1991 transmission problems
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1991 transmission problems
Hope that someone can help me out. I live in a rural midwest area with hardly any import dealers/mechanics around. I have a 1991 Legacy with about 185,000 on it. It is 2wd and automatic. During a recent ice/snow storm my son had gotten stuck in the legacy. Apparently, he tried to get the car unstuck by shifting back and forth from drive to reverse. Afterward, the car would not go into gear. It will go into park and neutral but no drive gears. We have pulled the dipstick and the fluid does not smell burnt and isn't dark. You can see the linkage moving at the transmission but there is no feel of engagement into any gears. Does this sound like the tranny is shot? I'm kind of leary of just taking in to someone and getting reamed on a transmission replacement or rebuild. I only paid $1200 for the car and don't know if I should sock a great amount of money into it. Any help is appreciated. Thanks
do a search for "TCU Codes", run it thru the process and see what, if any, codes come up. That would be a starting point. It may just have confused the TCU enough to keep it from locking in...
Or he may have killed it
Or he may have killed it
Last edited by tahiti350 on Tue Feb 17, 2009 1:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
'90 Bermuda Blue L Wagon (Wife's),
Auto, AWD, Now with 275K + miles!
2005 Outback, 2.5 AWD (wife's new daily)
Auto, AWD, Now with 275K + miles!
2005 Outback, 2.5 AWD (wife's new daily)
Doubt it's the trans. It would still try to move in some gears. Could be the diff as suggested.
There is a known fault where a shaft breaks in the gearbox, but that is more a matter of luck than user fault so if it died as he was doing this rocking I would say diff.
This is what the service bulletin says....
4EAT - No Movement In Any Gear
If you encounter a 4EAT that will not
move in any forward gears or reverse,
and all your pressure readings are good,
you may be looking at a broken reduction
drive shaft. If the shaf breaks
behind the reduction drive gear and
may not be visible until you remove the
gear. The gear is splined to the shaft and
held in place with a snap ring. When the
shaft breaks, the gear can be removed
but the shaft will remain in the transmission.
In most cases, you can remove the
broken shaft with the transmission still
in the vehicle. If the shaft is too tight to
get out, the transmission will have to be
removed and the input shaft removed
from the front of the transmission (the
tapered end of the input shaft fits into
the front of the reduction drive shaft).
Then, using a long drift, it can be pushed
out the rear of the transmission. The
worst case scenario is that you will have
to disassemble the transmission to
remove the shaft.
There is a known fault where a shaft breaks in the gearbox, but that is more a matter of luck than user fault so if it died as he was doing this rocking I would say diff.
This is what the service bulletin says....
4EAT - No Movement In Any Gear
If you encounter a 4EAT that will not
move in any forward gears or reverse,
and all your pressure readings are good,
you may be looking at a broken reduction
drive shaft. If the shaf breaks
behind the reduction drive gear and
may not be visible until you remove the
gear. The gear is splined to the shaft and
held in place with a snap ring. When the
shaft breaks, the gear can be removed
but the shaft will remain in the transmission.
In most cases, you can remove the
broken shaft with the transmission still
in the vehicle. If the shaft is too tight to
get out, the transmission will have to be
removed and the input shaft removed
from the front of the transmission (the
tapered end of the input shaft fits into
the front of the reduction drive shaft).
Then, using a long drift, it can be pushed
out the rear of the transmission. The
worst case scenario is that you will have
to disassemble the transmission to
remove the shaft.