legacycentral bbs

Couple weeks ago i saw a ad in craigs list Wanted: 1990 subaru legacy auto trans.
I picked, a parts car 1992 wagon NA Automatic about a year ago. I never thought
about selling the transmission. Needing money i told her $150 you have somebody pull
it or $200 i pull for you. She decided to pay the 200. So i removed it and had her pick it up.
I was very carful removing it and was positive it worked fine. Had clean fluids in trans and center diff.
180k and drove to the mechanics where the previous owners had the engine pulled.

Soon later i get a call. She said her mechanic put it in took a test drive and it completly
locked up on him WTF. I called him today and asked exactly what actully happened.
Turns out this is the third time hes installed a different transmission and it failed, and he never
wants to touch the car again. Apartly he took it out for a first test drive and it shifted perfectly.
The lady then asked would it make it to Cle Elum from Cashmere. He wanted to prove to
her it was fine so he wanted to drive it another 20 miles. Got in about 15 and smoke started
pouring out the back and making noise and he kept going and it then instatly locked up and
skidded to a stop

What could cause that to happen? It obivously was leaking fluids pretty bad.
He said it sounded like it was maybe coming from the front diff, but could have been the rear
too. Isn't there some sort of shift control module or something in the dash? I have only
worked on 5 spds so i have no idea. Just doesn't seen like its the transmission causing the problems
,because its happened 3 times.
Any Ideas?

I would guess something with the TCU, but I don't know what. But the simplest answer usually being the right one, that's the common element, so the most likely culprit. Do you have the computer for it? Maybe it could be swapped out to see if it fixes the problem (then you can sell her that, too). Providing the mechanic didn't damage the transmission, of course. Assuming he hasn't swapped TCUs, I don't know why he wouldn't think of that. Basic troubleshooting. First used transmission, maybe, but the second one should have absolutely been a red flag. Me, even just being lazy alone, I'm going to check everything else before condemning a transmission and going through the trouble of swapping them out, especially multiple times. Even if he wanted to screw the customer on extra labor, there's a point where almost anyone will think he's an idiot and try to find someone else. And I suppose if you were a weasel and screwing someone anyway, you could go all the way and just say you swapped it twice when you only had to swap a TCU.

Are the gear ratios in the front diffs of these transmissions the same as her rear diff ratio? If they're different and you drive it long enough it would smoke the transfer clutches to the rear and bind up pretty bad. Look on the rear diff of your parts donor, there will be a tag on the cover (more of a sticker) with the gear ratio. My '90 had 4.111 gears stock front and rear, later ones were 3.900. I didn't think of this when I installed a '94 tranny into my '90 Legacy, but I only drove 20 feet before I knew something was amiss LOL I got my rear diff to match for $90, I imagine she could get one for around the same if need be.

And here's some more evidence of a mismatched ratio:
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=32148

The non turbo 90-91 AT's had a 4.111 final drive ratio while the non-turbo 92-94 AT's had a 3.900 final drive ratio. I would venture to guess that is the reason it died.

Alright well that definatly makes sense. Im pretty sure her car was 1990 and this was a 1992 trans. That would definatly explain the problem. Her mechanic told her they were the same 1990-1994 oops. Thanks for the info i knew that transmission was fine. Im just amazed it made it that far lol.

I bet you could have branded yourself on the transmission case after 15 miles LOL

Too bad for her, putting her trust in her mechanic's faulty information and paying for 3 transmissions (soon to be a 4th??) and still not having a car to drive. Lives and learns!