Got My "New" SVX - Have some questions
 

Well, it FINALLY arrived. My "NEW" dark teal '92 LS-L with only 34,800 miles. It's a BEAUTY! I've already had someone ask what it is, and I've only driven it 50 miles! I talked to the previous & original owner (a 79 year old lady in Oregon...seriously!), and she told me where she got it serviced. She traded it on a Chrysler. Go figure.

Now for the DUMB technical questions. First of all, the keyless remote. I got one key and this black thing with a red dot in the middle. All the red dot does is make the security light inside start blinking (about 3x/sec). Do I just follow the instructions in the manual to program it? Does this car have keyless door locks?

Also, I have two black "2 square button" remotes from a 1997 Outback. Can they be programmed to work with this car?

Now the important questions:

The TRANNY. It's a 1992, the date of manufacture is 01/92, the VIN is NH108835, and the tranny number is 933302. What do I need to do? Aftermarket cooler? In-line filter? What about the infamous "screen" that clogs up? And how do I tell if the ATF pressure and temperature is OK? I've heard the gauge is worthless. Is there some factory upgrade/recall that I can check on with the dealer that serviced it for 12 years? I've read just enough in this forum to be scared to death of this problem. Should I just take it to a reliable transmission shop and let them figure it out & make recommendations?

The BEARINGS: was there some recall by Subaru with this problem, or am I on my own here until they fail?

The RADIATOR: Is it going to explode on me? It's got some multi-shaded black plastic radiator in it now, which I assume is the original, but my '94 came with an all-black radiator.

Right now the car runs GREAT. It's smooth, quiet, and powerful. Maybe I should just do nothing & pray a lot?

Thanks for any help.

Greetings.

I think that's a very high serial number for a '92 transmission, which (as I recall) are six-digit numerals beginning with 3. If I'm right, your transmission has probably been replaced. (And if I'm wrong, hopefully somebody more knowledgable will speak-up.)

As to the other issues, see if your car has an OEM recall (or "campaign") ATF filter in place. It's a black canister (looks very similar to the fuel filter) situated inside the frame rail directly below the battery. If not, you might consider installing a filter. A supplemental ATF cooler certainly isn't a bad idea.

The rear bearings will eventually fail, and the radiator will crack... and you'll know when these events take place. Just keep a good eye on your car, stay on top of maintenance, and enjoy the ride.

Do a search here to find detailed answers to most of the questions you posed. You'll find that opinions differ widely on certain matters where there are no absolutes; in such cases it's best to arm yourself with a variety of information and use your best judgement to make the call.

Good luck.

dcb

Lucky bugger!
 

Well Cap,

Do nothing an pray a lot has merit. You really are a lucky guy to find such a motor.

Unlikely the Little Old Lady [unless she's from Pasadena!:D ] has driven the car hard or pressurised the weak points.

Your miles are too low to expect trouble with the tranny. Two things you ought to do, three maybe.

Replace the tranny oil with good quality Redline synth. While doing this, check if an inline filter has been fitted. It may not have been, and some say you shouldn't bother, but it is likely to save you a lot of trouble for little expense, and will do NO harm. Flush the system while changing the ATF. I would advise letting the tranny shop do it, and instruct them NOT to reverse flush under pain of death.

No 2 job, also while changing the ATF, fit a secondary cooler. The 19000 lbs Supercooler is the one to use, fits easily between the rad and the condenser. Use in parallel or series with the stock rad cooler. Do NOT take the rad cooler out of the equation, particularly if you live in a cold place. It lets the oil warm up quicker to operating temp. It is only poor at keeping cool enough up hills, driving hard, heavy traffic etc.

Change the ATF once a year with this set-up, your box will last and last.

No 3 job. The wheel bearings. If you can't hear the rears growling or grumbling, they are OK. You should repack the 4 bearings with the special grease for peace of mind. It is part of the service procedure, and should be done, not sure if everybody does this. Click onto the Subaru of America site and find the End Wrench article showing how to do it.

That's about it. Best of luck with it man.

Joe:)

I'll toss in my 2¢.

1) Definitely add an inline external ATF filter and external ATF cooler. Put the ATF filter before the built-in radiator cooler so it can catch all the junk that clogs the inlet screen on the radiator cooler. Many of the aftermarket spin-on filter adapters are tapped for a temperature sensor. This makes it relatively easy to install a sensor and gauge to monitor ATF temperature.

Since you live in OH, I presume it can get kinda cold there in the winter. This poses an issue with how to insert the external ATF cooler in the ATF flow. If you put it in series, either before or after the radiator cooler, the ATF will never warm up enough to allow the torque converter to lock when you're driving at highway speeds. The cold ATF will reduce gas mileage too. I've never tried putting the ATF cooler in parallel, but that might work better for cold weather. Probably will not be quite as effective in hot weather though. Sort of a trade-off.

I don't think I'd have a shop flush the tranny. The ATF filter will do the same job, especially if you use a synthetic ATF which tends to dissolve any crud that has built up in the tranny. Just replace the filter after 5000 miles or something like that.

You could reverse flush the radiator cooler though. If there is any junk built up on the inlet screen, a reverse flush of the radiator cooler should hopefully push that junk out.

2) If the wheel bearings aren't howling now, I'd just leave them. Repacking the bearings takes 95% of the effort it takes to replace the bearings, and replacing them is a PITA.

3) Keep an eye on the radiator, but not much else to do there. My car has over 100k miles, and the radiator is fine, at least in terms of external appearance.

Re: Got My "New" SVX - Have some questions
 

As I'm a semi-new owner myself and for the most part, mechanically illiterate...

I'll answer the dumb technical questions...

Yes, the SVX has keyless entry, you just need to make sure your security module is enabled. You do this by pressing in the security button on your dash (It may or may not flash red, depending on the phase of the moon and what mood your SVX is in that day.). Then the car will honk and flash once for armed (...and lock both doors...) and twice for disarmed (...and unlock both doors.).

As for the Outback remotes. From what I've read, they can be programmed to work with SVXii.

Actually, unless you live in the tropics, you WANT it in series, as Joe posted. Like this: transmission> external filter> supplemental cooler> in-radiator (stock) cooler> transmission. When it's truly cold, the stock cooler will warm the ATF on its way back to the tranny. With an add-on cooler bypassing the stock cooler altogether, the ATF may not warm sufficiently to allow torque converter lockup in cold weather.

In short, the function of the stock cooler is not so much to literally "cool" the transmission fluid as it is to maintain its temperature within normal operating range.

As I said, Capuano, opinions are apt to vary on matters where there are no absolutes. Confused yet?

dcb

I can tell you from first hand experience that if the external ATF cooler is in series with the radiator cooler (which can both cool and warm the ATF depending on the ATF temp), the ATF will not warm up enough to consistently lock the TC on the highway in cold weather. With my setup which had the external cooler in series with the radiator cooler, any time the temperature dropped below 45F, the TC would not stay locked on the highway. When the TC was unlocked, the ATF would warm up enough to allow the TC to lock. But once the TC locked, the ATF would quickly cool down, and the TC would unlock again. The cycle would just repeat endlessly. And if it got cold enough, the TC would never lock at all. My final solution before I switched over to the 5MT was to install a by-pass thermostat on the ATF line going to/from the external cooler. That actually worked great in the wintertime. The combination of the thermostat and the external cooler would regulate the ATF temperature right at 150F.

That's wild.

Mine's arranged as I've described above and I haven't had any experience with the torque converter not staying locked. Of course, we don't have that much consistently cold weather here, but I made two 2-plus hour highway trips on some mighty cool days back in December, smooth as silk.

On mornings when the temps drop into the mid to low 20s, my TC never locks in my 12+ mile drive to work.

My take is that the radiator cooler should moderate the ATF temp, as you said: warming or cooling as conditions dictate. That's logical to me, but then, nobody's ever accused me of being a genius.

Guess the moral of this story is: whatever works.

dcb

Thanks Mychailo

I really like that idea, the thermostat bypass I mean. Elegant and functional engineering.

It is so mild here we rarely get frost, but the lack of lockup was what I meant when I spoke about cold places.

Interestingly, Phil & Belha in Bucks in England were advised by Level 10 to fit a 25000 lbs GVW additional cooler. That's how seriously Level 10 view the effects of overheating on our trannies. :eek:

Keep the oil alive, keep the tranny alive.

Joe:D

Yeah, it was great in the winter. The ATF would reach 150F in less than 10 miles. In warmer weather though, the ATF was running a little hotter than before I installed the bypass thermostat. I think there was some heat transfer between the hot and cold side of the thermostat. That was with the ATF cooler sandwiched between the A/C condensor and the radiator. I think the perfect solution for rock steady ATF temps would have been to move the ATF cooler to the fenderwell and add some ducting/holes in the fenderliner to insure steady airflow through the ATF cooler. An electric fan would also probably be necessary to provide airflow over the ATF cooler when driving in slow traffic.

Thanks for all the great responses and ideas. I'll probably go ahead with a heavy-duty cooler in the fender well with an electric fan hooked up in series with the radiator cooler/heater. And I'm going to try the thermal controller on a bypass valve idea as well. Maybe THEN I can drive this baby without worrying too much. And you were right about the number...I'm a bit dyslexic! The actual tranny number is 399902, not 933302. Still a pretty high number, as I had thought the '92's only went up to about 399000 or so. The car was purchased from the dealer in April, 1993, and the date of manufacture stamped on the door is 01/92. Again, thanks to all!