Transmission Questions?

[JACOBBOCAJ]

I have a few questions concerning my car. I could just be parnoid after reading about all the trans problems that occured on other cars. According to the previous owner my transmission, torque converter was replaced around 25k miles ago in 2002 at dealership and has had a flush in between then and now. The car was rarely driven. Only 75k miles on car. When at a complete stop and then applying the gas seems to jerk a little (not bad at all just minor) like something takes a sec to grab. Also while taking sharp turns at parking lot speed the rear end seems to viberate. Now both of these problems dont occur at all times, just half time. The old man i bought it from told me that the subaru dealership said this happens cause he rarely drivess it. Wondering if anyone else has any suggestions. Planning on taking the car to get a flush with subaru trans fluid and possibly an additive also on Tuesday. Then a will install an external trans cooler. Also plan on possibly buying a new rear differential cause there only $250 tops.



stage 1 shift kit does more harm than good? seen at http://www.smallcar.com/index.php?ac...d&productId=84,

[longassname]

I rebuild and upgrade these transmissions and have 1st person hands on knowledge of how and why they fail and how to fix them and prevent them from failing--some of which I'm happy to share.

1st off) The oe transmission cooler in the radiator is nothing but a hazard. Don't use it. It is very restrictive even if it isn't clogged and easily does clog. Seriously, don't use it. It used to be common on these forums for people to advise not bypassing it theorizing that the radiator will heat the atf in the winter and bring it up to operating temperature and that that wouldn't happen otherwise. However, a stand alone transmission cooler installed in the drivers fenderwell with its own fan controlled by it's own thermostat has proven to allow the atf to come to operating temp quickly and then maintain the atf at an optimal 176F. This option is much safer and is likely to greatly extend the life of your transmission. There are kits available for doing this such as this B&M kit from Summit: http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku

2nd) The subaru atf for the phase1 4eat is a very good fluid and especially good for the phase 1 4eat. Unfortunately many dealerships don't know what they are doing and try to sell you the wrong fluid. The new fluid is not equivalent. You want SOA868v9240

3rd) It shouldn't be necessary in your transmission but in my transmissions or transmissions with my performance valve bodies I have my customers use lube gard atf protectant (not some other product by some other company they are not equivalent). You can use either lube gard platinum: http://www.lubegard.com/automotive/t..._platinum.html or lube gard atf protectant: http://www.lubegard.com/automotive/trans_atf.html These additives will further modify the friction profile of the subaru atf to reduce friction with lower apply pressures and prevent binding of the transfer clutch at low speeds.

Is your car an early production 92/is the transmission out of an early production 92? It sounds like your reverse clutch might be burnt out which I've only seen happen on the early production 92's.

[oab_au]

Originally Posted by JACOBBOCAJ

I have a few questions concerning my car. I could just be parnoid after reading about all the trans problems that occured on other cars. According to the previous owner my transmission, torque converter was replaced around 25k miles ago in 2002 at dealership and has had a flush in between then and now. The car was rarely driven. Only 75k miles on car. When at a complete stop and then applying the gas seems to jerk a little (not bad at all just minor) like something takes a sec to grab. Also while taking sharp turns at parking lot speed the rear end seems to viberate. Now both of these problems dont occur at all times, just half time. The old man i bought it from told me that the subaru dealership said this happens cause he rarely drivess it. Wondering if anyone else has any suggestions. Planning on taking the car to get a flush with subaru trans fluid and possibly an additive also on Tuesday. Then a will install an external trans cooler. Also plan on possibly buying a new rear differential cause there only $250 tops.



stage 1 shift kit does more harm than good? seen at http://www.smallcar.com/index.php?ac...d&productId=84,

The two problems that you mention are separate.
The " sharp turns at parking lot speed the rear end seems to viberate". This is not a problem with the rear diff. This is the Transfer clutch binding. If you don't get a 'flashing Power light' at start up, you may be able to free them up by doing tight, figure of 8 turns, to work the plates to free them.

The other problem may not be the transmission, may be an engine fault. At a stop the forward clutch is engaged, nothing has to engage or grab, to start the car moving when you accelerate.

There was a fault in early models of a leaking pump gasket that caused slow engagement when moving the lever from N to D or N to R. It should not take longer than 1.2 sec to go from N to D. 1.5 sec to go from N to R. If yours takes longer that this, it could have that problem, where the line pressure is too low at idle to hold the forward clutch fully engaged, till you raise the engine speed.

I can see no sign that the reverse clutch is affected.

Harvey.

[longassname]

Just because the reverse clutch is not supposed to be playing a role in 1st gear of D range doesn't mean it can't. A bad reverse clutch is the most likely candidate to cause high stall rpm from a standing start. I think that's what you described? It's a common problem in early 92's with failing high clutches (the failing high clutch heats the reverse clutch frictions which are smaller in the early production 92 transmissions than the later models).

[JACOBBOCAJ]

its a 94 that had transmission and torque converter replaced 25k miles ago in 2002. im sure the dealership put all the revised parts on the car. keep in mind that a recently purchased the car from a 70 year old man. is it that common of these transmissions to go bad that quick even while beeing babied. and like oab_au was saying "At a stop the forward clutch is engaged, nothing has to engage or grab, to start the car moving when you accelerate." if this is true then its something else other than trans. id like to rule out all other possibilities before concluding the worst scenario.

[longassname]

I understand how the forward clutch works. Think of it like trashed brake rotor. The brakes aren't supposed to be doing anything when you aren't pressing the pedal but if the rotor is trashed they drag all the time.

I'm not saying it is the reverse clutch--just that the reverse clutch is the mostly likely candidate if you are in fact experiencing a high stall rpm from a standing start. Although Harvey is a very bright guy to my knowledge he has not rebuilt dozens of these transmissions and does not have the hands on knowledge I do. I might also point out that the reverse clutch is listed in the trouble shooting table of the factory service manual for a high stall rpm from a standing start.

The question is are you experiencing a high stall rpm at a standing start or are is the engine hesitating. Do your rpms go up and then it jerks when it starts moving? That's a high stall rpm from a standing start.

If the hesitation is the engine rpms not going up that's something else.

[longassname]

I would take diagnosing this seriously. Erroring on the side of not fixing this could be very costly. I think with the reported age of this transmission that if the reverse clutch is bad at this stage it would be safe to replace only the reverse clutch and the high clutch and high clutch drum which are the very first things in the transmisison case when you pull the pump off. This is much less involved and much less expensive than a full rebuild. In fact, while it's kind of a long drive it's probably worth it if it does turn out to be your reverse clutch--if you were to take it to SVXfiles in W. Virginia he would be able to supply you with the better style high clutch drum and I could supply him with the parts to upgrade the high clutch and reverse clutch and would be willing to do so for you.

[JACOBBOCAJ]

Well shifting from N to D and N to R seem normal. After driving today stop to acceleration did pretty smoth except for maybe once or twice (probly drove 100 miles today including up and down a mountain) second kinda had a little jerk a few times. but pretty happy with it makes me a little less worried. now like the tight figure 8s could something else break? sounds risky. just got her last thursday. what about the fender trans cooler with temp sensor (sounds cool), best trans fluid, and additive? anyone used them?

[JACOBBOCAJ]

well been doing some looking around after figureing out how to use the forum.

this sounds alot like my problem:
http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...ight=vibration

hopefully the link works if not sorry new to the forum the thead is called "diff binding/lsd additive

tommorrow going to put the fwd fuse in and see if it stops (wherever it may be). then i guess do a drain and fill and add lsd additive in the transmission.

[longassname]

If you decide you want help fixing it at some point ask and I'll suggest what to do again.

[JACOBBOCAJ]

put a limited slip additive in the transmission. put it in the day after my last post. i havent felt it since. so assumming PROBLEM FIXED!