92-95 as long as the ratios match between the tranny and rear diff?

Please help as I'm quite confused.

Thanks!!

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 2:13 am

speedo can cause shifting weirdness yes, but I haven't heard of one killing reverse though.

You should be able to use a tranny from a non-turbo legacy, but like you said, you need to make sure you get the same ratio.

vrg3 · Post by **vrg3** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 4:40 am

You may want to make sure the replacement auto transmission comes from another BC/BF... Otherwise the transmission control unit wiring and expected sensor signals will be different, and it could be a pain to adapt.

magicmike · Post by **magicmike** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 1:18 pm

Perhaps I'm ignorant but, how does something that is mearly a gage (speedo) influence the rest of the transmission? Our cars do not have a VSS right? In any event, if they did have one, the VSS would be the culpret not the speedo. Doesn't sound likely to me, just my opinion.

Mike

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 1:44 pm

There are two separate speed sensors for our cars, regardless of being FWD or AWD.

VSS2 is in the dash, it is the combination meter unit. VSS1 is in the tail shaft portion of the transmission and reads the signal directly from there and sends it to the TCU/ECU.

The way the VSS2 works is that the speedo gear/cable goes to the combination meter, it is then turned into an electrical signal for the TCU/ECU.

On the newer cars, they've done away with the cable and made the VSS2 similar to VSS1 in our cars.

Now as to why does not having a speedo affect things. The shift maps are based on a lot of things, engine speed, load, etc. Well not having a speed sensor working sort of throws the computer for a loop and it doesn't know what's fully going on, so it has to use the other sensors to determine when to shift.

When the base portion of my speedo cable went out, I did notice a little weird shifting behavior, also I don't think the torque converter locked up as a result as well.

gunablue · Post by **gunablue** » Mon Jul 21, 2003 2:36 pm

Thanks for your help thus far!!

I did some searching and I found two Legacy Turbo trannies. One that I found is a tranny from a 92/93 Legacy Turbo with 100k on it for $750 plus about $70 to ship it. It comes with a 6 month warranty.

The second option is one from a 92 Turbo with 79k on it for $625 but only a 60 day warranty. It's actually still in the car. Shipping is about $200 on top of that.

In my option there really isn't much of a choice here as the difference between the two is only a few dollars, BUT should I let the longer warranty sway me? After spending the money to buy a new tranny, I don't want to have to replace yet another one months from now.

With either of these, will I need anything else besides the tranny as long as the ratios match? Hate to sound stupid, but just want to have all of my ducks in a row.

Thanks!!

gunablue · Post by **gunablue** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 1:49 am

so which one should I go with?

Post by **Legacy777** » Thu Jul 24, 2003 2:22 am

20k is piddle squat, so I'd probably go for the longer warranty

donquijote · Post by **donquijote** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 2:04 pm

I have a 1994 RHD Subaru legacy L wagon and I would like some advices from you.

My speedometer stopped working about 3 months ago and I have verified that my speedometer and the speedo cable were OK (I pulled the speedo cable out of the transaxle and connected my drill at the end of it. My speedometer responded at the rpm rate of my drill).

My questions are:
1. One of the gentlemen in this forum led me to believe that my speedo problem is due to one (shorter one) of the two cables being broken. Yet, the speedo cable I pulled out seems to be one solid piece with a square end. Is there another (shorter) speedo cable inside transaxle? I don't think so, but I just want to be sure.

2. It seems that my speedometer shaft is mal-functioning or its gear is damaged to the best of my knowledge. Is there any sure way to check if the speedometer gear is rotating? One way that I can think of is to remove the instrument panel and disconnect the cable off of the speedometer itself and observe if the cable spins. Is there any other way?

3. If the speedometer driven gear happens to be bad, do I have to drop the whole transmission to replace the speedometer driven gear? If that is the case, I might have to forget about fixing the speedometer.

4. Is the odometer affected by the speedometer gear as well? I would love to at least make the odometer/trip-meter funtional again. Any idea as to what I can do to fix these?

Any help or advices would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 2:13 pm

most likely the base that goes into the transmission is broken. It is a fairly common part that breaks.

viewtopic.php?t=1252

Read over my thread, should give you an idea of what the piece looks like.

donquijote · Post by **donquijote** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 6:43 pm

Thanks Josh for the info!
I replaced the speedo cable base that you included in other thread (http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... lebase.jpg) about a week ago or so, and my speedometer still doesn't work.

As I indicated earlier, the speedometer gear inside the transmission doesn't seem to functioning. Now, this is not an easy job, is it? If this can be done without having to drop the transmission, that would be really great. Otherwise, I'm gonna have to move this item to the bottom of my to do list for now.

In addition, my odometer stopped registering about 3 months ago or so. Is this problem related to my speedometer problem? If it is not related, I'd like to at least fix my odometer problem.

If you had a similar experience and had a transmission guy fix the problem, how much was it?

Thanks!

John

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 8:40 pm

The odometer is driven by the same cable that the speedo is. If it stopped working before the speedo did, then there is something insode the gauge that has failed. replacing the gauge won't help unless you also get the speedo gear in the trany fixed.

MK

donquijote · Post by **donquijote** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 10:40 pm

Thanks MK for the info!

My Hanes repair manual doesn't show anything about removal/installation of this speedo gear part. Could you or someone scan the pages related to this subject and post it up for me? I'd like to assess if this is something that I can manage it myself. If it truly is more than I can handle, I will have to let a tranny guy do the job for me! Any idea as to how much they would charge for the job?

John

Post by **Legacy777** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 11:38 pm

yeah......to fix that gear, you need to remove the tranny....or so that's what everyone says

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Mon Oct 13, 2003 11:49 pm

I'll take a look at my spare tranny, but it does really look like it would have to be taken apart.

MK

donquijote · Post by **donquijote** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 1:32 am

Dear MK:

Have you had a chance to check out your spare tranny?
I would like to know if the speedometer gear can be removed without having to drop the transmission? When I unscrewed the speedo cable base off the tranny to further investigate, this speedo cable base fell into 3 pieces. Did I just break this part? or can I just put it together and reuse it?

Post by **Legacy777** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 2:32 pm

The speedo base comes as one piece, however after time the metal washer, rubber ring and base can separate. I'm not sure if this what you're referring to as three pieces?

here's pic
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com:8 ... lebase.jpg

if you have more pieces, then the base is broken and you need a new one

you can make out the part # on the baggy in the pic.

donquijote · Post by **donquijote** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 6:18 pm

Josh,
Yes! That was what I meant by 3 pieces.
From what I hear, I should be able to put the pieces together and reuse it!

Under the speedo base inside the transaxle, I see some sort of washer and slotted mechanism (is this the speedo gear?). Have you tried to remove them? Perhaps, this is specific to Subaru, but the speedo gear of my Mercury Villager (has 3.0L V6 Nissan Maxima engine) can be pulled out without having to drop the transmission and I kept asking this question, because Subaru engine can't be that much different from Maxima's.

If I have to drop the transmission to fix the speedo gear, I am not gonna worry about fixing this problem.

Any advices would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Post by **Legacy777** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 6:51 pm

A couple things.

Spin the piece inside the main housing of the three pieces you took off, make sure it is working and spinning the one side when you turn the other.

When I replaced mine I had left that one washer in there, and the piece didn't fit right. It was only after I removed the old washer that it fit right. With the old washer out, I could see the gear and to the tranny....I think.

As far as I know and have been told, to get at the gear, you need to take apart the diff.

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Fri Oct 24, 2003 6:54 pm

donquijote wrote:Dear MK:

Have you had a chance to check out your spare tranny?
I would like to know if the speedometer gear can be removed without having to drop the transmission? When I unscrewed the speedo cable base off the tranny to further investigate, this speedo cable base fell into 3 pieces. Did I just break this part? or can I just put it together and reuse it?

Shit!! I'm sorry man, i completely forgot about it!

I'll be home this weekend, i should be able to take a closer look.

MK

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Sat Oct 25, 2003 7:26 am

I can't see any way of taking out the gearing inside of the tranny for the cable w/o taking the tranny apart

MK

donquijote · Post by **donquijote** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 10:30 am

mk750 wrote:I can't see any way of taking out the gearing inside of the tranny for the cable w/o taking the tranny apart

MK

That's OK! If that is the case, I am gonna have to forget about this for now! I've got a few other things to work on!

About your spare tranny, how much did you pay for it? If the price is not too high, I don't mind getting one and mess with it as my backup. Can you get most the parts for your tranny from a local auto part store such as Autozone, NAPA or Advanced Autopart etc or do you use a genuine Subaru parts?

donquijote · Post by **donquijote** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 11:08 am

Legacy777 wrote:A couple things.
When I replaced mine I had left that one washer in there, and the piece didn't fit right. It was only after I removed the old washer that it fit right. With the old washer out, I could see the gear and to the tranny....I think.

I am looking at my speedo cable bases (old and new ones) and the old one does not have a washer in its base. Therefore, a reddish colored washer I see inside the transmission might have fallen off of my old base.

What I am not sure about is whether the (3/4" in diameter) reddish colored washer is indeed a part of the speedo cable base or it is a washer part of the speedo gear. The plastic washer size of the new speedo base is about 3/8" in diameter, as opposed to the 3/4" washer I see inside the tranny. Do you by chance know whether this speedo cable base is supposed to sit directly on the speedo gear without any (3/4") washer I see? I will try pulling the 3/4" washer out later on to see what happens!

mTk · Post by **mTk** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 12:52 pm

donquijote wrote:About your spare tranny, how much did you pay for it? If the price is not too high, I don't mind getting one and mess with it as my backup. Can you get most the parts for your tranny from a local auto part store such as Autozone, NAPA or Advanced Autopart etc or do you use a genuine Subaru parts?

It was part of the $36 90 legacy L i got on ebay

I'm not sure on parts, i'ts just been sitting around for awhile after i totally disassembled the car.

\MK

Post by **Legacy777** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 6:06 pm

donquijote wrote:
Legacy777 wrote:A couple things.
When I replaced mine I had left that one washer in there, and the piece didn't fit right. It was only after I removed the old washer that it fit right. With the old washer out, I could see the gear and to the tranny....I think.
Do you by chance know whether this speedo cable base is supposed to sit directly on the speedo gear without any (3/4") washer I see? I will try pulling the 3/4" washer out later on to see what happens!

I'm not sure. I do know with mine that I had thought I got the old parts out, and the new piece wasn't fitting, I had left the washer in there. I had to dig it out. Try pulling it out. If it comes out easily......then it shouldn't probably be there.

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