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  #1  
Old 10-31-2001, 05:41 PM
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'94 FWD Trans Problem

Couldn't start a new thread for Eddycat's board, so I hope he or someone will see this and have some advice. Thanks in advance.

BACKGROUND ON CAR: We have a '94 FWD SVX that has 115K on the clock. The dealer, under warranty, replaced the transmission at 81,150 miles (100K mile warranty) due to extreme slack in the driveline. At 99,000 miles, the transmission began to shift really hard, and another dealer in another town (my son is away at college) worked on the transmission and "replaced the LINE PRESSURE RESISTER". The dealer indicated that he had to tear down the transmission to locate the problem, but it was also covered under the 100K mile warranty.

Now the problem: The car has developed a very loud whine when you back off the gas (in any gear, even holding it in 1, 2, 3, or Drive). There is absolutely no whine / noise while on the gas, even hard acceleration. The dealer (that replaced the line pressure resister) has told my son that the noise is a bearing in the differential - I believe that since it certainly seemed to me to be a differential problem when I drove it and heard the noise for myself. The real question is that the dealer is telling my son that it would be cheaper to replace the transmission (which includes the differential??) than to tear it down and replace the bearing and put it all back together again. At the tune of $3,500 for the rebuilt transmission, including labor. If the dealer did have to tear down the transmission when he found the hard shifting problem and replace the Line Pressure Resister, could something not been lined up properly or the proper clearance on the differential been forgotten?

Has anyone had experience with something similar or know if the dealer is feeding me a line or not??

Thanks much.
Harry
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  #2  
Old 10-31-2001, 06:14 PM
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Hi Harry,

Tell the dealer he owes you a rebuilt transmission because he screwed it up when he had to rebuild it to find the bad resistor.

The resistor he is talking about is in the engine compartment next to the battery. You do not have to take the transmission apart to find it or to replace it. If the dealer did the diagnostic check on the transmssion he would have found the problem. It would have shown up as a trouble code. Very easy to fix.

Did they really take the transmission out?

Does the car still work?
Other than the whine in 1,2,3,4, does it whine in neutral while braking?
Does it whine at any speed or is it louder the faster you go?
When was fluid changed last? Is it brown and smells of burnt toast? or is it red?

I have not replaced my transmssion as of yet but I have gotten a quote for around $2800 to have rebuilt put in. Yes the front differential is included in the rebuild.

The parts manager told me that Subaru does not want them "the dealer" taking apart transmssions. To many other things could go wrong. However, you only have about 35,000 mile on the tranny. This is very low milage. The whine sound does not sound common to me.

Is the whine sound getting louder?
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  #3  
Old 10-31-2001, 06:45 PM
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SVX Commuter,
Thanks for the quick reply.

Re your questions:
My son told me that they told him they had to remove the trans to find the problem. I'm wondering if he was just told that by someone that really didn't know. As you mentioned, a code should have told them what the problem was if the problem was purely electrical. And yep, the car runs / drives fine except for the whine.

The whine remains whether in neutral or one of the gears and varies with speed. Sorry. I should have mentioned that.

The fluid was changed when the trans was replaced at 81,000 miles. New trans / new fluid. It looks good now. And doesn't smell bad. I don't really have a feel for how progressive the loudness of the whine has been. But I suspect it is getting progressive worse per mile, however slight.

Thanks again for the insight. I agree with you: if the dealer pulled the transmission, to fix the resister, this is his fault - didnt set clearances correctly on the differential or something.
Thanks,
Harry
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Old 10-31-2001, 11:18 PM
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The line pressure is from sol. A. Your power light will flash when the car starts. There are 2 parts to that. One in the tranny and one behind the battery. The resistor module behind the batt. runs at 80 USD and the sol A in the tranny runs at 300 -- If I recall correctly. If you look up the code, it will tell you that it's code 11.

Subaru Dealer will not open the tranny. They will replace it as soon as they know it's the tranny at fault. I think it's the SOA's policy.

The dealer will need to repalce the tranny for you. Look up the documents. Otherwise, call SOA at 1800-SUBARU-3. SOA will tell you that dealers will not open the tranny. They will ship them back and install the new ones.

As for the tag of 3500. It varies from 2k to 4.5k depending on the pace. I did mine for 3.5k. It's resonable I think.

Lwin
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  #5  
Old 11-01-2001, 04:45 AM
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Thanks, Lwin. I appreciate the insight and experience on this. Even though someone at the dealer told my son they had to tear the trans down, I even then found it difficult to believe. But you never know........

Thanks again for the info from you guys. I'll let you know how it works out.
Harry

BTW, I would like to know how you get the video of you car above your name / ID on the site. Neat!
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  #6  
Old 11-01-2001, 04:58 AM
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The auto that I put into my 92 had this same problem, a front axle bearing in the front diff. I drove it till it sounded like it was coming out, then instead of fixing it I did the 5-speed swap, the bearings in the front diff are independent of the automatic part of the transmission, they are the front part that runs in grease not transmission fluid, the front diff can be removed without dissmantleing the whole tranny, but the gears in the front diff are very difficult to get back into specs, so just replacing it might be the best ideal, I replaced a FWD in a Legacy I used to have and found a used one for $200.00, they go a lot cheaper than the AWD version.
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Old 11-02-2001, 05:04 AM
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Thanks, Huck. Appreciate your experience in this.

Right now I leaning toward replacing the trans for the $3,500. The rest of the car is in excellent shape, and with a new trans, it should be good for another 100K miles or so......

I'll let everyone know what I do.
Thanks again.
Harry
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Old 11-02-2001, 05:12 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by newsvx

Right now I leaning toward replacing the trans for the $3,500. The rest of the car is in excellent shape, and with a new trans, it should be good for another 100K miles or so......
Harry, make sure you install an aftermarket tranny cooler, so your new, or used, tranny will have a better chance at a long life , and be sure to flush the lines before putting the new one in.
P.S. if you got a FWD Legacy tranny, it would have a lower gear ratio, giving you a much stronger bottom end, which is nice if you do mostly city driving.
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Old 11-02-2001, 05:18 AM
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Huck,
Thanks for the thoughts. Regarding the Legacy 4 cyl transmission: Will it stand up to the 230 HP of the SVX six?

Thanks,
Harry
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Old 11-02-2001, 06:00 AM
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Quote:
Originally posted by newsvx
Huck,
Thanks for the thoughts. Regarding the Legacy 4 cyl transmission: Will it stand up to the 230 HP of the SVX six?

Thanks,
Harry
It depends alot on your driving style, it's the same tranny that is in the SVX, but it has 1 more clutch plate than the Legacy's do.
But the lower gears are easier on the tranny, so in my opinion, it will hold up just as well, maybe even better.
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Old 11-10-2001, 06:04 PM
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My son and I have decised to go with the Subaru replacement trans for $3500, installed. The trans itself is about $2800, the rest is labor.
Upon further investigation, the trans was not torn down in replacing the line pressure resister. As someone said in this thread, the codes should indicate what the problem is and the resister is next to the battery, thereby not requiring the trans to be dismantled. Seems they were perhaps covering themselves for taking so long to do the repair - or someone was, anyway. So, bottom line is that I can not prove the trans was torn down and can't really believe it was. And since the 100K mile warranty is over, it's on our own dime.

My thanks to all that responded with their info and advice. Hopefully, we be ready to go with another autocross season in the Spring.
Thanks again,
Harry
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Old 11-14-2001, 02:22 PM
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stupid mechanics.

ok not literally just figuratively.

hey beav:

should it take 11 hrs to do camshaft and crankshaft seals, powersteering pump, and inhibitor switch??
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Old 11-14-2001, 07:39 PM
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If they're doing the rear main crank seal it would, as you have to remove the trans (or at least slide it back far enough to remove the flexplate.) I might go by the shop tomorrow, if I do I'll look up the time for those items. And just to satisfy my own curiosity I'll look to see how much axles are around here. I don't think we pay more than $56/ea. for any rebuilt axle.

Beav
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Old 11-14-2001, 07:46 PM
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WHOA!!!

I just saw that 'stupid mechanics' comment! Gee, thanx a lot bud! heheheh

Just remember that at dealerships there are basically three different people: bodymen, mechanics and salesmen (or ex-salesmen.) More than likely the person that said the tranny was pulled down and apart was a service writer (ex-salesman.)
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Old 11-15-2001, 07:03 AM
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this guy is a stupid know it all mechanic!

this a-hole first tried to sell me a power steering pump for $475, i can get the same damn pump at subaruparts.com for $343 all day long myself. so when i call him on the price he says well.....i....uh......guess i can come down to $375???!!! hello......?

according to this guy the crankshaft seals and camshaft seals did not require him to touch the tranny. he took out my radiator and i guess the front part of the motor to get to the seals. he did say the inhibitor switch was located on the side of the tranny.

i just dont trust anyone who tries to rip me off. it is not cool it is stupid. thus the stupid mechanic comment. no offense.

look i know that these guys are running a business and need to make money. i am fine with that, but they are trying to ream me!! this repair bill is $1200, that is $600 in labor and $600 in parts. look up $1200 repair bill in the dictionary and it reads RIDICULOUS!!
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