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  #1  
Old 01-03-2002, 08:38 PM
trentak
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Unhappy New owner and unexpected problems

Hello,
I'm a new owner of a 92 pearl white SVX. I bought this car in mid october and have spent about 4,000 in repairs. Let me start of my saying Subaru did a crappy job designing the tranny in theses cars. Parts are not easily found and you can hardly find anyone to work on them. So far I've had a front axle replaced, door lock modulator, bushings, and a new tansmission. Other then the transmission I can expext these problems but the tranny is unacceptable. This car only has 110,000 miles on it and I expect the tranny to last alot longer then this. I guess this is the going rate for these transmissions. I've read on here the several of you've had problems around this milage. The problem I had was when the car went from 2nd to 3rd if kind of reved to about 4,ooo rpm. Then one day when I was about 200 miles away from home I was at a stop light steped on the gas and the engine just reved. Nothing!!! So I switched it in to manual and it barely went. Once it got through the first couple of gears it seemed fine it was just starting I was having a problem with. So I get back home take it to what I thought was a reptuable transmission shop and well I have seen the car since the week before Thanks Giving. About 3 weeks ago I thought it was fixed but when they went to test drive it it didn't want to switch into 4th gear. So he took it back in the shop to see what the deal was and it turns out that there was a wiring harness that went to the transmission that the wires were bare. When the wires hit the body it shorted out a cilinoide. So this shop doesn't do electrical work that goes to the transmission so they sent it to a shop that did. Well this shop can't repair the wires becasue this would require them to take the tranny out to install them and they can't take it out so they sent it back to the place that installed the trans. Well of course the cheap bastards that they are they wanted to find these wires out of a junk yard (yeah right and there were only like 14,000 SVX's in the US) becasue to get these wires you have to order a kit wich is 1,400 dollars and Ammco (tranny place) wasn't going to pay for that so they were trying to do it cheaply. So needless to say my experience hasn't been that great and if you guys have any leagal advice, iformation about this problem please repy back. Oh and by the way I still don't have the car back. Like I said it's been since the week before Thanks Giving.
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  #2  
Old 01-03-2002, 09:18 PM
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Beav Beav is offline
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Sorry to hear of your misfortune. 110,000 isn't that bad for an automatic trans, just be glad you don't drive a Ford or Chrysler, most of them don't fare as well.

Subaru isn't the only company to use that transmission. Ford, Mazda and if I'm not mistaken Nissan also use variations of the 4EAT.

I wonder if the wiring harness was hitting the body before the transmission work was done. It would seem that there would have been a plethora of problems if they were shorting to ground. I would certainly expect the power light to be stuck on, indicating a failure. On newer cars any malfunction of the solenoid circuits will set a code. You might want to check with Chris Debban here and see what he thinks - I'm not familiar with the routing of the harness and whether or not it's common for that to happen.

Personally I wouldn't have a problem with a used harness, provided it's in good condition. It sure as heck beats leaving your car parked out back while everyone decides on the next step.

If I were you I'd be on the horn with the Aamco corporate office. Tell them if they don't have your car repaired and back in your hands within a day or two you'll have no recourse but to make as much noise as possible. Check Everyshadeofblue's locker for a letter he wrote to his dealer and ended up with a free engine. It should help you get your thoughts together. I know you're frustrated as hell right now but stick to the facts, keep your head clear and know what you want.

Beav
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  #3  
Old 01-06-2002, 10:35 PM
trentak
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Thanks for the reply.

I'm supposed to get my car on Monday and if not I think I am going to be giving Aamco Corporate a call if this is not solved. I don't think that it was the wiring harness that messed up the trans in the first place. It was only doing this between 2nd and 3rd gear. I think at that point something in the transmission was wearing thin. The when it wouldn't go anywhere I think that was the torque converter. I think that was one of the many things they did to the trans. When I took the car in he said 1st 2nd 3rd were bad and 4th and reverse were fine. When he went to test drive it after he thought he repaired it he was having a problem with it going into 4th. I think that the wires were brittle and bare but the were still intact and were not hitting the body of the car. I think when they were taking the trans in and out that's when they messed them up and caused it to hit the body because they didn't put them exactly back in place where the were before. Honestly I don't know what's going on this guy has been very vague with his answers and they don't add up. I'll keep you guys posted. You might see a different thread in here tomorrow.
A good one if I get it back and then I can tell you guys all the other problems I have with it. LOL I hope there aren't anymore.
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  #4  
Old 01-07-2002, 04:52 AM
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Beav Beav is offline
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I hope it works for you this time. Just curious - why didn't you go to the dealer? You probably could have had a Subaru built trans, which includes that harness, for about the same price?

Beav
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  #5  
Old 01-07-2002, 03:44 PM
EveryShadeofBlue EveryShadeofBlue is offline
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I concur with Beav. Not that you can turn back time or anything. Going to the Subaru dealer can be scary enough, I can't even imagine going to my local Aamco. That's downright frightening!

If you need help writing a complain letter to Aamco corporate, I'd be happy to help! I have experience writing threatening letters.

Jeff
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  #6  
Old 01-07-2002, 06:54 PM
trentak
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Thanks for the replies guys.

If I could turn back time I would have gone to a Subaru dealer, but I thought I could get off cheaper going to Aamco. Little did I know for a little extra I could have gotten a new trans for the price I paid. This is all a learning experience for me. I bought the SVX used and there was no warranty so I couldn't get the dealer to pay for anything. When I got my receipt from him there was a line were I was supposed to sign that said by signing this you take this car in as is condition. On my recipe it's not signed but if I signed his or not I don't know. When I went to pick up the tags from the dealer I asked for a copy of the receipt that he had and he told me that he didn't have it. He sent it to the DMV. LIAR. He told me he could pull one up out of his computer but that's not what I want. I wanted to se if I signed or not. I was going to get an attorney but I didn't think I couldn't win and I don't think I could afford it. They directed me the the Consumer Protection line of NC and they sent me this form to fill a complaint with this dealer. I don't think that will do any good. For right now Aamco has fulfilled their obligations by fixing my car so I don't think I really have a case with them. The only thing they've done so far is been really slow. I guess I could write a letter to them and ask for some kind of compensation for the extremely long delay in getting my car back. Like I said in the previous reply I was supposed to get it back Mon. Well it's not here. He called me at about 10am and told me it would be ready this afternoon. Then he called around 3:30 and told me it would be tomorrow morning. Apparently they didn't look over the trans as well as they said they did. He said that where the wiring harness hooks in on my trans the plug or whatever it's called was bent. Geees I wonder how that could have happened. It worked before and wasn't bent before I took it in there. So he had to drive about an 1 hr away to get this. Needless to say I was very frustrated. So tomorrow will be the big test and we'll just see how well the longer wait and high dollar job is worth. Until then guys. I'll keep you posted.
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