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  #1  
Old 08-09-2007, 05:56 PM
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Transmission...

Ok, so I am having some MAJOR difficulties with my transmission...

First issue: I could never read an accurate transmission fluid level because the fluid was always "bubbly" and always read about 2 inches higher than it was supposed to.

Second issue: I was driving down a pretty steep decline and I noticed some smoke coming from my car. I had some transmission fluid pouring onto my exhaust. So, being in as terrible of a position as I was (hills in Virginia don't really offer any spot to climb around your car), I kept driving it until found a good spot to check my transmission fluid levels. WELL SURPRISE SURPRISE! transmission fluid all over the dipstick. Fearing Deliverance revisited, I just decided to keep driving. Well, further down the road, my transmission started to disengage at around 45 mph (what I think is third gear?), and also when I hammer down hard onto the accelerator. After the tow, I was driving the car home when it threw a P0740 code which is the TCC Circuit Malfunction (torque converter?).

A couple questions...

Are these related problems?
Why can't I read an accurate warm atf level (what the hell is with all the bubbles)?
What is the cause of this slip and is this the same thing as a "lock up" that I've seen on the site?
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  #2  
Old 08-10-2007, 06:15 AM
dcarrb dcarrb is offline
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Just a guess here, but I'd take bubbly ATF 2 inches over the full mark to suggest someone over-filled the transmission.

Can you tell where the ATF that's getting onto the exhaust is coming from?

Torque converter lockup doesn't feel anything like a slip. In one of my cars it's pronounced; the RPMs drop and the engine wants to lug a bit (unless I'm at freeway speeds), in the other, if not for the tach I'd hardly notice.

Good luck.
dcb
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  #3  
Old 08-10-2007, 06:20 AM
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First, how are you checking the tranny fluid? Is the engine running, and the vehicle on a level surface? There shouldn't be bubbles in the tranny fluid, or if there is, it shouldn't carry over to the dipstick, unless it is perhaps over-full, to the point of not being able to read the transmission fuild level clearly.

Slipping around 45 is likely when your tranny is shifting between 3 to 4th gear, does it feel like it's not engaging 4th properly? If so that might be the high speed clutch, same thing which toasted on my trans. Was intermittent at first, but got progressively worse.

P0740: The detecting condition: Slipped wheel RPM (absolute value of difference from transmission input RPM computed from engine speed and vehicle speed) continues greater than (40 + vehicle speed / 2) for 10.2 seconds.When the lockup duty ratio is greater then 90% in lock up control mode detected by the TCM.

Let me know if this helped at all.
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Old 08-11-2007, 10:50 PM
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"I had some transmission fluid pouring onto my exhaust. "

That would be transmission fluid pouring out of the passenger side breather tube.



"Well, further down the road, my transmission started to disengage at around 45 mph "

These transmissions overheat badly when over filled. From the description of the events it is very likely your transmisison is shot now. You could easily and probably did get up to temps high enough to destroy frictions, seals, solenoids, and hopefully not but possibly some metal parts. If I was rebuilding your transmission I would replace the bearings. As long as none of the bearings have given out already the rest of the hard parts should still be fine.
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Old 10-02-2007, 09:21 AM
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just got back

this has helped, and sorry i haven't been around to update on the situation, i've been away from the site for a while.

if its of any importance, theres no grinding coming from the transmission, and i don't doubt the problem is from someone overfilling the transmission. I'm livid because i didn't even touch the transmission fluid since i got it (dumb move on my part). I'm going to try the solenoid and the bearings first and see how that works.

other than that no real updates other than the fact that it has sat in the driveway since it happened. i'm reasonably sure i have a transmission leak now because the transmission fluid is now all over the driveway.

i called a local subaru tech and he said he wouldn't even consider looking at it because he knows so little about svxs.
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Last edited by tommy96LSi; 10-02-2007 at 12:06 PM.
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  #6  
Old 10-02-2007, 12:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tommy96LSi View Post

i called a local subaru tech and he said he wouldn't even consider looking at it because he knows so little about svxs.
Tell him they use the same trannys as the Legacy....(except for the final drive ratio)

And check the rubber lines just behind/below the starter, they may be cracked causuing the leak, and allowing air into the fluid...

But expect to be replacing the tranny...
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Old 03-12-2008, 04:40 PM
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Unhappy spectacular


AWESOME... again it's been a while since I've updated, mostly because ALMOST NOTHING has been done other than line inspection and filter/gasket/fluid replacement. So the easy fix didn't work, and while we had the pan off my dad (the engineer) test the resistance on duty solenoid A, which tested at 3 ohms... dead on.

So now for the rebuild. I'm on a local subaru forum (of which I'm the only SVX member) and even their go-to shop won't even work on it. WTF? I guess apparently they don't want to take on the time consumption of a rebuild, even after I explained that it's the same 4EAT that's on the legacy they already work on. The local shop then in turn asked his own trusted transmission guy if he'd consider a rebuild, and apparently ran away. HOWEVER... He suggested a transmission replacement? again... WTF? I'm pretty sure I'm the only svx owner anywhere near Charlotte.

The car has been sitting in my driveway for over 6 months now. :FRUSTRATION:... I'm seriously considering the swap but I'm concerned about the invasiveness of the operation, and the cost of the transmission that I would replace to... so here are my questions:

1) Would you recommend a person who has never worked on a transmission before attempting a rebuild?

2) Would you recommend a used transmission as an option to forgo the rebuild? and what are the prices/ long run implications of putting a used transmission in the car?

3) What's the success rate of the 5 speed swap? And more importantly, what are the costs like?
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  #8  
Old 03-12-2008, 06:07 PM
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Tommy,
I have a Subaru Remanufactured Transmission sitting in the garage, pulled it out of my Yellow SVX to do a 5-speed swap.
Shifted perfect, looks to be a fairly recent replacement, but I don't know how many miles it has on it.

I was saving it untill I picked up another SVX with a bad tranny, but if you want it, and will come and get it, I'll sell it to you for $450.
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