Transmission issues

HEYSUZ3

MEMBER
SUBARU

Nine months ago. I bought a used 1999 Subaru Forester to drive back and forth to work. I knew it would need some repairs given it's age and at the time had 123,000 miles. It now has 138,000. I've had the back right rear wheel bearings changed and the catyletic converter replaced along with a leaking head gasket. The transmission is now on the fritz. My garage told me the transmission was going bad when they had it to replace the catyletic converter. When I asked my garage when should I have it replaced, they said when it will no longer pull. They said the AT Oil Temp light was coming on but to ignore it because we already know the transmission is having problems. It's having trouble changing gears and shifting very hard and wanting to slip a bit going uphill. Should I really "wait" until it completely goes or go ahead and have it replaced? I don't want to cause other problems by ignoring this one until the transmission actually goes out. Was this good advice from my garage?

7 Replies

MIKE H R

MECHANIC
3,094 POSTS

Has the transmission fluid and filter been changes? I have a 1999 outback and the at temp light came on, after I had the transmission flushed and a new filter it runs good, does the fluid smell burnt or look dark brown? If so try changing the transmission fluid.

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Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 AT 9:33 AM

SCUBARU

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71 POSTS

If the trans atf temp light is flashing then there is problem that needs to be diagnosed and you may not need an entire transmission. Lets say a shift silinoid has failed, you will get poor transmission performance. The E4AT transmission in your Forester is controled buy a Transmission control module and if the module sees a problem with a sensor or silinoid in the trans it will flash the light. So my suggestion is have it diagnosed first. What code is set in the TCM and What is causing the code to be set

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Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 AT 10:04 AM

HEYSUZ3

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Thank you both for your answers to my transmission question. After giving it some thought which was if I don't fix it, it might cause problems with the engine, I took it back to my garage to have the transmission fixed since it was really getting bad quickly. Yes, the AT Oil Temp light was flashing but it I also noticed the check engine light came back on and the gas gauge was going up and down and violent shifting. I told all this to my garage. They had the car a couple of days and finally called me on Monday to say they had checked everything and were stumped so they took it the local Subaru dealer. The problem turned out not to be the transmission but a burned ground wire and burnt wire to the ECM(?). Apparently, when my head gasket was leaking antifreeze back in December, it must have caused the wires to deteriorate and they finally went. The dealer replaced the two wires and she's driving like a little top again. No shifting problems, the check engine light has not come back on and for the time being everything seems fine.

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Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 AT 2:38 PM

SCUBARU

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71 POSTS

Thats good news. And kind of what I expected as far as Not needing a transmission.

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Thursday, March 22nd, 2007 AT 3:40 PM

KLC397

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I recently had my head gasket fixed. Once my car was put back together the timing was fixed and my car started. It idles fine but when you put it in gear and push the gas the car does not move. I was told that it may be a fuse in my transmission is this possible? I do not know if it matters but while fixing my head gasket my battery blew up could this have interfered with my transimission? This is a 1993 Subaru Impreza hatchback, it has over 200,900 miles.