Changing ATF
 

Hi guys, recently I posted message about problems during shifting when tranny is cold. I have consulted my problem with couple of local companies which are focusing
on repairs of ATs. It seems that problem is with ATF because car was
sitting more then one year without moving and when local subaru dealer
changed ATF there maybe left some sediment which obstruct free ATF flow
in tranny when cold. I want to change it to full synthetic Mobile 1
Sythetic ATF. They will sluice down trany with some special fluid,
replace external oil filter. Is there something else to keep an eye,
clean out or replace?
Thanx for any hint.
Peter

Peter, there is also an internal screen that should also be replaced.

Nice to hear from someone from Eastern Europe. I have been to your country back when it was Czechoslovakia. I was born in Poland so this one of the few countries that we were able to travel to back in the 60s. My parents escaped from Poland just as the Russian army invaded your country in 1968.

Welcome to the Forum and best of luck with your car.

Matt

Hi Matt, I am happy to know that you was born in Poland, I live in city Ostrava which is just close to border with Poland. So I know Polish quite good:-). Imagine, there are only 7 SVXs here in Czech Rep. And I own one! :-)
I posted also this question to SVX yahoo group and John Shotsky replayed that this screen had only early SVXs. I have 95. Is this screen can be just clean by some fluid or is this kind of internal oil filter which has to be replaced? Sorry for just a rookie qestions but here in Europe is much more common manual transmission than AT. This is my second car with AT, first one Opel/GM Vectra had just brilliant tranny, I made on this car 200k km with no probelm, no ATF change.
I bought my SVX with 188k km on it with proof that tranny was replaced at 160k km so there are ONLY 28k km on it and I want to do the best to keep it alive for a long time :-)

First of all, I am very impressed with your knowledge of English. Polish is so much harder than English so I am VERY impressed with that. You must live close to the Tatry mountains. Do you ski? Have you ever been to Zakopane? Are there any good ski areas on the Czech side? My dad got me started on skis 41 years ago in Warsaw.

I believe that the external filter was on the early years but the screen is used on all years. If you drop the transmission pan, the screen should be accessible and you should be able to just clean it. I would very much recommend that you install a tranny fluid cooler. The biggest problem with our trannies is excessive heat from all the slipping that the clutches do to smooth out the shifts. There are many posts regarding this subject but it should easily fit between the radiator and air conditioning condenser.

Also, many of us believe that keeping the car in 3rd gear for city driving will help relieve much of the stress on the tranny. It stops it from hunting up and down, slipping, wearing, etc. Once you get out on the open road where you can go faster than ~100km/hr, and your RPMs reach ~3000, you can switch to Drive and allow the engine to revolve slower.

How are the speed limits in your country? Around here we have maximum limits of 105km/hr so driving over 120km/hr is very risky. The tickets get very expensive and car insurance rates get very, very high with any tickets. The SVX loves to be driven fast but most of us have to be very careful.

My parents had an Opel Kadett so your previous car brings back some fond memories. My dad brought it back from France and it was as "exotic" as your SVX probably is.

Have you ever heard of Patrick Elias? He plays hockey on our local team, the New Jersey Devils. I understand that he is either from the Czech Republic or Slovakia. I am not sure. Anyway, he and the Devils are probably going to the Stanley Cup playoffs which is the biggest thing in hockey in North America.

Take care and post often if you have any problems or good stories to share.

Matt (Maciek)

My city is about 30 km from Katowice or Slovakian border, just hour driving to Krakow. I know Zakopane but I never been there. It is better and in many cases cheaper to go skiing to Austrian Alps than to Tatry. Here are fares for lifts very expensive and slopes can not be copared to Alps ones. I went skiing in Austria, Molaller Gletcher this winter for one week, just PERFECT conditions!
Back to our cars, I think about external cooler, could you recomend my some producer? Are good these ones offered at Moto-Sport? But know I have to focuse to clean up my tranny and keep an eyo on it (you know mechanics :-)). I do not know how it goes in states but I have strong feeling that to own servis is golden mine :-))

I plane to use my care mostly in town so thanx for advice. As for speed limits it is not so strict as in states, on highway it is allowed 130km/h but you can go to germany, there is NO speed limit at most higways! Czech policemens are not so hard as yours, it depens if you drive fast and safe or fast and like a stupid.

Opel Kadett was perfect car, very light, I had GSi version, 2.0l 16V engine, just 160 hp!

As for my english, part of our familly lives at LA, CA. My job also require good english but when I am reading all these articles about engines, trannis etc, I thing I am not as good. Just to many new words...
Peter

Peter, don't just think about the tranny cooler, DO IT! Motor-Sport does carry good ones. I have a B&M 19K GVW cooler running "in series". "19KGVW" means that it is for a 19,000 pound Gross Vehicle Weight car. The SVX is ~ 4,000 lbs so this is plenty. Remember, 2.2lbs to 1 kg.

Some people have mounted them "in parallel" in case the one in the radiator clogs up. This means that the fluid is piped through a Y fitting, with 1/2 going to one cooler, and the other 1/2 going to the other, then back together to the tranny.

I think your application would work well with it mounted "in series", or one after the other. You should have the upgraded stock cooler which does not have a screen inside and is less prone to clogging. If you also have an auxillary filter, then you should not have any clogging problems.

Mine is piped so the hot fluid from the tranny goes to the auxillary cooler first, where it is air cooled. Since air cooling is less efficient than water cooling, having hot fluid going through it reduces the total temperature better. The warm fluid then goes to the stock radiator where it is cooled further, and then back to the tranny.

Also make sure that they do not overtighten the wheels if they remove them. This often leads to the rotors warping.

Best of luck and keep an eye on those mechanics.

Matt

Is there some web page showing that or with some technical details?

Here is the B&M page:

http://www.bmracing.com/

Do a search on the network for "cooler" and you will find a lot of information and opinions. Some may be different than mine.

Matt

OK thanx for your help.
Peter

All SVXs have a screen filter inside the transmission fluid pan which can be replaced.

Early SVXs also had a wire mesh screen inside the transmission cooler (buried inside the radiator) that's not replaceable.

Definitely replace the filter in the ATF pan. I don't think yours has the screen inside the cooler.

Welcome to the community!

Hi Peter

I have the exact same cooler as Mattski, and I can recommend it. Many here have the B&M. It is "smart" to a degree, it lets the cold oil go back to the tranny to be warmed up on startup, to allow the oil get to optimum operating temperature as quickly as possible. It fits easily between the radiator and the Aircon rad.

Also, congrats on the English. Some of the non-punctuated text derived stuff we see here from time to time demands way too much from the reader. Yours is perfectly understandable.

John Shotsky would have been talking about the filter mesh in the radiator, which my 91 car has, but your 95 car does not. All cars have a magnetic particle collector in the oil pan or sump as we call it in Ireland. This can be cleaned while you are changing to synthetic, and Mobil 1 is a good choice.

Joe:)

Hi Joe, thanx!
Whole weekend I spent driving :-))) and this car really hit my heart! I am still solving one problem. When it is old (sits over nite) I can feel some wrench when changing from P to R or D and I can feel it also during shifting. I thought it is because car was sitting in garage for one year before I bougt it so I let local Subaru mechanics to replace all fluids, belts etc. I never noticed such a behavior before so I though there is someting wrong with ATF (which was replaced too for DEXTRON III). Then one guy from the forum adviced me to remove fuse and try it in FWD and as the mechanics says there was no problem. So I am in next level of finding solution. You know here in Czech Rep. there are only 7 SVXs and localy there are only 2. So this mechanics from Subaru have not too much experience, maybe I know more about SVX than they :-))). But the boss of service is a great fan for Subaru and they give me great discounts on parts and labour.
As for Mobil1, I have to say damn! I call local repressentative of ExxonMobile and he said that Mobil1 Synthetic ATF they do not import to Czech Republic (no demand everybody has manual tranny :-)) For 10 litres I should serch all over Europe :-(

Peter

You might also want to check your transmission mount. When they go bad, they let the transmission move.

Peter, I just remembered that when I bought my SVX last year, it had just had the clutch pack replaced by the dealer, and I heard a noise/thud coming from under the car. It turned out to be a loose bolt that they forgot to tighten.

Can you order the ATF on line and have it shipped to you?

If you are really stuck, I can get it here in the US and ship it to you.

Matt

Hi Peter

Glad you are finding the car good to drive, so do we all, which is why we are SVX nuts on this site:D :D

A couple of points from your post; first, if it is only jerking in the morning, or when the oil is cold in the transmission, this is fairly normal. Some of the guys in the US in colder areas drive their cars quite a distance before the oil is warm enough to work properly. If there is no jerking or shock in the changes when the car is well warmed up, then you may not have a problem at all.

A [small] word of WARNING : do not drive your car with that fuse inserted!. The US market cars are different from the rest of the world. Putting in that fuse in an American car will make it FWD, and the back drive is decoupled from the transmission electrically. This is because US cars have an electrical clutch arrangement to take the drive from the rear of the gearbox to the back axle. Your car is Euro spec, and a lot different. When you insert that fuse, it permanently locks the differentials, so you get full-time 50-50 split, front to rear. Driving with this engaged on grippy tarmac will seriously damage your transmission. [It would be OK to engage it in soft snow or slippy muck, just like an off-roader]
To the left of your clocks, there will be a schematic diagram of a car. With the fuse in, there should be a red warning written under this diagram. The purpose of it is to warn you that the diff-lock is engaged.

Regards Mobil 1, you don't have a problem. Go to your local main BMW dealer. Their cars have very similar dual-mode transmissions to ours, they call Sport mode what we call Power mode, and standard issue for them is fully synthetic oil, just like Mobile 1 or Redline and a few others. Buy some ATF from them, it will be perfect for our transmissions. Tell them you want the same ATF as goes in the upper range 5 series.

Cheers,

Joe:)

By the way, if you have already replaced the oil in the tranny with Dexron 111, don't go to the expense of replacing this with fully synthetic right away. Use it for 6 months or 10,000 miles, then change to the BMW oil.;)