Transmission Serial Numbers

doug maire · #1 05-08-2006, 02:07 PM

Does anyone know how to identify what transmission I have in my 1996 SVX LSI by the serial number on the transmission case.
I replaced the front differential last year with a used one purchaed from this web site and ever since I have had problems with the rear differential burning up.
The Dealer that replaced the rear differential says the transmission is the wrong one based on the VIN number for my car even though I am positive the transmission has never been replaced before.
The transmission serial # in the car is T21022M3AA-2AA
The dealer could not tell me what car this transmission is from only that it does not belong in this car.
Also does anyone know if there were more than 1 rear diff gear ratios for that year and model. My understanding is that 3.55:1 is the stock gear ratio.

Earthworm · #2 05-08-2006, 05:57 PM

All LSi's have the same gear ratios. It's only the FWD models that are different. They are interchangeable between all the years as well.

alltrac · #3 05-08-2006, 06:07 PM

Your 96LSi should be tz102zm3aa

doug maire · #4 05-08-2006, 08:58 PM

Thank's earthworm and alltrac for your response.
I am dealing with a rather bizarre situation with my son's 1996 Svx LSI.
He inherited it from his grandfather 2 years ago who was the original owner. Last year during a trip to Flagstaff Az. he started to smell something burning and the floor boards were getting hotter than normal. A few weeks after he returned he noticed fluid leaking beneath the transmission. We took it to a transmission shop for service and upon inspection we found a crack in the front diff case. We were not able to locate a new case (no longer available) so we advertised for a used one. We found a used one and had it installed along with the matching gears to mate with the transmission. A couple of weeks later my son was driving on the interstate when he started to smell something burning again. He pulled off to the side of the road and looked under the car and could see some kind of fluid leaking around the transmission. As he began to drive to get off the interstate a passing motorist flagged him down yelling at him that the rear of his car was on fire. He pulled over to the shoulder and was able to get the fire under control until the fire department arrived.
The car was towed to a local garage were the insurance adjuster and the shop owner concluded that the fire must have started from a gas leak above the fuel tank dripping on to the catalytic converter. My son disputes this because he claims this was not the area he observed the fluid leaking from.
6 months and $5,500 later we get the car back with a new fuel tank and everything else around it.
Less than a week after getting the car back we now notice fluid leaking from the rear diff area. We take the car to a local Subaru dealer and they conclude that the rear end is burned and damaged from the fire and needs to be replaced. We get the insurance Co. to agree to the additional damages and the dealer replaces the rear diff with a brand new one.
This is where the story gets good!!!!!!
We pick up the SVX with it's new rear diff and drive aprox 10-12 miles home, Before we arrive we can smell something burning again and can feel the heat coming from the floor boards. By the time we get in the driveway smoke is starting to pour off the rear diff housing. Fearing another fire we hit the rear end with a garden hose and it just starts boiling off the water into steam.
I contacted the dealer 30 min after we picked up the car and advised him of the problem. The next day after the rear diff had cooled I inspected the new Rear diff to make sure it had fluid and it did. We then had the car towed to the dealer where they took the better part of a week to conclude that the transmission is the problem and that the transmission did not belong in this year and make SVX and that they would not accept responsibilitry for the rear diff.
Problem is that We know for a fact that the transmission was never replaced, only the front diff case. We then had the car towed to another Subaru dealer where they too concluded that it is the wrong transmission (go figure).
Finally later today I was able to contact Subaru customer support where they were able to match the VIN # to the transmission code and they confirmed it is the correct transmission. (back to square one minus a rear diff now).
Now I have to figure out why the second rear diff fried so quick and if it can be possibly linked to that replacment of the front diff case earlier.

If anyone has any ideas on how to proceed please contact me ASAP (before I starting parting this thing out)

lhopp77 · #5 05-08-2006, 09:31 PM

I don't have an answer to your problem, but it looks like the best thing might be to let the thing burn and collect the insurance on it and start again.

Lee

Suby Fan · #6 05-08-2006, 10:21 PM

well i can tell you that it can't be because of the front diff because if operates independent of the rear linked only by the T case built into the transmition.... heyyy Transfer case maybe?

#7 05-09-2006, 01:55 AM

This is so odd! I have no idea what to say this could be. How does the car behave while driving. Does the awd seem to function smoothly and properly?

Mike

b3lha · #8 05-09-2006, 02:37 AM

Could you give more detail about what work was done to the front diff? It sounds to me like your front and rear diff are different ratios.

Having said that, there was a guy in the UK whose diff caught fire, then it was replaced and the new diff failed too. Sounds rather similar to your story. Read these threads:

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=16981
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=17433
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=18957
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=19812
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/showthread.php?t=20927

SVX-FF · #9 05-09-2006, 06:58 AM

The problem that you are having does not make sense.

If the transmission(front diff) is a different gear ratio than the rear the transmission would burn up not the rear. The rear diff burns up if there is a great deal of friction. Any binding would come from the AWD section of the transmission.

Did the dealer use the limited slip gl5 fluid in the rear?
what did they rebuild on the rear?

I think that the dealer needs to explain why the rear diff would seize and catch fire if the transmission is wrong. I call B.S. on the dealer.

Steve (Fried 3 transmissions no diffs)

svxfiles · #10 05-09-2006, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SVX-FF

The problem that you are having does not make sense.

If the transmission(front diff) is a different gear ratio than the rear the transmission would burn up not the rear. The rear diff burns up if there is a great deal of friction. Any binding would come from the AWD section of the transmission.
I think that the dealer needs to explain why the rear diff would seize and catch fire if the transmission is wrong. I call B.S. on the dealer.

Steve (Fried 3 transmissions no diffs)

What Steve said!
If you remove the rear differential, pull off the back plate/cover, and look on the ring gear it SHOULD show 39:11
This indicates 39 ring gear teeth, and 11 pinion teeth!
Then COUNT the # of teeth on both.
If it is 39/11 then it is the correct ratio 3.5454545454545, but does not say if it was set up properly!
The dealer could have not set it up propperly and caused early wear, a whine, a clunk, binding, but to catch on fire

Maybe they put NO OIL in it at all!!??

To fix the problem,I say buy a used stock SVX rear end and install it.
Hocrest can get one today, if he has not allready

doug maire · #11 05-09-2006, 11:36 AM

Thank's b3lha for the post to the UK chap who had the same incident.
I now feel the original incident of heat and fumes was a result of the rear diff failing and that the fire was caused by the rear diff catching fire to the fuel tank. I will forward this link to the Subaru Customer Service adviser assigned to my case.

In regards to svx-ff inquiry concerning the limited slip fluid, they advised me that the rear diff comes as an assembly and that the oil is packaged with it.
I have no way of verifying this as the fluid is severely burned as a result of the overheating of the rear diff.

To answer svxfiles question regarding gear ratios, The invoice for the replacment rear diff indicates a part number of 27011AA362 which I verified with a seperate Subaru dealer that it is the correct part # and that it is a 3.545:1 ratio. I understand from my research that it is the only gear ratio that was available for that year and model.

My feeling is that the rear diff overheating problem is a completely seperate issue from the work performed on the front diff case replacement. What leads me to believe this is that both my son and wife observed that there was excessive heat on the floor boards prior to any work on the front diff case.
The dealer is pushing the theory that tire size/wear and or transmission gear ratios are incorrect and that is the source of the problem with the rear diff failure but I do not buy it at this time. The reason is due to the short distance I traveled after the replacment of the rear diff (12mi). That in itself leads me to believe that the rear diff was installed improperly.

#12 05-09-2006, 12:00 PM

27011AA362 is an entire rear differential assembly, there's no pinion depth or backlash to setup. There's like 6 bolts for the rear diff, without those you wont make it 12 miles, so obviously it was installed properly. You found fluid in it. I think your fire is caused by something else. You had a fire beforehand, replaced the diff, problem still occured, obviously the diff wasn't the problem.

mohrds · #13 05-09-2006, 02:14 PM

Has the dealer measured the circumference of each tire? That will tell you if there is a mismatch problem.

Could one of the rear half shafts be binding? maybe a bad CV joint in one of them?

A gear mismatch between the front and rear will most likely burn out the rear clutch first before chewing up a brand new diff.

Since the problem always appears in the rear diff and not in anything else, I'd suspect the problem is from the rear diff to the tires and not in the propeller shaft or forward.

Doug

svxfiles · #14 05-09-2006, 03:07 PM

It seems to me that if there was enough binding/friction to cause the rear end to CATCH ON FIRE, it would be easy to find.

If there was a drag on one wheel, causing one wheel to turn more slowly than the other side, yes it would cause a heat build up in the rear differential, but it would also cause friction to the dragging rear tire, that is not coated in cooling oil!
It would more probably blow out the tire first.
Did you see any oil come out of the rear differential after the second mishap?
If so, was the oil thick or thin?
Did you save any of the rear oil.
BTW, Just because the box says 3.545 does not mean there is a 3.545 in the box.

doug maire · #15 05-09-2006, 11:49 PM

thawa, I agree that the installation of the complete rear diff should be quite simple. The relevant question is did the dealer properly diagnose the problem prior to making the repairs and did they properly road test it afterward to insure that their work corrected the problem. I drove a total of 12 miles after taking delivery of the car only to have the rear diff toasted again.

mohrds makes a good point in that other components in the rear end may be responsible for the overheating, that is why I decided to take it to a Subaru dealer, so that it would get diagnosed properly. The problem I face now is the dealer is more interested in shifting the responsibility so they are not held responsible for the damage to the newly installed rear diff.

svxfiles: I have not picked up the car from the second Subaru dealer as of yet so I haven't had the opportunity to inspect the condition of the oil more carefully, I did not see any oil leaking from the rear diff after it heated up and prior to taking it back to the first Subaru dealer. I am sure there was oil in the housing but I'm not sure what type or the condition of the oil.

Now that the 2nd Subaru dealer has been informed by Subaru Customer Relations rep that the transmission is the correct one for this model/year the 2nd Subaru dealer is now claiming the front diff I had installed is not from a SVX but from a legacy and they now think it is the underlying problem causing the damage to the rear diff.

It looks like I'm going to have to do some more research to verify I have the correct front diff installed even though my transmission shop swears that it matched up perfectly with the one they removed. If anyone is knowledgable about front diff's for this year (1996 SVX LSI) please contact me.

I'll keep you all posted