Transmission Help Please

[gee55987]

Okay so lets just say I have the worst of luck. I have a 96 lsi and a 94 lsi both black with tan leather interior. The one is from canada, everything is in kilometers. I bought the 94 as a parts car becuase it needed a trans but had low miles (under 100k). My 96 was in good shape it just was nearing 200K. The day after i brought home the 94 my transmission went in my 96!!!! It wont even sit in park the whole thing makes some really nasty noises...Its gargabe. Well Now i am going to put a trans in the other one but the previous owner said he had put the 4.11 gears in the diff when he replaced the tranny before it broke on him again. Does subaru even have an automatic 4.11 tranny? I thought they only had the svx 3.54 and the 4.44 auto trans. I do not have enough money to do a 5 speed swap but would like to keep the 4.11 gears if i can or if i cant put in 4.44 gears and a tranny that will work. Does anone know which trans i will need for the 4.11 (auto) if they have one. also if i do have to change the diff to 4.44, will i need to change the whole diff or can i just put gears in it and which tannys will work for that..??
--thanks

[longassname]

Call Tom, svxfiles. He can get you a nice 4.11 at a good price. Then I would highly recomend you send me your valve body to be reworked so that this one lasts longer; it will also shift lightning fast and be a much sportier car. I'll cut you a break and do it withou replacing the solenoids to help with your budget.

[svxfiles]

Originally Posted by gee55987

It wont even sit in park the whole thing makes some really nasty noises...Its gargabe.

First make sure that it's not just a broken axle.

[gee55987]

Originally Posted by svxfiles

First make sure that it's not just a broken axle.

Hey that makes a lot of sense. I actually did go check that to make sure and didnt find them to be broken, but i did notice something. when we jacked it up and put in the fuse for fwd only and put it into drive, it did nothing. (there is an empty slot to put a fuse in to make car front wheel driveo nly to service the car)the front tires wont spin and the tranny does not even make a grinding noise at alll. you can still spin the front tires by hand when it is in drive and makes no noise at all. The weird thing is when the fwd fuse is not in so its awd like it should be the car will slip when you hit the gas then the rear end will kick in. (then the car moves until rpms drop a little, which then makes it slip again then it kicks in the rear)It mihgt be something simple...maybe a vacuum hose or something in the front...like front diff in trans. i can manage to drive the vehicle but i choose not to. Maybe you can help me. I must be totally honest though i did something really stupid. the whole reason this happened was because we were doing some service on it and i forgot to pull the fwd fuse back out that makes it front wheel drive and when i pulled out of the garage i took off really hard. I made it about five-ten feet with front tires spinning then she just stopped moving. like i was in nuetral....I'm such and idiot. so i realized what i did when the tires where spinning and took fuse back out and now just the rear end works...if you need any more info on it just let me know....I cannot stand driving any other vehicle other than my or an svx for that matter! thanks you

[1986nate]

Originally Posted by gee55987

Hey that makes a lot of sense. I actually did go check that to make sure and didnt find them to be broken, but i did notice something. when we jacked it up and put in the fuse for fwd only and put it into drive, it did nothing. (there is an empty slot to put a fuse in to make car front wheel driveo nly to service the car)the front tires wont spin and the tranny does not even make a grinding noise at alll. you can still spin the front tires by hand when it is in drive and makes no noise at all. The weird thing is when the fwd fuse is not in so its awd like it should be the car will slip when you hit the gas then the rear end will kick in. (then the car moves until rpms drop a little, which then makes it slip again then it kicks in the rear)It mihgt be something simple...maybe a vacuum hose or something in the front...like front diff in trans. i can manage to drive the vehicle but i choose not to. Maybe you can help me. I must be totally honest though i did something really stupid. the whole reason this happened was because we were doing some service on it and i forgot to pull the fwd fuse back out that makes it front wheel drive and when i pulled out of the garage i took off really hard. I made it about five-ten feet with front tires spinning then she just stopped moving. like i was in nuetral....I'm such and idiot. so i realized what i did when the tires where spinning and took fuse back out and now just the rear end works...if you need any more info on it just let me know....I cannot stand driving any other vehicle other than my or an svx for that matter! thanks you

You ruined the front differential Your transmission is probably fine, just don't drive it anymore until you get a new(to you) front differential. You can swap in a differential from any other SVX but you must change both the ring and pinion gear as they are a matched set.

Edit: Welcome to the site as well. It would be appreciated if you could input information reguarding your 2 SVX here http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=71 One of our members is just trying to gather as much information on these cars as possible.

[gee55987]

Originally Posted by 1986nate

You ruined the front differential Your transmission is probably fine, just don't drive it anymore until you get a new(to you) front differential. You can swap in a differential from any other SVX but you must change both the ring and pinion gear as they are a matched set.

Edit: Welcome to the site as well. It would be appreciated if you could input information reguarding your 2 SVX here http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=71 One of our members is just trying to gather as much information on these cars as possible.

Okay thank you! I sure hope that is it. And yes i will go ahead and and check out the site and input my info... I just thought of something though, my one car was from canada as everything is in kilometers. (that probably wont help much) i will put in the info of the other car as soon as i go down to the shop..might not be for a couple of days but i will get to it!

[gee55987]

Originally Posted by 1986nate

You ruined the front differential Your transmission is probably fine, just don't drive it anymore until you get a new(to you) front differential. You can swap in a differential from any other SVX but you must change both the ring and pinion gear as they are a matched set.

Just thinking about it again. If the front diff is shot, i must have spun off gear inside correct? Then shouldnt mytranny make some kind of grinding noises when put into gear. The trans doesnt make any bad noises...If you still believe thats the problem, do you know where i can get a front diff..?

[1986nate]

Originally Posted by gee55987

Just thinking about it again. If the front diff is shot, i must have spun off gear inside correct? Then shouldnt mytranny make some kind of grinding noises when put into gear. The trans doesnt make any bad noises...If you still believe thats the problem, do you know where i can get a front diff..?

When so much power is put to the front wheels with them spinning, once the wheels grab, there is too much power for the differential to handle and it sheers off the gear in the differential. That is the horrible sound you were hearing at first and after trying to drive it more probably sheered the rest of the teeth off and also why it won't move with the FWD fuse in. With the FWD fuse out, the sensor in the differential is reading that the front differential is slipping and that is why it kicks in the rear and will then move.

Find someone who might have a blown SVX transmission as the differential may be good is a possibility. A better option since it actually involves less work, just a little more money for the parts, is get a 4.11 or 4.44 auto transmission AND rear differential out of another Subaru(91-97 and some 98's). These have shown to be more reliable than the 3.54 gear ratio in the SVX automatic. Highway cruising will be at higher rpm's but it is not bad for these engines.

If you decide to swap in an auto from another suby, replacing the transmission is straight forward-drop out the old one and install the new(to you) transmission. For the rear differential you need to swap out the LSD from the SVX rear differential into the donor rear diff.

On the other hand, if you decide to just change the front differential, you must first drop out the SVX transmission, separate the front differential from the transmission and replace the ring and pinion gear, put it back together and reinstall.

I guess both end up being about the same amount of work.

[longassname]

You should call svxfiles about the car with the 4.11 gears. You'll want to check and see if the previous owner just threw in a 4.11 rear or made it limited slip; he'll be able to help you do that. He has a lot of experience with them. He's also a good source both for a 4.11 transmission and for limited slip dif of your desired ratio. You'll get more done in a phone call than 20 posts here.

[1986nate]

Originally Posted by longassname

You should call svxfiles about the car with the 4.11 gears. You'll want to check and see if the previous owner just threw in a 4.11 rear or made it limited slip; he'll be able to help you do that. He has a lot of experience with them. He's also a good source both for a 4.11 transmission and for limited slip dif of your desired ratio. You'll get more done in a phone call than 20 posts here.

So true

[gee55987]

Thank you all. I did call him and I am actually going to put in the 4.44 tranny instead and switch the diff. As for my other car goes that i just wrecked the miracle man that said something about the axles is my hero! It turns out that when i punched it, i spun off the teeth on the inside of the tranny on that double ended axle thing. (double endedaxle thing*- it goes into trans and into axle about 5 inches long) not sure what its called. Anyways thats all i did. the car drives fine again, just a little rougher when put into drive then it used to be....but not terrible. THANKS EVERYONE for the help I LOVE THIS FORUM!!!!!!!!! I Cannot wait til the anniversery meet as well!