Changing ATF

[Nobody]

Hi Matt, Joe. I do not plan to drive without this fuse, do not worry :-)). Just finding where the problem is. This morning I started engine and let to warm it up for 10 minutes, switching from P to R and D was almost OK, during ride between shifting I felt the same jerks. Damn, it will be log way to find out where is bug...
Yesterday, I went to local service which is specialized for repairing and rebulding ATs. As here in Europe most people use manual (dont count with this guys at MB S-classe and BMW 7 :-))) it is very rare to find someone who can uderestand ATs. I was very impressed by this service, a lot of cars there, clean, a lot of documentation etc. These guys has 10 years experience, best I can find here. Here in my town are only 2 SVXs, mine Burgundy and White one. And gues what I saw, the white one with tranny out :-(((( I hope mine will not end the same :-)). Guys made some tests and test drive and told me that tranny is OK. They showed me some technical documentation that says that every 4AET tranny need to replace selenoids after 50k miles. Is it right? The cost of replacing all selenoids is about 800 USD. Today I give my car for painting. It has horrible paint right now (all life serving in our capital city and previous owner did not care much about paint). I had to solve my dilema which color I should use (I like yelow!) but finnaly I decided to paint it as original, I want to keep this car as much as original which means it will keep its value in future.
Peter

[svxistentialist]

Hi Peter

If these guys are specialising in AT only, they are the people to deal with. Good news if they have driven your car, and say the tranny is OK.

To date I have seen no technical info saying to replace all solenoids at 50K miles. What is common accepted wisdom on these websites is, if one of the solenoids go, it may be prudent to replace all of them. This seems sensible, as they are all the one age, and will have switched on and off many times in the life of the car.

I have an American manual which suggests the following for "Excessive shift shock"

1) Duty Solenoid A : severed or short circuit

2) Throttle Sensor [TPS] : defective, severed or short circuit

Now I have been getting funny shifts myself, and have only tonight put in a new TPS. It seems to work well, but I will need to drive for a week or so, to assure myself that the shifting is correct.

In your case, I would strongly suspect Solenoid A, it controls line pressure, gear changes at higher than usual line pressure will cause jerky shifts.

Please note on my previous post about the AWD fuse, I should have said don't drive the car with the fuse in , and have amended the post to read properly.

Joe

[Nobody]

Hi Joe,
I want to use AWD :-)) I catched it :-))
I thing it is some electrical problem, var. B is much more probale (as for me). I hope that guys in Subaru can detect it via plugging in computer and doing diagnosis check. Problem is that as SVX is really very rare here they have to upgrade their compter with SVX software which will take more time. I made the test with this moving lever from D to 3 to 2 etc and Power light indicated no Erorr. I do not thing (I do not want to belive :-)) that any selenoid is bad, it has only 20k Km on it. I will talk on monday with the other guy here with SVX which I saw at the tranny service. He had selenoids problem so we will compare behaviors of our cars. I also check oil level at tranny, last time I have check it it was at the lower mark so maybe put one bottle in it. We will see. Rïght now the car is getting new paint so I am very curious :-)) how it will looks with compleetly new paint.
Peter

[svxistentialist]

Hi Peter

Solenoids can physically break, because they are electro-mechanical. In the event of a physical problem, it may not show a code.

As per the diagnosis above, you will note they are assuming electrical, what they are suggesting is Solenoid A shorted or severed, i.e., the signal is not getting in or out, possibly a broken or damaged wire.

You are presuming with the replaced tranny, you have new solenoids, hope this is the case. If it proves to be Solenoid A, then you need only replace Solenoid A, or the wire to it. Replacing all six would be overkill and expensive, but the mechanics would rather you do that if they do not have specific info and software good enough to check out your system completely. They will not want to guess on one, take a chance, fit it, and find there is still a problem. This is known as Service Department Logic.

If it proves to be TPS, it is easy to put on and not too expensive.

When checking the ATF level, drive the car a couple of miles first to warm the oil, and dip it with the engine ticking over, not switched off.

Joe

[Nobody]

Thanx for details Joe,
as for oil level I always check it the same as you wrote, hot oil is at lower mark.
As for selenoid I saw all that part of trenny where they are located and I was told it is relative easy to put this part out, check it and place back. Rookie question, is there some way to test voltage not removing anything from tranny? Does the Subaru diagnostic computer can check it or I have to let put off this part with selenoids out and check them one by one?
As for tranny, I have document which says the tranny was changend by new one, there is old ser. number starting with 3 and than serial number of replaced tranny starting with 5. Cost was over 4000USD. So I asume it is factory new one.
Sorry for such a rookie questions I still feel like Alice in Wonderland or like in first class in highschool. These things with AT are very new for me, I have never think about my car in such a details :-)). But I like it :-)).
I just get price from Motor-Sport for BM external cooler, Dayle ask for product 70268 SuperCooler 19,000 GVW 11"x7-1/2"x3/4" 80 bucks. Is it good price?
Thanx, Peter

[rufus]

No one mentioned the dropping resistor in this thread, did they? The "jerk" between shifts sounds suspiciously like a bad resistor to me. You could unplug it and see if there is any change in the shift characteristics. Doesn't explain away the behavior when moving the gear selector, but sometimes I feel like mine (and others I've ridden in and driven) kind of "clunk" into gear a little.

Just a thought...

[Nobody]

Hi Rufus, where I can find and how to unplug it?
Thanx, Peter

[rufus]

It is right behind the battery; a little rectangular thing on a bracket with a couple wires leading to it, on the inside wall of the engine compartment. It is not uncommon for them to fail as moisture gets inside and corrodes them. I have seen them fail on an SVX and on my girlfriend's Infiniti, and the symptom is an abrupt shift, most noticeable at part throttle. To disconnect it, just squeeze the clip on the end of the wires leading to it and pop them off. You can test the resistance as well, but I don't remember what it should be. I think they normally fail to open, so if you get infinite resistance it is bad.

Electrician-types correct me if I am using the wrong terms here.

[rufus]

Here's an excellent picture from the How-to locker:

http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/files/How-To/1149.jpg

[Nobody]

Hey Rufus!
I think you probably got it. I rememeber when I bought my lovely car month ago it was in excellent shape as for engine and tranny, than from one day these jerks occured. And now I recall what happened day before - battery which was in car went to batterie's heaven and I let Subaru to install new one, maybe they did someting with wires or someting like that. As I wrote to Joe my car is beeing painted now so I will have chance to check it next week, deffinitely I will let you know.
Peter

[rufus]

Well, if that is the case, that is fantastic news indeed. Even if the part is bad, it is not terribly expensive, and a very easy do-it-yourself job. Good luck! I am anxious to hear how it works out.

-Mike

[alia176]

I've been reading this article and was impressed by the help that everyone is profividing to Peter on the other side of the pond. Really a good example of human kindness. Good job folks.

Ali

[Nobody]

Hi Ali, I am well impressed too :-)
I can not still belive that I can repair or service my car through internet :-). I work for computer distribution company here so also "car english" is quite new for me.
At least someting connect people all over the world.
Thanx
Peter