Prospective SVX, Tranny Problems?

Hello, I am looking at a 1995 Subaru SVX Lsi, it is in beautiful condition, the interior is perfect, and so is the body... Heres the problem, supousedly, the guy was driving home, and all of a sudden the tranny started making noises, so he pulled over, into a parking lot and it just drained tranny fluid everywhere... So I went to look at it, and I noted that the transmission # is 865439... My question is, could this be a line break? why would it leak all of the fluid if the tranny went?

Cost of replacement?
What I should offer on the car?

Regards,
Tim

p.s. just turned 100,000 miles

[svxistentialist]

Hi Tim.

A hard one to call.

The best case scenario is this; the tranny sends oil to the corner of the rad to a liquid/liquid oil cooler to keep the tranny oil at an even temp. If the feed or return pipe to the rad cooler burst, it would pump out all the oil on the ground, eventually the tranny would not work. As far as I know, if the tranny dumps oil in a big way like this, it should just stop pulling, no harm should come to the internals.

If something more catastropic happened inside the case, it would need a major rebuild, but I can't see how this would dump the oil, except with the burst pipe case above.

If a pipe is burst, put on a new one, replace the oil and filter, it's very possible it will just drive away same as nothing happened.

On the other hand, with 100K on the clock, even a good tranny could be heading for a rebuild.

Get a tranny mechanic to look at the car for you. He will see if its a burst cooler pipe and advise.

Joe

[dcarrb]

Regardless of the cause of the leak, if the transmission "started making noises" as the seller said, that's not good. I'd steer way clear, unless he'll let it go for about fifteen hundred bucks.

dcb

I think other people in these forums are telling us to get impreza trannies for 600-1000 bucks not to bad right?

Hmm, an Impreza tranny eh? I think I do recall sonething about that, are we talking an automatic, or like some people, a 5/6 speed? I am mechanically inclined, but I'm not up for a auto to manual swap... Where would I find one of these? even if its a manual... I know a guy who is a Subaru machanic, what year trannys would fit in the easiest?

[Earthworm]

They are talking about auto's with either 4.11 or 4.44 differentials. You would need the accompanying rear differential for this swap to work. It's probably still cheaper than an actual SVX tranny.

[NiftySVX]

Be cautious- the transmission was very likely damaged if it was driven with low fluid. have a mechanic remove the tranny pan and inspect the magnets to see what they cought. Also-I would not reccomend a transmission from any other vehicle. The SVX tranny, while basically the same, was actually beefed up for the extra hp and torque(it was beefed up, just not enough) plus, there is likely several differences in the transmission control electronics.

NiftySVX

are the impreza trannies strong enough for the svx!

[huck369]

Originally posted by troth
are the impreza trannies strong enough for the svx!

In my opinion, Yes....

The SVX Tranny does have an extra clutch pack (the only difference) BUT the lower final drive of the Impreza/Legacy tranny more than makes up for that, as the lower gear ratio causes less stress on the tranny, if Subaru had put 4.11's in the SVX tranny, they would have probably held up for more than twice as long as they do with the 3.54's.


Plus it'll have much better take off, and won't turn any higher RPM's than a Legacy motor does with the same tranny.

if the tranny was making noises, then dumped, likelihood is that something started to go in the tranny, burned the hell out of the fluid (compromising its intended attributes) and it expanded/boiled right out the dipstick tube and possibly blew some seals and/or lines both internally and externally.

i wouldn't use it without cracking the case open and seeing what is going on. or having a mechanic do it.

[Mr. Pockets]

Originally posted by huck369


In my opinion, Yes....

The SVX Tranny does have an extra clutch pack (the only difference)

Nitpicking:

The SVX version of the 4EAT does not have an extrea clutch pack - it has extra clutch plates in the same number of packs.

[Mr. Pockets]

Originally posted by NiftySVX
Be cautious- the transmission was very likely damaged if it was driven with low fluid. have a mechanic remove the tranny pan and inspect the magnets to see what they cought.

While I agree with you that driving the car with low transmission fluid pressure will damage it, I don't see why there would be any additional metallic debris on the magnet in the pan. Low pressure would cause the clutches to slip, and with enough abuse they might get shredded, but what metallic parts would be damaged enough to show up in the pan? Also, without any fluid to circulate debris, I wouldn't think it would show up until you filled it up again.

when the clutches slip, it causes metal debris from both the clutch and clutch plates that it touches.

[huck369]

The clutches are organic.....but they do have a metal clutch plate between each clutch....

I went back down to look at the car again, this time it wasn't raining, so I was able to crawl under the car ( if you can call it under) and using a mirror, it seems to have just dumped tranny fluid from the bottom middle of the car, about even with where the front drive shafts are... It it possible the case cracked?? I only ask because I don't have a clue anymore. It seemed to be pretty wet on the passanger side of the tranny, are there any lines up there that would cause this much trouble?