'92 Legacy SS EJ22t Auto-- no 4th gear?

[davew833]

'92 Legacy SS EJ22t Auto. About 138k miles. Seems to shift through the lower gears OK, but never goes into 4th. I *think* I can feel the TC lock up in 3rd as the RPMS drop slightly sometimes, but not enough to indicate it's going into 4th gear. At 70 mph it's up over 4000 rpms and if I move the shifter to 3 there's no change. I recently replaced the filter and fluid... I've only had the car 2 months and had never driven it on the freeway before changing the fluid. It's not throwing any codes and a stall test was within normal range... about 3000 rpms. Any suggestions?

[wtdash]

HI,
What 'filter' did you replace? Prior to the ~'99 Subarus, they was no external filter on the 4EATs, unless yours had the add-on inline filter option.

Is the POWER light flashing @ startup? If Yes, there are active codes in the TCU (trans compuer). If not I'd still check the CODES.

Td

[davew833]

It was the internal filter inside the pan that I changed... it was clogged with gunk severely restricting the flow and causing the trans. to slip (and that may be my answer right there as to why there's no 4th gear). The POWER light doesn't flash-- I haven't checked to see if there are any stored codes, but I see no active ones.

[Legacy777]

Yeah, I think you probably answered your own question. There is probably some gunk in the valve body or shift solenoids that is preventing the trans from shifting into 4th. At a minimum, the valve body probably needs to be dropped from the trans and gone over. It "shouldn't" be a big deal. A friend of mine did it at his shop (in an hour or two) many years ago while I watched.

[log1call]

Yeah, second and top share the brake and top and third share the clutch, so it will be in the controls... might be the temp sensor in the trans.. have a read up.. otherwise probably a sticky valve... assuming there are no trouble codes?

[log1call]

Bah... just noticed the last post date....

[turbo970]

or in my case a bad vss

[davew833]

I've replaced the VSS with one that tests good and I still don't have 4th gear. It's not throwing any codes now. Someone suggested it might be the TPS-- I guess I'll try that since it's pretty easy.

[Legacy777]

The TPS isn't the problem if you don't have any codes for it, there is something wrong inside the transmission, most likely with the valve body or one of the solenoids/accumulators.