Tranny -need help

[Subie59]

Ok here is a weird one. I've been experiencing a little bit of torque bind on slow turns. No big deal. Took the car to the dealer yesterday for tranny fluid change and differential fluid changes. They only did the differential fluid change said they needed to drop the tranny and do the clutch packs to get rid of the torque bind. I said no not interested.
Drove the car to work and back yesterday. no problems. drove it about 10km this morning.no problem until I stopped at a light.
Went to go and no transmission. No 1st,2nd, third, reverse... nothing. Ok pushed it into a parking lot. walked three minutes to my gas station/repair shop. Talked to them for ten minutes, went back started the car up and it went into gear and I drove it 1minute to the gas station.
Tranny seemed ok but I think it may have been slipping. hard to tell i just whipped it into the gas station.

Ok anyone have any ideas on this one. Running great(little bit of torque bind) to nothing at all, to enough to get it moving once it cooled off a bit.
Looking forward to your expert advice...

i knew I should not have taken it to the dealer. I don't trust those guys one bit.

[wantafastsvx]

How bad was the fluid. I have seen in my shop when i worked there and i believe on this board a while back that if the fluid is totally toast when you flush it the material in the fluid that lets the clutches grab gets flushed away and causes the breakdown. Not positive just a thought. If it was super dark and burnt it might have just been a matter of time before it happend.

[dcarrb]

Did you check the fluid level?

dcb

[Subie59]

The tranny fluid was fine when I took it to the dealer. Colour was perfect. i did not check it when I got it back. But they did not change the tranny fluid, just the differential fluid front and rear.

[wantafastsvx]

sorry missed it after that first sentence. Hmmm yea id check your fluid as stated above. Any codes in for the tranny?

[Subie59]

No no codes came up that I noticed. It's at the gas station now so it will be interesting to see what they find...

[Hondasucks]

Is there an independent shop or another subaru dealer around there you can take it to? Seems to me a dealer would be better at figuring out what is wrong than a gas station. And about the transfer clutches, the master tech @ my work says you do NOT have to drop the transmission to do the transfer clutches, since they are in the tail housing.

[Subie59]

My gas station is very competent. I take all my subarus there and they have always repaired them no problem. The one mechanic is very knowledgable about transmissions after having worked in a transmission shop for many years.... i trust them because my neighbour is the owner and I am confident that he will not screw me. It's not your typical gas station (in fact they don't even sell gas anymore) It's a very large repair centre....

[oab_au]

[QUOTE=Subie59;571495]Ok here is a weird one. Drove the car to work and back yesterday. no problems. drove it about 10km this morning.no problem until I stopped at a light.
Went to go and no transmission. No 1st,2nd, third, reverse... nothing. Ok pushed it into a parking lot. walked three minutes to my gas station/repair shop. Talked to them for ten minutes, went back started the car up and it went into gear and I drove it Looking forward to your expert advice...
QUOTE]

Not too weird, I think we have seen it a few times before. If the lever is in gear, and the transmission won't drive, it comes down to no oil pressure.
Either the oil pump is not working,(drive tangs broken off the torque converter) or a lack of oil flow through the box.(no oil in the box or a blocked filter screen.)

I tend to suspect the later, as it can come good after rest. I think they will find the cause when they drop the pan.

Harvey.

[Subie59]

Thanks Harvey: That's exactly the news I wanted to hear.... will pull the pan tomorrow and clean the filter..... This site is the best...
Thanks again

[paulmeisterpk]

Originally Posted by Hondasucks

And about the transfer clutches, the master tech @ my work says you do NOT have to drop the transmission to do the transfer clutches, since they are in the tail housing.

Your master tech is correct. You do not have to pull the transmission. Just drop the exhaust down, remove the driveshaft, and unbolt the tail housing. I did my duty c solenoid that way. The binding might be your duty c solenoid instead of the clutches themselves.

[oab_au]

Originally Posted by paulmeisterpk

Your master tech is correct. You do not have to pull the transmission. Just drop the exhaust down, remove the driveshaft, and unbolt the tail housing. I did my duty c solenoid that way. The binding might be your duty c solenoid instead of the clutches themselves.

Yes that is right Paul, I forgot to say.

Binding in the Transfer clutch is usually not caused by the clutch plates, (unless they have broken up).

It is usually caused by line pressure being maintained on the clutch. If there is a C solenoid trouble code, then it is the solenoid or wiring.

With no code the cause is the C solenoid or transfer spool valve suffering from gum or dirt.

The easy way is to just replace the C solenoid/transfer valve assemble.

Harvey.

[Subie59]

Just to fill you guys in. Got my tranny filter and fluid changed and problems seems to have gone away, including the torque bind
Simple as that... Sometimes the simplest and cheapest solutions work the best...
Thanks for the advice about the tranny filter....
This site is the best

[Hondasucks]

This is another cause of torque bind:



The grooves get worn in the drum, causing the clutches to "stick" (Won't usually cause a continuous binding condition, but will bind and then release when turning sharply, for example.) Sometimes, if the grooves aren't too severe, you can do several figure 8s in a parking lot, and it will sort of de-burr the grooves, which helps the clutches to not "stick", but if they are badly grooved, the only repair is to replace it.

To test your torque bind, install the FWD fuse. If it doesn't go away, then you probably have a problem with the clutch pack, like in the above picture. (Could also be an open in the wiring to the solenoid, or an open in the solenoid itself).

[Subie59]

Ok although the torque bind is considerably better, I'm still getting some at slow turns. However, on very tight turns (wheel cranked all the way to the left or right) all torque bind disappears. Is this normal. I thought the tighter the turns the worse the torque bind. Any more ideas or suggestions.
Thanks