CVT revving high in last "gear"

Tiny
RACHELSUBIESUUB
  • MEMBER
  • 2010 SUBARU OUTBACK
  • 6 CYL
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 117 MILES
My vehicle listed above has recently started rev higher rpm's at around 60-65 mph when going into last gear. Curiously it does not do this when I use the “manual” mode, it will then “shift” through all the gears perfectly fine. Usually I would assume that it’s the overdrive but I’m not even sure that a CVT has an overdrive. Anyone have any idea what I’m dealing with here? I’m taking it in but I’d like to still hope that I might not have a transmission replacement on my hands.
Wednesday, August 14th, 2019 AT 8:30 AM

1 Reply

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Hi,

More than likely this is the steel belt inside the unit that is slipping.

What happens is the belt inside actually slips on the pulley and this is why the RPMs rev up. Unfortunately not many shops repair these. Most just replace the unit when this happens but luckily there is not much difference in price from rebuild to replace.

Here is a video that shows how this works inside the unit:

https://youtu.be/PEq5_b4LWNY
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Wednesday, August 14th, 2019 AT 4:46 PM

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