My transmission never slipped --- and now, no gears engage!

quayce · #1 08-31-2006, 11:41 PM

Hi everybody,

Like you, I love my SVX. My 94 LSi (133k miles) is my second, and I've had it since '98. I never had a problem with the transmission, until today.

This afternoon, pulling away from a stoplight, the trans slipped out of gear, and stayed that way. From 1-3, D, and R, nothing worked. The engine revved normally, I couldn't hear any "strange" noises, in fact if it weren't for the fact that I wasn't moving, I wouldn't have known anything was wrong!

I quickly discovered that if I turned off the ignition, turned it back on, and put the car in drive, 1st gear engaged again and I was back in business -- for a couple of hundred feet. Then, once again, the trans slipped out of gear, and no gear I tried would work. A repeat of my "turn the motor off, turn it on" routine got me moving again, and sure enough, I made it only a very short distance before I found myself coasting again. I repeated this a couple of times until I reached a safe area to pull over.

I've been reading up on SVX transmission problems, and so far they almost always seem to involve either some gears, or not others, or at least the problem starts at some point and gradually worsens. In my case, I noticed no problems at all UNTIL the moment all the gears stopped working. I checked the trans fluid and it *seemed* normal, although really how often do you look at fluid to know what normal should look like!

Is this really a "blown" transmission, just like that? Or is there something else that would cause these symptoms? My local dealer would be delighted to accept $3500 to replace the transmission, but I'm not so eager to go down that road just yet...

Please help!

--Quayce

Earthworm · #2 09-01-2006, 07:41 AM

Welcome to the site! Sorry to hear of your troubles.

I believe Doug (mohrds) had this happen to him on the way to the "Reading 4" meet. Every gear was like neutral except for Park. He would be the best person to describe what happened.

Most likely there is no ATF flow.

Hocrest · #3 09-01-2006, 07:51 AM

The same thing happened to my SVX shortly after I got my car. I ended up replacing it with a Subaru rebuilt and a few weeks later had to replace the rebuilt one as well as the TCU.

I've always wondered if the problem with that first one was maybe a bad TCU???

huck369 · #4 09-01-2006, 08:39 AM

First check your fluid....sounds like it could be low on fluid...

Mr. Pockets · #5 09-01-2006, 09:39 AM

I'm going to agree with Earthworm and Huck - it sounds to me like a fluid problem of some sort. Yeah, it could be low, but since it happened so suddenly I think it's more likely a loss of pressure. This could be due to a blockage somewhere, a sudden bad leak or the pump failing.

Since you didn't mention any huge puddles or smoke, I'm guessing it's not a leak.

Try not to rev the engine or anything with the car in gear. With low fluid pressure you will cause the clutches to slip and damage them.

My car did something similar a few years ago. The dealer replaced the internal filter and flushed the transmission. That got it moving again for a little while, but the tranny failed for good shortly thereafter.

Speedklix · #6 09-01-2006, 10:13 AM

as if you needed another one to tell you....

Check your fluid. If fine... may be your pump.

pipedream · #7 09-01-2006, 01:00 PM

ive never had this problem with my svx, but i did have this exact problem with my taurus station wagon.......which was an automatic.

i was doing some off road driving with it (long story) on a gravel road, and a rock scraped the bottom of the car pretty loudly. I was young and figured since my car didn't stop that everything was ok. We setup camp, and the next day, went to go home, and ... yep... rrev rev rev rev. looked under the car and saw a mysterious pool of fluid.

like everyone else says, probably the ATF. no pressure, no go go.

svxistentialist · #8 09-01-2006, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by quayce

Hi everybody,

Like you, I love my SVX. My 94 LSi (133k miles) is my second, and I've had it since '98. I never had a problem with the transmission, until today.

This afternoon, pulling away from a stoplight, the trans slipped out of gear, and stayed that way. From 1-3, D, and R, nothing worked. The engine revved normally, I couldn't hear any "strange" noises, in fact if it weren't for the fact that I wasn't moving, I wouldn't have known anything was wrong!

I quickly discovered that if I turned off the ignition, turned it back on, and put the car in drive, 1st gear engaged again and I was back in business -- for a couple of hundred feet. Then, once again, the trans slipped out of gear, and no gear I tried would work. A repeat of my "turn the motor off, turn it on" routine got me moving again, and sure enough, I made it only a very short distance before I found myself coasting again. I repeated this a couple of times until I reached a safe area to pull over.

I've been reading up on SVX transmission problems, and so far they almost always seem to involve either some gears, or not others, or at least the problem starts at some point and gradually worsens. In my case, I noticed no problems at all UNTIL the moment all the gears stopped working. I checked the trans fluid and it *seemed* normal, although really how often do you look at fluid to know what normal should look like!

Is this really a "blown" transmission, just like that? Or is there something else that would cause these symptoms? My local dealer would be delighted to accept $3500 to replace the transmission, but I'm not so eager to go down that road just yet...

Please help!

--Quayce

Hello Quayce

Welcome to the Network!

Sorry to hear about your problem. I would agree with what the guys are saying, you must be low on oil in the tranny. You should check if you have blown a pipe or something.

On the left side of the tranny two rubber pipes are sent forward, and they connect to the rad. The bottom left part of the rad is an oil cooler for the tranny. If one of these opened or split you would pump out your tranny oil, no progress.

When you stop, the oil that remains drains down to the bottom part of the sump, from where it can feed the pump. When the pump picks it up, you get drive, but when there is no more to pick up, and there is not enough to go round, then you get no line pressure and you stop.

Check for a leak, fix the leak, and top it up.

If that does not fix it, you might have a broken or slipped off brake band. Unlikely with how you describe it. Most likely an oil leak.

Joe

quayce · #9 09-02-2006, 01:22 AM

Thanks everyone for all the information! I'm anxious to put these theories to the test. I'm pretty sure the fluid level was OK after the trouble started, so I'll look into a pressure failure.

I've gotten my SVX away from the dealer (who seemed little interested in pursuing these possibilities) and over to what I hope will be a more reputable shop that will actually investigate the source of the trouble. I won't have news until after Labor Day (until then, I'm stuck driving a rented Pontiac-- oh, the horror!). I'll post again when I find out what was wrong, in case it will help anyone in the future.

Thanks again everyone! It can't be denied that the SVX community is alive and well here, and you've been a tremendous help to me. I'll be back.

-Q

TomsSVX · #10 09-02-2006, 06:41 AM

Sounds like lack of flow but for it to be ok when you restart it, that sounds like it could be computer related. Try and wrestle a TCU away from Gest24 (he doesn't need it anymore) just to troubleshoot the problem. This is the only advice I have

Tom

TheKoP · #11 02-28-2008, 11:15 AM

Hate to dig up an old thread, but this was one of the most recent I found that is similar to my problem...

Anyway, the same thing happenend to me yesterday. Felt like I was stuck in neutral. Turned of the ingnition and then restarted and it was OK for a bit and then nothing. With some luck and patience I was able to make it home and avoid an accident.
Now, the fluid level seems OK. I do hear a noise (bearings possibly) for a while when I restart the car but it goes away about the same time I get no power to the wheels. I'll assume it's the pump that died/ is dying but I'd like to get other opinions from people who had this happen to them too. How much trouble is it to replace/ repair the pump?
Thanks for any help!

SVXRide · #12 02-28-2008, 02:21 PM

What you're probably hearing is the solenoids in the trans. Does it sound like the sound is right below you?
-Bill

TheKoP · #13 02-28-2008, 03:10 PM

It sounded more like in the front near the engine/tranny.

crazyhorse · #14 02-28-2008, 07:43 PM

Could the TCU be failing completely?

On another Subie forum, a user had luck competely unplugging the tcu. The car went into 3rd gear, and stayed there. Not good for it, I know, but in a pinch it could get him home. This was a 4eat in an XT6

TheKoP · #15 02-29-2008, 09:25 AM

OK, where exactly is the TCU located? I'd be willing to try this but I'm not sure of the exact location. Pix would help too