4EAT transmission noise/leak
 

Hello all, this is my first post here. I am in the mistof trying to diagnose a tranny problem on my girlfriend's Subaru. It is in fact a Legacy, but i couldn't find too much help on any Legacy forum. It's the 4EAT tranny in a '90 Legacy, so it's virtually the same tranny you all are familiar with. Here are the symptoms:

1) Small leak out of front of tranny or rear of engine. Has not been found yet, but it leaks on the exhaust manifold and burns. It stinks! No visibile loss of fluid on either tranny, diff or engine oil dipsticks.

2) The whining noise- it sounds like a bearing is gone bad or something. However, it only happens sporadically. It'll whine through any gear, from about 2500rpm up to redline. No loss of performance or shifting at all

3) Torque converter doesn't lock up in any gear, no matter what

4) Other than that, the car drives and shift just great. It was 130K on it and has never been abused.

I have read of the TSB's where the oil pump gasket leaks in the front of the tranny. I am leaning toward this as the problem since it says it messes up the line pressures which will affect possibly the torque converter. Hopefully it will only need a new oil pump and gasket.

What does everybody think? I know it's for a Legacy but I'd like to get as much insight in it as I can before I tear it apart. Thanks in advance

I have a 91 Leg with 172k on the original trans:) I would suggest changing the filter and trans fluid. Has the fluid been changed often?

Yup, it was my mom's car originally and she bought it new. She only had it serviced by the dealer. I forgot to mention that about 5000 miles ago the engine overheated and required a replacement, and she had the family mechanic find a junkyard engine to install. Well, the replacement engine is great, but I am worried that maybe he didn't line up the torque converter properly on installation and perhaps the tranny oil pump is failing because of it.

The leak out the front of the tranny is probably the TC bushing going bad. You'll have to pull the tranny to repair it unfortunately.

I suppose it could have happened when installing the replacement engine.